Julian Coman is spot-on (Politicians may have forgotten about ‘community’, but British people haven’t, 7 February). We know that humans develop as individuals within a social environment, initially (at least in the west) within their families but always within a wider community. Communities of one sort or another make us who we are. The “I” develops from the “we” – hence the fundamental human need to belong.
We edited a book – The Politics of Attachment, published in 1996 and including contributions from soon-to-be Labour ministers – that explored ways in which public policy could build on the power of attachment and the need to belong that remains as powerful as ever.
The Labour party, with its emphasis on solidarity and community ties, has long known this, but it should now apply this thinking to a more individualistic 21st century.
Communities in the UK have been enriched by people from many different backgrounds, but the one element that everyone, regardless of background, can share is place – whether defined by street, neighbourhood, town, city or country. Almost all of us live in a place where we can make relationships – glancing acquaintances, neighbours and friends – that bridge divides and root us to where we live. We should harness the power of places and people’s attachment to them to build a “radical politics of place”, as Coman advocates.
Jane Roberts and Sebastian Kramer
London
• Julian Coman’s distinction between “I” and “we” is neatly put in Dante’s Purgatorio: “For by so many more there are who say ‘ours’, so much the more of good doth each possess.” It’s true.
Dan Edwards
Northampton
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