Let's be very clear, many of the mental institutions that were closed desperately needed to be closed - they were barbaric places and I don't think they could even have been reformed.

But - despite all the promises - "care in the community" actually meant "no care" and many people ended up homeless - many died of cold and hunger in great distress.

I don't know how we fight this tactic more than we fight it already.

I'd guess that mainstreaming needs to be linked to the rest of a left of centre economic agenda.

Equally, perhaps it would have been better to campaign to keep Remploy at least until general unemployment was below a decent threshold. Throwing any people into the job market at this time is a cruelty, because the truth is that there are few jobs out there.