News & Insight

The postcode opportunity

5 April 2013

Localism tends to be viewed by many on the left with suspicion. For Tories, localism can be a convenient shorthand for rolling back the state, while for Lib Dems localism offers useful ideological flexibility to take different positions in different...

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How do you value a library?

28 March 2013

Here is a question I encounter all too often as Shadow Minister for Culture: how do you value a library? There are a few ways of doing it. You can look at profit and loss: by that measure libraries, along with...

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The gulf between politician and practitioner

22 March 2013

The NHS is arguably the greatest gift that the Labour movement gave the British people and its destruction is a betrayal of the English nation. Since 1945 the United Kingdom has enjoyed a national health system free for all at the...

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University, but what next?

22 March 2013

A generation ago, school leavers chose to go to university giving considerable thought to what they would enjoy studying for three years and perhaps less thought to where it might lead them in terms of a career. In the majority...

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Budget 2013: LIVE BLOG

20 March 2013

13.46: That brings the Budget to a close, check back at the Fabian Review for a round-up and responses. Thanks 13.44: Housing completions now at their lowest levels since the 1920s, the result of a 'failing economic plan from a failing...

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A diverse banking system

15 March 2013

Ever since the failure of Northern Rock in 2007, it has been clear that the UK’s banking system is not working. A crisis in the banking system led to a collapse in GDP, a large rise in unemployment and the...

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