How to get the election year right

Editor: Tom Hampson, Assistant Editor: Ed Wallis

Fabian Review Volume 121, no 4

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The Fabian Review New Year Conference special previews the politics of 2010. This is clearly going to be a make-or-break political year, so the Fabian Review considers some of the key challenges that will shape not only the next election, but the longer term inquest into where next for the left.

Will Straw argues that to build a new winning coalition we need to understand a changing electorate; Jonathan Rutherford calls for a radical vision of the state; Denis MacShane comments on the demise of debate within politics; James Crabtree says we need to generate a range of new ideas and approaches for the left; Stella Creasy says that Labour must set progressive benchmarks for the Tories; Sunder Katwala highlights the need for a more imaginative Labour manifesto; Mary Riddell interviews Alistair Darling; and Julian Le Grand stands up for the Child Trust Fund.

200 days of power (and how Labour should use it)

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As the last Conference season before the election begins, the Fabian Review asks how Labour can use the pulpit of power for the next 200 days. With the polls making increasingly grim reading for Labour, the magazine argues that a decent offer to the country can still be made if governing power is used in a bold and effective way.

Sunder Katwala sets out a strategy for using 200 days of power; Mary Riddell interviews Labour's election coordinator Douglas Alexander; Yvette Cooper shows that Labour can still win, while Peter Kellner says we must prepare for the worst; James Macintyre, Dan Paskins and Ed Wallis look at the various election battlegrounds; and Oona King says we need a digital democracy.

This issue also features exclusive polling in which women deliver a tough message for Labour on public services.

Red Shoots: In search of ideas for the next left

Editor: Tom Hampson, Assistant Editor: Ed Wallis

Fabian Review Volume 121, no 2

£4.95

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With a series of political and economic shocks having rendered Labour’s intellectual foundations shaky at best, this special issue of the Fabian Review aims to pick up the pieces and kick start the Labour brain. The magazine looks at the next big ideas – the ones that are not solely or even primarily focused on winning Labour the next election, but look beyond that to how we want to shape our political and economic future.

Inside, Mary Riddell interviews parliament’s premier penseur Jon Cruddas ; Home Secretary Alan Johnson talks constitutional reform; Larry Whitty says we have to revise our view of the state; Claire Fox issues a plea for idealism; Stuart White sets out how the left can bring ownership back in; Jessica Asato reviews New Labour; Nick Anstead looks at new approaches to new issues; and Richard Reeves warns against stifling the market. The magazine also includes exclusive polling by You Gov on the state of our democracy, and a feature on what not to spend in the recession.

Family Values

Editor: Tom Hampson, Assistant Editor: Ed Wallis

Fabian Review Volume 121, no 1

£4.95

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The politics of the family has always been problematic for the left. The right has consistently owned the political territory with its clear and simple message on the primacy of the married, nuclear family.

This issue of the Fabian Review looks at how to redress this historic imbalance and forge a new progressive narrative on the family. In the magazine, Mary Riddell interviews Iain Duncan Smith, Tim Horton exposes the contradictions in Tory thinking on the family and shows where the left needs to look for a new message; Chair of the education Select Committee Barry Sheerman calls on elected officials to commit to using the same community schools their constituents send their children to; pensions minister Kitty Ussher looks at Labour’s position on marriage and argues for a focus on the relationships themselves rather than their structure; Kathryn White says we should scrap maternity and paternity leave and replace it with joint parental leave; Denis MacShane argues that the royal family are in many ways typical of families in Britain; and Kate Bell visits marriage promotion groups in America and reports that the recession might necessitate a change in their approach.

Now or Never

Editor: Tom Hampson, Assistant Editor: Ed Wallis

Fabian Review Volume 120, no 4

£4.95

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This winter, the Fabian Review says that - as we enter a recession - we need fairness now more than ever. In this special issue, which ties in with our New Year Conference, ‘Fairness Doesn’t Happen By Chance’, we present a range of specific proposals for ensuring fairness is at the heart of government’s response. Among others, the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, John McFall, argues for tax allowances to take millions of low paid people out of the tax system; David Coats shows how to tackle City bonuses; Chris Leslie advocates local authority mortgages; from the City, Rachel Reeves argues that government should print more money; Cabinet Office Minister Liam Byrne says that we need to do far more on social mobility, and Rachel Briggs says we musn’t forget the middle classes, who have been at the heart of New Labour’s historic coalition. Available from January 7th 2009.

Must Labour Lose?
Editor: Tom Hampson,  Editorial Assistant: Milly Getachew
Fabian Review Vol 120, no 3
ISSN 1356 1812
£4.95

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This autumn party conference issue of the Fabian Review is the Progressive Fightback Issue.  Fabian Research Director Tim Horton exposes the truth about the Tories and taxation, pollster Peter Kellner gives us reasons to be cheerful, William Higham writes on welfare in a credit crunch, and in an exclusive interview James Purnell talks about Labour values.  In Books Catherine Fieschi reviews Thaler and Sunstein's Nudge and Robert Cooper reviews Mark Leonard's What Does China Think? And in the Fabian Fairness special we have agenda-setting work from Jon Trickett, David Lammy, Fiona Mactaggart, and Stella Creasy.  (You can read a sneak preview of Peter Kellner's article here and Jon Trickett's piece here.)  All this and much much more – the Fabian Review is available from Wednesday 17 September from the Fabian Society office, or annual subscription is FREE to all Fabian Society members.  For more information contact the Fabian Society on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 020 7227 4900, or join the Fabians for the very best in political thinking and for invitations to exclusive events, debates, and receptions.

Editor: Tom Hampson, Books Editor: Hannah Jameson

Fabian Review Vol 120, no 2

ISSN 1356 1812

£4.95

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This summer the Fabian Review exposes and explores Britain's class taboos.  This issue of the Fabian Review features exclusive interviews with David Blunkett and Professor David Cannadine, and a series of pioneering policy recommendations including Tom Hampson's controversial work on class hate and the word "chav" .  Fabian Society members receive a copy of this Review, and an annual subscription to all issues of the Fabian Review, free with membership.  Not a member?  Join today: contact the Fabian Office on 020 7227 4900 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or beat the queues and join online here.

In This Issue:

Fabian Society Senior Research Fellow Louise Bamfield asks some probing questions about class and equal opportunity, New Local Government Director Chris Leslie argues for bold new fair taxes , and leading human geographer Danny Dorling shows us how cash is king in modern Britain .  With Sunder Katwala on what we can learn from the American elections , and former Blair strategist Peter Hyman on Ten Years of New Labour, it's altogether a class act.

After ten years of Labour government, can Gordon Brown fix education? This summer's education issue of the Fabian Review sees interviews with the new Education Secretaries, Ed Balls and John Denham, plus agenda-setting pieces from Tom Hampson, David Blunkett, Louise Bamfield, and Fiona Millar. Read the Fabian Essay on social mobility by John Van Reenen and Stephen Machin.

In this Labour Party Conference special Fabian Review, we kick off the debates that Labour needs about what it got right - and wrong - in the Blair decade.