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Paul Spicker

@paulspicker.bsky.social
498 followers 377 following 84 posts

Paul is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. He mainly writes on poverty, benefits, social justice and social policy. Find his published work at observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com…

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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Something we rarely see in the UK: a case for unemployment insurance, as a means of making the society and the economy more secure. Unédic is a formal partnership of employers and unions. www.unedic.org/actualites/a...
unedic.org
Assurance chômage : amortisseur socio-économique ou variable d'ajustement des finances publiques ?
Cette page reproduit la tribune diffusée le 1er octobre dans le journal « Le Monde », sous le titre « L'alerte des dirigeants de l'Unédic :
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A splendid review from the Economist: a wake-up call to politicians who think that the way to use resources efficiently is to have more means-tests. www.economist.com/culture/2026...
economist.com
Uncle Sam thinks your time is worth nothing
How and why governments waste the most precious resource
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
While you're in Dundee, take a taxi to the top of the Law and catch the fabulous view. Seriously, you won't regret it!
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I reviewed the arguments some years ago - they haven't changed. tinyurl.com/y5wj2yj6 The idea that this is double taxation is bogus - much of the value reflects the price of real property, exempt from tax. If IHT is unfair, it's because there are so many exemptions and no consistency in treatment.
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
Inheritance tax
Recent political debate in the UK has been seized by an abstruse discussion of the merits of inheritance tax. Politicians have been wrong-footed; no-one, it seems, can remember what the tax is for,…
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What a daft article! The effect on passenger numbers is marginal, but we'll struggle to cope with all the extra demand? A blanket ULEZ charge is road prIcing? Underinvestment is inefficient, but poor services for low earners show that investment won't work? And what about admin costs?
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
These are ill-chosen words. The triple lock is not a "random variation" but a (very slow) ratchet. The main argument against that is that it promises better pensions to younger generations without asking them to pay for better pensions now.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
There's more to plagiarism than not copying words or paraphrasing; the core offence is to pass off someone else's work as one's own. If only a few distinct instances are identified in a text, a marker can no longer fairly evaluate what a student has done and what comes from others.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
On social care: this is a summary of chapter 5 of my book, How to Fix the Welfare State. policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-fix-t...
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
There's a lot of nonsense written on #rent_control. Countries with more renting tend to have more controls. In the UK the main obstacle to higher rents has been.that (a) most renters have limited resources and (b) people who can, opt to buy instead. 'Market rents' reflect demand, not just supply.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
An hierarchical ordering: from principles to aims, methods, implementation and outcomes. Once it's done, everyone in the chain should be able to see how they fit.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment is right to say that people's understanding of disability has been changing - but quite wrong to accept that PIP is an extra costs benefit. I've tried to explain this at observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2025/06/30/r...
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
Reforming PIP: a “moral imperative”
The government’s recent concessions fall some way short of what would be necessary to make PIP, the Personal Independence Payment, a fairer, more manageable benefit. There’s been some c…
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The defence of the realm is not, and never has been, the primary or sole duty of a government. The constant repetition of the principle does not make it true. Here's another, older and much better established duty: Salus populi suprema lex esto Let the welfare of the people be the highest law.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I've received a clutch of requests from book clubs, who want me to pay them so that I can talk about my latest book. As a.public educator, I've delivered free services for many years, but I don't think it's reasonable to ask me to pay for the privilege of working for free.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
'Leadership' is such a vague concept it could mean anything. Here's an open access version of my article in the International Journal of Public Sector Management: rgu-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/2...
rgu-repository.worktribe.com
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I apologies for suggesting earlier that the UK has 85 taxes. The correct number is 90. And we have an interactive chart that lets you waste at least 15 minutes clicking pretty patterns (and getting depressed). taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/05/28/9...
taxpolicy.org.uk
The UK has 90 taxes. Here they all are
The UK has 90 different taxes. This interactive chart shows them all, & how much each raises. The article explains why UK tax has become so complicated.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
What could the govt. do, cheaply, to bring down the cost of living? Here are some quick wins: Bankrupt the water companies Cap civil debt actions Copy Scotland on child payments free prescriptions baby boxes Cap standing & prepayment charges for energy Free public transport for under 25s
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
How strange to argue about the changing role of the state without considering the explosion of interest in social policy, social protection, health care and social welfare. For an alternative view, try "What is the welfare state for?" bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i...
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
What Is the Welfare State For?
What Is the Welfare State For?; Welfare states matter for people’s lives – but what are they trying to do, and why? The book discusses the institutions and methods that characterise welfare states aro...
