ABSTRACT
The Beveridge Report in 1942 spoke of the need to conquer the five giant evils-want, disease, squalor, ignorance and idleness-each an aspect of poverty and often mutually reinforcing. The years 1944 to 1948 saw a range of important legislation and the adoption of major policy goals intended to overcome these evils. But the debate at the time was concerned not only with what should be done, but how it should be done.
