At some time during the war, people started to think about what they were fighting for and the new society they wanted when the war was over. They left the road of mere survival and started their journey down the road of reconstruction. Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, put it perfectly when he said:

"This is a people's war; it must lead to a people's peace."

Many of the families involved in the war had lived through the poverty and unemployment of the 1930s, 'Never Again' was their attitude. So the government asked a senior civil servant, Sir William Beveridge, to produce a report, a plan of the new society to be built after the war.

The Beveridge Report of December 1942

His report was an immediate success, outselling all other books in the bestsellers list, 635,000 copies in all. By Christmas of 1942, 19 people out of 20 had heard of it and 9 out of 10 wanted it put into action when the war ended.

Sir William echoed the mood of the moment:

"The first principle is that any proposals for the future, while they should use to the full the experience gathered in the past, should not be restricted …. a revolutionary moment in the world's history is time for revolutions, not for patching."

He wanted to see a system of social security introduced so that all families could enjoy a minimum standard of living. This system would include family allowances, a national health service and unemployment benefit.

He saw his proposals as:

".. an attack upon Want. But Want is only one of the five giants on the road of reconstruction. The others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness."

The Beveridge Report was to be the blueprint for the new Britain after the war

Prefabs
Conquering the Giant of Squalor was going to be a major problem in the capital. In London during the war over 109,000 homes had been destroyed and a million more damaged. Most had been patched up or repaired but there was still a serious housing shortage to add to the problem of the slum dwellings left over from the 1930s. Prefabricated houses ('prefabs') were one solution, the parts made in a factory and then shipped to a building site where they would be put together in a matter of hours. Meant as a temporary solution to the housing problem, there are still small pockets of prefab estates all over London.

VE day
Londoners celebrated VE Day (the end of the war) on May 8th 1945 in traditional style. All over the capital street parties were held celebrating victory and peace. For others it was a time to remember in silence what they had suffered and whom they had lost. George Knott's family was one that celebrated quietly:

"Finally the war ended with the celebrations of VE-Day taking place, I with my family did not really join in, we found it all a bit of an anti-climax, so taking it quietly and pleased it was all over, in Europe anyway, we slipped into peace."