Fresh thinking that provides the policies and ideas to help us move towards a Good Society
Transforming society is complex and demands we work constructively with others. To do that we must appreciate the assumptions that drive their thinking and behaviour. So said David Bohm in his seminal treatise On Dialogue. In the quest to build alliances for radical change, perspective is...
For about 18 months following the May 2017 General Election there had been an electoral stalemate of the Conservative and Labour parties, both obtaining about 40 percent of voting intentions. During 2019 this electoral binary has given way to a highly unusual ‘four-way’ party situation...
Our democracy is under more pressure than ever - from social and economic polarisation, climate change, ageing, new technology and globalisation. As it creaks and groans, it opens up the space for political responses that at best demand a simpler democracy. Populism, of the left or the...
This thinkpiece discusses ‘Common Platforms’ (CP) as a new stage of a progressive, collaborative, participatory and alliance-based politics. Common Platforms extend the strategy of the ‘Progressive Alliance’, which found expression as an anti-Tory electoral pact in the 2017...
Basic Income for All: From Desirability to Feasibility This paper examines some options for the introduction of a basic income scheme in the UK. It seeks to answer the central practical criticism that the payment levels are either too small to make a difference or too generous to be...
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How would a Good Society look and feel? And how do we move towards it? Read our blog, comment, share and get involved in the debate.
We have woken up to the UK’s biggest democratic and political crisis of modern times. Our Government is not serving our Parliament. Our democracy is not serving us, the people.
Yes, of course this has something to do with Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, but they are distractions...
As progressives, our mission is to create a path out of our deep political and democratic crisis, built with meaningful hope.
However, our progressive movement keeps failing to build from firm enough foundations, opting instead for shortcuts, so we end up addressing the symptoms and not the...
The long-term trend away from the two-party model has been exacerbated by Brexit. First-past-the-post voting still artificially inflates support for Labour and the Tories, but we clearly live in a multi-party system.
Our new publication, Uncertain Terrain by Ken Spours, unpicks the current...
A Remain Alliance is not the same as a Progressive Alliance. That’s what we said when we were asked for our view on the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election and it’s what’s keeping us awake at night.
Because of course, a snap general election handing extended power to a Johnson-led...
Compass was recently invited to a roundtable hosted by Compassion in Politics, a campaign group formed in 2018 by Jennifer Nadel and Matt Hawkins out of a deep concern that values such as compassion and kindness seem to have no place in political life and that, unsurprisingly, the public have...
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Taking action where you are to make a Good Society a reality
Saturday 6 April 2019: Watch a recording of the opening panel. Watch a recording of the closing panel. Right now, finally, the moment has arrived for radical change to our democracy and our political system is shaping itself. At Westminster, the realignment looks too much like...
It is time for a very different form of democracy.
This means more than a few tweaks to the existing democratic system: we need a fundamental recasting of relationship with power, defined as the ability to act. Can the state stop doing change to people and start to work with them, in...
Join Neal Lawson, Andrew George, Barry Langford and Andree Frieze for the launch of South West Surrey Compass' book A New Way of Doing Politics - working together to challenge a "safe" Tory seat - about their progressive alliance campaign at the General Election. Sign up and buy your copy...
Join Neal Lawson and co-leader of the Green Party Sian Berry to discuss the current status of progressive politics and cross-party co-operation. Hosted by Newham Compass, the event is free to attend and all are welcome. Come be part of the debate!
Britain’s next Government must be a progressive one. And it can’t be shy. We need to radically break away from almost everything the Tory Government stands for. This challenge is too big, too important for one party to have all the answers. This is why we’re inviting progressives from all...
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