Many thanks to the editors Stefanie Börner and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser for the invitation to contribute a law perspective to this important and diverse, international and interdisciplinary new volume on #socialpolicy & #COVID19, now available #openaccess. https://academic.oup.com/book/46851

Coping with inequalities in wealth

Comments about wealth inequalities have focused mainly on the wealth of the very rich. There's a limit to what can be done through fair taxation or redistribution of income. Large inequalities imply problems for access to land, housing and, to the extent that people have become rich by using their assets to extract money from people who aren't rich, problems such as rent, poverty and debt.

http://blog.spicker.uk/coping-with-inequalities-in-wealth/
#Poverty #SocialPolicy #inequality

Social Policy: a subject still in trouble
I've just read a review of the state of Social Policy teaching in UK universities.  Twenty years ago, I made the case that the subject was in 'deep trouble'.  At the beginning, this report cites me saying that,  but the tone of the report is more positive, claiming that Social Policy is still threaded through a wide range of courses.  I'd hold to my initial position. 
http://blog.spicker.uk/social-policy-a-subject-still-in-trouble/
#SocialPolicy

75 years of the NHS

The NHS - and the British Welfare State - are 75 years old today.  I'm not going to try to cover all the issues here, but I did offer a potted summary in my book, How to Fix the Welfare State (Policy Press, 2022).  This blog entry includes two of the summaries from that book, for the chapters on the NHS and Social Care.

http://blog.spicker.uk/75-years-of-the-nhs/
#SocialPolicy

A place for anti-poverty strategies
One of the difficulties faced by old-timers in the field of social policy - and I have reluctantly to admit that that description applies to me - is that the same ideas, good or bad, will always come round again.  I was mildly intrigued then, rather than deeply excited, to see a report from LSE about local anti-poverty strategies.  It's nearly 25 years since I prepared
http://blog.spicker.uk/a-place-for-anti-poverty-strategies/
#Poverty #SocialPolicy

#Introduction - Here as part of #twittermigration!

I'm a #publicpolicy practitioner by day and a #sociology #PhD student by night, studying the application of #intersectionality in government. Based on unceded Wurundjeri lands (so-called #Melbourne #Australia.

Interests include #socialsciences #socialpolicy #inequality #BlackFeminism #CriticalRaceTheory #auspol #policystudies #feminism. Particularly keen to follow other #WomenOfColor #WoC in #academia!

Am I doing this right?

The welfare state: a communitarian perspective
Today I gave a plenary paper to a conference of  the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, under the title of The welfare state: a communitarian perspective.  The conference brought together Welsh academics and researchers with practitioners from the voluntary sector.  Here is the abstract:

Communitarianism is not, as some critics imag
http://blog.spicker.uk/the-welfare-state-a-communitarian-perspective/
#SocialPolicy

🔖# Vacancies at the #University of #Southampton - 3 #Lecturers in #Gerontology.

You will have knowledge and understanding of Gerontology, some experience in #teaching and the ability to teach in the field of #ageing and #quantitative #research #methods, and a background in one of: (i) ageing and #socialpolicy or #sociology; or (ii) ageing and #sub-Saharan #Africa, or (iii) ageing and #economics or #business studies.

Closing Date: 30 June.

More info and apply at: https://jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=2303323CC

⚖️ In the TGSS case, the #ECJ ruled that Spanish legislation excluding domestic workers from unemployment benefit while they are almost exclusively women is contrary to EU law (C-389/20) #socialpolicy

My submission to the Work and Pensions Committee on the adequacy of benefits
The Work and Pensions Committee has issued a call for evidence about benefit levels in the UK.  My response to that call is here.

There are some common confusions in the discussion of adequacy, which this submission seeks to clarify.

