Author Archives: Laurie

The idea of a Green New Deal has captured imaginations across the world. For many, it provides an overall narrative neatly stressing the urgency of the major crises of our time. What’s more, in seeking to combat injustice while stemming environmental breakdown, it recognises the interrelation between these problems.  It has been astonishing and energisingContinue reading “A Green New Deal could signal a fundamental shift away from neoliberalism”

What will we think of our reaction to this heatwave in a decade? The narrative over the last few days has been predictably positive. As temperatures rose above 20C, we wore t-shirts outside and ate ice cream at lunch. The Daily Mail posted its customary pictorial of scantily clad women in London parks. The unseasonal weatherContinue reading “Climate breakdown enters its ice cream in February stage”

In 1962, American playwright James Baldwin wrote that “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Today, his words should give us succour. We need more than ever to face the reality of environmental change. I’m a researcher at IPPR, a think tank. We have beenContinue reading “It’s no longer climate change we’re living through. It’s environmental breakdown”

Eight years of austerity have left our public services and social safety net in tatters. This state of affairs is a political choice. It’s a choice predicated on the principles of a small state and self-reliance, with a  narrow definition of work held up as the ideal economic and social role of all citizens, andContinue reading “The social contract in the 21st century”