This website has been set up to provide a forum for those, regardless of party affiliation or of none, who want to contribute to a new politics marked by social democratic values guiding strategic policy development, rather than tactical interventions geared to short-term control of news agenda. The latter has been the methodology of New Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. It is proving the death knell of Labour as a creative political force.
A social democratic methodology requires future public policy choices and development to be assessed against the primary benchmark of their relative impact on the lifetime opportunities available to low and middle-income households, particularly the poor and disadvantaged, without sacrificing economic efficiency. This should underpin a progressive political consensus that fosters cohesion and solidarity.
The primary purpose is to stimulate debate on how social democrats can best help shape the realignment of politics in the lead up and aftermath of the 2010 election in a way that is both intellectually robust and politically feasible.
The initial focus is on housing following the website founder’s own specialism, but is hoped that the housing page will be soon supplemented by, first an income maintenance reform page (fundamental to effective housing reform), and on social democratic political methodology in general, followed by economic, education, health, and equalities pages; in short, most areas that span policy and political concern.
Housing, in any case, is a prime and current example of a policy area where the technical and political dimensions of social democratic strategy and policy can, and needs, to be combined. Housing: A social democratic opportunity explains why contingent shifting tactical responses to events based on overt political opportunism invariably lead to flawed technical policy design and implementation processes that simply lead to lose-lose outcomes in both policy and political terms.
Please feel free to leave your views.