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
This article still supposes there's a trade-off between types of 'spending'. Defence is spending; benefits aren't. Benefits are *transfer payments*, largely economically neutral; the amount of money in the economy is the same after distribution as it was before. They're best paid for by higher tax.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Reconsidering AI: I have to recant In previous postings, I've been supportive of some of the key principles behind AI. I wrote last year: using material to train AI, sometimes called ‘scraping’, is quite different from copying. The LLMs aren’t copying: they’re processing the information. (There…
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
Reconsidering AI: I have to recant
In previous postings, I've been supportive of some of the key principles behind AI. I wrote last year: using material to train AI, sometimes called ‘scraping’, is quite different from copying. The LLMs aren’t copying: they’re processing the information. (There may be some circumstances where a program does just copy, but the point of doing this by bulk processing is to avoid that situation: simple copying can always be superseded by something richer and deeper.) Processing information – selecting, analysing, representing – is a normal, expected and legitimate use of source material.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Why social security benefits won’t “bankrupt the country” There have been repeated attacks in the media on the principles of social security. Matthew Elliott told the Lords that "The Government will collect £331bn in income tax this year, and spend £333bn on welfare. In other words, we now spend…
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
Why social security benefits won’t “bankrupt the country”
There have been repeated attacks in the media on the principles of social security. Matthew Elliott told the Lords that "The Government will collect £331bn in income tax this year, and spend £333bn on welfare. In other words, we now spend more on people not working than we raise from those who do." Robert Jenrick, for Reform, announced that "the benefits bill is a time bomb that will bankrupt the country".
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Reposted by Paul Spicker
what-is-it-for.bsky.social @what-is-it-for.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
David and I have clashed bitterly in the past, because we both care about what we're doing. On this issue, however, he's absolutely in the right. Universities, and social science, depend on our ability to disagree with each other.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
The Acts of Elizabeth came much later, in 1598 and 1601. The earlier Tudor Acts were partly punitive, but the Act of 1536 was also influenced by the 1531 defence of welfare provision made on behalf of the city of Ypres. Read the astonishing Ypres report at rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1238880
rgu-repository.worktribe.com
The origins of modern welfare: city of Ypres, the government of poor relief.
The two books included in The Origins of Modern Welfare are probably the earliest studies ever written in the field of Social Policy, and among the earlies...
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Vives published his arguments for welfare in January, 1526. It's the 500th anniversary of that work.
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Gareth Morgan - Ferret @ferrinfo.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
‘tis the season to be jolly… wrong, in the Daily Mail. This time the Mail manages to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is correct when comparing with a single high earner. benefitsinthefuture.com/tis-the-seas... #benefits #work #dailymail
benefitsinthefuture.com
‘tis the season to be jolly… misleading, in the Daily Mail – Benefits in the Future
There might almost seem to be a deliberate campaign by some of the press to mislead or distort the rules and rates around benefits entitlements. In particular, there seems to be a trend, amongst the u...
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
A Korean translation of my edition of two 16th-century works of social policy has been published at jeniecreative2025.imweb.me . For those who, like myself, can't read or speak a word of Korean, the English edition is freely available at observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/open-access/...
jeniecreative2025.imweb.me
지니크리에이티브
기독교 역사 전문서적 출판사
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
This clip is from legal theorist AV Dicey, writing in 1917.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
I've read it and cited you (on 'consistency'), but its quirky issue-based agenda isn't a basis for a taught course. The core of ethical teaching for policy makers needs to consider * ethics of the policy * responsibilities to the agency * individual ethics, and * constraints on the use of power.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The BBC should reject Trump's libel claim. 1. The words used were Trump's own. 2. The edit still put two sides - it could have stopped with his call to "fight". 3. Trump has pleaded immunity: these are the words of the POTUS, not an individual. 4. There is no evidence of reputational damage.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
I agree - but there's more to managing immigration than revising the system of controls. observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/w...
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
Why we need an Immigration Service
The debate in the UK about immigration has been constructed in terms that are almost wholly negative. Politicians talk about controlling borders and treating some people as ‘illegal’. T…
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
We have to stop thinking about pensions and benefits as 'spending'. They're transfer payments, or redistribution - quite different! - so they should be paid for by taxation or contribution, and should be treated distinctly in the accounts.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
If the i paper is right, 'lifting' the 2-child limit might be for working families only, or a 3-child limit. Neither is good enough. Both exclude some of the poorest children. Both impose a penalty for blending families. And both call for questions about rape.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Do you mean you can teach without first having to move the furniture?
