Marc Stears

One year on, tensions still circle Britain’s asylum-seeker hotels A report from Epping and Diss reveals disconnected and resentful communities.

One year on from the riots of 2024.

Today UCL Policy Lab @citizensuk.org and @moreincommonuk.bsky.social launch a new report as part of the This Place Matters project on the future of social cohesion. Covered by Anoosh Chakelian in the @newstatesman.com. www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/...

Signals and noise: balancing economic reform and stability with Chris Giles Financial Times Economics Commentator and UCL Honorary Professor of Practice, Chris Giles, speaks to us about the challenge of balancing the demands for economic reform with the need for stability.

Signals and noise: balancing economic reform and stability with
@chrisgiles.ft.com.

We speak with FT Economics Commentator and UCL Honorary Prof Chris Giles about the competing demands of economic policy for the UK. And the growing pressure on central banks.
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Electoral reforms provide an opportunity for real change The government’s announcement on democratic reforms, including votes at 16, marks a major moment for British democracy. They also offer the opportunity to reconnect people with politics.

The government’s announcement on democratic reforms, including votes at 16, marks a major moment for British democracy. They also offer the opportunity to reconnect people with politics.

@mds49.bsky.social @alanrenwick.bsky.social on the government's electoral reforms.
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Today the government announced major new electoral reforms. They are designed to tackle crucial challenges for our democracy. @mds49.bsky.social on the public appetite for change.

16 and 17-year-olds to be able to vote in next general election as voting age to be lowered in UK - live updates Lowering the voting age across the UK means around 1.5 million 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to vote at the next general election.

This could be a genuinely exciting moment for our democracy. It’s time to rebuild our politics - and bringing more people in is a way to do exactly that. click.e.bbcmail.co.uk?qs=a0bdcd08d...

Excited to be at today’s summit of government, civil society and the impact economy. I’ve long believed that the change we desperately need will only come if all sectors act together. Let’s hope today marks a real beginning.

What Blue Labour gets wrong Political theorist Marc Stears discusses Maurice Glasman, Blue Labour’s influence in the cabinet, and why he thinks the movement has strayed from its ...

🎧: ‪@mds49.bsky.social, one of the founding members of Blue Labour 15 years ago, is now critical of its turn towards the populist right.

He joins @ellenhalliday.bsky.social and @aloner.bsky.social to explain:
www.prospectmagazine...

Nearly two-thirds of voters think Starmer doesn’t respect them – new poll 63% of respondents said Keir Starmer does not respect people like them.

"The idea of “respect” being key to the public’s sense of whether a government is on their side or not has been growing for many years now, both in academia and in politics itself."

@mds49.bsky.social on the role respect can play in winning back voters. theconversation.com/nearly-two-t...

What’s wrong with the new Blue Labour? How the delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated the ideological movement from ordinary people

The delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated Blue Labour’s proponents from ordinary people, writes ‪@mds49.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

What’s wrong with the new Blue Labour? How the delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated the ideological movement from ordinary people

A fascinating piece about the journey Blue Labour has been on over the last 15 years. And why its current incarnation is wrong, by someone who was there from the start.

@mds49.bsky.social www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/703...

What’s wrong with the new Blue Labour? How the delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated the ideological movement from ordinary people

This by @mds49.bsky.social is typically brilliant. Outstanding read.

What’s wrong with the new Blue Labour? How the delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated the ideological movement from ordinary people

"all belief in the importance of plurality disappeared. An interest in slow, social coalition-building essentially ended too."
@mds49.bsky.social 's essay about many things but partly it's about pace, time, patience, preparedness.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/703...

What’s wrong with the new Blue Labour? How the delusions of Brexit and Maga have alienated the ideological movement from ordinary people

Exceptionally good piece here from @mds49.bsky.social, tracing the evolution of Blue Labour from the seminar rooms of Oxford to Glasman's new home on "MAGA square"

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/703...

If fewer 'White British' means decline, why is London successful? Using the capital to paint apocalyptic visions conveniently ignores its contentment with diversity and its economic vitality

A really great piece of writing from @christabelcoops.bsky.social:

www.onlondon.co.uk/christabel-c...

The choices that lie beyond neoliberalism Many Renewal readers yearn, I am sure, for a world ‘beyond neoliberalism’. A recent high-profile and intellectually fertile conference, which aimed to manifest precisely that, will no doubt be of inte...

