In this timely, provocative book, BBC 6 Music Broadcaster Stuart Maconie tells the story of Britain’s Welfare State through his own history of growing up as a northern working-class boy.
What was so bad, he asks, about properly funded hospitals, decent working conditions and affordable houses? And what was so wrong about student grants, free eye tests and council houses? And where did it all go so wrong?
Stuart looks toward Britain’s future, making an emotional case for believing in more than profit and loss, championing a just, fairer society.
Whether ‘fighting the invisible enemy’ or ‘keeping our chins up’ throughout lockdown, we’ve been hearing a lot of wartime language from our political incumbents. However, a lot has changed since then.
The post-war era of Britain developed some of the UK’s boldest and most brilliant schemes Britain has ever produced, such as the Welfare State and the NHS, which have been eroded by successive right-wing attacks and years of austerity.
Is the war-time rhetoric appropriate now, perhaps drawing our attention away from the underhand tricks of a government trying to undo the progress made in the last 70 years?
Stuart Maconie is a writer, broadcaster and journalist familiar to millions from his work in print, on radio and on TV. His previous bestsellers have included Cider with Roadies, Pies and Prejudice and Adventures on the High Teas, and he currently hosts the afternoon show on BBC 6music with Mark Radcliffe as well as weekly show The Freak Zone.
Based in the cities of Birmingham and Manchester, he can also often be spotted on top of a mountain in the Lake District with a Thermos flask and individual pork pie.
Date/time: 22 May, 6pm-7pm.
All ticket donations from this event go to Fans Supporting Foodbanks, South Liverpool Domestic Abuse Services and WoW.