Compass home

David Marquand has responded to Neal Lawson and John Harris's call for 'A New Socialism' with an interesting piece on OurKingdom in which he states "Lawson and Harris...offer a rich and subtle account of the deeper cultural changes that, in their view, undermined the New Labour project, and go on to call for a paradigm shift to what they call ‘New Socialism'. Their argument is new, and deserves to be taken seriously."

Read the response here

There's been much speculation of late about the likely results of the Government's counter-terrorism review, which are due to be revealed imminently. Whatever the result, now is the time for progressives who believe in human rights to stand up and make clear their opposition to draconian measures like control orders and extended pre-charge detention for people suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Over the weekend and today a number of commentators have called for a future Lib-Lab and wider progressive coalition. Richard Grayson, professor of history at Goldsmiths University and former Lib Dem policy director, John Denham, the Shadow Business Secretary, and Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley have all spoken out in favour of such a union.  Ed Miliband also signaled today that he wanted Lib Dems to be involved in Labour's policy making process to shift the centre-ground of politics to the left. 

Years of progress in the cause of gender equality could be reversed when the Coalition Government goes ahead with its planned reduction in public sector jobs and welfare cuts, a report by the Trades Union Congress reveals. The Gender Impact of the Cuts, published on the 6th of December, highlights the devastating effect these changes will have on women and families. The report was published ahead of the latest pay gap figures which show that that the gender pay divide is almost twice as high in the private sector as it is in the public sector (20.8 percent compared to 11.6 percent).

There are now less than 40 tickets left for this year's Compass Christmas Boat Party held from 8pm-1am on Tuesday 21 December. This year's party is held on a boat at Albert Embankment on the River Thames. Moored between Lambeth and Vauxhall Bridge, Tamesis offers stunning views of the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and the river. This is a unique, friendly and relaxed space where we'd love you to join us and celebrate a successful year for Compass. There will be a DJ and a number of speakers and possible acts yet to be confirmed. Please note we now have less than 50 tickets left - so book soon to avoid disappointment.

Up and down the country innovative campaigns have sprung up to oppose the government's education reforms. Last night's vote to increase fees for university students up to £9000 will turn Higher Education into a market. It reflects the wider commercialisation of our education system must be strongly opposed at every opportunity. Instead we need to see education and other public services democratise. So today we have a letter published in The Guardian aimed at uniting all groups of campaigners.

Every week that passes is marked by a new outburst of anti-Muslim feeling. From media scare stories about halal meat; threats to burn the Qur'an; bans on Minarets or face coverings; claims that Sharia law is being introduced in parts of the UK; offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed; and English Defence League demonstrations using slogans such as ‘Burn the Mosque' as they did in Preston this November, a wave of Islamophobia is being continually whipped up. Politicians seeking to win a few easy votes have not been averse to playing to this - as we saw in Oldham.

I've been involved in lots of Labour for x,y or z campaigns over the years. Many of them were narrowly supported and went nowhere, some had more generous backing and therefore had more of an effect. But I've never been involved in an essentially internal Labour campaign with such broad support as the new Labour Yes to the Alternative Vote campaign.

The End Legal Loan Sharking campaign is delighted to announce we will be holding a rally in Parliament from 18:00 - 19:30 on Thursday 3 February 2011 entitled 'End Legal Loan Sharking: time for lending rate caps?'. This will coincide with the second reading of Stella Creasy MP's Consumer Credit and Advice Bill. The event will also coincide with major new research on the impact of financial exclusion by Compass.

Yesterday Luke Pearce, Vice Chair of the Compass Youth Organising Committee, wrote a letter to Topshop regarding Phillip Green's £285million tax avoidance, which we now publish on our website.