Author and activist Darren McGarvey has said living in a posh part of Glasgow's west end left him "radicalised" about the health inequalities that exist across Scotland. The rapper, who also goes by the stage name Loki, shot to fame in 2018 after his book Poverty Safari won the Orwell Prize for political writing.
The book was back in the news last month after Andy Burnham twice mentioned it in a speech in Motherwell. The Prime Minister praised McGarvey for opening his eyes to the reality of life for Scots left struggling on the margins.
But the author told the Record it was a brief spell living in Hyndland that made him first realise the extent of the obvious inequalities that exist between neighbouring communities.
Crash course in class
McGarvey, who grew up in Pollok in the southside of Glasgow, is a supporter of the Health Equals campaign which shines a light on the shocking gap in life expectancy across the UK - where people living in the wealthiest neighbourhoods can be expected to live up to 18 years longer than those in the poorest.
Glasgow has the second-highest estimated proportion of people dying before the age of 60, with more than one in eight failing to reach their 60th birthday. Only Blackpool fares worse with an estimated 15 per cent dying before 60, compared with 13 per cent in Glasgow and a UK average of eight per cent.
McGarvey said: "The issue is much bigger than any individual. I'm happy that work I've done helps animate some of the data. Because, unfortunately, no matter how shocking the statistics are, they don't move people into action.
"Sometimes it does take someone who can put across a message well and draw from their lived experience. And I can certainly say I've been both sides of the tracks when it comes to health inequalities.
"I was fortunate enough to live in Hyndland, in the west end of Glasgow, for two years. And my goodness, that was a crash course in class."
Turning point
"That experience, and not poverty, was the one that radicalised me. I could not believe the shopfronts were all florists and delis. There was a local station with trains every five minutes. The place looked and felt so clean and safe.
"That was a turning point in my life. It didn't make me forget where I came from, but it helped stabilise me - because it meant my primary focus was not am I safe to walk a mile from my own house, or running a junkfood gauntlet when I walk down the street.
"The building blocks of health were present there (Hyndland) and that's why people in that community live as long as they do. But if walk down the hill to Dumbarton Road, to Partick, it's a very different situation.
"So it was clear to me how health inequalities grow."
Collaboration on solutions
McGarvey, who lives in East Kilbride with his wife and two children, said he first met the now Prime Minister when they were both guests on BBC Question Time in 2022. He said he was hopeful Burnham - who has expressed a desire to work with the SNP Government on tackling issues like inequality - could make a difference.
"Generally, we're all confronted by the same problems," McGarvey said. "Therefore, it makes sense to collaborate on solutions."
McGarvey will next month host a panel discussion in Glasgow where he will join Dr Deborah Jackson of the Glasgow School of Art and hip hop artist Sace Lockhart to explore "classism in Scotland's arts and cultural sector".
