It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Hilary Cottam is a world-renowned author, innovator and change maker across a whole range of policy profiles. Between international humanitarianism, education policy, social architecture, welfare and prison reform – amongst many other things – she has been a social innovator committed to getting things done for nearly 40 years.Her latest book, The Work We Need, presents a radical vision of what the future of work in this world can be. She identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny, and argues that the combined forces of a technology revolution, an ecological crisis and wider demands for social justice have created the conditions in which we must and can transform work. The Work We Need sets out the principles of good 21st century work – work that will enable people, local places, nature and business to flourish – and she provides a road map as to how we might get there.  This is a book for workers everywhere, for policy makers and for business leaders, drawing on fascinating insights from a whole range of sectors to push towards a work revolution.Don't miss out on this necessary conversation about the future of the European left and the rise of the right at home and on the continent between Neal Lawson, Director of Compass and Hilary Cottam, author, social innovator and Honorary Professor at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The government's child poverty taskforce is set to release its findings imminently. But with a country that needs widespread reform at-large, what are the necessary steps in tackling child poverty?A new report by Baroness Ruth Lister, and published by Compass, argues for a radical set of new policies ranging from direct provisions, social welfare and wider societal attitudes towards how we view childhood to alleviate the epidemic of child poverty in this country.We were joined by Baroness Lister in the latest episode of It's Bloody Complicated to discuss this report, and more.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, listeners will get a sneak peek of the debate and discussion set to take place at Compass' upcoming national conference, CHANGE: HOW? A Decade of Radical Renewal, on Saturday 31st May.Last summer, Labour was returned to government promising to deliver ‘a decade of national renewal'. Whilst some positive things have happened since then – especially on GB Energy and returning the railways to public ownership – decisions on oil and gas licenses, cuts to disability benefits and the go-ahead for a new runway at Heathrow have rightly caused alarm.With voters calling for change, and the populist right on the rise at home and abroad, the costs of Labour failing to make good on its promise would be catastrophic. On this episode of the podcast, you'll get an exclusive preview of the vision for transformative change that we'll be building together at CHANGE: HOW? A Decade of Radical Renewal, with Jon Cruddas – former Labour MP for Dagenham & Rainham and member of the Compass BoardSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Since its launch in 1992 Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy has consistently advanced and examined the conditions for a radical and emancipatory vision of social democracy.And now, with its historic ties to Compass Director Neal Lawson and a background of offering new policies, paradigms and strategies to an international readership of citizens, activists and politicians, Compass is delighted that it will be publishing Renewal starting from the next issue at the end of April.Last summer saw Labour returned to government with the promise of ‘a decade of national renewal'. But what exactly would national renewal look like? With right-wing populism on the march, and with voters desperate for real change, it's crucial that we start to develop the ideas and intellectual basis, as well as the organisation and alliances, required to answer that question and deliver.And it's not just at home that the left is struggling. They're facing existential political and electoral challenges, exacerbated by crises of capitalism, climate, technology and the global order, it is clear that a compelling vision of the future is sorely lacking.Which is where Renewal comes in. Whilst maintaining their editorial independence, they will host, initiate and organise reflection not only on short-term challenges, but also on the deeper renewal of their intellectual project, drawing inspiration from both within and beyond our own tradition. To help us unpack what the future holds for the journal and how it will fit with Compass' plans, our Director, Neal Lawson was joined by two members of the editorial board:Dr Lise Butler, historian of modern Britain at City, University of LondonDavid Klemperer, Research Fellow at the Constitution SocietySupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

In a recent substack post, John Harris said that ‘the itch to write' his new book Maybe I'm Amazed ‘arrived not long after the General Election of 2019':I'd chewed over writing a book about the turns Britain had taken since the Brexit referendum three years before, but I had the feeling that a)The story had got too grim and relentless to return to with the dedication that a book would need, and b)In any case, the whole saga showed no sign of coming to any kind of conclusion (it still hasn't). In some way I couldn't quite work out, after all the political turbulence and anger I had been reporting on, what I really wanted to write about was human happiness. And music.– John HarrisThe blurb for the book reads:“Obsessed with music since he was a child, John Harris had no idea that he was in fact preparing himself for the greatest challenge of his life. But so it transpired. When his son James was born, and three years later diagnosed with autism, music became a source of precious connection and endless wonder for both of them. Maybe I'm Amazed describes how the music of The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Funkadelic, The Velvet Underground, Amy Winehouse and many more were soon woven into the fabric of James's life, becoming an essential part of who he is. It takes us through the struggles of raising an autistic child in a prejudiced world, and uncovers a hidden history of neurodivergence and creativity that casts new light on why notes, chords and lyrics speak so powerfully to the human mind.”We were thrilled to have John back on the It's Bloody Complicated on Tues 8th April to discuss his new book.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, ahead of the upcoming spring statement from the Treasury, we asked the perennial question: how could we pay for it?A lot of our vision of a good society rests on changing the narrative around fiscal rules and economic constraints, perhaps raising more money for the state, but certainly diverting the money we do have to more progressive ends. So where can that money come from and how can we effectively spend the money we do have?To discuss this crucial topic, Neal was joined by academic and author, Stewart Lansley, and Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Women's Budget Group, Erin Mansell.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

