A neighbourhood in the Jaywick & St Osyth area of Tendring, near Clacton in Essex, has the top spot on the table, known as the index of multiple deprivation, for the fourth time in a row. Seven of the top 10 places are filled by neighbourhoods in Blackpool. Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Hartlepool, Hull and Manchester also feature heavily. Similar mapping exercises in the devolved nations are carried out separately. While the tools and lexicon of policymaking around deprivation have grown more sophisticated, the reality is that millions of people remain in the same old trap.