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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Every week, a few of our favourite writers read their pieces for you.

This week will have Leo McKinstree talking about why social

care should be paid for by the family. Then we'll be joined by Emily Hill as she looks forward to

the return of hugging or not. And finally, Daisy Dunn will be talking about the art of asparagus.

First, Leo McKinstree. The sound of the well-off grumbling about their finances is always an unattractive one,

but there's one gripe that has become particularly powerful, filling the airwaves and shaping

public policy. This is the persistent, ever-louded complaint from many households that they are

required to sell the family home to pay the costs of care for a close

relative. It is a practice widely seen as a scandal where the state seizes private property

because of its own failure to create a properly funded care system that meets the needs of the

elderly. The flames of grievance are stoked by the press, pressure groups and politicians

who promote the belief that all social care should be free, or at least massively subsidised.

The campaign body, Age UK, moansed that 167,000 older people now have to fund their own care

because they do not meet the brutal means test.

One newspaper recently screeched about the betrayal of the middle class. Sensing the mood,

Boris Johnson declared when he became Prime Minister in 2019 that my job is to protect you and your

parents and grandparents from having to sell your home to pay the

costs of care.

High COVID death rates and care homes highlight to the need for comprehensive reform in this

sector.

For campaigners, such change should mean a vast new injection of cash that will end the injustice

...