An introduction to LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0
LSE Director Minouche Shafik's introduces LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 by James Rattee/LSE
In 1942 former LSE Director William Beveridge launched his blueprint for a British universal care system, ‘from the cradle to the grave.’ Some 75 years on, LSE offered a series of public engagement activities to shine a light on the "Five Giants" identified in the Beveridge report, re-cast for the 21st century and for the global context. Originally described as Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness, today’s giants are framed as the challenges of poverty; health and social care; education and skills; housing and urbanisation; and the future of work.
The LSE Festival: Beverdige 2.0 also considered the interconnectedness of the themes. Cross-cutting questions, such as the issues of rights and expectations of citizens with respect to welfare provision; questions of who decides, who provides and who pays for welfare provision; and sustainability – financial, environmental and social will be addressed, along with the identification of ‘missing Giants’ that a modern day Beveridge would prioritise instead.
The Beveridge 2.0 theme ran throughout the academic year 2017-18, informing how LSE shares its research and its societal impact.
Professor Julia Black, Co-Chair
Aine Duffy, Co-Chair
Professor Mary Morgan, Deputy Chair
Professor Conor Gearty
Dr Jennifer Jackson-Preece
Dr Neil McLean
Professor Linda Mulcahy
Martin Reid
Professor Tony Travers
Kirsty Wadsley