Kirstein Rummery is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Stirling. Her research interests include gender, age and disability and social citizenship; welfare partnerships and governance; and citizenship, participation and access to services. Recent publications include "Women and New Labour: Engendering policy and politics" (co-edited with C Annesley and F Gains, Policy Press, 2007).Ian Greener is Reader in Social Policy at Durham University. He has written widely about health policy and organisation in the UK.Chris Holden is Lecturer in Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a member of the Social Policy Association's executive committee and has published widely on globalisation, trade and health & social policy.

• Introduction ~ Kirstein Rummery, Ian Greener and Chris Holden; Part one (Kirstein Rummery): Freedom from want 60 years on ~ Michael Hill; Slaying idleness without killing care: a challenge for the British welfare state ~ Hilary Land; Tackling ignorance, promoting social mobility: education policy 1948 and 2008 ~ Ruth Lupton and Howard Glennerster; Beveridge's giant of illness: from negative to positive welfare? ~ Martin Powell; Tackling squalor? Housing's contribution to the welfare state ~ Douglas Robertson and James Smyth; The Poor Law Commission 1905-09: a view from a century on ~ John Offer; Part two (Ian Greener): Intercountry adoption in Europe 1998-2007: patterns, trends and issues ~ Peter Selman; Wealth as a protective factor for child outcomes ~ Ilan Katz and Gerry Redmond;  Managing shared residence in Britain and France: questioning a default 'primary carer' model ~ Alexander Masardo; Strategic challenges in child welfare services: a comparative study of Australia, England and Sweden ~ Gabrielle Meagher, Natasha Cortis and Karen Healy; Part three: Rescaling social policy (Chris Holden): Governance at a distance? The turn to the local in UK social policy ~ Andrew Wallace; Rescaling solidarity: the welfare state and the new regionalism ~ Michael Keating; Rescaling emergent social policies in South East Europe ~ Paul Stubbs and Sinisa Zrinscak.

"An intriguing and sometimes challenging assessment of how Britain's welfare state has managed and mutated, and how is continuing to evolve, 60 years on." Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor, Financial Times