Communities

Sometimes a collection of conversations and snippets of policy shifts add up to create a mood.  I am worried!  Progressive local economic development in England is in retreat.

Nobody predicted the August riots across the UK. Many thinkers and commentators, myself and colleagues at the new economics foundation included, have been warning of the risks posed to society by unemployment and poor quality jobs, the disenfranchisement of youth, public sector spending cuts, and growing anger against the elites. But no-one predicted that it would bubble over and express itself in the form of looting, burning and rioting across England’s cities.