... aspects of British society like housing, employment and health. Hopefully this will allow me to adequately gauge whether the welfare state has been a success or not. The basic aim of the welfare state was that poverty, like the kind people suffered in the inter-war period, should never return to haunt Britain again. The Beveridge Report was the catalyst for the welfare state and it dominates the literature chronicling this era.1 In the report he promised that the 'five giants' - Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness would receive a lot of attention2 in a bid to make Britain a thriving and healthy society. The people of Britain were also told that they would receive 'security from the cradle to the grave' with3 Briton's being guaranteed a basic income, housing needs and also a good standard of health, even in times of unemployment.4 This security was to be provided in ...

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