Great to spend the day in the South Shields with @kimmcguinness.bsky.social and members of the NECA High Streets Commission. Great expertise on the Commission, and a real appetite for high street renewal to be brave, bold and community-led. www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...

@nickplumb.bsky.social "Progress on the manifesto commitment to double the size of the coops & mutuals sector is welcome but this must include all community businesses. We know they deliver grassroots growth –contributing £5.8bn to the economy –we’ll make sure they’re part of this promising agenda."

1/5 📢 Our response to today’s Budget: "The Chancellor is right to frame her Budget around delivering growth and improving public services, so we all feel the impact: this must include the community businesses driving change in their neighbourhoods...

A pleasure to be at @powertochange.org.uk’s launch of their From The Ground Up essay collection tonight, and an honour to have been asked to contribute. www.powertochange.org.uk/event/event-...

🏅🧵 We're honoured that the We're Right Here campaign was awarded highly commended in Best Campaign category at the Smart Thinking Awards. @right-here.org aims to close the gap between politics and ordinary people and put the power to make local decisions in the hands of local people: buff.ly/UqSbZhF

This by @anthonypainter.bsky.social is a really useful reflection on what went wrong with globalisation, what went wrong with its critics, and where we might go from here. (And Im not just saying that because he very kindly mentions my book.) Have a read: anthonypainter.substack.com/p/after-popu...

"a politics of hope and renewal that draws on the power of co-operation" - @miattafahnbulleh.bsky.social on responding to the challenge presented by the right (and the disempowerment felt in every community).

On Tuesday we launch 'From the ground up: Community business and Britain's next decade' - an essay collection to celebrate 10 yrs of @powertochange.org.uk and look ahead into the future of our communities. Delighted we'll be joined by this excellent panel of guests to share their 2035 vision 👇

This from @benansell.bsky.social is excellent.

Supermarkets' monopsony power over farmers hurts rural communities, and their huge and expanding market share hurts small retailers which often represent some of the only economic activity in these places.

We'll be there! @jamestplunkett.bsky.social is on the panel alongside @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social of Carefull Industries; @hetanshah.bsky.social of @britishacademy.bsky.social; and Emily Bolton from Our Future.

Looking forward to speaking at this in a couple of weeks, alongside a great panel.

I thought this was excellent. Brought more clarity to the "governments terrified of the bond markets" debate than anything else I've read or listened to.

Great to have Nick writing for us, and putting recent (v positive) announcements in historical context. And, ultimately, calling for a more expansive communitarianism with a clearer view of political economy - something I hope we @powertochange.org.uk and others can do in the months to come.

Exclusive! Labour spends more on Boris Johnson's flagship policy in its first year than Boris Johnson did:

It's a privilege to be a small part of this. The film really gets to the heart of why this stuff matters now more than ever. Well worth three minutes of your time.

What David said. I read @sachahilhorst.bsky.social and @demofuturist.bsky.social's pieces on a recent flight, alongside the excellent conversation between Jack Jeffery and Alan Finlayson on why the left doesn't understand the internet. These three pieces alone worth the sub.

"Looking out from the bubble of conference, it was striking how separate the wider city and the people that live there can seem. It was great to have Hannah with us at conference this year. Her reflections below 👇

💭 We're reflecting on a busy #LabourConference 2025, where the power of community, and the importance of growth that everyone can see and feel, were central themes. Here are our 5 key highlights: #Lab25

Tech as social infrastructure. Delighted to have @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social writing for us. She challenges the orthodoxy that social media platforms are bad for community power. (Though I'm sure @dmk1793.bsky.social would point out that there are fewer algorithms involved in these examples.)

New essay for the @powertochange.org.uk 10th anniversary. The digital society has been around for decades, but digital social policy is still non-existent. Tech policy can't just pick corporate winners, it should also invest in communities and places www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...

Tech as social infrastructure. Delighted to have @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social writing for us. She challenges the orthodoxy that social media platforms are bad for community power. (Though I'm sure @dmk1793.bsky.social would point out that there are fewer algorithms involved in these examples.)

The publication was created with @uclpolicylab.bsky.social and @powertochange.org.uk to bring together voices from our campaign alongside leading Labour politicians and thinkers. 👉 Read Kirsty McNeil’s essay and the full collection: www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/s... 🧵 2/2 #CommunityPoweredPolitics

Our new essay collection explores Labour’s relationship to the politics of community. In her essay, MP @kirstymcneill.bsky.social writes: “long-term, relational, power-building work should be our guide as we navigate the 2nd year of this still-young Labour government.” 🧵 1/2

Pleased to see @sundersays.bsky.social highlight the new @uclpolicylab.bsky.social essay collection on Labour and communitarianism in his response to the anonymous screed being circulated of late amongst Labour MPs

I'm a late addition to this event. Looking forward to it, alongside stellar fellow panellists.