We were delighted to be joined by Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace and Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift.Last year was the first calendar year to globally reach more than 1.5°C of warming above pre-industrial levels. It was also the first year that renewables surpassed fossil fuels in the UK electricity mix.With a new Labour government, the advent of GB energy, a National Wealth Fund, it has, in some senses, been a momentously positive time for climate news. However, Labour's message of growth, with the approval of the Heathrow expansion, their keenness for North Sea oil extraction to go ahead despite a court case ruling it “unlawful”, and shelving of the Climate and Nature Bill paints a troubling picture.The challenge we face is one and the same as the opportunity we have – how do progressives fight for substantial climate action in 2025?Where are we winning?With the most progressive parliament ever elected, more and more obvious, widespread effects of a warming world, and the rise of climate-denying right-wing populism we sat down with two people at the forefront of the climate fight to dig into where climate policy and pushback is in the UK:Will McCallum, co-executive director of GreenpeaceTessa Khan, executive director of UpliftSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

It's been said that German elections are usually dull affairs. Well, whether that's been true in the past, it's certainly not true this time – it's bloody complicated.The result Sunday 23rd, brought success for the CDU/CSU conservatives, with 28.6% of the votes and 208 seats, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) who won 20.8% and 151 seats.The partners who make up the current red-green-yellow “traffic light” government all suffered losses – the SPD Social Democrats lost over 80 seats ending at 121, with the Greens losing 33 seats and securing only 85. The smaller Liberal FDP lost all 91 seats they held as they joined the BSW Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance in struggling to reach the 5% threshold to qualify for parliament, but in a unexpected resurgence the left party (Die Linke) won 64 seats.To dig through the results, explain the acronyms, parse what difference the voting system makes, and explore the ramifications for us in the UK, Frances was joined by Ronja Endres, Boris Kanzleiter, and James Hoctor.Ronja Endres sits on the the SPD party executive and is co-chair of the Bavarian SPD. A proud trade unionist, she works at the PECO institute, where she helps train young people in sustainable construction and technologies of the future. With a country at the crossroads and more speakers to be confirmed, this is not one to be missed.Boris Kanzleiter is the director of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Athens office and was the director of the international department of the RLS until 2023. He is an active party member of Die Linke.James Hoctor is Project Manager at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, London.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

In July 2024 the New Popular Front (NFP), a coalition of left-wing parties, came out on top in a snap general election in France, winning 193 seats in the National Assembly. The centrist bloc supporting President Emmanuel Macron got 166 seats, the far-right National Rally (RN) 142, and the center-right Republicans forty-seven.A progressive alliance prevented Marine Le Pen far-right taking power in France. To help us pick through a complicated year for progressives in Frances, and what comes next for the NPF, Neal was joined by Professor of French and European Politics, Philippe Marliėre, and journalist and researcher based in the UK, Olly Haynes.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Britain's infrastructure is struggling. We've seen stories of concrete falling down in schools, unreliable public transport, and an NHS at breaking point after chronic neglect and the Covid-19 pandemic. But little has captured people's attention and activism like the damage and disrepair of our sewage system and the disastrous decisions of the companies that own our water.Currently we're dealing with sewage in the rivers, rising bills, poorly managed companies that are increasingly “uninvestable“, and a regulator that has fined water companies just £2 despite record sewage spillages.But how did we get here, and how do we turn the tide? On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated we discussed just how feasible, desirable, and popular public ownership of water is and highlighted the campaign to get there.The Compass campaigns team were joined by the Director of We Own It, Cat Hobbs, expert on water legislation Professor Ewan McGaughey, and chair of the UNISON Water Industry Sector Committee Natalie Mladenovich-Haigh to dive into how we got here and how we get out of this mess.Cat Hobbs is the Founder and Director of We Own It, an organisation that campaigns for public ownership of public services.Ewan McGaughey is a Professor of Law who specialises in law, economics and history at Kings College London. His core research interests are economic and social rights, particularly in the governance of enterprises.Natalie Mladenovich-Haigh is the chair of UNISON Water Industry Sector Committee.We've been working with Clive Lewis MP, Green New Deal Rising, We Own It, and more to campaign for changes to ownership and management of water and will be doing more in the coming months. This podcast is one piece of that work – find our more here.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

