Friends and Neighbours Taking Care in Britain from the Second World War to COVID–19

Who cares for us? In the wake of the pandemic, people worldwide have negotiated the ties that are most important to them against a backdrop of confusing and constantly shifting governmental policies– from Britain's "sex lockdowns" to Belgium's "cuddle buddies". In the long trajectory of care, however, the pandemic was not the beginning of the story. This book explores the history of caring in Britain from the 1940s to the 1980s, charting how the welfare state shaped intimate ties in ways its architects never imagined, cementing some relationships and destroying others. In profound ways, the welfare state in Britain transformed how people felt about themselves and each other- as friends, as neighbours, as lovers. As we continue to navigate possibilities for giving and taking, from the aftermath of COVID to contemporary anxieties about AI friends and lovers, what lessons can we learn from Britain's past and present? In tracing the history of the thought and practice of care, we can illuminate new possibilities for how to be together. Drawing on recently declassified government sources, oral histories, and previously unpublished photographs, this politically urgent book shows us how state policies can either support caring or destroy it. It gives us a historical lens through which to view our contemporary crisis of care, as well as the wider conversation on both sides of the Atlantic about reinvesting in friends and neighbours.