The welfare system in the United Kingdom is broken. The number of claims has escalated and so, in consequence, have welfare expenditures. The social system does not encourage welfare recipients to become independent. Half the population of the United Kingdom lives in households drawing one of the major means-tested benefits. Research documents that means-tests paralyze self-help, discourage self--im-provement, and tax honesty while at the same time rewarding claimants for being either inactive or -deceitful.

In Making Welfare Work, Frank Field challenges the current political orthodoxy,...

Every politician needs inspiration and ideals in this cynical age. Frank Field's Anglican faith provides his inspiration, and a foundation for a set of ideals known as English Idealism, put forward by T. H. Green. These ideals built on Christianity to form a widely shared public ideology. As a leading politician and churchman, Frank Field illustrates his understanding of English Idealism through the life and work of five people who have inspired his political career. He looks at two Archbishops of Canterbury - the Temples, father and son - who helped to build up this public theology; George...