For our first podcast of 2025, Neal and Lena were be joined by Rob Ford to discuss electoral chaos, First Past the Post and political instability, his recent work, and our recent publication Thin Ice.Rob Ford is a Professor of Political Science, and author of “Brexitland”, “The British General Election of 2019” and “Sex, Lies and Politics”.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Political commentator, journalist, and author Anushka Asthana joined us to break down the political year that was, and look ahead to 2025.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Ellie Chowns has been involved with politics for less than a decade. Yet, in that time has represented the West Midlands in the European Parliament, led the Green Group on the Tory-controlled Herefordshire Council, and in 2024 was elected as a Green MP for North Herefordshire, the first non-Conservative Member of Parliament for the area since 1906.We were excited to welcome her onto the Compass podcast to hear about her journey, her first few months in Westminster, the Greens' record breaking performance in 2024, and what she's planning for 2025 and beyond.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Last week, Donald Trump won a historic second term as US president. This victory in the face of the chaos, the lies and the courts should be a wake up call for progressives across the world.  So what do progressives need to do to turn the dread we all feel at this result into something meaningful?To digest, dissect and discuss the results we're joined by:Sky Gallegos, a Founding Partner at Hilltop Public Solutions, a political consulting firm based in DC that manages high-stakes, high-profile campaigns, builds coalitions and mobilizes grassroots advocates across the country.Frank Sharry, the founder of America's Voice and a long-time advocate for immigration reform and democratic rights. He has been working on the Democratic campaign.Oliver Laughland, the Guardian's US southern bureau chief and investigations correspondent, and presents Anywhere but Washington.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The UK is remarkably unequal.The richest 1% of Britons hold more wealth than 70 % of us combined.Wealth inequality is gendered, racialised, and extremely regional. Men have an average private pension wealth of £83,879 more than women, a gap of 90%. People in the black Caribbean, Bangladeshi and black African ethnic groups have more net debt (31%, 38% and 44% respectively) than individuals in the Indian ethnic group and the white British and Pakistani ethnic groups (11% and around 15% respectively). The South of England is considerably more wealthy than the North and this difference is growing – the difference in median individual wealth between the South-East (£263,000) and North-East (£79,000) more than doubled between July 2010 to June 2012, and April 2018 to March 2020.Wealth inequality distorts democratic political cultures, and causes a series of social and environmental harms. But polling shows that many of the consequences of inequality such as undermining economic growth or social cohesion or democracy are poorly understood by most people – and are not fully appreciated by decision-makers.So how do we bridge these gaps of knowledge and of wealth to move towards a more equal, more equitable society? The Fairness Foundation have launched a Wealth Gap Risk Register – an online evidence resource about the impacts of wealth inequality, how to reduce it and mitigate its impacts, and public attitudes to it.Click here to access the Wealth Gap Risk Register.To mark the launch, we hosted the chair of their Editorial Board, Will Hutton, and Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the LSE, Dr Burchardt to dig into how wealth inequality spills over into democracy, social relations, economic security, a fair tax system, public services and so on – and how to tackle this. Report author Jack Jeffrey also joined the discussion.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

