Thatcherism is still the problem Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

End 'Progressive Nostalgia' @ben-glover.bsky.social calls it out. Ukania's problems go back to the 80s www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Thatcherism is still the problem Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

Something that overturns fifty years of failure - not just fourteen, as Labour typically conceives of its mission.

You can read the full piece here: newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

But if you think our problems started a lot longer ago - as I argue in the piece, with Thatcherism's deindustrialisation, globalisation and privatisation, which New Labour failed to overturn - you need a more ambitious political agenda.

Why does this matter?

If you think our woes started in 2007/08, as many in Westminster assume, the goal is to get us back to those 'golden years' of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

As Stephen Machin of the LSE has written, “In the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, real wage growth was healthy at 3.0, 5.5 and 4.4 per cent a year. The 1990s saw this slow down to 1.6 per cent, and to a similar 1.7 per cent in the 2000s.”

But what about the economy - wasn't that ticking along nicely?

It depends where you were and who you were.

For workers, the 'great moderation' looks a lot less rosy.

Of Galloway gaining seats and councillors.

Of the march of the BNP - thankfully halted.

Of a Labour goverment grappling with radical measures to reform the ECHR to tackle record asylum crossings.

Of falling trust in political elites - long before the expenses scandal or the crash.

The crash amplified these trends, but they were already evident to those paying attention - long before the collapse of Northern Rock.

Despite their reputation as one of civility and moderation, the 90s and 00s were a time of UKIP gaining half a million votes at a general election.

Take populism, trust, and the politics of migration.

All commonly portrayed as 'post-crash' phenomena and central to the 'new' politics that emerged in its wake.

The politics of modern Britain are often cast as a 'post-crash' phenomenon, i.e. arising from financial crisis of 2007/08.

But I think that as time that passes, the continuities between our pre and post-crash politics become clearer.

Thatcherism is still the problem Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

I've written for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social about something that has been bugging me for a while...

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Very kind @philtinline.bsky.social - thank you!

Labour must embrace the spirit of postwar Britain Industrial strategy is back in fashion

Late to this excellent piece by @ben-glover.bsky.social on the reasons the post-1945 Britain looks more attractive to many young politicos than the post-1979 one.

And on the thing that made that work, which we need to stop hating quite so much:

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year.

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year

Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year

🖊️ @anooshc.bsky.social

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year

Exclusive! Labour spends more on Boris Johnson's flagship policy in its first year than Boris Johnson did: