It's Bloody Complicated - A Compass Podcast

Updated: 17 May 2025 • 144 episodes
compassonline.org.uk

Hear from the widest range of voices in the progressive movement. Every week, host Neal Lawson, speaks with progressive thinkers, writers and politicians from the UK and beyond about current affairs and how to build the Good Society. Visit compassonline.org.uk to learn more about Compass.

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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 r

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27 Apr 2025 • EN

Renewal | ep. 125

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 inter

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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 gri

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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, bu

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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 e

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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

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