The Welfare State We’re In
David Green, 15 November 2004
The Welfare State We’re In by James Bartholomew has just been published. It looks afresh at all aspects of the welfare state, from schools and hospitals to pensions and child benefit, and asks whether we made a mistake in placing so much confidence in government-provided welfare.
It deserves the strongest recommendation. The book presents the evidence on complex issues while remaining highly readable and avoiding over-simplification. It is available from Amazon at 30% off.
Julia Magnet wrote in the Times recently a column entitled ‘Let cops be the hard guys’. There exists in todays police service many officers who are incapable of robust policing and who do not command respect due to their less than commanding physical presence. Picture yourself in your house at night and hearing the sound of burglars coming through a window. Do you want to see two large police officers arriving to help or two officers who could be less than 5ft tall. Picture the same scene at pub closing time, who do the yobs respect? There are enough roles in the police to accommodate everyone, front line policing requires certain physical abilities. Why can’t the police acknowledge this and begin recruiting the right person for the right job?