Build Back Fairer discusses inequalities before and during Covid in health, life expectancy, employment and pay, education, housing, poverty, childcare, the impact of “austerity” cuts to public funding, and ethnic inequalities—another topic surprisingly overlooked by Hennessy though its significance has been much discussed during the pandemic. An interesting idea for a book, tracing the ways in which successive UK governments since WW" have addressed Beveridge's 5 wants in society which underpinned the welfare state. Just above my computer there’s a picture of him in his study, in brown tweeds of a thickness you can’t imagine, smoking a pipe and writing a draft of an economic history article! In 'A Duty of Care', Peter Hennessy divides post-war British history into BC (before Corona) and AC (after Corona). I then made the case that henceforth postwar British history will be divided into BC, Before Corona, and AC, After Corona.

Details for: Duty of care : Britain before and after Covid

He quotes Michael Sandel, the Harvard political philosopher, with approval: “It is often assumed that the only alternative to equality of opportunity is a sterile, oppressive equality of results. Hennessy rightly points out their reluctance to tax the rich: low incomes rose but the inequality gap remained substantial. A bestseller in the US, this urgent, deeply interesting book will be followed by Three Mothers (William Collins, February), in which Anna Malaika Tubbs looks at how the women who raised Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and (again) James Baldwin helped to shape America; Raceless, by Georgina Lawton (Sphere, February), a memoir of growing up black in a white Anglo-Irish family; and Musa Okwonga’s One of Them (Unbound, April), an account of the author’s experiences as a black boy at Eton. I have always enjoyed listening to Peter Hennessey, but admit to finding this book hard going at times, despite its brevity.Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. The description of Britain after 1945 is designed to support Hennessy’s prescription for what should be done after the Covid crisis ends. He was persuaded by his close friend and soon-to-be wife, Jessie Mair, that it was an opportunity to achieve what they both aspired to, the elimination of poverty. He looks back to Sir William Beveridge's classic identification of the 'five giants' against which society had to battle - want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness - and laid the foundations for the modern welfare state in his wartime report.

A Duty Of Care: Britain Before And After Covid | Stanfords A Duty Of Care: Britain Before And After Covid | Stanfords

The National Health Service grew out of numerous pre-war and wartime proposals, then was constructed by Aneurin Bevan, who was also responsible for building improved council houses. When his father's job led the family to move to the Cotswolds, he attended Marling School, a grammar school in Stroud, Gloucestershire. But there is another alternative: a broad equality of condition that enables those who do not achieve great wealth or prestigious positions to live lives of decency and dignity. Hennessy does not adequately convey the extent of the increased inequality or of the cuts and privatization of public services under Thatcher, severely undermining Labour’s post-war achievements and what remained of Beveridge’s universalism. Had he witnessed British politics over the last few years, his scepticism about democracy would hardly have been attenuated.I’d also say that she’s been a remarkable asset in the story I’ve been telling in the postwar history books [ Never Again, Having it So Good and Winds of Change] because she’s been the queen of the postwar settlement. At the other extreme, The Foghorn’s Lament by Jennifer Lucy Allan (White Rabbit, May) is about – yes – foghorns, and promises to sit on the wobbly line (and, in this case, noisy, mournful line) between nature writing and music writing. There would be an exchange of mutual admiration and the performers would sing a well-known song together.

Duty of Care: Britain Before and After Corona - Goodreads The Duty of Care: Britain Before and After Corona - Goodreads

A slightly different approach to the crisis will come in the form of A Duty of Care: Britain Before and After Corona by the distinguished historian Peter Hennessy (Allen Lane, August). Like many who seek out ‘lessons from history’, Hennessy’s main conclusion is ‘I was right all along. A review of the development of the acceptance by the government of a duty of care for its citizens thro the NHS since the war. For more infomation please review our use of cookies in our Cookie Policy and then Accept and Close this bar. Since its foundation in 1900, Labour had believed that full employment at decent pay was the best means to maximize “welfare”, with benefits for those unable to work due to age, disability, sickness or other difficulties.Hennessy rightly points out that the pandemic increased public awareness of serious social problems, in particular the inadequacy of social care for older and disabled people and the resulting stress upon them and their families, and increasing poverty, homelessness and use of food banks. These significant differences between the war and the Covid experiences are not discussed by Hennessy. I also like rereading Tawney, not just because he was an economic historian of great brilliance, but also because he was a wonderful human being and a hero of mine. You also quote RH Tawney, who said that the mark of civilisation was to aim to eliminate inequalities. It stalled but did not wholly destroy Wilson’s ambition to complete the Welfare State and improve economic competitiveness.