Il premier britannico, Gordon Brown, ha inviato una lettera alla Fabian Society, felicitandosi dell'impegno dei Fabians nella lotta alla povertà ed esprimendo il suo vivo sostegno alla Conference "Fighting Poverty and Inequality in an Age of Affluence", che si è tenuta a Londra lo scorso 21 febbraio per commemorare il Minority Report di Beatrice Webb. Critica Sociale ha presenziato all'evento. "Mi scuso per non essere con voi oggi, ma attendo con attenzione i risultati dei lavori della conferenza", ha scritto Brown. Ecco il testo originale della lettera:

Sometimes ideas are more than simple passing notions – some areinsurrections in the human imagination, ways of looking at the worldwhich once unleashed mean society can never be the same again. So itwas with Beatrice Webb's 1909 Minority Report to the Royal Commissionon the Poor. The report was a landmark moment in the history ofpolitical ideas; the first call for not just the abolition of theworkhouse but for its replacement with a modern welfare state andnational health service.
These ideas of 1909 and the public argumentwhich they began were to guide the post war Labour government as theyset about the most radical transformation of Britain in half a century.

Whilethe politics and policy challenges of the global age are often verydifferent, it is right that we should be inspired in our tasks by theprogressive giants who came before. So I salute the efforts of theFabian Society and Webb Memorial Trust in commemorating this centenaryand asking how the ideas and campaigns of a century ago can inspirethis generation as we work to build in this place and in our time thatwhich Fabians have always dreamed of: the fair society.
I'm sorry not to be with you today but look forward to hearing the results of your deliberations.

With warm best wishes,