So effectively, we went from womb to tomb.

The welfare state was described by its intellectual architect, Lord Beveridge, as a structure built to protect the individual from the cradle to the grave.

Sixty five years after Lord Beveridge trusted the state to hold our hand from cradle to grave, Cameron and Osborne have asked us to stand more or less alone on our own two feet.

Even the Nordic countries world leaders when it comes to creating universal and well designed welfare policies that cover citizens from cradle to grave face significant health disparities, despite their relatively low income inequality.

In one cradle to grave study sponsored by the National Association of Diaper Services (NADS) and conducted by Carl Lehrburger and colleagues, results found that disposable diapers produce seven times more solid waste when discarded and three times more waste in the manufacturing process.

On the contrary, financial and economic insecurity has gripped Chinese households since the iron rice bowl the cradle to grave support that the socialist state offered workers and their families was discarded in the late 1990 s.