Progressive futures

The state of the state

Michael Kenny

Labour's tax turnaround sharpens the focus on a vital debate about what we want from the government...

The future's local

Sunny Hundal

Learning from the Obama campaign, we must create a sense of community, civic engagement and a common national bond..

Don't be afraid of paternalism

Lynsey Hanley

Labour has acquired a reputation for both authoritarianism and neglect. The party must truly take care of us...

Capitalism needs purging not tweaking

John Jordan

Don't be fooled by talk of green collar jobs and a green new deal: they are merely the death throes of capitalism...

Will our leaders ever lead?

Matthew Lockwood

The free markets will never tackle climate change effectively. We need bold innovations and interventions - now...

Real progressives don't fight

Caroline Lucas

The power struggle between political parties is symptomatic of the flaws of our democratic system...

Forward to the past

Mark Braund

With current debate stuck in the mindset of left and right, we could do worse ...

Don't moan, organise

Guy Aitchison

The final Cif debate on the future of progressive politics prompted pessimism in some quarters, and defiance in others...

Time to change the story

Doreen Massey

The new terrain created by this seismic economic crisis mean that the old political narratives need recasting...

A future we must build together

Jo Littler

Grassroots organisations, community groups, NGOs and unions - these are the places from which hope for the left springs...

Sold down a pale red river

Mark Perryman

So many of us had high hopes for Labour in 1997, but Brown and Blair are responsible for the death of idealism...

Lessons from across the pond

Rupa Huq

The Labour Party should study Barack Obama's election tactics if it wants to regain the upper hand in British politics...

Forward not back

Jonathan Rutherford

We need a new kind of politics to make society more progressive, not outmoded concepts of capitalism...

Fundamentally flawed

Jeremy Seabrook

The way forward may lie in a convergence of movements for social justice and human rights with the green imperative...

Death of the old dogmas

Ken Livingstone

Yes, New Labour is over, but it is about more than a tax rise - it is part of a sea change in the west...

Democratic crunch

Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford

After the nadir of Corfu, New Labour must build a new politics, and housing is on the front line...

Let's popularise our policies

Chuka Ummuna

Labour has got to stop running scared for fear of offending and make the case for its politics ...

Unsafe as houses

Guy Aitchinson

Post-credit crunch, is New Labour fit for purpose? Harriet Harman thinks so – but Monday night's audience was not convinced ...

Renewing Labour through social and environmental justice

Ruth Lister

High earners could pay more without feeling it and the poor would keep spending...

No turning back

Gerry Hassan

The left cannot go back to its old comfort zone - we need to find a way out of our atrophied, deformed political system ...

The Thatcher approach

Yvonne Roberts

Cynical electioneering tactics won't wash. Redistribution and empowerment should be the basis of a fairer society ...

Shaken and stirred

Heather Wakefield

We need strong but flexible coalitions that break with the sectarianism of the past and name, shame and campaign...

A taxing problem

Richard Murphy

We need a party which is candid about the need for those with resources to pay for the services our society needs...

How to unpick New Labour

Neal Lawson

The centre-left needs an inspiring vision based on greater equality and a truly democratic state...

Follow Cuba's emissions standard

Richard Wilkinson

Castro proves that equal societies perform measurably better on environmental goals ...

Time for a change

Salma Yaqoob

The democratic deficit between the British public and their political institutions demands urgent attention . . .

Not following in Thatcher's footsteps

Jeremy Gilbert

Any progressive government of the future needs to abandon the Thatcherite consensus that has caused such social and economic anguish. . .

Big Bang's trail of destruction

Jonathan Rutherford

The financial deregulation of the 1980s was a Conservative idea that Labour embraced – with disastrous consequences. . .

A country in ruins

Michael Prior

The best on offer is the formation of a grand coalition or a slide into authoritarian state-control ...

A political muddle

Zygmunt Bauman

There is almost no way to distinguish left from right in economic, or any other, policy ...

Anything is possible

Rupa Huq

It would be far too easy and ultimately wrong to write the party off now, so long before the next election ...

Taming the forces of globalisation

Michael Rustin

Two tasks now loom before us – re-regulating the markets and safeguarding the environment. . .

Flashman at the Tory conference

Jonathan Rutherford

Conference speech shows Tory bankruptcy ...

Can the Tories fix the broke society?

Tom Griffin

Monday night's debate highlighted that Cameron's urgent task is working out a response to the current economic crisis. . .

Family guys

Anastasia de Waal

Backing marriage has become a fetish for Cameron Tories, but the nuclear family is a symptom, not a cause of social stability. . . .

Cameron's con trick

Rupa Huq

The future is not Conservative. It's a Tory-lite version of New Labour - for now, anyway ...

Back to the progressive future

Andrew Pearmain

Imagine if Labour hadn't imploded in 1983. Insulated from market forces, we'd be thriving ...

Who owns the progressive future?

Suzanne Moore

Brown or Cameron at the helm? Makes no odds, when the economy is as unsinkable as the Titanic ...

Right thinking?

Beatrix Campbell

The future isn't necessarily blue - the crisis of capitalism suggests we might not be heading in a Conservative direction after all ...

On the right road

Phillip Blond

Progressive Conservatism must now rethink market economics, but at least it is not wedded to the centralist state ...

The political high ground is Labour's

Jon Cruddas

The future demands an active state redistributing wealth to balance a dysfunctional economy - our party's founding principle ...

Blind faith

David Lammy

Anyone know what the Tories think about the financial crisis? They've kept quiet because their solution is to trust the markets ...

Policies, not politics

Jesse Norman

Gordon's bouncing into the abyss. The Lib Dems are U-turning all over the place. It's left to the Tories to offer real answers ...

Who owns progress wins

Jonathan Rutherford

A struggle between left and right over the meaning of 'progressive' politics is taking place. It's a fight Labour must win ...

A Tory dystopia

Alex Nunns

David Cameron’s apple-pie promises and feel-good rhetoric might sweep him to power in 2010, but there’s a yawning gap between the vagueness of his words and the likely consequences of his policies. Alex Nunns takes us on a trip into the future to see how Britain might look after four years of Tory rule. . .

First published in Red Pepper

All articles published by Lawrence & Wishart are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. If you teach at a university please email us detailing use. Commercial media must contact us for permission and fees.