In his recent book, Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It, Sam Freedman lays out why people matter, but systems matter more. Having a run of incompetent, corrupt leaders is a problem. But our problems run deeper – and we will get nowhere until we fix our systems.It's not enough to change who sits in Westminster and Whitehall – we have change the whole system.The change we need is no small feat – and it's bloody complicated. But unless our systems and politicians give away power, there is something much nastier around the corner. We're excited to welcome Sam onto the podcast on 8th October to talk about how to make the state capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century.Sam is a Senior Fellow covering education at the Institute of Government and a former senior adviser on schools at the Department for Education.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The 2024 general election result brought a welcome relief to British politics after 14 wasted years of Tory misrule. At last, some better people and ideas are at the helm.But, just a few months in, the challenges facing this new government are already beginning to pile up. Labour will need to be bold if it has any hope of rebuilding our crumbling public services, restoring trust in our democracy and tackling the climate crisis.To reflect on these challenges as Labour held its first conference in power for 15 years, we were be joined by:Adam Bienkov, political editor of Byline TimesHilary Wainwright, co-editor of Red Pepper magazineSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The 2024 general election result brings a welcome relief to UK politics. But now, we find ourselves at a crossroads: things are either going to get very much worse or very much better. There is no middle way.Neither the state, nor business, nor civil society can go it alone and bring about a better world – we have to do it together. That means having a clear, shared vision of what this positive future might look like.Compass' New Settlement project seeks to establish the guiding principles and building blocks of a Good Society that is much more equal, democratic and sustainable. To discuss how we can make this vision a reality, we were joined by:Willie Sullivan, Senior Director at the Electoral Reform SocietyFatima Ibrahim, Co-Executive Director of Green New Deal RisingSue Goss, writer and author of the Compass report A New Settlement: For a Better SocietyPriya Sanhi-Nicholas, Co-Executive Director at the Equality TrustSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Support the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On the 4th July people across the country went to the polls for a long overdue, and bloody complicated, General Election. Labour ended up with a mammoth majority and the Tories were left with just 121 seats. But beyond the headline figures, there was a huge amount going on beneath the surface. This election produced one of the most disproportionate results we have ever seen, revealing a European-style multi-party politics struggling to break free from the straitjacket of our two-party system.Neal Lawson and Frances Foley from the Compass office were joined by journalist John Harris and Labour campaigner Laura Parker us to discuss how exactly things changed so dramatically from 2019, and what 2024 holds for progressives and our country.Support the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

With Labour far ahead in the polls our attention turns to where the opposition from the Left will come from.We need to look no further than Nigel Farage and Reform UK – who could use the parliamentary base of Clacton to enact a shift to national populism of the kind we are now seeing in Italy, France and Germany.To discuss the very real threat of the Right we were joined on the podcast by one of the authors of a brand new publication The Little Black Book of the Populist Right: What it is, why it's on the march and how to stop itJon Bloomfield is a writer, environmental practitioner, and author of Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham. In the 1980s, Jon served on the editorial board of Marxism Today.Support the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this special general Election issue of Its Bloody Complicated we are delighted tobe joined by Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty. We've admired Aditya's writing and reporting for years and have been keen to gethim on. Aditya doesn't just critique what's wrong in terms of the economy, societyand politics – he actively goes out and finds places and examples where things arebeing done better – finding places for hope. But it was his article last week on thethreat poised by Nigel Farage that accelerated our desire to hear from him – in itAditya graphically illustrated how Farage and Reform UK set the tone of debate, nowprimarily on the issue of immigration, and then watch first the Tories then labourfollowing their direction. Farage may or may not win the seat of Clacton but he isalready winning the general election debate.Support the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On Tuesday, 14th May we were joined by Ben Walker and Alison Lowe to analyse the campaigns and the results of the 2024 local elections, and reflect where we are coming up to a general election.Ben Walker is a senior data journalist at the New Statesman and writes extensively about elections and UK public opinion. He is the co-founder of poll aggregator Britain Elects, and since 2023 is also a Cheshire West and Chester Councillor.Alison Lowe OBE is the West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime. She has been involved with local government for almost 30 years as a Labour councillor and as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds in 2003-4. She is a well known campaigner on equal rights, and worked in the Third Sector for 30+ years, most recently as Chief Executive of Touchstone, a mental health charity specialising in working with people from different cultural backgrounds across West Yorkshire.Support the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Over the last few years, the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform our society has become increasingly apparent. This comes with incredible opportunities – AI could help deepen our democracy and enable our politics to get closer to citizens to represent them more effectively – but is also fraught with risk. How can we take advantage of these opportunities while preventing AI from further destabilising our democracy with deepfakes and disinformation? To discuss all of this and more, we were joined by:Bhargav Srinivasa Desikan, Senior Research Fellow at IPPRLaura Giesen, Editor in Chief at Democracy TechnologiesSupport the Show.Enjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