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
In "What is the welfare state for?", I argued that welfare provision is now the norm for all governments. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... A new report from the ILO on social justice researchrepository.ilo.org/view/deliver... shows less poverty, less inequality, better social provision.
researchrepository.ilo.org
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
There are many such critiques - here are two of mine. *What is the welfare state for?* (2025) is about welfare states round the world, bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/what-i... *How to fix the welfare state* (2022) policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/how-to-fix-t... is about Britain.
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
The EU is consulting on anti-poverty strategy. ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet... They see that poverty is multi-dimensional (correct) and plan to look at intergenerational continuity (largely a myth. Longitudinal studies point to 3 main predictors: education, partnering and the state of the economy.)
ec.europa.eu
European Commission - Have your say
European Commission - Have your say
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
I'm not sure where the figure of 6.5 million people on 'out of work' benefits comes from, but mainly it's 1.6m on "unemployment benefits" and 3.5 m on "incapacity benefits" (www.gov.uk/government/p...) Incapacity means it is "not reasonable" to expect claimants to work: Welfare Reform Act 2012.
gov.uk
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025
Historic and forecast benefit expenditure and caseload data usually consistent with the annual spring and autumn Budgets or Statements.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
The debate over #gerrymandering reveals a major difference between US and European democracy. The US approach (Federalist 46) is meant to subordinate local interests to national priorities. The European ideal is to treat each constituency as an integral geographic community. Neither method works.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Jonathan presents it as I was taught it. Managing the economy has to be thought about in a different way to balancing the public finances. tinyurl/bdeecy93
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
'Welfare' and 'pensions' are transfer payments: the money is still there, in the economy, it's just being moved. We ought to account for them differently.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
No, it doesn't. According to the article, the UK Foreign Office told him that he was now on the USA's list of potential sanctions: 'il figure sur la liste des fonctionnaires de la CPI susceptibles d'être sanctionnés par la nouvelle administration américaine."
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
In 1951, Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle joined Nye Bevan, resigning in protest against the Labour government's introduction of NHS charges. Whatever happened to them?
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
The OECD's "Pensions at a glance" reports % of GDP accounted for by public and private provision.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Unfortunately, you're absolutely right. The government are so fixated on disability that they have forgotten what sickness benefits are supposed to do. I wrote this two years ago: observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com/2023/03/15/t...
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
There are still things that might be done with PIP. Uncouple Mobility Allowance. Revive SDA. Reset extensions. Review assessments. But there's a basic problem: first, you need to understand what PIP is and how it works. The government doesn't.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
The public finance argument is not sound. Benefits are 'transfer payments'; when paid for by tax, they are redistributive, and any economic effects (presumptively neutral) are marginal. The decision to cut benefits is at root a decision not to redistribute - down to politics, not economics.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
* Copyright is not designed to protect creative work: it protects rights holders instead. * IP laws are never just about creativity - they apply to science and data too. * IP may impede creativity - eg intertexuality, pastiche. * IP laws governing terms, succession and ownership are in a mess.
observant-paulspicker.wordpress.com
How copyright threatens academic communication
Wikipedia has announced that it will shut for a day, in protest about threatened restrictions in the USA which will enable rights-holders to shut down sites that breach copyright. My website, like …
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Reposted by Paul Spicker
Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
I’ve been making my way through the Welfare Reform Bill and this paragraph on the gov.uk website is genuinely disgusting. Receiving a decent disability benefits rate “encourages sickness”, does it? Funny, I thought it just enabled severely ill and disabled people to eat.
Nearly 4 million households will also receive an income boost with the main rate of Universal Credit set to increase above inflation every year for the next four years – estimated to be worth £725 by 2029/30 for a single household 25 or over. This is around £250 higher than an inflation only increases.

The Bill will also rebalance Universal Credit rates by reducing the health element for new UC claims to £50 from April 2026, fixing a system which encourages sickness by paying health element recipients more than double the standard amount.
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
NIgel Farage has said he will buy everyone in one pub a drink if Reform wins the by-election: www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1488379... Treating voters is against electoral law on corrupt practice - as Farage must know, following a similar case www.theguardian.com/politics/201....
theguardian.com
Nigel Farage backs Ukip candidate in sausage roll bribery row
Southampton Itchen candidate told to report to police accused of ‘treating’ after savouries were provided at event attended by snooker star Jimmy White
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Paul Spicker @paulspicker.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
The key benefit for people with disabilities, PIP, is not means-tested; it doesn't 'only' go to people on low incomes. Together, the cut to WFP and the proposed cuts to PIP represent an attack on the core principle of universality. Consider that health and education are also universal services.
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