One of the themes in the author's long friendship with Bleddyn Davies is that he has often sought to get him to admit that British social care services, particularly provision for older people in the community, are distinctly limited and unhelpful compared with those available in other European countries. The essence of author's position is that the particular character of social care services in the United Kingdom (UK) is the product of a long-established 'administrative politics of social care'. Crudely put, the evolution of social care policy in Britain has been an incremental non-public affair that has taken place largely among administrators, beyond the reach of even party politics, and behind the secretive doors of local government and Whitehall. Sweden may have reached the limits of benefits to be gained from an open, consensual politics of care. Future gains may require more secretive and unpopular investments in productivity and a difficult political time until the profits accrue.