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Did I like to be beside the seaside? Assorted musings from Labour conference 2015

on October 01, 2015

ACEVO Blue Labour Brighton Jeremy Corbyn Labour Campaign for Mental Health LFIG Maurice Glasman mental health pro-business ResPublica Simon Danczuk third sector Trident

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Labour can and must unite behind Sadiq

on September 11, 2015

anti-Semitism Ed Miliband housing Jeremy Corbyn Labour leadership Living Wage London mayor pro-business Sadiq Khan Tessa Jowell Transport for London Zac Goldsmith

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The £1.8 trillion question: what should a pro-business Labour Party sound like?

on August 04, 2015

2015 election economy Ed Miliband Labour Business Labour Party Liz Kendall Stella Creasy

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Labour has three paths forward – and we’re picking between the hardest two

on July 27, 2015

1983 1987 2015 Andy Burnham Corbynmania Greens Hard Left Jeremy Corbyn Labour leadership Labour moderates Liz Kendall Neil Kinnock Scotland Yvette Cooper

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Volunteers’ Week: NHS volunteering matters

on June 02, 2015

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Why the 2% defence pledge could be even smarter than it seems

on May 31, 2015

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Why it has to be Liz for Leader

on May 25, 2015

2015 Andy Burnham Blue Labour business centrism Ed Miliband EU referendum free schools Labour Liz Kendall Mark Ferguson Mary Creagh third sector Tony Blair trade unions Yvette Cooper

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Taking stock: moving forward from Thursday

on May 09, 2015

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Why Britain needs a Labour government tomorrow

on May 05, 2015

2015 election Conservative David Cameron deficit economy Ed Miliband hung parliament Immigration Labour Lib Dem NHS Nick Clegg progressive SNP UKIP welfare

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Why Simon Danczuk is wrong about Ed Miliband's Labour

on March 24, 2015

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Hard choices: who could Labour work with in a hung parliament?

on March 16, 2015

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Is Labour missing a trick with the Boots row?

on February 02, 2015

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Nine big questions about the 2015 leaders' debates

on January 15, 2015

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Elliot Bidgood: Hackney, London, United Kingdom; Currently a research and comms consultant with a consultancy for not-for-profits, in addition to freelance work (though I blog here strictly in a personal capacity - all views are my own). Active Labour Party member since 2007 and now belong to Hackney North & Stoke Newington CLP. Social democrat, Fabians & previously a research volunteer for the Labour Finance & Industry Group. Research interests include civil society, health, localism, business, US politics, the EU and political reform. Americaphile and borderline Twitter addict

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Popular Posts

Book: The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

I started reading The Undercover Economist last year, and though it took me a while to get round to finishing, it largely didn’t disappoint. In it, economist and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford seeks to put economics in everyday context, explaining theories in straightforward terms and giving an eye-opening account of how various actors behave in the marketplace. My copy was actually an amended edition, re-published to respond to the financial crisis of 2008 (the original, published in 2005, instead focused more heavily on the Dotcom bubble).

Dear Jeremy - I'm a Labour member, but I'm not the one you need to hear more from

Jeremy Corbyn is outlining plans for a “democratic revolution” in Labour that will give individual members more say over party policy. This will include online ballots and a review of the powers of Labour’s National Executive Committee (currently elected every two years by party members like me). The measures would therefore move things away from the status quo, whereby official party policy is mostly decided by a mix of the party leadership, the National Policy Forum (also elected by members) and motions at our annual conferences. They also fit into the broader vogue to open up democracy and shift away from top-down representative systems that we’ve seen in recent years, which I’ve at times been favourable to (I’ve blogged in support of recall for MPs , the EU referendum and electing Britain’s EU commissioner , for example). However, I must say that speaking as one of the rank-and-file party members Jeremy is offering to empower, I actually believe this particular refor...

Yes, we need a serious discussion about the NHS. But charges are not the answer

Of late, the all-important issue of NHS funding has been brought back into the news by various contributions to this vital debate – some good, some bad. I write today to try call attention to one of the more worrying ones, which is doing the rounds with ever more frequency, and then give the alternatives. Phillip Lee MP, a GP and a potential chair of Commons Health Committee following respected Tory moderate Stephen Dorrell’s resignation, wrote in The Telegraph on Wednesday about the challenges facing the service. While pledging to “preserve the important principle of access for all”, he suggests this: “Thirdly, we must change how we pay for healthcare to meet future demand. The NHS is not alone in facing a tough financial climate and other countries offer a range of options to test. Norway charges patients to see their GP and for routine tests. Germany has a compulsory social insurance scheme. France uses a means test. In Denmark patients are charged (at cost) for their dr...

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