It has recently been re-published and includes an introduction looking at what has changed in the interim. You can read it here.
"The good news keeps coming and the bad news gets worse. Much has changed and nearly everything stays the same. The disjunction is between, on the one hand, the words, intentions and actions of both politicians and the public, and, on the other hand, the reality on the ground....overall incentives [to work] are being modestly improved... there has been progress but it is not dramatic change [but] far more lone parents are now expected to work. It is a big and necessary change...the fact remains that mass unemployment is still a permanent feature of modern Britain...the coalition government has worked hard to make significant changes in welfare benefits ... but they do not go far enough to rid us of the misery of permanent mass unemployment...there are still 1.5 million unemployed. A little under 2.5 million are on an incapacity benefit. The proportion of births outside marriage has risen still further from 40 percent in 2001 to 47 percent in 2011. This compares to only 6 percent back in 1961. There are 3.2 million children being raised by sole parents...truancy from school remains high....illiteracy is widespread. It is true that crime appears to be falling which is welcome...there are some reasons for hope but for the time being the welfare state we're in remains pretty grim."
1 comment:
"... the welfare state we're in remains pretty grim."
Yes, and they don't help themselves at all by having massive immigration. Many of the immigrants (Muslims in particular) go onto welfare and stay there. Heck, the hate-preacher *Anjem Choudary* is in a welfare-provided house and on welfare benefits! What have the UK welfare people done to kick his backside into a job? *Nothing*.
Post a Comment