A Husk of Meaning

‘Community' has become a soft word. It's not one that belongs in the tough rhetoric of markets and the economy. It's a word that for most of us, most of the time, can slip past easily, and in so far as there's a concept lurking behind it, it's one that doesn't involve much effort. When policy changes and budget cuts release the mentally ill into the community, it sounds humane as well as prudent. Unless, that is, you're one of the families that, in the absence of adequately funded hostels and outpatient care, is what ‘community' translates into. The ‘community sector' fights on valiantly, but the very term puts it at the soft end of public concern.