The Return of the State

The British economy is no longer working for most people. This book brings together the best progressive thinkers, not to tell us what is wrong, but to explore the foundations of a new economy that works better for as many of us as possible. It’s essential reading for everyone that wants equity, democracy and dynamism baked into a very different twenty-first century economy. -- Neal Lawson, Executive Director, Compass

After decades of assault by state-shrinking ideologues, a collision of crises has revealed how only the power of good government can save us. Covid, climate catastrophe and Brexit crashed in on a public realm stripped bare by a decade of extreme austerity. Here all the best writers and thinkers on the good society show recovery is possible, with a radical rethink of all the old errors. Read this and feel hope that things can change.

-- Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist

For forty years the global race to the bottom has been a political choice. I commend the authors of this important book for setting out an alternative politics of fuller, better and greener employment.

-- Frances O'Grady, General Secretary, TUC

A roadmap for reforming the British welfare state in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis ... useful and thought-provoking ... I found its arguments on the need for governments to address inequality and look beyond GDP growth alone to be very persuasive ... an important and timely book with lessons for those both inside and outside the United Kingdom.

-- LSE Review of Books