Author Archives: Richard Machin

A week is a long time in politics

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The famous quote that forms the title of this blog is attributed to the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson back in the 1960s but is arguably even more pertinent to the current political landscape. Trying to make political predictions is a risky game given how quickly things change and both pollsters and politicians have had their fingers burnt trying to second guess how the public will vote in the last couple of years.

The challenge for academics and students is to try and make sense of the world around us and we are certainly living in fascinating but unsettling times. One of my main academic and professional interests is in the decisions that governments make about how to financially support the most vulnerable in society. Often this is referred to as ‘welfare’ or ‘benefits’ and while these terms have become tainted in recent years these are big decisions – social security spending is the biggest area of government expenditure (yes bigger than Health or Education).

Over the last few weeks I have written a number of articles and blogs where I have tried to unpick some of the main local and national issues in relation to welfare spending and poverty. These are issues that have an impact on a wide range of service users and professionals across the entire Health and Social Care spectrum. I hope that they give a snapshot of the current position while we all draw breath and wait for Brexit and the next election…

London School of Economics Policy and Politics blog – I argue that we need a fundamental shift in the way that we administer social security benefits and treat benefit claimants.

Staffordshire University Election Experts blog – Stoke-on-Trent has some of the poorest constituencies in the country meaning decisions about social security have a great impact on many people living in our local communities.

Adviser Journal – I explore the positions that the main political parties set out in their election manifestos in relation to social security benefits.

Richard Machin is the course leader for the Social Welfare Law, Policy and Advice Practice degree:
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/course/SSTK-04674.jsp
Twitter: @RMachinStaffs
Email: Richard.machin@staffs.ac.uk

‘It’s a roller-coaster ride but what a ride’

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I am the course leader on the Social Welfare Law, Policy and Advice Practice degree here at Staffordshire University. We are the only university in the UK which delivers a degree of this nature. If you want a career working with vulnerable people and have a passion for social justice then check out our course page on the Staffordshire University website and these pieces that I have written for The Guardian and Adviser magazine give a good flavour of the type of issues that we explore on our course.

Of course the most important people at our university are our fantastic students. Our final year students are busy finishing their assignments and projects before embarking on a range of exciting careers (our graduates work in a wide range of settings such as Housing Associations, Local Government and large community sector organisations such as Shelter, MIND and Citizens Advice).

This week I sat down with one of our students Phil Tweats. Phil will be graduating in the summer and I talked to him about his experiences of studying with us over the last three years. As we were finishing our conversation I asked Phil if he could sum up what it has been like to study at Staffordshire University. His response ‘It’s a roller-coaster ride but what a ride’ seemed to me to be a brilliant way of summarising student life. Being a student is exciting and fun, you will meet lots of interesting new people and learn new skills that you can take forward for the rest of your lives. Of course there are also challenges to being a student – we want to stretch students to think about things in new ways and to push them to reach their potential. At this time of year there is the stress of submitting lots of assignments. I’m sure that every student at some point in their academic journey thinks ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘this is too hard’ (I know that I did!), but with the excellent support that is available at Staffordshire University we are with students on every step of the journey. Getting a degree isn’t easy but it wouldn’t mean much if that were the case.

Phil talked to me about being the first member of his family to attend university and how it is important that there is a high quality university here in Stoke. He described the conversations that he had with long-term work colleagues who were surprised that he wanted to study at university (Phil is a mature student) and how he explained to them that it is something important that he wanted to do for himself.  He talked about how time management and preparation is key to be a success at university and the pride he felt when he achieved his first ‘first class’ mark on an assignment. He reflected that university has had a significant impact on him on a personal level:

‘I have changed as a person, I have become more tolerant and patient, you become more empathetic to other people, you sit you listen and you learn.’

And Phil’s advice to those who are thinking of studying at Staffordshire University:

‘Just do it. Yes it is hard work you do make a lot of sacrifices but in terms of what you get back – knowledge, experience, new friends its priceless’.

Why not join us for the ride this September?

Twitter: @RMachinStaffs

Email: Richard.machin@staffs.ac.uk