A More Liberal Left?

Tristan Stubbs argues that liberalism isn’t about to disappear. Every section of the Labour movement would do well to consider the liberal tradition and recognise that it has as much to offer our future as it did our past.

1 Comment

John Munford

Hypnotherapist, trainer, social entrepreneur/activist.

How would I describe the sort of society I want Britain to be? I want to live in a society where pluralism, egalitarianism and democracy are part of the culture, because civil society is not subsumed by the state.

No Comments

Gareth Edwards

Welder fabricator

How would I describe the sort of society I want Britain to be? One that we have some ownership over, that everyone has a stake in. To be one society, there has to be a level of equality (or less inequality), and it has to look after its own, which is everyone who lives here.

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Democratising Democracy

Writing in the latest edition of Progress magazine, James Purnell argues that the challenges facing our politics require radical steps to meet Lincoln’s test of a democracy that is ‘for the people, by the people, of the people’.

1 Comment

David Lammy MP

Ahead of speaking at the Open Left event at Labour Conference, David Lammy MP argues that the left must have a fuller version of citizenship, one which combines respect for the individual with an ethic of care and mutual obligation.

No Comments

Olaf Scholz

German Minister for Labour and Social Affairs

I want to live in a society in which everyone can be sure that their commitment will pay off. A society in which anyone who makes an effort has the opportunity to improve their situation. At the same time, we need to make sure that there is always a helping hand if someone struggles to make it on their own.

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Julia Gillard

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister

There is no more powerful way to achieve that goal than to fashion an education system in which economic and family circumstance do not dictate whether a child has the opportunity to excel and to shape their own life course. Unfortunately that is still a radical aim, but it is also an intensely practical one.

4 Comments

The future of social democracy

In response to last night’s lecture by Jon Cruddas on the future of social democracy, James Purnell argued that the Left should reinvent its commitment to equality, community and security – in the spirit of pluralism, optimism and clarity of purpose.

1 Comment

Meeting Crosland’s equality challenge

In ‘The Future of Socialism’ Tony Crosland put education centre-stage in the fight for equality. Over half a century on Oli de Botton, former teacher and political activist, sets out how the Left should meet that challenge today.

1 Comment

Changing Britain, Changing Politics?

Who are the Worcester Women and Mondeo Men of the next decade? Anthony Painter argues that a renewed Left must engage with how modern Britain is changing – and the opportunities it could create.

2 Comments

Open Left at Labour Conference

Open Left is taking the debate about the future of the Left to this year’s Labour conference. Rather than a series of speeches from politicians, we want you to shape the debate. So tell us the questions and topics you think need discussing – and we’ll make sure you get answers.

11 Comments

Joshua Genner

I want a Britain where the many long and winding paths we choose to walk in life are not so dark, dangerous and full of cracks. Where how far we get depends on our willingness to walk, not luck. Where those who deserve a head start are given it, where no person treads on another’s toes, nor unfairly rides another’s back. Where we are picked up, not walked on, when we fall.

No Comments

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