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SubscriptionsAuthor: Neal Lawson
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Four Day Weeks, Andy Burnham and the Death of Labour Dreams
On policy and raw politics, Keir Starmer’s leadership is crushing dreams of a better world, argues Mainstream co-founder Neal Lawson
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Budget 2025: ‘Rachel Reeves Bakes an Economic Pudding With No Theme’
The seeds of the Government’s current political and economic difficulties were sown a long time ago, argues Neal Lawson
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‘How to Stop Labour’s Autumn of Discontent Turning Into Farage’s Winter of Despair’
Keir Starmer’s Government must learn the lessons of history, or risk paving the way for an authoritarian future under Nigel Farage and Reform, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Morgan McSweeney’s Factional Labour Takeover Has Left Keir Starmer Looking Increasingly Alone’
Labour’s conference showed a party leadership doubling down on a strategy that has left the Prime Minister with few remaining supporters either in or outside the party, argues Neal Lawson
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‘What’s the Point of the Lib Dems in a Post-Liberal Era?’
As Ed Davey’s Party gathers for its annual conference, Neal Lawson asks whether the party can still prosper in an increasingly illiberal political era
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‘There Is Still Time to Save the Labour Party From Itself and Forge a New Political Mainstream’
Keir Starmer is presiding over the decline of social democracy in Britain, but an alternative path is still possible, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Progressive Parties Must Start Working Together or Concede the Next General Election to the Nationalist Right’
If parties on the left can’t find a way of working together, then the Conservatives and Reform will, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Why Optimism of the Intellect Is Needed to Counter Britain’s Spiral Into Despair’
From public support for progressive policies to the courage of Palestine Action defenders, signs of a better future are emerging despite Labour’s authoritarian drift, argues Compass director Neal Lawson
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‘A Government That Crushes Dissent and Eliminates Hope Will Never Prosper’
The authoritarian impulse to eliminate disagreement and dampen hope will only push voters towards the extremes, argues Neal Lawson
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The New Left: Could a Jeremy Corbyn Led Party Really Break the Duopoly?
There are huge barriers to creating new parties of the left, but it just might be possible, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Progressives Must Unite Against Nigel Farage and National Populism or Reform Will Win’
Neal Lawson on the series of numbers that really matter in UK politics right now
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‘Keir Starmer Is Out of His Depth and Out of His Time’
The Prime Minister’s recent troubles expose how badly our political leaders have lost touch with the shifting demands of the modern era, argues Neal Lawson
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Labour Apart: How Morgan McSweeney Levered the Left Out of Power
The story of how Keir Starmer’s chief adviser hoodwinked Labour party members tells us a lot about how power really works, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Seven Reasons the Left Keeps on Losing’
Progressives need to learn these lessons from the national populists in order to defeat them, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Why the Critics of University Expansion May Have Had a Point’
Opening up higher education to half the country hasn’t been quite the progressive boon we were promised, argues Neal Lawson
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‘The Cold Electoral Cynicism Behind Keir Starmer’s Blue Labour Strategy’
The Prime Minister’s advisers believe that when push comes to shove most progressive voters will have no real choice but to vote Labour, and they may be right, argues Neal Lawson
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‘We Are Witnessing the Slow Death of Two Party Politics’
UK politics is approaching a tipping point where the failing duopoly that has governed Britain for many decades finally comes to an end, argues Neal Lawson
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‘What Is the Point of Labour Winning the Next General Election if It Governs as Reform-Lite?’
The political strategy being pursued by Keir Starmer and his advisers means that whichever party comes first in 2029, Nigel Farage wins, argues Neal Lawson
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‘The Anti-Democratic Tyranny of the Office For Budget Responsibility’
A decades-long trend of outsourcing democratic decisions to unaccountable institutions like the OBR is leading Britain towards ruin, argues Neal Lawson
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Spring Statement: ‘Rachel Reeves Must Remember What Labour Is Actually For’
Unless the Labour party reconnects with its founding economic mission, they will merely lay the ground for a Nigel Farage Government, argues Neal Lawson
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‘No-One Voted for These Cruel Cuts – We Need a Wealth Tax Instead’
Keir Starmer must change course from this performative cruelty towards the sick and disabled, argues Neal Lawson
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Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and the Myth of Liberal ‘Returnism’
If liberal centrists on both sides of the Atlantic simply keep waiting for politics to return to “normal” they risk a very rude awakening, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Anneliese Dodds’s Principled Resignation Should Be a Warning for Keir Starmer’
The International Development Secretary’s departure was overshadowed by world events this week, but it risks having a much longer lasting impact on the Government’s fortunes, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer Must Embrace Proportional Representation and End the Coercive Duopoly Throttling Our Democracy’
Britain will never truly change for the better as long as Britain’s deeply unfair voting system remains in place, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer’s Blue Labour Strategy Is an Electoral Dead End for His Government’
Labour’s attempt to mimic Nigel Farage’s Reform on immigration is a fundamental misunderstanding of its electoral base, argues Neal Lawson
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‘This One London School Offers a Beacon of Hope for Transforming Our Education System’
This is a real time petri dish experiment on how to transform Britain’s education system, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer’s Shallow-Rooted Political Project Is Already Starting to Topple’
By ripping out his party’s ideological roots in exchange for power, the Labour leader’s premiership has been left deeply vulnerable to the coming storm, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves Must Abandon Their Trumpian Obsession with Economic Growth’
Prioritising growth over all other considerations will only widen economic inequality and deepen already cavernous social crises, argues Neal Lawson
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‘A Simple Ban on Political Lying Could Radically Transform Our Politics’
Just one small step would trigger a whole series of positive changes to democratic life in the UK, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer Must Join a Progressive Alliance for a Fairer Voting System or Get Steamrollered by a Reform-Conservative Pact’
The Labour Government is heading for an electoral reckoning unless it backs a more proportional voting system, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Keir Starmer Must Ditch the Politics of Deliverism and Put the People Back in Charge’
The Prime Minister’s new target-driven ‘Plan for Change’ is based on a badly outdated view of how the modern world actually works, argues Neal Lawson
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‘If Reheated Blairism Is Keir Starmer’s Answer to Donald Trump Then He Is Asking the Wrong Questions’
The UK Government is dominated by figures from a discredited past at a time of radical global change, argues Neal Lawson
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Trump’s Victory: ‘The British Left Has Been Warned of a Far-Right Future’
The UK needs a revolution in the way politics and democracy works – starting with proportional representation, writes Neal Lawson
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‘Labour Should Fight Nigel Farage in Clacton – We’re Sitting on a Democratic Powder Keg and the Reform Leader has the Match’
“We’ve heard a lot in the campaign about D-Day. If ever there was a time to fight them on the beaches, then this is it.”
