There is a bitter irony in the arrival of this most memorable of all recent springs, at a time when it can be so little enjoyed. But leisure was never more needed, especially by the war-workers, whose claims on a draught of fresh air are so fully justified by the months and years of service amid the din and heat of the machines. Especially must the very young ones be aided and encouraged to fill their lungs in the few days of recreation.
So to the hills. It will not be easy to find shelter. The youth hostels have had a difficult war, being so much in demand for military and agricultural billeting. But they are being of great utility to the health and happiness of young people who cannot pay for expensive accommodation. Both the Ministry of Labour and the Board of Education have given thanks to the hostels and would like to see them multiplied. They must be the nucleus of a tremendous leisure service after the war, a service which will enable the British to explore Britain and, one hopes, the world as well, since a hostel may float in the Baltic as well as take root among the Lakes and the Fells.
Key quote
“Labour does not propose to nationalise all the toffee shops. The Conservatives do not propose to de-nationalise the Post Office. This issue of public control is not so dogmatically disputed as we make out.”
Herbert Morrison, Labour home secretary of the coalition
Talking point
Evacuation has painted a new picture of the evil which elsewhere I have described as the giant Squalor: the evil of the unplanned, disorderly growth of cities, bearing in its trail congestion, bad housing…. It has revealed fresh reasons for pressing the attack on Squalor as vigorously as the attack on Want, Disease, Idleness, and Ignorance.
Sir William Beveridge, author of the 1942 report on which the welfare state was based
