Tag Archives: Welfare

The Victorians, the Liberals and the welfare state

“Protection of the vicious poor involves aggression on the virtuous poor” The words quoted above are those of Herbert Spencer, a prominent Victorian sociologist. If I had read them last week I would have thought them moralising and hyperbolic. This … Continue reading

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Inequality does matter. But it can’t be fixed overnight – and we all have a responsibility

On my bus on the way to work this morning, these two women got on separately, sat down, and immediately put their feet on the seats. They were both pretty well-off; one was probably in her twenties and the other … Continue reading

Posted in Big Society | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

David Blunkett’s favourite word is ‘reciprocity’

What does Right & Left mean?”, I was asked at the weekend. My bumbling explanation journeyed from the French Revolution towards ownership, state intervention, communism, Hayek, and finally ended up on law & order policies. After all of this my … Continue reading

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Is the government doing enough?

There’s an interesting article on politicalbetting.com this morning, asking whether the government is trying to do too much in one term. I’ve pondered this before, but from a different angle – asking whether the Coalition agreement was being progressed through … Continue reading

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Why Ed Miliband was partly right but can’t do anything about it

Yesterday afternoon, I was idly muttering about Ed Miliband’s speech with one of my colleagues who I think wouldn’t be averse to being described as a proper Newish Labour type. We were discussing the changes to benefits and so on … Continue reading

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