UK social welfare

Soon after the Second World War when, surprisingly, the British electorate rejected Churchill and voted overwhelmingly for Labour, the social welfare state was born. The idea was that society should not ignore those who were too poor or ill to look after themselves and that the state (namely the rest of the population) should support them. That was indeed a laudable idea.

Of course following the Law of Unintended Consequences, today some 60 plus years later, Britain is experiencing a very high proportion of welfare recipients who do not work, have not worked, and are unfit for work. And in a large proportion of cases, they are sons and daughters of people who have not earned a living; and in a few cases their grandparents did not earn a living. In other words, Britain has institutionalised a dependency culture amongst some of the have not's who, in other words, are condemned to continue to be have not's generation after generation.

There is an old English saying: "Hell is paved with good intentions." Perhaps the British welfare system is one such.