Society Wars

This week on CW, we feature Society Wars [PDF], a new collection of essays from the Institute of Ideas’ Social Policy Forum. Big society, broken society, sick society, stuck society? Who gets to say how we should behave when it comes to what we smoke, drink and eat? Politicians, nudgers, doctors? Should volunteering for the greater good be compulsory? Is living life dependent on welfare actually making people morally and physically sick? Should our schools become ‘engines of social mobility’ or are they ill-equipped to tackle ingrained social inequalities? We will explore further questions along these lines between now and the Battle of Ideas in the autumn.

Meanwhile, Patrick West reviews Dominic Streatfeild’s History of the World since 9/11. And in London theatre, Miriam Gillinson reviews Simon Stephens’ controversial play Three Kingdoms at the Lyric.

19 May 2012