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New documentary charts the struggle to defend the welfare state
GLYN ROBBINS is impressed by a film about the campaigns to protect the social benefits won over decades

PENSIONERS UNITED opens with Tony Benn describing the NHS as “pure socialism.” This marks the fundamental theme of Hazuan Hashim and Phil Maxwell’s 90-minute documentary.
Using extensive footage and interviews with grassroots campaigners, the film argues that we’re in a critical fight to defend the post-war welfare state.
The fact that most of the people making that argument are old enough to have seen dramatic changes in our society only adds weight.
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