Unjust rewards : exposing greed and inequality in Britain today

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

City workers earn millions. Manual workers earn less than they did thirty years ago.

The widening gap is tearing apart the fabric of our society.

In this urgent polemic, "Guardian" journalist Polly Toynbee and the "Guardian's" economics editor David Walker present a worrying portrait of Britain today.

Their gripping investigation takes them to a Cable and Wireless AGM, a chairman of a FTSE 100 company, a council estate, an inner city school and a Sure-Start programme.

The editor of Tatler bemoans paying private school fees on a middle class salary and young city lawyers justify earning 100 times more than teachers because they work so hard.High earners have little idea that half of British people earn less that GBP22,300, and are amazed to learn that a third of the population live below the poverty line.

Polly Toynbee and David Walker argue that our attitudes to pay and standards of living have been distorted.

They shred the myth that executives require astronomical salaries, and put the case for higher taxation of the very rich. This was once the heart of Labour ideology, but politicians now seem almost embarrassed to raise the subject.

Toynbee and Walker demolish the arguments against higher taxation, and show how government policy could revitalise British society. "Unjust Rewards" sets the agenda for the next general election.