The Starmer Symptom, livre ebook

‘A vital kickback against national decline. Essential, devastating, and often very funny’ Alex Niven, Editor, Tribune magazine

‘Packed with insightful commentary The Starmer Symptom pinpoints the reasons why Labour is failing to reverse the rise of the Far Right agenda’ Cat Arnold, member of the Labour Party NEC

‘Labour needs to break out of Labourism and remake itself as part of a broader pluralist bloc. Here is the book that brilliantly explains why’ Alan Finlayson, Chair of the Editorial Board, Renewal

On 4th July, 2024, fourteen years of Tory gross mismanagement of government, economy and society came to a crashing end. Keir Starmer’s Labour government was elected with a landslide.

However, this was more about the Tories losing than Labour winning. The old assumptions have been torn up, and as Starmer’s Labour continues to disappoint, the end of the two-party system heralds a new era of political volatility unseen for generations. 

The Starmer Symptom navigates the complex terrain of this seismic shift in British politics. How can Labour effect the kind of change our society and climate requires? Has Starmer created the basis for the rise of Reform UK?  What alternative is there to the neoliberal present, and future? Why is Labour pursuing austerity economics? 

Mark Perryman previously edited the collections The Blair Agenda, The Moderniser’s Dilemma and The Corbyn Effect. He is a pioneer of a left culture rooted in the convivial and participative rather than command and control.

Foreword - Clive Lewis

Introduction - Mark Perryman

Part One - Mapping the Hope

The Forward March of Labour Unhalted - Jeremy Gilbert 

How Labour Turned Defeat Into Victory -  Paula Surridge

Shooting the Messenger - Emma Burnell 

Much Ado About the Son of a Toolmaker - Joe Kennedy 

Part Two - The Fallout

The Perils of Monopoly Labourism - Neal Lawson

The Conservative Meltdown - Phil Burton-Cartledge

The Resistible Rise of the Populist Right - Joe Mullhall

Back to the Fragments - Hilary Wainwright 

Part Three - Stability, Change, a Circle Squared

It's the Economy, Not Stupid - James Meadway 

Climate Emergency Incoming - Andrew Simms 

No Democratic Reform, No Change - Jess Garland 

Putting Britain Back Together Again - Brendan McGeever 

Part Four - The Outcomes 

Whatever Happened to Left Populism? - Marina Prentoulis 

Unions Make Us Strong - Gregor Gall

Biting the Hand that Doesn't Feed Us - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Pragmatic, Social Democratic, Radical - Eunice Goes