In an exclusive and edited extract from the new book The Corbyn Effect Mark Perryman argues there are similarities but important differences too. Alan Freeman in his 1982 book The Benn Heresy described the mood in the Labour Party while Jeremy Corbyn was getting ready to stand for the first time as Labour’s candidate for […]
Posts under ‘Labour’
Eternal Corbynism
Sep 22nd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Long to reign over us? The decision of Labour’s National Executive Committee this week to lower the Labour leadership ballot threshold to 10% and set up a review into party democracy headed by Katy Clark is a welcome advance for Corbynism. Not only does Corbynism now stand a better chance of continuing after Jeremy, the extra […]
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Labour needs a Corbynista leadership in Scotland
Sep 13th, 2017 by Barry Gray.The Scottish Labour leadership contest this autumn is important for the entire Labour Party in Britain, because how the party performs in Scotland will be a significant factor in whether Labour can form the next UK government. For Labour to win it is vital Scottish Labour improves on its poor performances at the 2015 and […]
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Towards a National Pharmaceutical Service
Sep 10th, 2017 by Chris MacMackin.There are some problems which are too big for the private sector to handle. I’ve given extensive arguments explaining why this is the case for climate change and why solutions will require public ownership of energy. However, there is another set of less well known problems which are going to require similar state action: those […]
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Labour Policy and Annual Conference
Sep 8th, 2017 by David Pavett.After the politically stultifying years of Blair/Brown and its aftermath under Miliband, Labour members voted for a left-wing leader in 2015. This was a palace revolution without a changing of the guard. All the old structures and place-holders remain largely unchanged. They were, and are, either incompatible or largely hostile to the new leadership as […]
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NPF Report reviews – Work, Pensions and Equality
Sep 4th, 2017 by Rory O'Kelly.Serious discussions of Social Security policy start from a few fundamental questions. One is the balance between contributions and means-testing as a basis for entitlement, another the balance between vertical redistribution, from richer to poorer, and horizontal redistribution, between different stages in the life cycle. A third is the relationship between the social security welfare […]
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NPF Report reviews: Health & Care
Aug 31st, 2017 by Brian Gibbons.There is nothing like a snap General Election to shake health and care priorities out a thicket of possible options and fuzzy thinking. And like the rest of the document, the health and care proposals in the Labour Manifesto struck a chord with the wider public and with health and social care staff. The headline […]
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NPF Reports review: Housing
Aug 30th, 2017 by Duncan Bowie.Housing, which was covered by the Communities policy commission, is now incorporated within the Housing, Local Government and Transport Policy Commission. It has met three times between February and April. Given the breadth of this remit, there appear to only have been a limited focus on housing issues. According to the annual report, concern about […]
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Brexit: some questions
Aug 29th, 2017 by Peter Rowlands.1) To what extent would a hard Brexit result in a substantial economic downturn from which no recovery would be likely in the short term? The answer depends on the deal/or none that is eventually concluded. It could be that the EU offers a free trade deal, on the grounds that not to do so […]
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NPF reports review: Environment, Energy, and Transport
Aug 22nd, 2017 by Chris MacMackin.For reasons best known to themselves, the National Policy Forum has decided to group culture with energy and environmental policy. Meanwhile transport, which is a significant energy consumer and pollution source, is placed with housing and local government. To provide some coherence, I will review transport alongside environment and energy, leaving culture to someone who […]
