The most reliable way to annoy your average Briton is to fail to play by the rules. The notion that everyone should be treated equally is deeply ingrained. Democracy and the social contract both rely on procedural fairness. However, this does not necessarily mean that everyone should be treated equally. Equal treatment often leads to very unfair outcomes, but it can also deny some people fair opportunities. Aristotle argued that "equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally in proportion to the relevant inequalities". Many arguments about what is fair are rooted in the tension between equal treatment and equal opportunities. The recently formed Structural Inequalities Alliance argues in favour of “shifting the policy focus onto equity of outcome rather than equality: treating people differently in order to level the playing field of opportunity”.
