Ilistened to Jeremy Hunt's speech at the Local Government Association conference in Harrogate earlier this month with much interest. It was pleasing to hear some sense of a stronger narrative on social care, not just its interdependences with the NHS. Too often, if we're not careful, we succumb to the temptation to look too closely at the details that influence our sector and, perhaps, its relationship with the NHS. The secretary of state drew us away from that temptation, and looked at social care within a the broader context of social policy generally. And more specifically at the relationship between the state and the family - an ever-changing complexity which, as Ferdinand Mount argued long ago, political ideologues, theologians, feudal lords, and many others have done their utmost to render as no more than a subordinate instrument of their purpose.
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