These two volumes of essays would not have happened without the patient encouragement and sound advice of Stephen Wenham at Bristol University Press. I must also thank, for some very useful comments on the original plan, Helen Thompson, Ben Clift, Simon Griffiths, Colin Hay, Magnus Feldman and Ben Rosamond.

So many people have helped and shaped me over the last sixty years. Many of them are mentioned in the pages which follow, but by no means all. One of the greatest influences upon me has been my students, both research students and undergraduates, as well as my colleagues at Sheffield and Cambridge, and in the wider academic community and the public policy world. Most of the essays collected here had their origins in those engagements over the last forty years.

My family has supported me in so many ways through this time, and these essays are dedicated to them, and in particular to my grandchildren.