Helen Barnard is Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

A tour d’horizon of social injustice in Britain today – and a twenty-first-century manifesto for rooting it out. At every turn, she presses not only the question of what substantively will have to be done to slay the giant of 'want', but asks how can we foster the political conversation that is a prerequisite for getting it done. Her demand for meaningful public deliberation, not least with those who are on the wrong end of anachronistic top-down services, is an urgent one – not only for social policy, but for the wider health of our democracy too.

• Introduction1. Defining decency2. Hard pressed families3. Disabled people and carers4. Renting pensioners5. Young, Black and held back6. Stigma and shame or dignity and respect?7. Equality and discrimination8. What is social security for?9. Public services for the digital age10. Reimagining work11. Managing modern markets12. Tax, wealth and housingConclusion

Helen Barnard is Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

A tour d’horizon of social injustice in Britain today – and a twenty-first-century manifesto for rooting it out. At every turn, she presses not only the question of what substantively will have to be done to slay the giant of 'want', but asks how can we foster the political conversation that is a prerequisite for getting it done. Her demand for meaningful public deliberation, not least with those who are on the wrong end of anachronistic top-down services, is an urgent one – not only for social policy, but for the wider health of our democracy too.

• Introduction1. Defining decency2. Hard pressed families3. Disabled people and carers4. Renting pensioners5. Young, Black and held back6. Stigma and shame or dignity and respect?7. Equality and discrimination8. What is social security for?9. Public services for the digital age10. Reimagining work11. Managing modern markets12. Tax, wealth and housingConclusion

Helen Barnard is Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

A tour d’horizon of social injustice in Britain today – and a twenty-first-century manifesto for rooting it out. At every turn, she presses not only the question of what substantively will have to be done to slay the giant of 'want', but asks how can we foster the political conversation that is a prerequisite for getting it done. Her demand for meaningful public deliberation, not least with those who are on the wrong end of anachronistic top-down services, is an urgent one – not only for social policy, but for the wider health of our democracy too.

• Introduction1. Defining decency2. Hard pressed families3. Disabled people and carers4. Renting pensioners5. Young, Black and held back6. Stigma and shame or dignity and respect?7. Equality and discrimination8. What is social security for?9. Public services for the digital age10. Reimagining work11. Managing modern markets12. Tax, wealth and housingConclusion