This week we deep dive into the 'benefits system’ and ask what using this language means for our shared understanding of what benefits are and why they exist.

Words of Affirmation is a podcast from Care Full, hosted by Hannah Webster & Ruth Hannan.

You can support the podcast to continue by signing up to our Patreon.

And, you can find out more about hosts Care Full on our website.

This week we talked about:

• The Beveridge Report

• Darren McGarvey on the toxic trope of benefit scroungers

• This Yougov poll on how Britons feel about benefit and welfare recipients

• This article on the language of welfare from Liam Stanley

• JRF’s data on poverty in the UK

• OECD data on social security spend internationally

• This UBI trial in Wales

Our music for the episode is Bobby Bertoli’s Rebirth (thanks Bob x).

This week we take on ‘social mobility’ and explore what it means for how we live, work and care for each other. Does a focus on individual mobility obscure structural inequalities? And what would a more collective guide for our economy look like?

Words of Affirmation is a podcast from Care Full, hosted by Hannah Webster & Ruth Hannan.

You can support the podcast to continue by signing up to our ⁠Patreon⁠.

And, you can find out more about hosts Care Full on ⁠our website⁠.

This week we talked about:

• Rebecca Solnit’s ⁠essay on centrism as bias⁠

• Sutton Trust’s ⁠overview of social mobility’s past, present and future⁠

• ⁠Jeremy Corbyn’s move from social mobility to social justice⁠

• ⁠Social Mobility Day⁠

• ⁠This article⁠ on the loss of entry level jobs and the role of ChatGPT

• ⁠Ezra Collective at Glastonbury⁠

• ⁠This article⁠ on the closure of the Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust

• ⁠Community Wealth Building in Preston⁠ (“the Preston model”)

• ⁠CLES’s ⁠work on Community Wealth Building

• Citizen Network’s ⁠Neighbourhoods of Care⁠

Our music for the episode is ⁠Bobby Bertoli’s Rebirth⁠ (thanks Bob x).

This is a preview from our Patreon bonus episode! To listen to the full episode sign up to be a supporter of Words of Affirmation: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1523755

After the vote on the Welfare Reform Bill we take a look at the language shaping the terms of the debate. From supporting the most vulnerable to moralising work, what can we learn about the future of our social security system and our economy more widely.

Our next full episode will be out next week!