Our new @powertochange.org.uk research briefing - Returning Power to the People - was published last week. Three charts which should shape debates on Pride in Place this Labour conference.

Award-winning pies, drinks and community-led growth. Join us later at the community-owned Baltic Creative.

I was delighted to contribute to this excellent @uclpolicylab.bsky.social & @powertochange.org.uk essay collection on “Labour and the communitarian tradition”, alongside @ewallis.bsky.social, @mds49.bsky.social, @caitprowle.bsky.social, @kirstymcneill.bsky.social & @andyburnham.bsky.social

On the way up to Labour conference for @powertochange.org.uk. The following pieces from @anooshc.bsky.social and @morganj0nes.bsky.social on govt's Pride in Place announcements - lost a bit among digital ID debates - set the context from our perspective.

I’ve spent a lot of time writing and thinking about the ways the government is fucking it. Nice to take a break and write about something going sincerely right: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

1/4 | Our @powertochange.org.uk response to today's announcement. Today’s Pride in Place announcement should be applauded. In targeting investment at the hyper-local level, the government has shown that it understands...

💡 In new polling, we found people are more positive about the state of their local area, which they describe as ‘good and ‘safe’ than the country overall, where one word cuts through the rest - 'broken'.

Welcome news! The government is investing “Pride in Place” funding in 330+ deprived communities. Our research published today shows why this matters. Read the full report on why community power is essential to tackling discontent, restoring trust, and driving national renewal buff.ly/MIQNu9O

With today's announcement on Pride in Place, worth noting that policies such as this (it's a rebranding & expansion of Plan for Neighbourhoods) are popular but haven't cut through. Same goes for community right to buy, and community energy. w/ @luketryl.bsky.social @moreincommonuk.bsky.social

Really pleased with today's announcement. Marks a step-change in support for high street renewal. Targeted at hyper-local level with (hopefully) genuine community control. @powertochange.org.uk called for lots if this in May.

@lucysym.bsky.social is at @libdems.org.uk conference, reporting talk of the English Devo & Community Empowerment Bill, which we’ve been calling to be strengthened so it lives up to its name. We know local decline matters when people head to the polls. Read more in 'Shuttered Front': buff.ly/8JgsEbu

Why we @powertochange.org.uk are bursting the conference bubble, by @lucysym.bsky.social. Meet the community business leaders joining us in Liverpool this year. www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...

Happy conference season to those who participate. I'm heading to Labour conference this weekend and Conservative conference next weekend - please get in touch if you'd like to get coffee (I'll be needing lots of it)

I know this isn't really the point of today's discourse, but does anyone have a PDF of Peter Kyle's doctorate in community development?

🗣️On Tues @nickplumb.bsky.social gave evidence to Business & Trade Committee on the future of the high street. Asked by @liambyrnemp.bsky.social if it’s in terminal decline, he said no, but the retail-only model is over. We need vibrant, mixed-use spaces with community at the heart, like Sparks.

Charts like the one below are a stark reminder of the huge representation and power gap that exists in this country. The think tank sector is marginally better on representation when it comes to schooling, but we still have a long way to go.

Today I gave evidence to the Devo and Community Empowerment Bill Committee, and made the case that this legislation should just be the start on community empowerment.

I spoke to the @bigissue.com about how the campaign to save the independent cafes on Hampstead Heath is emblematic of the fight against identikit places up and down the country.

I spoke to the @bigissue.com about how the campaign to save the independent cafes on Hampstead Heath is emblematic of the fight against identikit places up and down the country.

I'll be at Labour conference in a couple of weeks with @lucysym.bsky.social @jesscraig.bsky.social and Tim. And we're doing things a bit differently. We have not one, not two, but 7 community business leaders joining us - to help burst the conference bubble.

I'll be at Labour conference in a couple of weeks with @lucysym.bsky.social @jesscraig.bsky.social and Tim. And we're doing things a bit differently. We have not one, not two, but 7 community business leaders joining us - to help burst the conference bubble.

Steve Reed to MHCLG could be viewed in the context of @morganj0nes.bsky.social recent piece on community empowerment.

In debate on new Community Right to Buy laws, great to see Labour MP @simonforstroud.bsky.social call for communities to be given chance to buy environmental assets, alongside social & economic ones - a point also made by Lib Dem MP @vikkislademp.bsky.social hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025... 1/