Labour is further from regaining political power than it thinks. The 8th June pattern of electoral support highlights four major weaknesses for the party – the loss of white working class votes; a weak performance in English towns, a dependence on Remain voters and an over-reliance on young...

Few issues divide progressives as much as Brexit. Jon Bloomfield's new piece tries to find a way through the challenges and possibilities of a progressive Brexit, and its implications for the Left. This is the first in a series of pieces on the subject of our new relationship with the...

In his new thinkpiece, David Edgar explores the growing polarisation between cosmopolitan and communitarian values and perspectives. Both exist within each of us and within our political culture but increasingly, communitarianism and cosmopolitanianism are deemed opposites and even...

Study your political adversary While the Conservatives have driven UK politics for the best part of a decade, the Left has spent precious little time analysing the strategy and condition of the political adversary. Moreover, the Tories are still in power, albeit it weakly and, conversely,...

This has to be a General Election fought like no other. If we fight it the old way, the Tories will win a massive victory – not just for themselves and the interests they represent, but for the hardest of Brexits. We have to fight differently. We have to fight together. We have to fight...

Read the full publication 'The Progressive Alliance: why the SNP needs it' here The refusal of the May government to countenance any differential deal for Scotland post Brexit now means we are counting down to the next referendum on Scottish independence. Winning that will be our top...

Our Past and Present Reality

Although the Labour Party has existed for over a century, only once have we actually come from opposition to win a convincing parliamentary majority. No, it was not in 1945, when Labour had been part of the wartime coalition government for 5 years already. The only...

This article is aimed at outlining a strategy to create authentically progressive communities, and help them to spread values such as social justice within society. Through the creation of progressive communities, individuals would have the possibility to perform social roles that are consistent...

Most misunderstandings concerning basic income arise from exaggeration about what a basic income can or ought to achieve. This is illustrated in reasonable points raised by Ruth Lister in her recent piece in this series. For me the basic income addresses some fundamental problems in...

At the end of the film Terminator 2 Sarah Connor looks across the New Mexico desert and says ‘there is a storm coming’. That storm is here. The aftermath of Storm Doris is nothing compared to the aftermath of the political storm sweeping our country.  Last night it tore through Labour in...

I was for a time a serious competitive middle distance runner, nurtured on the mantra of the great Franz Stampfl who coached Bannister to the four minute mile: “Go on until you want to die .. and then .. sprint.” Success coming out of despair.

Does the current political situation drive us...

After Thomas Paine published Agrarian Justice in 1795, it was for a long time thought to contain one of the earliest proposals for a form of basic income. He proposed a grant for young households and pensions for all over 50. But Thomas Spence went the whole way and proposed an unconditional...