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…
Andy Burnham’s plan to integrate health and social care is the boldest idea to emerge from Labour’s policy review so far. If he can convince his shadow cabinet colleagues to back it, can he convince the country in 2015? “The Labour party is going to have to decide how ambitious it wants to be,” he…
The idea of the ‘squeezed middle’ is at the heart of today’s political debates about economic recovery and living standards. It’s a pithy phrase reflecting evidence that people in the middle of the income distribution have seen their incomes stagnate while the costs of living keeps rising. But almost all the recent discussion and analysis…
When I was growing up the north east was the UK’s industrial powerhouse. Quite literally: the coal which fed the power stations which fuelled our industry was beneath our feet. Across Newcastle, the end of the school year would see thousands of school leavers walking straight into apprenticeships in the shipyards or the factories. At…
The central message of this collection is that the ground has shifted. The financial crisis discredited the neoliberal agenda, which had been in the ascendant since the 1980s. European social democracy found itself on the back foot, having bought into the dominant paradigm through the centrist approaches of the third way and the neue mitte….
The surprising joy of Ed Milliband’s party conference coinage of ‘one nation’ Labour is that it invokes and requires a number of concrete choices about how we govern ourselves. It is a genuine political intervention and requires a considered political response. Happily, these choices – about national identity, the politics of the common good and…
We are living through not one but two crises of capitalism. The first one – the economic crisis which has followed the financial crash of 2008 – everyone knows about. The second is less familiar. This is the crisis of the global environment. Of course environmentalists have been warning of ‘environmental crisis’ for over 50…
Ed Miliband is right: when it comes to Europe it’s the same old Tories – a divided party and a weak prime minister. In his speech tomorrow, Cameron will seek to appease his vociferous Eurosceptics and by doing so, put his party before Britain. Leaders from across the world are asking him to care more…
It was a very proud moment for me to hear the Labour party leader, Ed Miliband, mention me in his speech to the Fabian New Year Conference last Saturday, following my submission on the Your Britain website. I suggested how Labour should create policy which will deliver a private-rented sector which works positively for families…
Today over 1,000 delegates gather at the Fabian Society’s annual conference to hear Ed Miliband and his frontbench team set out their stall for 2013. The Labour faithful come together at the start of the year in far better spirits than 12 months ago, when the two big parties were neck-and-neck in the polls. Since…
It is great to be here at the Fabians. Today I want to talk to you about the idea of One Nation. The idea of a country which we rebuild together, where everyone plays their part. It is not an idea rooted in Fabian pamphlets. Though I bow to nobody in being an avid reader…
RT @IPPR_KayteL: Don't legislate for a living wage - me and @mtpennycook via @thefabians http://t.co/cCaWIUWLYZ .@mtpennycook and @IPPR_KayteL on keeping the living wage alive
http://t.co/KqRvZtk33L
Sincere condolences to the victim and his family. To our members and everyone in London & beyond, keep safe & stay united. RT @joelmullan: Great first meeting of @youngfabians youth unemployment group this evening. Lots of enthusiasm and creative thinking. Well done @AlvinCarpio RT @GraemeAH: Think North of England has way more public sector jobs than South? Think again - My @leftfootfwd post http://t.co/ul2g7JKiJY #MYTHBUSTING RT @AlvinCarpio: Good morning @thefabians. Looking forward to the first meeting tonight for the @youngfabians policy commission on #youthunemployment #YUteam