Renewal

Anti-oligarchy as anti-fascism 03 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Warner03 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Warner.pdf95 KBdownload-circle Progressive responses to the rise of the far right have often been confused due to a tendency to overemphasise its dis...

Great piece by @neilwarner.bsky.social in the latest and fabulous issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social. As he says, the social-Democratic left has much to gain from a more robust anti-oligarchy narrative.
renewal.org.uk/articles/ant...

Wise words from a valued contributor

🙏🙏🙏

Disempowering the public For those leading relatively empowered lives, interrogating power risks stirring up needless conflict. But in the face of warnings that ‘the sense of disempowerment people feel over their everyday liv...

Very pleased to make my debut in @renewaljournal.bsky.social online today, with an essay about how politics got stuck, drawing on the ideas of @dsquareddigest.bsky.social @abbyinnes.bsky.social Theodore Porter, James C. Scott, Marc Dunkelman, Lisa Miller and others:

renewal.org.uk/blog/disempo...

Disempowering the public For those leading relatively empowered lives, interrogating power risks stirring up needless conflict. But in the face of warnings that ‘the sense of disempowerment people feel over their everyday liv...

On Tuesday @philtinline.bsky.social launched a new @futuregovforum.bsky.social report: 'Power Failure: a new theory of power'. Thanks to Phil for an extract of this report, on power shifts and democratic disengagement, new in Renewal online:

renewal.org.uk/blog/disempo...

The full transcript of Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech after being elected NYC mayor Mayor-elect centered affordability and the working people of the city in his speech while emphasizing: ‘Hope is alive’

Another example is some of Mamdani's language, e.g. "if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Draws on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour of AOC & Bernie, the New Deal, Popular Front, a range of historic and recent literature on fascism and/or neoliberalism, and analogies between political & economic authoritarianism now being used on the far right (e.g. Thiel, Yarvin, 'CEO-monarch' idea)

I enjoyed writing this in the great new issue of Renewal. It's an effort to think through how fighting the far right should be integrated with campaigns for economic alternatives in a "postneoliberal" context

Rita Hinden memorial lecture: Why Labour mustn't lose: social democracy vs the bros’ Dr. Rita Hinden (1909-1971) was a socialist and internationalist activist who played an important role in the intellectual life of the mid-twentieth century Labour Party - most notably as founder of…

Am pleased that my editorial for @renewaljournal.bsky.social is now online.

It was written back in September, but it seems even clearer now that the choice really is between social democracy and the (tech) bros.

renewal.org.uk/articles/rit...

Good piece that offers a guide to break out of the low-trust doom loop.

Centre-left politicians and parties should have respect for the "intellectual capacities of the public", make clear who its people are and communicate the choices and trade offs they're making.

The recent rhapsodising about Carney’s Davos speech and Canada’s repositioning in the new world order has reminded me of my piece on what Starmer can learn from Canada in @renewaljournal.bsky.social, from back in March:

renewal.org.uk/blog/sleepin...

It’s been a real treat to help with this issue. Huge credit to @morganj0nes.bsky.social and @neilwarner.bsky.social for bringing it together. There are some great free-to-read pieces (including Neil’s excellent article on anti-oligarchy as anti-fascism), but you should subscribe for the full thing!

It's a pleasure to contribute to Renewal's special issue on Labour in power (though unfortunately it's behind a paywall)

May have more to say later but just to trumpet that I’m in RENEWAL, and in the same double issue as the Labour Minister who resigned in part over the gendered impacts of the aid cuts and a Labour MP calling for an extra dose of feminism.

So pleased to be part of this, reflecting on the fraught place of disability in Labour's history, distant and recent

My belated Christmas present - a jampacked double issue of Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy.

Very pleased to have contributed to this fascinating double issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social.

Absolute blockbuster of a new issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, edited by @morganj0nes.bsky.social @neilwarner.bsky.social and @beccagold.bsky.social which takes a big picture view of the past year and a half of Labour government.

I’ve written an essay about Labor’s 2025 #ausvotes landslide for the upcoming issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social to give a global social democratic audience a better sense of what happened #auspol

There's some wonderful writing from @febalata.bsky.social in this edition of Renewal, on how extreme wealth undermines democracy, blocks attempts at justice, and on how the fight against it has got to be a core priority of modern progressive politics.

The new (double!) issue of "Renewal - a journal of social democracy" is now available both online and in print, featuring brilliant contributions from historians, sociologists, political scientists, think tank researchers, and activists (and even the odd Labour MP)

Back into writing this year and I'm in the latest edition of @renewaljournal.bsky.social with a piece looking at Scottish social democracy, the structural challenges it faces and the spectre of a Scottish far-right.

very pleased to see this out!!!

Me on the state of Labour‘s “hard” left, the rise to prominence of the “soft” left, and the prospects of cooperation between the two in order to save the party from electoral calamity.

Labour must put feminism back on the agenda A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Sarah Owen MP (@sarahowen.org.uk), Chair of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee, argues that faced with a Reform party "fundamentally opposed to women’s safety and equality", Labour should make feminism central to its politics

The Absolute State of the Labour Left 20 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Steer20 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Steer.pdf104 KBdownload-circle The Labour left under Starmer is at a low ebb. But while it might be marginalised, its politics remain popular amongst ...

FREE TO READ: Alfie Steer (@alfiesteer.bsky.social) looks at the state of Labour's diminished hard left, and considers the prospect for cooperation between it and other factions

From coldness to warmth: Labour’s legal turn A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: George Peretz (@georgeperetzkc.bsky.social) of @soclablaw.bsky.social analyses the evolution of Labour's approach to the courts over the course of the twentieth century, and makes an argument for what social democratic judicial politics should look like

Delivering for commuter communities: why Labour’s offer to this key part of our coalition matters A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Alistair Strathern MP (@alistrathern.bsky.social) argues that commuter communities are increasingly central to Labour's coalition, and considers what delivering for them should mean

The Fracturing of the Labour coalition A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Christabel Cooper (@christabelcoops.bsky.social) of @labourtogether.bsky.social analyses Labour's electoral dilemmas in the context of political fragmentation, and argues that articulating a coherent set of values and principles is the key to maintaining a coalition

Towards a progressive approach to digital technology A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Alex Porter (@alexgporter.bsky.social) argues that progressives need to develop a strategy to ensure both democratic oversight of new technologies and that their economic benefits are widely distributed

Industrial Strategy, the British State, and the Common Good: Labour’s First Year A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: John Denham (@jydenham.bsky.social) and James Silverwood argue that Labour's now-forgotten "missions" hold the key to revitalising the government's industrial strategy