“As Reform rises in the Midlands, our new project researches the lives of voters in post-industrial England and how progressives can connect with them.” Read our latest newsletter and sign up to our Substack 👇 🔗 cmmonwealth.substack.com/p/popular-ra...

“Sacha Hilhorst ... made a really interesting case for just going really hard on political renewal ... one of those provisions should be [that] MPs should not be allowed to hold second jobs ... I think that would be such an easy win.” 🎙️ @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

“[Public control] can mean anything, from what’s happening in Greater Manchester — where they have regulated, and brought under public control ... a deregulated, fragmented private bus & tram network — to other sectors that are natural monopolies.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @thetimes.com 👇

“The neglect of sovereignty is a long-running feature of UK utility policy ... our gas pipes and power grids are owned by an assortment of overseas institutional investors.” Our Chief Economist @chrismwhayes.bsky.social quoted in @telegraph.co.uk 👇 www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

“From Canada’s underbelly came the uranium for the U.S.’s nuclear bombs, nickel for armoured plates on its battleships, and aluminium for its warplanes.” 🖋️ Nessie Nankivell writes on mineral extraction and the US military for @breachmedia.ca 🔗👇 breachmedia.ca/elbows-up-ca...

🚨 6 days left to apply! See details below👇

🚨 Hormuz shipping disruption & outages in Qatar have tightened the global gas market. Britain is highly exposed. 🧵 Our new briefing by @patriciapino.bsky.social sets outs a plan for gas supply to stabilise UK energy prices & bolster security ahead of winter. www.common-wealth.org/publications...

“Last year the Common Wealth thinktank warned of the ‘very high threshold for liability’ and called for tougher penalties to ensure ‘meaningful deterrence’.” Our report on corporate accountability after Grenfell featured in @theguardian.com 👇 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why are councils in England selling schools, swimming pools and public green space? Our new report reveals how austerity and PFI have contributed to unsustainable funding for local authorities , focusing on Leeds City Council. 🧵👇 www.common-wealth.org/publications...

“[A] fascinating report by the think tank Common Wealth into the lives of voters in post-industrial England. A useful read ahead of the Makerfield by-election.” Our report featured in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social’s newsletter. 🖊️ @meganekenyon.bsky.social 🔗 morningcall.substack.com/p/morning-ca...

“The principal challenge facing progressive parties in England’s former industrial areas is not that residents have somehow got the “wrong” views, but rather that many no longer believe in politics at all.” @sachahilhorst.bsky.social quoted in @theguardian.com 👇 www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Can’t wait for this: I’ll be in discussion with @katharinapistor.bsky.social, author of THE CODE OF CAPITAL, and Mathew Lawrence, founder and director of @cmmonwealth.bsky.social, on 2 June at The October Gallery in Bloomsbury. Get your ticket! substack.com/home/post/p-...

I think this is worth reading alongside yesterday's equally excellent report by @sachahilhorst.bsky.social for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social - the two papers approach post-industrial towns and their problems from quite different angles, but I'd suggest their insights & proposals are complementary

Many working-class, largely white areas in the Midlands and the North flipped to Reform in last week’s local elections. Is progressive politics dead in England’s deindustrialised towns? Our new report says no — quite the opposite. 🧵👇 www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

🚨 PANEL EVENT The New Laws of Capitalism: @katharinapistor.bsky.social & @hettieobrien.bsky.social in conversation with @mathewlawrence.bsky.social 📍 October Gallery, London, WC1N 3AL 🗓️ 2 June ⏰ 7-8PM Register to attend 🔗👇 luma.com/cqhnrkr2

Our new report into the lives of “voters in post-industrial England” and how progressives can connect with them by @sachahilhorst.bsky.social featured in the @politico.eu London Playbook. 🔗👇 www.politico.eu/newsletter/l...

“The Manchesterism ... argument promises to be front and centre of the battle for the future of the Labour Party.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social’s case for Manchesterism covered in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social 🔗👇 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“‘What has been done for buses can be done with similar ambition for energy, water, housing, and care,’ Lawrence describes Manchesterism as ‘decentralised, plural & democratically accountable’.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @politicshome.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...

The UK think-tank @cmmonwealth.bsky.social has a job opening for 2 advisory board members. The positions will be voluntary. The deadline for applications is June 1st, 10am BST. www.indep.network/common-wealt...

🚨 PANEL EVENT The New Laws of Capitalism: @katharinapistor.bsky.social & @hettieobrien.bsky.social in conversation with @mathewlawrence.bsky.social 📍 October Gallery, London, WC1N 3AL 🗓️ 2 June ⏰ 7-8PM Register to attend 🔗👇 luma.com/cqhnrkr2

“Burnham, partly from conviction but also political necessity, will want to ... draw on how ‘Manchesterism’ should be understood – as set out with some sophistication by Mathew Lawrence in [the] New Statesman.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @observeruk.bsky.social 👇 observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“The Bee Network’s restoration of bus routes that private operators had abandoned is the practical demonstration: where private calculation withdraws, public provision steps in & serves.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on Manchesterism 👇 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Lots of post-industrial towns across England are currently Labour-held but lean Reform. Starmer's Blue Labour-ish strategy to hold on to them has been both bad and ineffective. So what to do instead? For my money: radical on economics, tough on corruption. www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

Me, in the Guardian today, on Reform voters and sympathisers in England's post-industrial towns www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Based on our new @cmmonwealth.bsky.social report, which is built around seven portraits of voters and non-voters in Labour-held, Reform-leaning towns: www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

“Once again, England’s post-industrial towns are cast as the angry, reactionary counterparts to booming, progressive cities ... these places should not be chalked up as lost causes for the left.” 🖋️ @sachahilhorst.bsky.social writes for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨 Common Wealth is seeking (at least) two new Advisory Board members. Role type: Voluntary. Location: Anywhere. Enquiries and applications should be sent to [email protected] by 1 June 2026 10AM BST. For more information, see our website: 🔗 www.common-wealth.org/vacancies/ad...

