In Britain — maybe throughout western Europe — belief in work, vocation, community, family and God have declined together. Being workless and feeling worthless often go together. For a large group of people today, life has no goals. At best, the unrealisable hope of winning the lottery or appearing on Big Brother has supplanted the traditional appetite for qualifications and careers…

Last week the Conservatives raised a hue and cry against the government for its welfare failures. But it is unclear how brave a Tory government could be. While I served in Margaret Thatcher’s governments, we made no progress in reducing dependency while lobby groups howled that we were destroying the benefits system. Whenever I asked Murray what to do, he was pessimistic that a democratic society could take measures tough enough to halt our moral degeneration.

He is probably right. But at least we should face up to what is happening. Beveridge wanted the welfare state to tackle squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. I would guess that after six decades it has failed to reduce ignorance and I feel sadly confident that it has boosted idleness.