Editing Sue Townsend (section)

==Political beliefs==

In 1989 Townsend published ''Mr Bevan's Dream – Why Britain Needs its Welfare State'', one of the series of ''Counterblast'' essays written by such authors as [[Paul Foot (journalist)|Paul Foot]], [[Marina Warner]] and [[Fay Weldon]] which critiqued, either directly or indirectly the social consequences of [[Thatcherism]].

She describes being "mesmerised" when seeing [[Aneurin Bevan]], the prime mover of the British [[welfare state]] on television for the first time.<ref>S.Townsend, ''Mr Bevan's Dream – Why Britain needs its Welfare State'', Chatto and Windus, 1989, p.8. {{ISBN|0 7011 3468 2}}</ref> The book consists of a series of short [[anecdotal]] stories which touch on ways in which the welfare and education systems of the day supported or (mostly) failed ordinary citizens. In "The Quick Birth", Townsend recalls the experience of giving birth to her first child, born prematurely but who survived thanks to the dedicated [[National Health Service]] staff at her local hospital in Leicester; "Community Care" deals with the treatment of vulnerable people with mental health issues; "Mr Smith's privatised penis", the final section, is a dystopian satire on a future where pavements, sunlight, fresh air and even lovemaking have been sold off to private enterprise.

"In this pamphlet, I have fallen back on the traditional working-class method for expressing ideas – the anecdote, or what is now called the "oral tradition" (which is only a fancy term for working-class people talking to each other but not bothering to record what they've heard").<ref>''Mr Bevan's Dream'', p.3</ref>

Townsend, in a 2009 ''Guardian'' interview with Alex Clark, described herself as a "passionate socialist" who had no time for [[New Labour]]. "I support the memory and the history of the party and I consider that these lot are interlopers", she told Clark.<ref name="Clark1109"/> Despite these comments, Townsend said in 1999 that she had only voted Labour once, and in fact, her preference was "Communist, Socialist Workers, or a minority party usually."<ref name="Donald"/> The journalist [[Christina Patterson]] observed of Townsend in 2008: "Her heart, it's clear from her books and a few hours in her company, is still with the people she left behind, the people who go largely unchronicled in literature, the people who are still her friends."<ref>Christina Patterson [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/sue-townsend-i-often-write-about-my-faults-1037793.html "Sue Townsend: 'I often write about my faults'"], ''The Independent'', 28 November 2008</ref>