It was a watershed moment in October 2022 when the Labour Party conference overwhelmingly voted to include in its manifesto a commitment to change the voting system to proportional representation after the next election. Just the year before, despite mass support in the membership, the motion failed because the affiliated Trade Unions opposed the motion.To discuss this historic shift, what the changing the voting systems means to the trade union movement, and where next, we're excited to be joined by Lynn Henderson and Nancy Platts.Lynn is the chair of the Electoral Reform Society and also chairs Politics for the Many – the trade union campaign for electoral reform.  In her day job she is a senior national officer at the Public and Commercial Services Union, the UK's largest trade union for government workers.  She is also a Trustee of the  Jimmy Reid Foundation, a think tank for radical political thinking, based in Scotland.Nancy Platts is a Consultant at Campaign Collective – a social enterprise which works with not-for-profits and other campaigners, providing high quality marketing, communications advice and PR support, and is the co-ordinator of Politics for the Many.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Support for Scottish independence is still strong but the SNP are clearly in a weaker position, institutionally, reputationally, and ideologically. They have become mired in scandal, their hegemonic grip on politics north of the border looks to be loosening, and yet the constitutional questions about who governs Scotland and how remain relevant and live. Labour's position has clearly strengthened – albeit without ever addressing key questions of democratic renewal and constitutional change.With a UK general election less than a year away, especially while it looks like Labour could win power and form a majority, the context for the democratic left, the future of the UK and Scotland are changing – and with it how and how much the UK is bound together changes. What progressive and democratic reforms are feasible and desirable in this new context and how can the progressive democratic left work together are essential questions on either side of the independence case. To talk this through with us, Neal and Lena were joined by:Gerry Hassan is the author of several books on Scottish and British politics including ‘The Strange Death of Labour Scotland' and ‘The People's Flag and the Union Jack: An Alternative History of Britain and the Labour Party'.Esther Roberton, who was the coordinator of the Scottish Constitutional Convention in the 1990s and has spent more than three decades serving on and chairing national and regional boards across significant areas of policy including health, education and justice, as well as initiatives relating to the Scottish Parliament and as Non-Executive Director of the Scottish Government.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Citizens' assemblies represent an alternative way of doing politics: a randomly selected group of citizens are convened to reason collectively, to consider evidence and to have discussions which should arrive at complex, nuanced decisions for the long term. As such, they've been called ‘democracy under good conditions'.They have been credited with tackling some of the toughest political and ethical questions – such as abortion, AI, hate crime and nuclear power –generating balanced and often surprising solutions. Citizens' assemblies aren't some kind of wacky democratic experiment – they're a tried-and-tested tool in our democratic arsenal. That's why it's no surprise that the Labour Party, if it wins the next election, is reportedly open to introducing citizens' assemblies for some of the biggest, most complex concerns of our time – housebuilding, House of Lords reform and devolution.To discuss this, we were joined by:Jamie Kelsey Fry, Global AssemblyJames Robertson, Sortition FoundationSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

First Past the Post might block smaller parties from gaining representation at Westminster, but on this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, we discussed how in spite of this they can still wield substantial influence and contribute meaningfully to our national political discourse.We were joined by:Gina Miller, True and Fair PartyCatherine Mayer, Women's Equality PartySupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Progressives face a dilemma; we want a change of government but know the country needs a big change of direction. In an essay published for the journal Renewal, Neal has set out the case for what he calls a Radical Pragmatic Left, i.e., a Left that recognises both the need to reconnect with voters and defeat the Tories but critically has a plan to transform the country within the context of the Poly crisis world we face. The need for such a Left is made more urgent by the looming threat of the populist Right if any new incoming government fails too much, too soon.To discuss the essay and its implications Frances was joined by Neal and Alan Finlayson, Professor of Political and Social Theory at The University of East Anglia and Chair of the Board of Renewal. As part of his work Alan has developed particular expertise in the theoretical and practical study of political rhetoric.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

In 2017, South West Surrey Compass organised and slashed Jeremy Hunt's majority taking it from the 7th safest Tory-held seat to the 121st. In 2019, they took control of a local council. In 2023, they sued the government.In the beginning of a an election year, we brought old Compass friends Paul Follows and Steve Williams onto It's Bloody Complicated to talk about their journey, lessons, and plans for cooperation in South West Surrey.For the past 8 years, they have been a leading light for progressive cooperation. They have illustrated time and time again that coalitions and cooperative politics isn't lowest common denominator politics – it's our future.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The mainstream press in Britain has been in a state of managed decline for much of the 21st century. Once massive news outlets have suffered massive staff reductions as they have struggled to adapt to a digital age. But over the last few years, green shoots of growth have emerged. From the national level with publications like Byline Times and Novara Media to the regional level with the Manchester Mill, Sheffield Tribune, Bristol Cable and more, new media outlets are daring to do things differently and challenging the industry orthodoxy. But all the while, outlets on the Right such as GB News are also going from strength to strength. What opportunities – and challenges – might arise from this new media landscape? And will it help or hinder our fight for a new democracy?To discuss all of this and more, we were joined by:Hardeep Matharu, Editor of Byline TimesPriyanka Raval, Reporter at the Bristol CableSupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

