News & Insight

7 June 2012

In modern societies 'debt' refers to an economic relationship of incomplete exchange, based on the expectation that it will, at some point, be closed through repayment. As this relationship extends indefinitely into the future the institution of debt is intimately...

31 May 2012

Ed Miliband made Tom Watson an offer he couldn’t refuse when he asked him to become Labour’s campaign co-ordinator. The Brownite heavy-hitter tells Mary Riddell he has a surprising source of inspiration: Peter Mandelson.   Arriving at Tom Watson’s office, I...

29 May 2012

When the US bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks he replied “because it’s where the money is.”  Political parties need also to be looking “where the seats are” and examining reality rather than falling for mythology.That...

28 May 2012

In the basement of the Fabian Society offices sit a series of archive shelves that slide around like something out of an Indiana Jones library set. When in the basement waiting for a printing job to finish, I occasionally flick...

25 May 2012

The Beveridge Report, the inspiration for post-1945 social security, is the obvious place to start when considering common ground between the political thinking of Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Grounded in decades of Fabian research, writing and argument the post-war...

24 May 2012

It is June 2015, and the European prime ministers are meeting to discuss how the European parliament can represent European parties, instead of national parties. Prime minister Ed Miliband speaks at the airport and then off he goes to meet...