Santa Claus versus the five giants

Article Abstract:

The original conception of a public welfare program to aid the poor was linked with hopes for little or no unemployment. The UK welfare state evolved from the 1942 Beveridge report but Beveridge himself did not like the term 'welfare state' because he said it had 'the Santa Claus image,' suggesting rights without duties. The original legislation aimed to defeat 'five giants:' want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. Full employment was considered absolutely necessary to maximise the money coming into the central fund and to minimise that going out. There was therefore very great commitment to full employment.

author: Lowe, Rodney
Economic policy

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A letter to Santa Claus?

Article Abstract:

The US has consistently violated human rights in the past 50 years despite the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948. The US has continually exploited Central America, such as supporting state terror in El Salvador in the early-1980s, while anti-personnel weapons left by the US in Laos, Vietnam, in the 1960s continue to kill or main 20,000 people a year, mostly children. The UK has also similarly violated human rights. The framework of world order has been abandoned, with the US advising the UN that unilateral force will be used to protect US interests if necessary.

author: Chomsky, Noam
United States, International aspects, International relations, Ethical aspects, Human rights

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Safety pins for a safety net

Article Abstract:

The UK welfare state has always been under pressure from its inception after the Second World War. Housing, education and health have been the subject of debate, and there are similarities between debates in the 1990s and earlier debates. The UK Conservative Party is divided on the issue of the welfare state, and this division is more imprtant than the divide between the Conservative and Labor parties. John Redwood and Michael Portillo would prefer a withdrawal from state welfare provision, while others in the Conservative Party favor welfare.

author: Timmins, Nicholas
Social policy

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subjects list: United Kingdom, History, Welfare state
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