The welfare trap

John Humphrys last night presented a documentary on welfare, the single most important topic in Britain. It was excellent, and I’d recommend CoffeeHousers watch the whole thing (on iPlayer here). Humphrys is a great presenter, himself the product of the now-forgotten days of social mobility when a kid from a working-class district (Splott in Cardiff) could end up presenting the 9 O’Clock News in his 30s. “In those days, everybody was expected to work,” he said of his childhood. “We knew only one family where the father did not work, and he was a pariah…. Today, one in three of working-age people is on out-of-work benefits.” This is what the welfare state has done to communities like his. But it’s a hideously complex problem, and one the documentary explores. Here’s my summary:
 
1. Work for £5.50 an hour? Humphrys calls in on Pat Dale, a single mother of seven children who hadn’t worked for 20 years.