It may be worth examining the developing countries' experience of urban development for lessons to apply to Britain. A major difference is that in Britain housing and related services are treated as fully established social sectoral concerns. This 'welfare monism' is institutionalised and obscures the complex relationships between employment and housing. In the Third World social service programmes are less likely to obscure the policymakers' understanding of employment opportunities, class alignment and the ambiguities of state intervention. The attempt to slow London's growth and to develop new towns shows the contradictions which arise when policies for the redirection of employment and policies for social welfare provision are treated separately, even when their relationship in practice is demonstrated.