As another year comes to a close, we were excited to welcome Ayesha Hazarika and Andrew Grice to It's Bloody Complicated to round up another year in politics.Ayesha Hazarika is a broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians.Andrew Grice is a political columnist for The Independent, having been its political editor from 1998 to 2015. He has worked in Westminster since 1982.2023 was a year of strikes and protests, record-breaking global temperatures, a coronation, 2 cabinet and 1 shadow cabinet reshuffles, and horrific conflict.What's on the report cards for our progressive parties?What can we expect from 2024 with a general election (probably) on the horizon – and what are the prospects for genuine system change, including proportional representation?We digested the year that was, alongside some mince pies. Members joined us live at 6pm on Tuesday 12th December with Ayesha and Andy.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

According to the Right to Roam campaign, 92% of the UK's countryside and 97% of its rivers are not available to the vast majority of the public. For Episode 96 of It's Bloody Complicated, we'll be discussing land ownership and the Commons, and why democratising and sharing control of our land, rivers and seas could slash inequality and help calm political instability in this country.We were joined by :Guy Standing, a leading thinker and writer on this issue. In his book Plunder of the Commons, Guy deep dives into a history of our country's democracy that created the commons and why we need to fight to keep it.Pam Warhurst, the founder and chair of Incredible Edible the community urban gardening project. In its 15th year of “propaganda gardening”, Incredible Edible has 170+ groups in the UK, and around 1000 groups worldwide, growing food, building communities, and transforming our relationship with the public land around us.On the podcast, we discussed why our relationship to land is such a pressing issue, what a new progressive settlement for the Commons might look like and how we can get there.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Climate chaos is looming. The question of how to protect and preserve our planet for future generations is a conversation that's not just timely, but absolutely essential.That's why, for Episode 95 of It's Bloody Complicated, we were joined by Areeba Hamid, co-Director of Greenpeace. When she took up the role last October, Areeba became the first woman of colour and first migrant to lead Greenpeace and, along with Will McCallum, the first to share the top job.From grassroots activism to global campaigns, Areeba shared insights into the transformative power of environmental advocacy and explored the challenges Greenpeace has faced in the fight against climate change. We explored the complexities of environmental conservation, the role of Greenpeace alongside newer organisations like XR and JSO, and why we must renew our democracy to achieve climate justice.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

After Labour came to power in 1997, Clare Short served as the UK's first cabinet-level Secretary of State for International Development, a post she would go on to hold for six years. In this role, she secured large increases in the British government's overseas aid budget and persuaded then-chancellor Gordon Brown to write off the debts to Britain of Africa's poorest countries. A famously independent-minded politician, she stood down from her role over the Iraq war in 2003 and later resigned the Labour whip in 2006. She then served the remainder of her term as an independent before standing down as an MP in 2010.She joined us on It's Bloody Complicated to discuss the legacy of New Labour, the future of the UK's role in international development and how the current political moment compares to 1997.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Labour faces a huge challenge at the next election: first to win power, then to use it to change our country for the better. The polls suggest it will clear the first hurdle, but what of the second?The challenges our county faces have never been greater. We need a bold and reforming progressive government to rebuild our crumbling public services, restore trust in our democracy and tackle the climate crisis head-on. We brought you a live episode of It's Bloody Complicated from Labour Conference 2023 to ask: is Labour up to the challenge?We were joined by journalist and broadcaster Steve Richards, the New Statesman's Zoe Grunewald, and The Guardian's Zoe Williams to talk about the key headline announcements, reflected on the mood on the conference floor and discussed whether Labour is ready for power.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

