It is neither austerity nor its preceding crash which is sucking the life from Britain's economy, it is the failure of democracy that sees the economy geared solely towards wealthy interests. We must establish an economy directed to achieving social goals rather than being an end in itself.
Today, social responses to peoples' needs are being pushed to the margin by the reframing of all tasks in terms of economic gain. But the development of human capabilities depends on relationships. A different set of values is needed.
The explosive conflict over higher education demands a rethink across British society about what it should deliver and who should pay for it.
Social Democracy has to compromise with capitalism and its markets if it is to gain and exercise power the question is what kind of compromises it makes. The omens of Labour's new leader are not bad.
The trade unions in the UK will have an important part to play in revitalising the Labour party and opposing the Coalition's spending cuts. But their role in Labour's leadership election, and the attack on this by the Coalition, underlines the need for changes to the ways in which unions members a
It is clear now that the Liberal Democrat party surrendered too easily on economic issues as the price of entering into coalition with the Conservatives. This could cost them crucial support in the referendum on voting reform, which is more and more a matter of survival for the party.
Treating the ‘deficits’ as the primary problem for the British and other economies is essentially an ideological diversion, a way of defending the neo-liberal market system from urgently needed reforms
This is Mike Rustin's response to comments on his recent piece, From the beginning to the end of Neo-Liberalism.
Naturally, there is uncertainty about the nature of the
The financial crash that brought the era of neo-liberalism to an end has now led to the formation of a novel coalition in Britain after 65 years of single-party government. But the balance of forces is very different from those that wracked Britain in the 1970s and opened the way to Margaret Thatc
