The Screwtape economy
Sometimes, you have to reach for metaphysics to explain the sheer idiocy of large centralised systems. I speak of the way that government policy seems designed to undermine the economic self-determination of our cities and regions. This is reproduced from my localism...
‘A cat in hell’s chance’ – why we’re losing the battle to keep global warming below 2°C and need to be feisty cats
A global rise in temperature of just 2°C would be enough to threaten life as we know it. But leading climate scientists think even this universally agreed target will be missed. Could dramatic action help? The New Weather Institute teamed up with The Guardian to take...
Better ideas for Utopia, Now: Join artists, thinkers and policy-makers and have your say
In a rolling Utopian 'Think Tank', hosted by Utopia 2016 Artistic Advisor and co-founder of bread, print & roses, Ruth Potts, and Andrew Simms from co-operative think-tank, the New Weather Institute, at Somerset House in London, the only rule is that you have to...
A short guide to the Southern Rail fiasco
New readers start here. Listening to the BBC, you might easily believe that the crisis involving rail services across Sussex and Surrey was just about industrial action. For the poor benighted passengers, that really isn’t the case – the serious chaos has now been...
Why are we so green?
Green isn't always positive. If you are so green you would make a cabbage blush; it means you are naive at best, ignorant and thoughtless at worst. That seems pretty much to be us, the voters. If we had taken proper care to safeguard the short lived Green Investment...
Economic prospects in 2017: the New Weather Institute in the Financial Times survey
Each year the Financial Times conducts a survey of leading economists on the UK’s upcoming prospects. The New Weather Institute is part of that survey and predicts a bumpy ride. Here are the answers we gave on issues ranging from economic growth to Brexit, monetary...
Towards the last post?
Next week, we may see a five-day Post Office strike in the 300 Crown Offices which are mainly in city and town high streets. It's maximally inconvenient and will be grim if it happens. Cue huge amounts of spluttering from government spokespeople, and Conservatives...
How to shame inflationary salaries
There is a tendency for those of us on the radical fringes of conventional politics to remain happily oblivious to the fact that nobody in the mainstream is listening. But suddenly the speed of the conventional seems to be accelerating and so much more seems possible...
It’s a new world. What do we want from it?
On Tuesday 29th November, we'll be holding the first meeting on how we want the UK to be after Brexit. It's in Oxford, so please do come along. Free food available, and no need to book - just turn up!
The Ogre – a modern folk tale
This story is an extract from our new collection of 23 modern folk tales for troubling times There was a knock at the door... which is available now in print and as an e-book: Direct from The Real Press: There was a knock at the door... And from major online book...