Listen to podcasts from the free history events at the Beveridge 2.0 LSE Festival, 19-24 February 2018. Topics include the Second World War, the Welfare State and LSE in the 1930s.
Beveridge in Context: reconstruction planning during the Second World War and after
Wednesday 21 February 2018 12.30-2pm
Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Professor Matthew Jones, Dr David Motadel, Professor David Stevenson
Chair: Dr Megan Black
Academics from the Department of International History at LSE reassess the 1942 Beveridge Report in the light of German, American, and British planning for reconstruction after World War II.
Download: Audio
Blueprint for Welfare? The Beveridge Report and the Making of the Welfare State
Thursday 22 February 2018 12.30-2pm
NAB.2.04, 2nd floor, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Derek Fraser
Chair: Professor Mary Evans
There was a marked difference between the enthusiastic popular response to the Report and what was perceived to be a lukewarm reception by Churchill and the wartime coalition. How far was the Report implemented in the creation of the Welfare State in 1948 and why 75 years later do many politicians wish to “Get back to Beveridge”? Professor Fraser reviews the content and context of the Beveridge Report and explains why it is of enduring importance.
Download: Audio
A Beveridge Plan for an Unruly School? William Beveridge and LSE
Friday 23 February 2018 1.15-2.45pm
Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Michael Cox
LSE’s fourth Director, William Beveridge is generally regarded as the main architect of the Welfare State and the energetic visionary who oversaw a major expansion of LSE from 1919 to 1937. But though his achievements at LSE were by any measure great, his relations with some of the School’s leading academic figures were never easy, while his attempt to redefine the nature of the social sciences floundered. Why was rethinking the relationship between state and society an easier task for Beveridge than running an “unruly School”?
Download: Audio
Five LSE Giants’ Perspectives on Poverty
Saturday 24 February 2018 3.15-4.30pm
Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Dr Tania Burchardt, Professor Sir John Hills, Professor Stephen P Jenkins, Professor Lucinda Platt
Chair: Professor Paul Gregg
Taking five “Giants” in the study of poverty over the last 100 years, themselves, like Beveridge, authors of influential reports, this event discusses how their thinking articulates with Beveridge’s vision and has advanced our understanding of poverty and how to tackle it. This event focuses on Beveridge’s Giant of “want”. It addresses the thinking on poverty of five “Giants” in the study of poverty over the last 100 years, who have been closely associated with LSE and who are themselves authors or co-authors of influential reports: Beatrice Webb, Brian Abel-Smith, Peter Townsend, Amartya Sen and Anthony Atkinson.
Download: Audio
A Time for Revolutions: Making the Welfare State
Monday 8 January 2018 9am to Friday 13 April 2018 7pm
LSE Library Gallery
On the 75th anniversary of the release of the Beveridge report, LSE Library is hosting an exhibition showing off its collections relating to welfare: from the Poor Laws to Beveridge to Universal Credit. Sir William Beveridge was Director of LSE from 1919 to 1937 and LSE Library holds his archives and papers. The exhibition draws on this material and shows how his report helped to transform welfare provision after the War. It also shows what was in place before the report was released.
Explore more
Beveridge 2.0 on the LSE History blog
LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0
