Ruth Lister is very much mistaken in her accusation that the word “welfare” is pejorative and American in origin (Letters, 13 July). William Beveridge refers to welfare 25 times in his report of 1942.
Moreover, the use of the word welfare in Britain has a long and positive history – it was the stated aim to improve the welfare of the British people by liberals, the labour and trade union movement, many Christians, friendly societies and other progressives throughout 19th-century Britain, much of this reaching political fruition in the reforms of the Lloyd George government and the acts of the 1945 Labour administration.
Lister would be better off reclaiming the word “welfare” instead of accepting the way that it has been used by the right. After all, the aim of those who deride welfare is not simply to police language but to abandon communal security in favour of destructive and self-serving individualism that advantages the powerful. And they will advocate this regardless of the language we employ or whether we accept their terms of debate.
Martin Bailey
Fareham, Hampshire
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