Abstract

This article discusses the changing times within which this journal is situated: how issues of Ethics and Social Welfare have been understood since the early 2000s and reflected in the journal – and where we are now. It is based on a keynote address to a conference organised by the journal editors in Liverpool in April 2025, when I was asked to reflect on the practice of editing the journal since it began. Having just withdrawn from the editorial board and as one of the founding editors it was an appropriate point at which to consider our practice. In the context of an apparent decline in the salience of both ethics and social welfare, journal articles often disapprovingly referenced ‘neo-liberalism’, seen as fuelling global ‘vulture capitalism’, and associated with the revival of macho male chauvinism and ethno-nationalist populism. There is thus reason to fear for the future of the humane activity of social professionals, and regret the failure to convince public opinion or governments that a civilised society needs such public services. How has this journal contributed and managed in this environment and what can be learned from its development over this period of time?