"as the conference progressed, a more fundamental set of tensions arose, centred around the relationship between recent policy innovation in the economic sphere, and new forms of authoritarianism in the political sphere"

@colmpm.bsky.social reviews last week's "Beyond Neoliberalism" conference

The most important reason child poverty matters is not that it leads to poorer outcomes (though it does, of course).

It is because children should just not be cold, hungry and miserable. We should be a better, more compassionate society than that.

Read this 👇

The Guardian view on social cohesion: too many of us are still ‘bowling alone’ | Editorial Editorial: Three decades on from Robert Putnam’s account of fraying social ties in the US, new research in Britain identifies similar dangers

Too many of us are still ‘bowling alone.

@theguardian.com on Social Cohesion and the launch of our new project This Place Matters with @moreincommonuk.bsky.social and @citizensuk.org www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Almost half of Britons feel like 'strangers in their own country' The poll follows criticism of Sir Keir Starmer for saying the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers' due to high levels of immigration

“While the causes are complex — economic pressures, digital habits, post-COVID changes — the message is clear: we need more spaces to meet and more opportunities to understand each other.” @mds49.bsky.social on our new national social cohesion project This Place Matters. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

New project to reimagine social cohesion in light of tensions A new joint research project, This Place Matters, is designed to provide local and national governments with a blueprint for good cohesion policy and to amplify the work of civic actors on the ground ...

Project website is here. And full report will be available there shortly: www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Very interested to see where this project goes. We see these issues all the time - people cash poor and time poor, just existing rather than thriving, without any social connectedness. Diversity, if anything, can help bring people together.

Britons feel detached from society and distrustful of strangers A survey reveals that economic insecurity is most closely linked to alienation after Sir Keir Starmer said that immigration risked making us ‘an island of strangers’

We launched this exciting project this morning, re-examining the sources of social tension and the roots of social cohesion. We might be a country of strangers for reasons other than we most expect: www.thetimes.com/article/6a83...

Leftwing values will defeat the right. That's what Keir Starmer can learn from Australia | Marc Stears Anthony Albanese’s Labor party rejected divisive far-right rhetoric and won with a message of fairness, equality and respect, says Marc Stears, the director of the UCL Policy Lab

How loud can Australian election sound?
Albanese’s “social patriotism, proudly Australian but grounded in ord. people’s lives, open to all backgrounds, embraces government intervention in the market & recognises that injustices & inequalities hold us all back” @mds49.bsky.social spotlights the poss.

Please come to Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday 11th May at 4pm - #stratlitfest - #Ambition
Tickets here:
Https://www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/events/stefan-stern
(If you're already there at noon to hear @tombaldwin66.bsky.social and @mds49.bsky.social come back for more after lunch!)

Keir Starmer must reassure pragmatic liberals There is no appetite among British voters for Trump-style disruption and populism.

In balancer Britain, Starmer realises he should respect mainstream conservative opinion. No 10 should recognise his bridging agenda must reassure mainstream liberals [a rather bigger share of Labour voters] as well @luketryl.bsky.social & @mds49.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

Keir Starmer must reassure pragmatic liberals There is no appetite among British voters for Trump-style disruption and populism.

Keir Starmer must reassure pragmatic liberals.

There is no appetite among British voters for Trump-style disruption and populism. @mds49.bsky.social and @luketryl.bsky.social on latest polling from UCL Policy Lab and @moreincommonuk.bsky.social. www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

For this weekend you can get 25% off the new paperback edition of England, written by me and the brilliant @TomBaldwin66

Just type “PREORDER25” at the checkout.

waterstones.com/book/england/t…

#WPreorder

Starmer’s aides will not be able to fix his problems. He has to do that himself | Tom Baldwin The PM is portrayed as a bit part player at No 10. That isn’t true: but he must grab the reins and create a government in his own image, says author Tom Baldwin

My column for @theguardian.com on how it’s Keir Starmer, not Morgan McSweeney or any other aide, who can and must set the direction for this government. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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Email us for more details and a call 🙌

Exceptionally proud of the More in Common UK team’s work this year. Merry Christmas, Here’s to 2025!

Nice piece from James reflecting on UCL Policy Lab's year, who we @powertochange.org.uk have really enjoyed working with.