In 1993, New Zealanders voted to replace First Past the Post with a proportional voting system. 30 years on, we discussed how this all-important electoral overhaul came about with two special guests:Max Rashbrooke, a New Zealand based writer on democracy and economic inequalityAnd Danna Glendining, a New Zealand Green Party activist and MMP advocateWe discussed the challenges and difficulties of changing the voting system, how a transition to PR has transformed politics in New Zealand and what democracy campaigners in the UK can learn about the road to electoral reform.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this episode, we brought together an expert panel to discuss the threat of the far-right to democracy and how progressives are fighting for change.Nick Lowles, Hope Not Hate chief executiveHannah Rose, Hate and Extremism Analyst at the Institute for Strategic DialogueAnd Luke Cooper, author of Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy.With the far right marching steadily into the mainstream in Europe and elsewhere, the endurance of progressive forces and their capacity to win will depend on their ability to build deep and enduring alliances with their political neighbours.We delved into why now is such a vital moment for this political discussion, what's at stake and why progressives need to go big to combat the tide of far right extremism sweeping Europe and the globe.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. If you live to be 80, you'll have had about 4,000 weeks. But, to Oliver Burkeman, that's no reason for despair. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals was a smash hit from author and journalist Oliver Burkeman. On 25th July, he'll join us on It's Bloody Complicated to talk time, reality, the delusions we hold about productivity, and how to focus on the ‘gloriously possible' in a time of spiralling global crises.Oliver is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People who Can't Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. He wrote a long-running column for the Guardian, This Column Will Change Your Life, and has a devoted following for his writing on productivity, mortality and the power of limits.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

What would a Fair Society actually look like? What are the feasible policy building blocks that could help us get there?In Daniel Chandler's book Free and Equal he makes the case for a new progressive liberalism grounded in the ideas of the philosopher John Rawls – complete with democratic reform of the voting system for the House of Commons, a universal basic income, and the abolition of private schools.Listen back to this episode of It's Bloody Complicated as we ask Daniel about these ideas and more.This episode was recorded with an audience of our members on July 11th.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the NHS this year, Julia Grace Patterson is publishing a new book, Critical: Why the NHS is being betrayed and how we can fight for it. After years of austerity, a global pandemic, and the looming threats of privatisation, the NHS is bad shape.She writes, “The NHS is an institution. But it's also a political football, kicked back and forth between politicians for the past 75 years. It's a burden to some and a potent vote-winner for others. It's a construct, framed in the media. It's a set of ideas and a logo. It's a workplace for many and the birthplace of almost all of us. It's become a valued part of our society, it is extraordinarily special – and it's being destroyed”.On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated we dug into her journey as a campaigner and what she's planning heading into the next election.Julia is a relentless and extremely effective campaigner and advocate for NHS staff and patients. She is the Founder and Chief Executive of EveryDoctor, a doctor-led campaign organisation fighting for a better NHS. A doctor who qualified from UCL Medical School in 2010, she took a break from her speciality training to set up EveryDoctor, and has now given up her GMC licence to practice, in order to devote herself fully to advocating for NHS staff and patients. She remains a doctor on the GMC register.This episode was recorded live on 27th June, 6pm.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Vince Cable has been a Labour party councillor, a SDP coalition candidate, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, our Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, an academic, a civil servant in the Foreign Office, and a key minister and negotiator in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government of 2010-15.We sat down with him and others with international experience of cooperation in politics on June 13th to talk about the why, where, and how of coalitions.If our electoral landscape wasn't enough to prove that we need to build a new cooperative politics, the scale and intensity of the crises we face is.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this episode, Frances Foley, deputy director of Compass hosted two great movers and shakers of the community power movement:Andy Jackson, community leader at We're Right Here, the campaign for community powerMohammed Afridi, Director of Organising at the Civic Power FundWe got into the complicated nitty and gritty of what terms like ‘community power' actually mean, the links to physical infrastructure, and democratic innovation at the local level, from co-operatives to friendly societies, settlements to trade unions.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

