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Podcast: Transforming Society podcast
Episode: Safety net or patchwork quilt? Getting to grips with the welfare state
Description: The welfare state is often talked about as a universal safety net, a system designed to catch anyone who falls. But does that image really capture how different countries understand and organise welfare around the world?In this episode, George Miller talks to Professor Paul Spicker, author of What Is the Welfare State For?, about some of the historical roots, moral foundations, and practical workings of different welfare systems. Drawing on examples ranging from 16th-century Flanders to modern-day India, Paul explores the tension between ideal models and on-the-ground realities – and explains why the British case is far fr...