David and I have clashed bitterly in the past, because we both care about what we're doing. On this issue, however, he's absolutely in the right. Universities, and social science, depend on our ability to disagree with each other.

The Acts of Elizabeth came much later, in 1598 and 1601. The earlier Tudor Acts were partly punitive, but the Act of 1536 was also influenced by the 1531 defence of welfare provision made on behalf of the city of Ypres. Read the astonishing Ypres report at rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1238880

Vives published his arguments for welfare in January, 1526. It's the 500th anniversary of that work.

‘tis the season to be jolly… wrong, in the Daily Mail. This time the Mail manages to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is correct when comparing with a single high earner. benefitsinthefuture.com/tis-the-seas... #benefits #work #dailymail

A Korean translation of my edition of two 16th-century works of social policy has been published at jeniecreative2025.imweb.me . For those who, like myself, can't read or speak a word of Korean, the English edition is freely available at observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/open-access/...

This clip is from legal theorist AV Dicey, writing in 1917.

The BBC should reject Trump's libel claim. 1. The words used were Trump's own. 2. The edit still put two sides - it could have stopped with his call to "fight". 3. Trump has pleaded immunity: these are the words of the POTUS, not an individual. 4. There is no evidence of reputational damage.

I agree - but there's more to managing immigration than revising the system of controls. observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/w...

If the i paper is right, 'lifting' the 2-child limit might be for working families only, or a 3-child limit. Neither is good enough. Both exclude some of the poorest children. Both impose a penalty for blending families. And both call for questions about rape.

In "What is the welfare state for?", I argued that welfare provision is now the norm for all governments. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... A new report from the ILO on social justice researchrepository.ilo.org/view/deliver... shows less poverty, less inequality, better social provision.

There are many such critiques - here are two of mine. *What is the welfare state for?* (2025) is about welfare states round the world, bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... *How to fix the welfare state* (2022) policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-fix-t... is about Britain.

The EU is consulting on anti-poverty strategy. ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet... They see that poverty is multi-dimensional (correct) and plan to look at intergenerational continuity (largely a myth. Longitudinal studies point to 3 main predictors: education, partnering and the state of the economy.)

I'm not sure where the figure of 6.5 million people on 'out of work' benefits comes from, but mainly it's 1.6m on "unemployment benefits" and 3.5 m on "incapacity benefits" (www.gov.uk/government/p...) Incapacity means it is "not reasonable" to expect claimants to work: Welfare Reform Act 2012.

The debate over #gerrymandering reveals a major difference between US and European democracy. The US approach (Federalist 46) is meant to subordinate local interests to national priorities. The European ideal is to treat each constituency as an integral geographic community. Neither method works.

Unfortunately, you're absolutely right. The government are so fixated on disability that they have forgotten what sickness benefits are supposed to do. I wrote this two years ago: observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2023/03/15/t...

I’ve been making my way through the Welfare Reform Bill and this paragraph on the gov.uk website is genuinely disgusting. Receiving a decent disability benefits rate “encourages sickness”, does it? Funny, I thought it just enabled severely ill and disabled people to eat.

NIgel Farage has said he will buy everyone in one pub a drink if Reform wins the by-election: www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1488379... Treating voters is against electoral law on corrupt practice - as Farage must know, following a similar case www.theguardian.com/politics/201....

dpacni.com/2025/05/03/d... Their key points: * Welfare spending is not out of control * The tests are not easy * It's not about fraud * There's no disincentive to work * Cutting benefits won't fix labour shortages * Cuts won't help the economy

I've received the first copies of "What is the welfare state for?": details at bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... 'Concise and superbly written" (Daniel Béland) "A brilliant critical contribution and powerful overview about how we got here and what is at stake" (Camilo Pérez-Bustillo)

My new blog entry for Policy Press's "Transforming Society": www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/04/11/o...

From the DWP's Impact Assessment: "It is the Government’s judgement that the package of reforms will increase employment by addressing structural disincentives ... We have therefore not included potential impacts of increased employment in the poverty, equalities or cost analysis."

PIP is misunderstood. The benefits it was built on – AA, MA and then DLA - were intended to raise persistently low lifetime income. That is why those benefits were assessed on the basis of the severity of the disability, not on costs, and why they are not work-related or means-tested.

If participation in the labour market is falling, why should we assume that the problem is with benefits? Where are the apprenticeships? What about vocational education? Where's the light work? Where's the therapeutic work? How come other countries manage contracts with employers, and we can't?

PIP is not what the government seems to think it is. It's not an 'out of work' benefit. It's not a disincentive to work. It's not an 'extra costs' benefit. What PIP actually does is to offer a supplement to income, to counter long-term disadvantage. tinyurl.com/y8r9kesx

There's a fascinating original proposal in The Actuary for universal life insurance: www.theactuary.com/2025/03/07/p...

As Ben's chart shows, overal welfare spending on non-pensioner households has grown slightly as a share of GDP - but not by much.

I constantly hear/see journalists, commentators & interviewers asserting how easy it is to get incapacity & disability benefits despite clearly having no real understanding of how the process actually works or having spoken to someone who's been through it. Completely distorts public understanding

Solidarity is much misunderstood. The main use of the idea in Europe is not about sentiments or attitudes; it's about what people do for each other. An article on solidarity and socialism: observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

The government proposes half-wittedly to deal with "benefit cheats" by suspending driving licences - making them less employable. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... In France, by contrast, people on benefits can get help learning to drive or obtaining a driving licence: www.ornikar.com/permis/demar...

The govt's determination to save money by cutting public spending is misconceived. Social welfare acts as an economic regulator to shore up demand and ensure that economic activity continues. The last thing to do during a slump is to take money out of the economy.

After 25 years and more than eight million views, I am closing down my educational website, 'An Introduction to Social Policy'. A legacy copy, and my blog, will still be available at observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com .

My argument in *How to fix the welfare state* policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-fix-t...: care is costly, but much of that cost currently is going on the wrong things. The clients of social care need people with time and skills, not a shopping list of the tasks that workers will fulfil.

Perhaps the history seems like a small detail now, but the Beveridge Report did not lead to the creation of the NHS. That's more properly down to Bevan and the Socialist Medical Assocation: sochealth.co.uk/national-hea... . The Beveridge Report was about social security; it only 'assumed' an NHS.

@andrewhickey.500songs.com @gralefrit.bsky.social I have prepared a draft submission to the govt consultation on Copyright and AI. blog.spicker.uk/copyright-an... Key points: this is not just about creative industries; rights holders often aren't the creators; and users should be considered too.

In October, the Daily Telegraph ran an attack on 'sickfluencers', people with lived experience who dared to advise others about their rights to benefit. This was followed last week by GB News, the Times and the Sunday Times. So now it's welfare rights advice in the cross-hairs.

"Get Britain Working" says it wants “to change the system of health and disability benefits across Great Britain so that it better enables people to enter and remain in work.” That's why we need benefits that are not means tested and unrelated to the capacity to work. blog.spicker.uk/how-to-get-b...

The arguments for making reparations for slavery are deeply muddled. The key objections: remoteness, collective liability, burdens imposed on the descendants of victims of oppression, and the impossiblity of remaking world history. wp.me/p6x0MC-23Z

I've delivered today the final draft of a book, What is the welfare state for? It'll be published next June by Bristol University Press, as part of their series of short explainers. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/what-is-it-for