Mar 14Why the Cambridge, Oxford and London sustainable travel battles matterThe future of local health and well-being depends on how we collectively allocate time, space and air. Up until now, that allocation had depended mainly on the market. If you could afford to travel by car you could have free access to space and air - as congestion has grown…Environment7 min readEnvironment7 min read
Dec 21, 2022Growth and democratic muddle - ducking the tough stuffWhat does it take to cultivate an economy that serves human health and quality of all life? Surely this is the question to which we should devote all energy. This is a question of regeneration - where humans thrive alongside the wider ecology on which we depend. …8 min read8 min read
Oct 27, 2021A budget that could have endowed future generationsIt is good that the Chancellor is optimistic. Optimism is absolutely necessary if we are to transition to a regenerative future where we replenish and restore what we take out, leaving an economy and ecology set fair for future generations. Such an economy operates through a very different set of…Economics5 min readEconomics5 min read
Jul 5, 2020Should we give people cash to aid recovery?This blog has now been moved to The RSA blogs: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2020/07/recovery-basic-incomeBasic Income1 min readBasic Income1 min read
Mar 13, 2020The systems that make and break usTalk given at the Malvern Festival, March 7th, 2020. You may have noticed that we are in the midst of a global pandemic- Coronavirus. This is deeply anxiety inducing of course. Emptying supermarket shelves indicate just how much people are concerned and we can all understand why. There is something…Technology20 min readTechnology20 min read
Jan 17, 2020Labour is only asking itself the questions it is willing to answerSince the election, Labour has mainly spent its time boxing itself in by failing to face up to the fundamental nature of its defeat. Currently, the party seems more interested in factional disputes and point-scoring than any attempt to think about the type of alternative Government the country may need…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Aug 8, 2019Why remain in the EU?One of the features of the entire debate about the UK’s membership of the EU prior, during and since the referendum has been the absence of a case for EU membership. Frankly, this is a dereliction from those arguing that we should remain. The tactical decision was taken to scare…4 min read4 min read
Jul 29, 2019Could a progressive alliance stop Boris Johnson?Let's be clear. There is a deep risk that Boris Johnson will succeed in uniting the hard Brexit vote sufficiently and against fragmented opposition to Brexit in an Autumn general election to win a decent majority. This would be a 1979 moment in British politics plus, plus, plus: the Conservatives…4 min read4 min read
Jul 11, 2019Boris Johnson as Prime Minister - the more we laugh, the more the joke will be on us.No country with a grip on reality would countenance being led by Boris Johnson. And yet, here is the UK, on the verge of doing just that. Moreover, it is conceivable that Johnson could win an Autumn election so shambolic is Labour’s position on Brexit and so inadequate its response…5 min read5 min read
Mar 22, 2019British democracy is shattered - this weekend the reconstruction startsThe past few years have been nothing short of a tragedy for British democracy. From the moment David Cameron called the EU referendum, in an attempt to 'lance the boil' in his own party, the infection has spewed out spreading to the rest of our democratic system. …4 min read4 min read
