The founding of the welfare state in the 1940s was one of the crowning achievements of modern British history - or was it? In this robustly argued book James Bartholomew advances the hitherto sacrilegious argument that however well-meaning its founders, the welfare state has in reality done more harm than good: Do welfare benefits cause unemployment? How the NHS fails to deliver? Can state education ever be properly reformed? Does broken parenting matter? Is a low state pension better than none, and who pays for it? 'The welfare state has caused tens of thousands of people to live deprived and even depraved lives, and has undermined the very decency and kindness which first inspired it. Evidence will be brought forward to show that it has resulted in a generation of badly educated people...The thesis of this book is that Britain would have been better off without the welfare state.'