Paul Spicker

This clip is from legal theorist AV Dicey, writing in 1917.

I've read it and cited you (on 'consistency'), but its quirky issue-based agenda isn't a basis for a taught course. The core of ethical teaching for policy makers needs to consider
* ethics of the policy
* responsibilities to the agency
* individual ethics, and
* constraints on the use of power.

The BBC should reject Trump's libel claim.

1. The words used were Trump's own.
2. The edit still put two sides - it could have stopped with his call to "fight".
3. Trump has pleaded immunity: these are the words of the POTUS, not an individual.
4. There is no evidence of reputational damage.

I agree - but there's more to managing immigration than revising the system of controls. observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/w...

We have to stop thinking about pensions and benefits as 'spending'. They're transfer payments, or redistribution - quite different! - so they should be paid for by taxation or contribution, and should be treated distinctly in the accounts.

If the i paper is right, 'lifting' the 2-child limit might be for working families only, or a 3-child limit. Neither is good enough. Both exclude some of the poorest children. Both impose a penalty for blending families. And both call for questions about rape.

Do you mean you can teach without first having to move the furniture?

In "What is the welfare state for?", I argued that welfare provision is now the norm for all governments. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... A new report from the ILO on social justice researchrepository.ilo.org/view/deliver...
shows less poverty, less inequality, better social provision.

There are many such critiques - here are two of mine.

*What is the welfare state for?* (2025) is about welfare states round the world, bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i...

*How to fix the welfare state* (2022) policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-fix-t... is about Britain.

The EU is consulting on anti-poverty strategy. ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet... They see that poverty is multi-dimensional (correct) and plan to look at intergenerational continuity (largely a myth. Longitudinal studies point to 3 main predictors: education, partnering and the state of the economy.)

Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 Historic and forecast benefit expenditure and caseload data usually consistent with the annual spring and autumn Budgets or Statements.

I'm not sure where the figure of 6.5 million people on 'out of work' benefits comes from, but mainly it's 1.6m on "unemployment benefits" and 3.5 m on "incapacity benefits" (www.gov.uk/government/p...) Incapacity means it is "not reasonable" to expect claimants to work: Welfare Reform Act 2012.

The debate over #gerrymandering reveals a major difference between US and European democracy. The US approach (Federalist 46) is meant to subordinate local interests to national priorities. The European ideal is to treat each constituency as an integral geographic community. Neither method works.

Jonathan presents it as I was taught it. Managing the economy has to be thought about in a different way to balancing the public finances. tinyurl/bdeecy93

'Welfare' and 'pensions' are transfer payments: the money is still there, in the economy, it's just being moved. We ought to account for them differently.

No, it doesn't. According to the article, the UK Foreign Office told him that he was now on the USA's list of potential sanctions: 'il figure sur la liste des fonctionnaires de la CPI susceptibles d'être sanctionnés par la nouvelle administration américaine."

In 1951, Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle joined Nye Bevan, resigning in protest against the Labour government's introduction of NHS charges. Whatever happened to them?

The OECD's "Pensions at a glance" reports % of GDP accounted for by public and private provision.

Unfortunately, you're absolutely right. The government are so fixated on disability that they have forgotten what sickness benefits are supposed to do. I wrote this two years ago:

observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2023/03/15/t...

There are still things that might be done with PIP. Uncouple Mobility Allowance. Revive SDA. Reset extensions. Review assessments. But there's a basic problem: first, you need to understand what PIP is and how it works. The government doesn't.

The public finance argument is not sound. Benefits are 'transfer payments'; when paid for by tax, they are redistributive, and any economic effects (presumptively neutral) are marginal. The decision to cut benefits is at root a decision not to redistribute - down to politics, not economics.

How copyright threatens academic communication Wikipedia has announced that it will shut for a day, in protest about threatened restrictions in the USA which will enable rights-holders to shut down sites that breach copyright. My website, like …

* Copyright is not designed to protect creative work: it protects rights holders instead.
* IP laws are never just about creativity - they apply to science and data too.
* IP may impede creativity - eg intertexuality, pastiche.
* IP laws governing terms, succession and ownership are in a mess.

Nearly 4 million households will also receive an income boost with the main rate of Universal Credit set to increase above inflation every year for the next four years – estimated to be worth £725 by 2029/30 for a single household 25 or over. This is around £250 higher than an inflation only increases. The Bill will also rebalance Universal Credit rates by reducing the health element for new UC claims to £50 from April 2026, fixing a system which encourages sickness by paying health element recipients more than double the standard amount.

I’ve been making my way through the Welfare Reform Bill and this paragraph on the gov.uk website is genuinely disgusting.

Receiving a decent disability benefits rate “encourages sickness”, does it? Funny, I thought it just enabled severely ill and disabled people to eat.

Nigel Farage backs Ukip candidate in sausage roll bribery row Southampton Itchen candidate told to report to police accused of ‘treating’ after savouries were provided at event attended by snooker star Jimmy White

NIgel Farage has said he will buy everyone in one pub a drink if Reform wins the by-election: www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1488379... Treating voters is against electoral law on corrupt practice - as Farage must know, following a similar case www.theguardian.com/politics/201....

The key benefit for people with disabilities, PIP, is not means-tested; it doesn't 'only' go to people on low incomes. Together, the cut to WFP and the proposed cuts to PIP represent an attack on the core principle of universality. Consider that health and education are also universal services.

A "large chunk" of the cut also fell on pensioners with modest incomes, and another 'large chunk" on those with low incomes. The distribution of pensioners' sources of income can be found at www.gov.uk/government/s....

They didn't target the cut on rich pensioners. They took it from the basic pension. Benefits have to be judged, not by their title, but by how they add to final income; the cut reduced final annual income for every recipient of the state pension.

Disability and Social Security Myth-Buster Welfare spending is not out of control It is lower than a decade ago and not set to rise within the next five years. What is true is that disability benefits as a share of overall welfare spending …

dpacni.com/2025/05/03/d...

Their key points:

* Welfare spending is not out of control
* The tests are not easy
* It's not about fraud
* There's no disincentive to work
* Cutting benefits won't fix labour shortages
* Cuts won't help the economy

What is the welfare state for?

I've received the first copies of "What is the welfare state for?": details at bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i...

'Concise and superbly written" (Daniel Béland)

"A brilliant critical contribution and powerful overview about how we got here and what is at stake" (Camilo Pérez-Bustillo)

On the incentive to be disabled - Transforming Society Paul Spicker, author of 'What Is the Welfare State For?', highlights how ‘incentives’ are misused to shift blame onto individuals and justify benefit cuts, rather than tackling systemic issues.

My new blog entry for Policy Press's "Transforming Society": www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2025/04/11/o...

From the DWP's Impact Assessment: "It is the Government’s judgement that the package of reforms will increase
employment by addressing structural disincentives ...
We have therefore not included potential impacts of increased employment in the poverty, equalities or cost analysis."