Tag Archives: Politics

The renewed clamour for growth: ignorance, stupidity or immorality?

We are currently seeing renewed calls from leading politicians for a focus on “growth”, by which they mean economic growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. The Conservative contenders are doing it, and Labour’s current leadership are too. … Continue reading

Posted in key concepts, explainers | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fighting Fire with Fire?

Mathew Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton (2021) Planet on Fire: A manifesto for the age of environmental breakdown. London: Verso. 280pp. £12.99 (hb).

Jonathan Neale (2021) Fight the Fire: Green New Deals and global climate jobs. London: Resistance Books. 348pp. Available as free e-book at: https://theecologist.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Fight_the_Fire_0.pdf.

These are two very different books but with much in common. Both are concerned with how to respond to the climate and ecological emergency. Jonathan Neale’s (JN) focus is on the global level, while that of Mathew Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton (L&L-L) is primarily on the UK. Both argue strongly for a social democratic approach, by which I mean an emphasis primarily on public provision and governmental regulation to address the crisis. Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, further reading, key concepts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is the UK Labour party facing up to a post-growth future?

Following recent short articles on this theme, here is a longer, more analytic treatment. A personal perspective from the author.  Download the full article as a pdf file. Is the UK Labour party facing up to a post-growth future? by … Continue reading

Posted in degrowth, further reading, In Place of Growth, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Practical degrowth for Labour

The article below is a slightly longer version of the piece published on the SERA (Labour Environment Campaign) website on 17 December, 2017.  See also this piece, also by Mark, which was  carried on the Left Foot Forward website, in … Continue reading

Posted in degrowth, economics, environment, key concepts, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Let’s talk about the elections

Let’s talk about the elections! Wednesday 14th June 6.30-8pm Lounge at Manchester Methodist Hall Central Buildings, Oldham St, Manchester M1 1JQ We’ve now had both the Greater Manchester Mayoral election and the General Election. Together these define a new context … Continue reading

Posted in events | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

STEADY STATE Part One: The National and International Context

This interview piece appears in Manchester’s Now Then magazine.  A second installment, on the Greater Manchester context will appear in the next issue. Click HERE to read the interview.  Thanks to Ian Pennington at Now Then for inviting us and … Continue reading

Posted in degrowth, introduction, news, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment