This weekend the Fabian Society will relocate from its home of over eighty years to new premises. From Monday 17th June 2013 our new mailing address will be: Fabian Society, 61 Petty France, London, SW1H 9EU Please note: during the relocation there may be problems reaching us via telephone or email. If you can’t contact…
Politics can be overflowing with gurus at times. And it’s sometimes hard to tell who might be a flash in the pan rather than the next Beatrice Webb. So it’s worth reflecting on those who have genuinely changed the political landscape, both its narrative and the practical politics that flows from the story they are…
Ed Miliband may have just pulled off the most unexpected trick of all: delivering a populist Labour stance on welfare. New research by the Fabian Society and the charity Crisis published today showed that there is overwhelming public support for a programme to tackle the root causes of housing benefit spending. Not only is this…
David Cameron came to power promising to protect the NHS and also badged his coalition as ‘the greenest government ever’. Both promises have, to a large extent, become a source of ridicule for the coalition. But on both the NHS and on the environment, targets are currently a source of real concern for the prime…
Introduction This short paper, based on data, examines how the marginal constituencies which will decide the next General Election voted in the 2013 local elections. The 2013 elections took place for the most part in the least Labour-inclined parts of England. They were disproportionately southern and rural, and as well as being areas of traditional…
They say that when you know you’re going to die, you don’t remember the deadlines or the car you had, you don’t wish you’d worked harder or saved more or eaten more fibre – you remember the kisses, the long sprawling days in the park with your friends, the people you loved and who loved…
The successes of Nigel Farage and UKIP in the recent local elections have already provoked much analysis. In particular, the three main parties are now engaging in an intensive period of soul searching as they think hard about how best to counter the numbers of voters opting for the anti-establishment, anti-EU party. A central component…
Many people may remain unaware of the seismic reforms to the benefits system due to be rolled out from October next year and many of the finer details have yet to be ironed out but the public debate about universal credit (the new welfare system which will replace tax credit and most out-of-work benefits) appears…
The recent Fabian/YouGov polling, of people who do not vote, paints a bleak picture of this disengaged society. The findings have implications that go far beyond the political sphere, though. Not voting is a symptom of fragmentation of culture: it is not just a lack of engagement in politics, but a lack of participation in…
In 1974 Tony Crosland, the leading post-war Labour party intellectual, wrote his last major work, Socialism Now. Three years later he was dead. The title can be meant in two ways. The first is an analysis of socialism (or social democracy) in contemporary conditions, an evaluation of the recent past and of the best way…
Yesterday, at the kind request of Conservative Home, I tried to put partisanship to one side and think clearly about how best to tackle some of the big questions facing politics come 2015. Now, this being Conservative Party Conference, my thoughts naturally turned to Europe. In a nutshell my case was this: An in/out referendum:…
A year ago, the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed their commitment to community politics. This is more than a campaigning methodology; indeed, to quote from the book that started it all (Bernard Greaves and Gordon Lishman’s The Theory and Practice of Community Politics): “Community politics is not a technique. It is an ideology, a system of ideas…
Despite their differences in views, it seems all the party conferences see the issue of apprenticeships as a popular fringe topic. It came up again at a Fabian Society roundtable, which I attended while at the Labour conference in Manchester. Why this so topical? It seems odd, doesn’t it, given these are tough financial challenging…
‘One nation’ Labour. What a blinder. I am brimming over in admiration for Ed Miliband and his team for this most audacious of rhetorical land grabs. Not because it was a cheeky, clever conference week headline but because it provides the organising concept to drive Labour’s political and intellectual renewal. One nation works because in…
All politics is local seems to be the unsurprising, yet insightful, finding of the Fabian’s polling of non-voters. If politicians want to encourage people back to the ballot box they need to spend “more time doing good work in my neighbourhood” as opposed to only turning up on the doorstep at election time. This truth…
RT @sophie_kside: Looking forward to joining @youngfabians in Portcullis House later to discuss solutions to the #CareCrisis RT @steve_race: Thanks to @denmarkinuk and Ambassador Steffenson for hosting the @youngfabians reception with @DMiliband last night - a fantastic event.
RT @v_butler: Great @youngfabians policy commission event on the UK's care crisis tonight https://t.co/dmS4S6fiha @FelicitySlater RT @jhallwood: Should the UK intervene in Syria? If so directly or indirectly? Maybe not at all? Answer @youngfabians poll here: http://t.co/sHe6bWkuDJ RT @tessreidy: @DMiliband great speech last night, good to meet you again @youngfabians @denmarkinuk RT @FelicitySlater: Tonight, @PatrickDiamond1 joins @youngfabians for 'care crisis' policy discussion. Come along! https://t.co/ckPui6jRtH