This volume identifies the main changes in the British state since 1945 and evaluates their consequences. It provides students and practitioners with an understanding of the changing public sector and the relationship between these changes and the wider conduct of politics. Recent academic and political responses to the British state have been influenced by an atmosphere which is increasingly suspicious of hierarchies, bureaucracies and, indeed, the state itself. Tom Ling identifies the factors leading to this development and in the final chapter he evaluates the more important recent responses to the changed atmosphere. The British State Since 1945 will be widely read by students and practitioners of British politics and public sector change. Its concern with policy-making and policy-implementation also makes it a valuable resource for students of social welfare and economic interventions. Through its evaluation and application of a variety of theoretical and analytical approaches to the question of the British State, this book will also be of interest to everyone concerned with more theoretical debates about the nature of the state and contemporary politics.

This account of welfare policy in Britain analyzes the period of so-called consensus between 1945 and 1975 and the years between 1975 and 1990 when state welfare came under ideological attack. The guide provides an assessment of the relative successes and failures of social and employment policy.

As much as any country, England bore the brunt of Germany's aggression in World War II, and was ravaged in many ways at the war's end. Celebrated historian David Kynaston has written an utterly original, and compellingly readable, account of the following six years, during which the country rebuilt itself. Kynaston's great genius is to chronicle the country's experience from bottom to top: coursing through through the book, therefore, is an astonishing variety of ordinary, contemporary voices, eloquently and passionately evincing the country's remarkable spirit. Judy Haines, a Chingford housewife, gamely endures the tribulations of rationing; Mary King, a retired schoolteacher in Birmingham, observes how well-fed the Queen looks during a royal visit; Henry St. John, a persnickety civil servant in Bristol, is oblivious to anyone's troubles but his own. Together they present a portrait of an indomitable people and Kynaston skillfully links their stories to bigger events thought the country. Their stories also jostle alongside those of more well-known figures like celebrated journalist-to-be John Arlott (making his first radio broadcast), Glenda Jackson, and Doris Lessing, newly arrived from Africa and struck by the leveling poverty of post-war Britain. Kynaston deftly weaves into his story a sophisticated narrative of how the 1945 Labour government shaped the political, economic, and social landscape for the next three decades.

Michael Billington looks at post-war Britain from a theatrical perspective. He examines the constant interplay between theatre and society from the resurgent optimism of the Attlee years to the satire boom of the 1960s and the growth of political theatre under Tony Blair in the post-Iraq period.

Covering the major social and political events of British history from the late Victorian era through to the present day, the 6th edition of this landmark textbook helps students critically examine the relationship between the British state and its citizens. With accessible and engaging prose, the book guides students through a mix of chronological and thematic coverage connecting key political, economic and social changes, helping them examine the main themes and trends in British political history. Newly featuring definitions of key terms, and with 20 additional illustrations, the 6th edition has also been updated to cover events since the 2015 general election, including: - The 2017 and 2019 general elections - The Brexit vote and negotiations - The COVID-19 pandemic - The resignation of David Cameron, the fall of Theresa May, and the rise of Boris Johnson - The rise of cultural politics, including feminism, Black Lives Matter, the centralisation of government and identity politics This book is essential for anyone looking to for an introduction to modern British social and political history.

This is a new edition of one of the most widely used texts on the history of social policy. Covering the period from the end of the Second World War to the present day, Howard Glennerster focuses on the 'Welfare State' to explore the myths that have shaped popular conceptions of social policy, and which continue to dominate current debates. The new edition includes: - an entirely new chapter on developments since the 1997 General Election.- completely updated and amended text, including greater coverage of the Thatcher period.- a new conclusion drawing out what is seen as a distinctively British social policy direction.- more cross-country comparisons.- a fully updated reference section.From the earliest days of the welfare state, to New Labour's reform commitments for the new century, Glennerster concludes that social policy can only ever be understood in the context of the political and economic concerns of the time.

"What is the state? The State of Freedom offers an important new take on this classic question by exploring what exactly the state did and how it worked. Patrick Joyce asks us to re-examine the ordinary things of the British state from dusty government files and post offices to well-thumbed primers in ancient Greek and Latin and the classrooms and dormitories of public schools and Oxbridge colleges. This is also a history of the 'who' and the 'where' of the state, of the people who ran the state, the government offices they sat in and the college halls they dined in. Patrick Joyce argues that only by considering these things, people and places can we really understand the nature of the modern state. This is both a pioneering new approach to political history in which social and material factors are centre stage, and a highly original history of modern Britain"--

In the years following World War II the health and well-being of the nation was of primary concern to the British government. The essays in this collection examine the relationship between health and stress in post-war Britain through a series of carefully connected case studies.

The first book in the groundbreaking series Tales of a New Jerusalem, A World to Build transports us effortlessly back to 1945. Through this candid collection of contemporary voices, the country s post-war social history is unveiled; no supermarkets, no teabags, capital punishment, levelling poverty. Meet Judy Haines, a Chingford housewife, struggling daily with food rationing; Henry St. John, a self-serving civil servant in Bristol; Doris Lessing, newly arrived from Africa to a country pre-multiculturalism. David Kynaston expertly weaves the histories of ordinary people and well-known figures alongside Britain's changing political and economic landscape, delivering a deeply researched and intensely readable account.

A history of the relationship between Great Britain and the United States ranges from the establishment of the first English colony in the New World to the present day, examining both nations in terms of what connected them and what drove them apart.