For once, I must wholeheartedly disagree with one whose opinions I generally respect to a huge degree.
The welfare state should, however, be based on what the Labour Party was attempting to do in the late 40s.
It wanted to help the sick; be a social safety net; help those out of work; give all people a chance to build their own lives.
In today's welfare state, we are supporting the wrong people. The original aims have disappeared. Making a career out of: having babies; parasiting off those who do work; having unemployment as 'a lifestyle choice' - all of these things - and many more besides - need to be eradicated from our not so brave new world.
It is not the principle of a welfare state which is wrong but the outworking of it as desired by - yes, you guessed - the political left. These people seem to desire the working classes to be trapped on state benefits - it gives them a plethora of ready-made voters.
No sane or moral person could possibly support the system we have in the UK at the moment. Even pro-immigrationists who want mass unskilled influxes are oft heard to repeat the sick mantra, "they do the work our people refuse to do." That makes me clench my fists in profound anger.
The Bevins, the Beveridges, the Attlees inter al would have all been horrified to see what their noble venture has turned into.
It has been a recipe for: low standards; a lack of gumption; feckless behaviour; derisory performances in schools; illegitimate births by the million; a culture of entitlement; those who have, in my hearing, referred to their dole as 'my wages'; crime waves and so very much more.
Truly tragic - and worse, no political party wants to correct it into a system which helps the genuinely needy.
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