John Offer is Professor of Social Theory and Policy at Ulster University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and was Chair of the Editorial Board of Sociology from 2011 to 2015. His An Intellectual History of British Social Policy was published by Policy Press in 2006. Robert Pinker (1931-2021) held professorial posts at Goldsmiths College, Chelsea College and the London School of Economics. His academic publications included English Hospital Statistics, Social Theory and Social Policy, and The Idea of Welfare and he also wrote numerous essays on social policy matters from the early 1960s onwards.