News & Insight

23 April 2012

‘Fairness’ has become the politician’s weapon of choice, with recent political debate dominated by attempts to sustain or refute claims that government policy is ‘fair’.  The reason that this territory is so contested is clear: fairness as a concept holds...

3 April 2012

There are core voters in every social group, just as there are swing voters in every social group.  On one level, of course, the answer to why Labour lost so catastrophically in 2010 is simple: we had presided over an enormous...

3 April 2012

The preoccupation of both Tory strategists and Labour feminists with women voters can’t disguise Labour’s challenge: we’ve got man trouble. Reversing the historic Tory lead with women was, of course, crucial to New Labour’s political project: a party cannot be a...

3 April 2012

Labour’s route back to power lies in coalition with other parties that share our values. This piece was first published in Spring 2012 edition of the Fabian Review An alliance between Labour and the Liberal Democrats; who on earth, after their treachery,...

3 April 2012

Election night in 2010 was full of surprises. The defeat itself was not one of them; the steady loss of Labour support since the fateful ‘election that never was’ in 2007 became a torrent by 2009 from which it was...

3 April 2012

If the polls are to be believed, cutting welfare is very popular. YouGov reports that fewer than a third of Labour voters and just 3 per cent of Conservatives oppose it. This places the left in a terrible bind, not least because the public...