work and welfare Articles

The middle class is changing. Labour’s vision of the state must change with it, writes Jonathan Todd As leader of the Labour party, Tony Blair was keener than his predecessors to align his party with the idea of aspiration. This was both a conviction that background...

Would it not be easier, Bertolt Brecht once mused, to simply dissolve the people and elect another? German dramatists make unlikely political gurus, but Brecht’s fingerprints can be found all over Labour’s Next Majority, Marcus Roberts’ pathway to a parliamentary...

The recent implication by Michael Gove that the increase in food bank use results from the inability of poorer families to manage their household finances illustrates the persistence of normative views of poverty and social exclusion. It also serves to maintain high...

The case for a standalone National Insurance Fund —In recent years the contributory principle has returned to mainstream debates about welfare policy. So far, concrete proposals have largely focused on particular areas where a ‘something-for-something’ approach could...