Conference for a Shared Future
On the eve of last year’s conference in Brighton, there was a Queen on the throne, a Johnson in Downing Street, and few had heard of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Now, as we gather in Liverpool, the political landscape that Keir Starmer surveys is changed utterly. As he rehearses his big speech in front of the mirror, he […]
The Tories Live in the Past, Labour’s Time is Now
As we head to my hometown for Labour conference this week, it is time for all of us to stop being so tolerant of our time in opposition. Here’s why: Liz Truss thinks she is the new Margaret Thatcher, or at least, wants to dress up like her. But 12 years of Tory politics-as-play-acting is more […]
How Labour Can Win the Economic Argument
When the public believes the government can’t be trusted to make their family better off the opposition is given a golden chance to win the next election. Our current economic crisis, coming after a decade of stagnation, means that Labour now has an opportunity to win. But victory is not guaranteed. Winning means telling a […]
Remembering Giles Radice: A One-Man Think Tank
Keir Starmer celebrates his sixtieth birthday this weekend. When he’s blown out his candles, maybe he will consider the past couple of years. The opinion polls show a remarkable turnaround in Labour’s standing since the wasteland of 2019, especially on economic competence. Starmer has brought Labour back from the dead. This week’s national executive results […]
New New Labour? Values-based Social Democracy
Following the recent electoral victories of Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Anthony Albanese and Jacinda Ardern, with further victories on the cards in Brazil and the UK, it looks like, after a period in the wilderness, social democrats are back. This is a welcome development, but all of the incumbents (perhaps bar Albanese) are under threat. […]
Connectivity Conflicts and the Contest for Cyberpower: On the Age of Unpeace
Last month the head of Britain’s MI5 joined his counterpart at the American FBI to issue an unprecedented warning. China, he said, represents the single greatest threat to the economic and national security of the West. The threat comes not only from the increasing role Chinese state capital plays in global circuits of commodities and […]
Tone Deaf Tories Oblivious to the Tsunami About to Hit Britain
Gaby Hinsliff writing in last Friday’s Guardian talks of the emotional detachment of frontrunner Liz Truss – widely tipped to be the next Prime Minister. Displaying about as much empathy as a bowl of custard Truss, according to Hinsliff, shows “a curious emotional detachment, or inability to factor into her calculations how things feel to […]
Should we nationalise energy to tackle the cost of living crisis?
Britain needs a plan to tackle the soaring cost of energy that has resulted from the war in Ukraine. Having initially set the agenda with the Windfall Tax, Labour is bringing forward a package of cost of living measures next week. It will contain proposals to end the disparity between the costs of prepayment meters […]
Manufacturing’s Coming Home? Manufacturing Under the Next Labour Government
Having seen and experienced working life within UK manufacturing, from my father’s clothes manufacturing plant through to large multi-sited organisations providing goods to the food, pharma, retail and technical markets, I am a firm believer in UK manufacturing and the potential it offers. A Labour government can only shape the future by recognising opportunities to […]
The Labour Party Is A Party For Government, Not Protest
Only the most cynical or the most naïve people parrot the lie that Sam Tarry was ‘sacked for appearing on a picket line.’ If that was even a little bit true then Lisa Nandy would have been out on her ear, along with several other frontbenchers over this summer of discontent. We all know Tarry was […]