News & Insight

23 July 2012

Whoever wins in 2015 will face awful public spending choices. The woeful state of the economy means the deficit will remain high and there will be almost no scope for public spending growth. So George Osborne smells blood. He is...

20 July 2012

Lambeth Council is taking a radically different approach to transforming our library service.  Despite losing a third of our available budget from the government we will not be closing any libraries, outsourcing the service to private companies or handing over...

20 July 2012

How many people really understand the world of education as well as the world of work?  I tried to find a handful in Birmingham – and failed. There are great people in schools – but they don’t know what local employers...

19 July 2012

As an inner London MP, housing is probably my biggest area of casework. Availability and quality of housing in London is a real problem, and it’s not only an issue for those on low incomes that rely on social housing...

19 July 2012

David Cameron intends to put ‘people in charge’. From free schools and ‘John Lewis models’ for services, to abolishing 'townhall fatcats' and quangos, he is determined to scrap what he sees as crippling state structures. But as the ‘big society’...

13 July 2012

With a recent report from the Democratic Audit concluding democracy in Britain is in "long-term terminal decline", the Fabian Society’s annual House of Commons Tea event discussed ways to make politics relevant again and how Labour in particular can help...