The Political Economy Blog

Power without purpose? Social democracy is not what you think it is

The Starmer government’s ideological constraints help to explain why it appears to be making so many unforced errors and callous decisions

Apr 1 • 

Craig Berry

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December 2024

I’m dreaming of a white paper

Sadly, the English Devolution White Paper isn’t it

Dec 22, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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November 2024

OBR-la-di, OBR-la-da

Labour’s first budget was better than it seems

Nov 3, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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2

September 2024

The political economy of the Oasis reunion and working-class nostalgia

Noel and Liam’s transformation from artisanal labour to rent-seeking capital is complete

Sep 8, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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1

July 2024

Caught beneath a landslide: can Labour win (again)?

The uncertainty and unevenness of economic growth means Labour may need to embrace retail politics, if it wants to replenish its base to win a second…

Jul 12, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

4

June 2024

The pensions triple lock plus is a no-brainer

Labour will adopt Rishi Sunak’s triple lock plus policy in office. It needs to have a more honest conversation about tax now, or it will not have a…

Jun 10, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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2

Working class women: election 2024's forgotten demographic

Labour has accepted a narrow, male-centred account of working class grievance. It will work for now but not forever

Jun 2, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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May 2024

The Shared Accommodation Rate: the flawed benefit that many need but few claim

Housing cost support for young people is based on a fiction. Youth homelessness is the inevitable outcome

May 26, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

3

Here’s how to power up local government: put a Treasury in every region

Establishing Treasury-like agencies at the regional level would be a platform for genuine devolution and a more equal relationship between central and…

May 19, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

2

April 2024

Farewell to the Cost of Living Payment, one of the best ever bad policies

Offering a brief glimpse into the welfare state's future, the Cost of Living Payment did more good than we tend to assume

Apr 28, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

2

On materialist utopias, policy failure, and the Sovietisation of higher education

Abby Innes helps us to understand the resemblance of neoliberal regimes and the Soviet Union. British universities exemplify the key flaws of both

Apr 16, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

5

March 2024

Growth is not a plan. It’s an ideology (part 2 of 2)

Growth ideology is a constraint on growth. Its origins lie in conservative as well as neoliberal thought

Mar 3, 2024 • 

Craig Berry

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