In these extraordinary times, the opportunity to imagine other times and places, to daydream, or to simply enjoy the imaginary worlds of TV and radio, have been a solace to many as they manage their lives from home. For many, the most appreciated ‘place’ is their regular dose of soap – not the hand-washing sort,…
As Yorkshire suffers, again, we are reminded that as a nation we are critically unprepared for the impacts of climate change. This failure is largely about political leadership yet it is expressed in practical terms by a failure to organise ourselves to meet the scale of the challenge. The result is that as the climate…
After almost a decade of Tory led governments vast swathes of countryside communities have been let down if not closed down. There are still too many not-spots for mobile reception, too many places without decent broadband, places where you can’t get to stay and live locally in a home to own or rent; while the…
The recent publication of the Lords Inquiry into the rural economy (explored here by Baroness Young) reinforces the need for a Rural Strategy as proposed by the Rural Services Network, its partner organisations and many others, including LCC. As we often find many MPs and political leaders are surprised to find that more people live in rural England than live in Greater London…
A warm evening and a railway station with a Betjeman poem on the platform (Pershore station, or a Liverish Journey First Class) – a very English setting from which to be picked up for an evening’s discussion with the Pershore branch of West Worcester CLP, and their guests from Evesham. Gathering in a recently refurbished…
While much of the Labour family is rightly occupied with their local election campaign for tomorrow, some of the early steps in preparing for ‘The English election’ of 2019 (elections in 192 District Councils, 47 Unitaries and 33 Mets on 2nd May '19), began last week. Labour:COAST&COUNTRY (LCC) brought together seven of our newer MPs…
In politics as in life, there is always a balance between the principled and the pragmatic. While Labour Coast and Country was established in 2012, its roots go back into the later days of the Blair government, and then the Brown administration, reflecting our principled ambitions then that “every child matters”, and the pragmatic reality that…
To govern the nation well means being in touch with the realities of the whole of the nation. To have a chance of representing the nation at the very least means being present in every community – whether you see representation as just providing a voice or an elected representative. Both can be of help…
A contribution to the ‘Challenging Times’ edition of SERA’s New Ground – a non-urban perspective highlighting the challenges of how we do politics and are governed. Labour needs to think through – devolution and localism, particularly in England; Labour’s organisation & offer to non-urban Britain; and how to work with the green groups for the…
Just a few months before the former Labour Leader Ed Miliband’s ‘One Nation’ conference speech in 2012 I discussed with colleagues the right name for what is now Labour: Coast &Country, we even wrote down ‘One Nation Labour’ as a part of the route to power in 2015 . . . . . Yet the…
