It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change. Miles Davis 'Nobody has all the answers but all of…
21 Oct, 2020
20 Oct, 2020
How the system hurts UK democracy
Shortly after the UK general election of December 2019 I wrote a policy article for the spring 2020 edition of Global Discourse, setting out what my involvement in politics has taught…
14 Oct, 2020
Responding, building and transforming collaboratively in Barking and Dagenham
The Covid-19 crisis has challenged everyone, not least local government. Many councils have struggled to cope with the fallout from the virus, while others, like Barking & Dagenham, have managed…
02 Oct, 2020
What does it mean to be a progressive?
“Progressive” is a word that we use a lot at Compass to describe who we are and what we stand for. But it is an especially ambitious term and perhaps…
24 Sep, 2020
COVID-19 and the crisis of care
The coronavirus outbreak is a new global crisis. Yet the current crisis is not only the result of a new pathogen circulating around the world: it is also a crisis…
21 Sep, 2020
Who ever thought it was going to be easy
As Labour’s replacement for a party conference ‘Labour Connected’ meets online, Mark Perryman reflects on what’s Left of Keir Starmer. ‘Labour is haemorrhaging Left-wing activists. Will it survive?’ This was…
17 Sep, 2020
Working differently within our current democratic structures
Grace Barnett’s recently published Compass paper, 'Democracy, Participation and Civil Society' contains wonderful examples of pioneers of the “cultural infrastructure for a new democratic settlement”, all with the aim to…
10 Sep, 2020
What comes after Richard Leonard for Scottish Labour? Time for an Independent Labour Party
Scottish Labour once seemed to have an ironclad grip on Scottish politics, winning election after election, and seeing off opponents whether it was Tories, SNP or the occasional Lib Dem.…
09 Sep, 2020
Green choices – hard choices
Congratulations to Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley for winning the leadership of the Green Party. But now the party has chosen its leaders and placed its trust, it must make…
03 Sep, 2020
Working together or falling apart?
Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party was undoubtedly controversial. But it shouldn't be overlooked that under his tenure, membership grew to levels not seen for decades, the party was…
27 Aug, 2020
The Lib Dems: new leadership, new politics?
Is this a new opportunity for realignment in UK politics? With only 11 MPs, polling around 7% and against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, you can see why the…
17 Aug, 2020
Universal Basic Income & Universal Basic Services: How can we bring them together?
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is not a new idea but has recently gained some credence, with interest in possible pilot studies shown by the Scottish national government and one UK…