The purposes and functions of benefits are complex.
Th
http://blog.spicker.uk/my-submission-to-the-work-and-pensions-committee-on-the-adequacy-of-benefits/
#SocialPolicy

Asking an artificial intelligence to write an essay on social policy
I wanted to see what ChatGPT would make of a social policy essay, so I asked a starter question:

What is a welfare state, and is Britain one?
A welfare state is a government that provides a range of social services and benefits to its citizens, including healthcare, education, social security, and other forms
http://blog.spicker.uk/asking-an-artificial-intelligence-to-write-an-essay-on-social-policy/
#SocialPolicy

News from Maine: a “welfare magnet”?
The state of Maine, in an article I've just read, has 'an international reputation as a welfare magnet', a claim that might surprise the European countries  which have taken in hundreds of thousands of people.   There were no fewer than - do sit down if you find you need air and smelling salts - 400 unauthorised migrants who came to Maine last month.  I don't have comparable figu
http://blog.spicker.uk/news-from-maine/
#Healthpolicy #SocialPolicy

Misreading the SDGs
Although I've been booked in for an online conference on the Sustainable Development Goals, I've found hardly anything in it I can relate to.  A large part of the problem rests with the SDGs themselves.  There are simply too many tests, and too many priorities.  Wildavsky, in Speaking truth to power,  complains that long lists of targets become "mechanisms for avoiding rather tha
http://blog.spicker.uk/misreading-the-sdgs/
#Poverty #SocialPolicy #internationalpolicies

The biggest challenge for the Canada Dental Benefit may come from the tiniest teeth
#Canada #Dentalcare #DentalHealth #Children #Teeth #Health #SocialPolicy
https://the-14.com/the-biggest-challenge-for-the-canada-dental-benefit-may-come-from-the-tiniest-teeth/

RT @ECPR@twitter.com

💡 #ecprjs23 🇫🇷 Workshop Directors @AdamPolitics@twitter.com & @drdonoghue@twitter.com seek Papers that interrogate the nature, importance & impact of #morals for, in and against #TransformativeChange 👉 http://bit.ly/3VknQHc

⏳ Submit by 9 Jan
#SocialTheory #SocialPolicy

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/ECPR/status/1606273654639165440

RT @ETUI_org@twitter.com

🗓️Save the date! The (hybrid) launch of the joint ETUI-@OSE_be@twitter.com publication '#SocialPolicy in the #EU: state of play 2022' will take place in Brussels on 31 January

Register here ➡️http://etui.org/Zp6

👀Look out for this publication in the new year!

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/ETUI_org/status/1605509113374314497

Thanks to @campjacob there is now an official list of #SocialWork practitioners on Mastodon. Add your name and say a bit about yourself or browse the list to discover peers!

Add yourself https://forms.gle/jK1JswjiYyJAfwnQ6

Browse the list https://bit.ly/3Id8ZLb

Other lists https://github.com/nathanlesage/academics-on-mastodon/

#LCSW #BSW #MSW #NASW #SocialWorker #SocialJustice #CaseManagement #SocialService #ChildWelfare #Charity #Counselor #MacroSW #ChildProtection #SocialRights #SocialPolicy @socialwork

Hi Mastodon! I am a #socialpolicy researcher (social policy broadly defined!). I am interested in how community adversity affects children and families in #education #health #wellbeing and what policies may do to ameliorate any negative effects. My work is mostly about #urban contexts and the US but I am also interested and have ongoing research focused on #LatinAmerica. #Introduction

RT @ECPR@twitter.com

💡 #ecprjs23 🇫🇷 Workshop Directors @AdamPolitics@twitter.com & @drdonoghue@twitter.com seek Papers that interrogate the nature, importance & impact of #morals for, in and against #TransformativeChange 👉 http://bit.ly/3VknQHc

⏳ Submit by 9 Jan
#SocialTheory #SocialPolicy

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/ECPR/status/1606273654639165440

@tultican Basic needs, like health care, tax credits, loan forgiveness, clean water, transportation, local decision-making, equal rights, wealth distribution, etc.? It seems pretty crazy to not work here first, but we can't make headway without a social investment in the commons. And we can't get there if we don't have platforms that connect us all to each other. #education #socialpolicy #community #listening #commons #propaganda #hopeinthedark