For the last act in an operatic tragedy that was real life in the 19th century read this story from March 1888 of a husband, a wife and a business failure.
The welfare state was brought into being by stories such as this, in the same way that Factories Acts sought to stop workers dying from falls, unguarded machinery or poisons used in manufacture. Road, maritime and rail safety came about because, before the laws were introduced the situation was intolerably bad. Clean water and sewerage the same.
There is a case to be argued that society nowadays does not properly know where the line between state guardianship and mollycoddling lies, hence social welfare, charity and ‘caring’ becoming industries in themselves, mis-identification of any and every aspiration as a “human right” and acceptance that minorities must be more powerful than majorities, while the shrill cries of “political correctness gone made” are reviled.
Anyway, it isn’t going to bring back Mr and Mrs Joseph Profaze.
