This essay, on the Beveridge Report and the idea of human flourishing, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 23 October 2022, under the headline “If this chaos does not make us rethink our idea of the good society, whatever will?” “Out of intermittent labour spring our gravest woes. It produces in the labourer intermittent energy; the off-days become habitual; with indolence comes intemperance; with uncertainty of employment comes recklessness about the future; from these result pauperism and the […]

Categories: Britain, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: beveridge report, communitarianism, community, free market, human flourishing, libertarianism, poor laws, society, undeserving poor, welfare state, william beveridge