single parents, benfits and employment

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There's lots of noise today in the press about how the large number of single parents out of work are going to have to make an effort to return to it or face losing their benefits. Some bloke called John Harris provides some elegant analysis of this proposal and also produces some wonderful insights into the UK governments' attempts to produce miracles on a shoestring. Put simply, the government yearns to mimic the successful social policies of the Scandinavian countries with the budget of the anaemic US system. Laughable, really, but no surprise.