You wait ages for a crisis to arise, and then a stack of them come along at once. But the multiple crises that Britain is now experiencing have a common thread running through them: the relationship between markets and capitalism, on one side, and society and democracy, on the other. The interaction between these forces presents the left with its greatest threat – and its biggest opportunity – since 1945. [...]

The end of every summer marks a moment of potential political renewal. Pundits and commentators urge leaders to modernise, consolidate, shift left, move right or die. Reality rarely matches the hype. But the tail end of the wet summer of 2008 lives up to the hyperbole. Labour really must change or die.

Whatever Gordon Brown decides to do as he considers relaunches and reshuffles, something is glaringly apparent: the new [...]

As the new Labour project comes to a shuddering halt, attempts by the Blairites to revive it throw into stark relief two contrasting possible directions for the the Labour Party. Most recently and notably, those who want to salvage the wreckage of new Labour have called on the party to "liberalise or die". But what type of liberty do they mean? The answer the party gives will determine whether it [...]

The government wants doctors' surgeries open more often and for longer. It has invested in the service and paid GPs more. Now it wants the public to get what it thinks the public wants - more flexible access to surgeries.

Who could argue with that? Well, let's try.

Why do we need extended surgery hours? Are we any iller or ill more frequently today than in the past? Not a [...]

The government has gone at least two weeks without a disaster. If the froth is settling, what is the actual story as the election is pushed on to the back burner? The purpose of any centre-left government is to use the state to ensure that accidents of birth do not blight people's lives. The brute luck of not being born rich, bright or healthy demands social action to ensure that [...]

You would have thought a party that has managed to lose four million votes and more than half its members, that is trailing a rejuvenated opposition in the polls, and is struggling to explain away a disastrous foreign war, a funding crisis in the NHS and a scandal over "cash for honours" would jump at the chance to renew itself. Not a bit of it. The three cabinet ministers standing [...]

Progressive politics in a globalised economy comes down to one central issue: can economic efficiency and social justice go hand in hand? This past week, it was the turn of the Liberal Democrats in Brighton to test the theory through a proxy debate on tax. In the coming week, Labour will use Manchester as the backdrop to the same discussion - only this time through a putative leadership and, in [...]

As MPs enjoy their liberty in locations from Tuscany to Trinidad they might ponder why, as crime goes down, the number of people denied their liberty goes up. Crime is down 44 per cent on 1995, but prisoner numbers are at a record 77,400 - up from 60,100 in 1997. The answer lies in the shredding of the new Labour soundbite "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", [...]

"There is no alternative" - Thatcher's bastard daughter Tina has kept the left on its knees for a quarter-century by enshrining the principle that you can't buck the market. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair said as much when they agreed, "It's the economy stupid." In truth the forward march of labour, halted in the 1970s, had been slowing for a while, sustained only by the myth that if you elected [...]

Politics is about the pursuit of power. Yet the two contenders for the next premiership appear unaware of the difference between being in office and being in power. Both are saying what they think it takes to win. Yet real power is the ability to change the world in tune with the political values of your party. It requires not just a genuine mandate, but active and sustained support throughout [...]