With the Conservatives publicly announcing that they are expecting of loss of more than 1,000 councillors in the upcoming local elections, it looks to be a good year for progressive councillors. But we know that, especially when there are 8,000+ seats up for election with 25,000+ candidates, It's Bloody Complicated.Join us on May 9th as we dig into the results from the Local Elections in 2023, and what's going on beneath the surface.We're  joined by journalist and former president of the YouGov, Peter Kellner, as well as council leaders and campaigners from Compass's networks around the country.We're joined by Caroline Jackson, the Leader of Lancaster City Council for the last two years, leading a Shared Administration containing 5 political groups and 44 councillors, Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg who leads the Labour-Lib Dem partnership council in North Hertfordshire.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On the 4th April 2020, Keir Starmer assumed office as the Leader of the Labour Party. He won that leadership election with almost a 30% winning margin.3 years on, Neal talks with journalists Rachel Shabi and Rafael Behr to look back, and forward to where Starmer's leadership is taking us.Sir Keir is a controversial leader. In the three months since the beginning of this year, he's come under fire for candidate selection processes that routinely block progressive and left leaning candidates, a purge of the left leaning members, failing to engage with the recommendations of Brown's Commission, resolutely refusing to stand with striking workers, ignoring the wish of 80%+ of his party's members to scrap our rotten voting system, and the list goes on.He's built a huge poll lead, previously unthinkable for Labour. He is widely expected to be capable of winning the next election and become Prime Minister.But in December last year, 63% of voters thought the current poll lead Labour is enjoying is down to negative views of the government, not positive views of Labour or him. Compass is committed to ensuring a progressive government at the next election. That will be a Labour-led one, with either a majority or minority of seats. On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated we dive into the what Keir Starmer's leadership means for that future.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On 21st April 2023, Extinction Rebellion are bringing 100,000 to protest peacefully outside the Houses of Parliament to demand an end to the fossil fuel era and for a citizen-led transformation towards a fair society that includes reparations.This is the Big One. After a "winter of discontent" that saw thousands gathered at picket lines and demonstrations, and hundreds of pages spent evaluating and criticising the tactics of protests in our streets or our museums, protest - and its power - is in the air.What are the demands of the Big One? What is changing in how the British state interacts with protestors and organisers? Are we under threat?On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated we hear from Miranda Irwin a relationship builder from XR, David Mead, a legal academic specialising in the regulation of protest and dissent, and Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now to talk about the power of protest.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Zack Polanski has had an incredible year.Last September, he was elected the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. As a member of the London Assembly, he is the Chair of the Environment committee, and has worked with others across all parties and persuasions on an incredible array of progressive policies. From the fight to end new transmissions of HIV, campaigning for universal basic income, and bringing communities and civil society into making and informing climate policy to standing by strikers and appearing on LBC, BBC, and at our Green Party Conference Event, he's been busy.On this episode, we caught up with longtime Compass friend Zack Polanski on the lessons and challenges of the past years and what's to come for him and his party in the years to come. Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

When people can't feed themselves and their families and the planet burns, it's clear democracy is not working. On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, we're diving into the mechanics of how our political system makes our society more unequal and unstable.The structure of our parliaments changes what they can and will do, limiting the potential for the change this country needs. Voting justice would lead to social justice. Where votes are fair and equal across the UK, where people's voices are represented and Westminster doesn't hold an iron grip on crucial levers of power.In the UK, voter are split pretty evenly (49/51) on whether immigration enriches or undermines our society. Yet, three quarters of constituencies have anti-immigration majorities. 8 in 10 Brits are concerned about climate change. Half think that net zero targets need to be brought forward. Over 65% of the public supports nonviolent direct action to protect the environment. The pay rise size that the most working Britons agree with is 1o%.Between union busting, new coal mines, and greater police power, it's clear that chasm between the policy passed and public opinion is creeping wider. Without changing the way we vote, the policy options of what we vote for policies will keep being decided by the margins, factions, and swing voters.Joining us to make the case for voting justice as social justice, and explain the connection between the ballot box and bills passed are:Professor Kate E. Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level, is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of YorkEmeritus Professor, Baroness Ruth Lister, Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough UniversitySupport the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, Frances hosted a conversation between Anthony Barnett and one of the symbols of hope for British progressives - longtime Compass friend and the only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas. At the tail end of 2022, Anthony Barnett caused a stir with an essay, "The Year of the Definite Left". He laid out why new movements on the Left across the world are challenging the political status quo, and what challenges lie ahead.His general diagnosis is hopeful, but disparaging about the UK:While it is in the Americas, both South and North, that the definite Left has gained political influence, the forces of humanisation that underlie it are felt everywhere, from Ukraine to Brazil, and from the apartments of Tehran to those of Beijing. But still they remain largely bottled up by the dominant order. In my own country, the UK, Brexit cannot be voted out like Trump, while the Labour opposition, far from seeking to initiate a Biden-style alliance with an intellectually vibrant definite Left, seeks to ensure its impotence and a return to Blairism.Full essay here. Guardian article here.Join the Martin Forde event 20th March 2023 here.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.

Significant power is vested in Wall Street and Silicon Valley. How did we come to live in a world dominated by big tech and finance, where they hold considerable sway over the direction of politics and government? How do we understand this transformation in power? And what can we do about it?On this episode of It's Bloody Complicated, Jeremy Gilbert joined us to talk through how we might upgrade the concept of hegemony, the importance of passive consent, the complexity of political interests, and the structural force of technology. He is the co-author of Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back), which outlines a dynamic socialist strategy for the 21st Century.Support the showEnjoyed the podcast and want to be a live audience member at our next episode? Want to have the chance in raising questions to the panelist?Support our work and be a part of the Compass community. Become a member!You can find us on Twitter at @CompassOffice.