"While we cannot simply 'fix' the climate through a feat of engineering, humans also cannot abstain from producing the climate, just as we produce the rest of nature." Read @natashaheenan.bsky.social on geoengineering, capitalism and the case for climate repair. www.break-down.org/producing-th...

Read our new essay by Nessie Nankivell “Military Minerals: How US Military Demand Is Intensifying Extraction on Indigenous Lands in Canada” on our website. transitionsecurity.org/military-min...

🚨 NEW ESSAY: “Military Minerals: How US Military Demand Is Intensifying Extraction on Indigenous Lands” Nessie Nankivell explores the Pentagon’s expansion of mining on Indigenous territories in Canada. transitionsecurity.org/military-min...

Many working-class, largely white areas in the Midlands and the North flipped to Reform in last week’s local elections. Is progressive politics dead in England’s deindustrialised towns? Our new report says no — quite the opposite. 🧵👇 www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

From the Archive: Read @laramerling.bsky.social on economic orthodoxy and the real limits to climate action "In reality, the only true constraints lie in the availability of real resources—workers, materials, infrastructure—to meet our collective needs." www.break-down.org/real-constra...

The Green Planning Commission, a @cmmonwealth.bsky.social initiative, has published a report by @brusselermel.bsky.social arguing that markets can't deliver carbonization or affordable essential provisions and that green democratic economic planning is needed. www.indep.network/green-planni...

one thing that I am really excited about with the Green Planning Commission is how "never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes" the approach can get: "the public sector could just coordinate production instead of establishing a complex series of nudges for private producers"

Today, we’re launching our first paper from the Green Planning Commission — Economic Coordination and the Limits of Markets — as an analytical foundation for why the next progressive agenda must be built around public coordination. 🧵 www.common-wealth.org/publications...

“No matter what happens to Cuba, this is a clear signal to other countries that renewables are something that they need to focus on.”

@cashman.bsky.social interviewed by @cnn.com on our report detailing how Cuba can break free from the US blockade with renewables.👇 edition.cnn.com/2026/05/13/c...

“Even while [the rolling stock companies) weren’t directly receiving any subsidy, they [received] a great deal of indirect subsidy... through the operating companies.” Our Chief Economist @chrismwhayes.bsky.social for @tomnicholas.bsky.social on whether nationalisation can fix Britain's trains. 👇

“Rebuilding public provision is not the alternative to fiscal prudence. It is fiscal prudence.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social on the cost of living crisis & how Manchester has responded in @theweek.com 👇 theweek.com/politics/and...

We need steel to rebuild Britain. These newly-announced powers must be acted upon quickly & steel must be taken into public ownership. It will take significant public investment to bring back a dynamic industry, or it will continue on a managed decline. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

🚨 Common Wealth is seeking (at least) two new Advisory Board members. Role type: Voluntary. Location: Anywhere. Enquiries and applications should be sent to [email protected] by 1 June 2026 10AM BST. For more information, see our website: 🔗 www.common-wealth.org/vacancies/ad...

“[In] regaining public control ... the Bee Network shows what can be done at a city level. That same ambition at a national scale can bring the change people are clearly desperate for.” 🖋️ @mathewlawrence.bsky.social www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

"This doubled character of the Essex coast—close to London and the urban zones of the southeast, and readily categorised as a foul, undeveloped waste—has for two centuries made it a convenient, peripheral place to put ugly but necessary things." www.break-down.org/the-chapel-a...

“That’s what people are crying out for right now, they want big, bold policies that are well-costed, well-thought through, but that they can see is making a difference in their life.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social for @aljazeera.com on the cost of living crisis and how Manchester has responded. 👇

“Regaining public control of essentials can fix our broken foundations. It helps make life affordable for ordinary people, and supports businesses to thrive.” 🖋️ @mathewlawrence.bsky.social www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

“Unemployment stays low even as job creation slows, because there are fewer workers to employ. Inflation stays sticky because businesses cannot expand output by adding people.” Read our latest newsletter on the supply side of the US economy. 👇 forcesofproduction.com

“British rail passengers spend roughly three times as much per kilometre as in other countries, while half of the industry’s income comes from direct and indirect public subsidy.” @chrismwhayes.bsky.social quoted in @theguardian.com 👇 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

We need steel to rebuild Britain. The Government are right to pursue public ownership for steel. It will take real, significant public investment to bring back a thriving steel industry, rather than continue on a path of managed decline. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

“We need an integrated rail and bus service that is affordable and works for people and communities, rather than one in which the public shoulders the risk while shareholders reap the reward.” @chrismwhayes.bsky.social quoted in @theguardian.com 👇 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

“The history of the US is the history of the contestation of power: for regular people, for disempowered people, for disenfranchised people.” @rmabud.bsky.social discusses her paper co-authored by @brusselermel.bsky.social on the Trump’s authoritarian power grab. 🎙️ This Is Hell