A great read this.

Scotland’s Unjust Transition: The View from Grangemouth 10 Renewal 34.1_Gibbs10 Renewal 34.1_Gibbs.pdf85 KBdownload-circle The closure of the Grangemouth Oil Refinery in 2025 represents a test of Scotland’s ‘just transition’. While oil and gas jobs are ...

The Scottish Parliament election is being fought in the shadow of devastating job losses at Grangemouth refinery, the Mossmorran petrochemicals complex and offshore. Broken energy promises and policy failure is recruiting voters to Reform. I've written for Renewal on Scotland's unjust transition.

Very proud to see this issue of Renewal out. In it, we use the Employment Rights Act to think more broadly about the politics of work today. With great contributors ranging across history, social science, and philosophy, including Elizabeth Anderson and my KCL colleague Jimena Valdez

Really very proud of this issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social and a pleasure to work with Steven and Harry. I think the issue offers a fair-minded view of one of the most important pieces of Labour’s agenda and tackles the changing work landscape in a big picture way. Read, share, subscribe!

This was a fun one to write.

Here I argue, with @joshwesterling.bsky.social, that the next frontier for workers rights must be those devoid of key rights - the self-employed, insecure workers who are now the worst off.

Extending basic protections to them should be the govt’s priority.

Trade Union Roundtable: Is the Employment Rights Act the Change We Need? 03 Renewal 34.1_Roundtable, Midgley et al03 Renewal 34.1_Roundtable, Midgley et al.pdf77 KBdownload-circle The Employment Rights Act has been hailed as the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in gen...

The Employment Rights Act becoming law is an historic step.

Read @joannegsusdaw.bsky.social, @cwunews.bsky.social GS Dave Ward and @anneliesemidgleymp.bsky.social in @renewaljournal.bsky.social on the difference it could make, and how we deliver for working people.

renewal.org.uk/articles/tra...

The day's main political event: new Renewal !

New Renewal just dropped! Some fantastic stuff in this issue, including essays from Jane Gingrich, Jon Cruddas, Hilary Cottam, @ewangibbs.bsky.social, @joshwesterling.bsky.social, @abbyabhaya.bsky.social, and @benjthomas.bsky.social

Come Together: Work Organising for the Twenty-First Century Transition A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: Closing the issue, @hilarycottam.bsky.social takes us on a journey from the UK to the US and back again, speaking to hundreds of individuals about their experiences and vision of 'good work'.

renewal.org.uk/articles/com...

The Progressive Work Ethic for Labour: An Interview with Elizabeth Anderson 11 Renewal 34.1_Klein11 Renewal 34.1_Klein.pdf80 KBdownload-circle What vision of work should animate the progressive left? The philosopher Elizabeth Anderson has made landmark arguments about equa...

FREE TO READ: In an exclusive interview contributing editor @stevenklein.bsky.social speaks to philosopher Elizabeth Anderson about how progressives can reclaim a positive vision of the work ethic.

renewal.org.uk/articles/the...

Scotland’s Unjust Transition: The View from Grangemouth 10 Renewal 34.1_Gibbs10 Renewal 34.1_Gibbs.pdf85 KBdownload-circle The closure of the Grangemouth Oil Refinery in 2025 represents a test of Scotland’s ‘just transition’. While oil and gas jobs are ...

FREE TO READ: @ewangibbs.bsky.social reports from Scotland's 'just transition'. Oil and gas jobs are disappearing, and renewables have yet to deliver on jobs and investment. He cautions that failure risks fuelling far-right resentment.
renewal.org.uk/articles/sco...

Labour Isn’t Working: ‘Securonomics’ and the Political Economy of Work A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: Jonny Ball warns that without a radical reorientation of the state's role in the economy, Labour's 'decade of renewal' could fail to materialise.

renewal.org.uk/articles/lab...

Labour’s People: Protection for All Workers in the Modern Labour Market A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: @abbyabhaya.bsky.social and @joshwesterling.bsky.social examine the ERA's biggest blindspot, self-employment, and argue that Labour must extend protections to all areas of the workforce.

renewal.org.uk/articles/lab...

Platform Power and the Fragmented Workforce: Labour’s Challenges in the Digital Economy A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: Jimena Valdez examines the inequalities of the 'platform economy' and outlines a policy response that could mitigate its harms.

renewal.org.uk/articles/pla...

Compensation, Activation and the Future of Work A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: AI threatens jobs and established patterns of work. Jane Gingrich argues that any policy response must be embedded within strong Institutions and organisations in order to succeed.

renewal.org.uk/articles/com...

From the ‘Alternative Economic Strategy’ to ‘Popular Capitalism’: Why Social Democrats Do Not Own Industrial Democracy A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

SUBSCRIBE TO READ: Benjamin Thomas questions whether industrial democracy inherently belongs to the left and highlights its long tradition on the right.

renewal.org.uk/articles/fro...

Making Sense of Labour’s Employment Rights Agenda 04 Renewal 34.1_Cruddas04 Renewal 34.1_Cruddas.pdf91 KBdownload-circle The Employment Rights Act has been hailed as the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. But while it marks a brea...

FREE TO READ: In a wide-ranging essay Jon Cruddas situates the ERA within the history of UK employment rights and asks whether it really does represent 'the biggest upgrade to workers rights in a generation'

renewal.org.uk/articles/mak...

Trade Union Roundtable: Is the Employment Rights Act the Change We Need? 03 Renewal 34.1_Roundtable, Midgley et al03 Renewal 34.1_Roundtable, Midgley et al.pdf77 KBdownload-circle The Employment Rights Act has been hailed as the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in gen...

FREE TO READ: In trade union roundtable @anneliesemidgleymp.bsky.social, the TUC's @timsharp.bsky.social, the CWU's Gen Sec Dave Ward, USDAW's Gen Sec @joannethomas.bsky.social, and an anonymous UTAW organiser at Google Deepmind reflect on the ERA.

renewal.org.uk/articles/tra...

While endless speculation surrounds Starmer's personal prospects, the Employment Rights Act, one of Labour's flagship achievements, has received comparatively little attention. This issue provides a corrective - taking a granular look at the impacts of the ERA and the new landscape of work.

Volume 34, Issue 1 A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.

NEW ISSUE ALERT: Renewal 34:1 The Employment Rights Act and the Politics of Work

Guest edited by Renewal contributing editors @stevenklein.bsky.social and @fhpitts.bsky.social along with co-editor @lisebutler.bsky.social

renewal.org.uk/journal/volu...

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.