Michael Sandel and Polly Toynbee

Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. Known to BBC listeners as ‘The Public Philosopher’, Sandel's books include Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? and What Money Can't Buy, which have been translated into twenty-eight languages and sold over two million copies worldwide. He has been a visiting professor at the Sorbonne; delivered the BBC Reith Lectures, and his speaking tours have spanned five continents.

The Tyranny of Merit arrives at a hinge point in social and political history. As the pandemic exposes entrenched inequality and the true value of essential work, Michael challenges corrosive attitudes to success and failure and makes the case for an ethic of humility. Above all, he asks how we value our fellow human beings, so that no one is left behind.

Polly Toynbee is a columnist for the Guardian. She was formerly BBC social affairs editor, columnist and associate editor of the Independent, co-editor of the Washington Monthly and a reporter and feature writer for the Observer. She has won the Political Journalist of the Year Award 2003 and is one of the most ardent supporters of the secular cause.

She has written a number of social commentary books including, in 2003, Hard Work: Life in Low-Pay Britain about an experimental period voluntarily living on the minimum wage. Polly Toynbee and David Walker have co-authored Dogma and Disarray: Cameron at Half-Time, Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today, The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? and Better or Worse: Did Labour Deliver?