In a world where our 'democracy' is manifestly not fit for purpose, how can we turn the brief, bright fireworks of political sanity into floodlights of progressive values, of liquid democracy that leads to an equitable, regenerative culture? With Neal Lawson of the progressive campaign group, Compass.
Neal Lawson was brought up in an activist household and joined the Labour party at sixteen. After university, he worked for the Transport and General Workers' Union and then was a speech writer for Gordon Brown during the New Labour years.
He has been helping to lead the political campaign group, Compass, since its formation in 2003. He is more focused than ever on how to make big transformative change happen. He works on strategy, relationships, funding and fronting Compass.
He writes for
The Guardian,
[9] the
New Statesman[10] and
OpenDemocracy[11] about
equality, democracy and the future of the left, and appears on TV and radio as a political
commentator. He was the author of
All Consuming (Penguin, 2009), which analysed the social cost of consumerism. Lawson's writing has been heavily influenced by the late Polish Marxist sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman who described him as “one of the most insightful and inventive minds on the British political stage”.
Compass itself is a home for those who want to build and be a part of a Good Society; one where equality, sustainability and democracy are not mere aspirations, but a living reality. We are founded on the belief that no single issue, organisation or political party can make a Good Society a reality by themselves so we have to work together to make it happen. Compass is a place where people come together to create the visions, alliances and actions to be the change we wish to see in the world.
In this episode, we explore the recent history of politics in the UK and then open more deeply into the routes by which our manifestly broken political system could be transformed into something that will - in Neal's words - transform the brief flaring fireworks of hope into floodlights that can transform our nation, and the world.