2016: The Fabian Review’s pick of the year
What a difference a year makes. Few would have predicted just 12 months ago that by the end of 2016 the UK would have backed Brexit and the US plumped for Trump. And not only do we have a new...
What a difference a year makes. Few would have predicted just 12 months ago that by the end of 2016 the UK would have backed Brexit and the US plumped for Trump. And not only do we have a new prime minister here and a new president on the way over there, but pretty much everywhere you look there’s uncertainty, pessimism and division. Before we bid a not so fond farewell to the year, the Fabian Review invites you to take another look at some of our analysis of the tumultuous events that marked 2016.
There’s Eric Kauffman on the values divide behind the Brexit result and Mark McLay on the votes that swung it for Trump. And while there’s been bad news for progressives in the EU and US polls, there’s been discord in the Labour ranks too. Over the year, the Fabian Review has carried opinion from across the Labour spectrum: Kate Green’s piece on how the party must come together after Jeremy Corbyn’s second leadership win struck a chord with many. We’ve also selected some highlights from the Fabians’ work this year, including the charter for democratic reform, outlined by the society’s research director Olivia Bailey, and the proposal for a reformed social security system fit for the 2020s set out by our general secretary Andrew Harrop in the book For Us All. As he argues in the article here, without such reform, the rising cost of rented housing could turn out to be the greatest social challenge of the 2020s.
Despite the gloom, it’s worth remembering that as bad as things look at the tail end of 2016, crises – and prime ministers – come and go. Dick Leonard’s take on the best and worst to hold the PM’s job is well worth another look.
Our picks of the year:
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