Nicholas Timmins - 'The Five Giants: A Biography Of The Welfare State' (1995)

[temper_tantrum]

Another thread which could have gone into the politics forum, or history, or books, I'm afraid ... (feel free to move if necessary, mods )

Anyway, has anyone read this book, and if so, what do you think of it?
It's been recommended to me by a rather surprising source. I've just got hold of a copy of it (most places, eg. Amazon & EBay, only have 2nd-hand copies priced at £25-60 but I finally tracked down a cheap first edition). Aiming to get stuck in this weekend, but would be interested in any u75 politics/history/books types' view on it. The introduction seems to make some pretty good points ...

 

[temper_tantrum]

So, I finished it. Pretty good, though it gets bogged down in 1980s-90s minutiae and tails off towards the end - could have done with a clear conclusion, drawing together some of the main threads and themes.

I was really struck by how policies which have been discussed in recent times quite often date back right to the start of the welfare state, and in some cases before that. In terms of policy-making there is a really clear ideas cycle, with similar suggestions coming up in each generation.
I was also quite struck by how different housing is to pretty much all the other public services, in terms of having been fairly comprehensively privatised. I'd love to read something more detailed about that, anyone got any recommendations?

Another point which I found interesting was how the welfare state evolved away from Beveridge's contributory model, and the epic confusion and Byzantine complexity which developed over the 1960s-70s.

(Might ask a mod to move this thread into politics or history, btw)