Sol Hallam

💼 Comms for Mariana Mazzucato (@MazzucatoM) ➡️ Helping to build a movement to reimagine capitalism for the 21st century at @IIPP_UCL

[Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM]

The common good is not utopian. Many of its elements are already evident in our society: in the multiple ways goal orientation, collaboration and benefit sharing happen in many places. Yet these seeds cannot bear fruit because there is no guiding compass to systematise these experiences and scale them across an economy. My next book, The Common Good Economy, provides that compass. Published Thursday 4 June, with @PenguinUKBooks.

Pre-order link in replies.

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

@MazzucatoM @Arsenal Absolute scenes outside my flat today! Lovely to see it!

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

The scenes outside my flat today! So much joy, community spirit and celebrations of place in all its diversity.

Football rivalry replaced momentarily with awe at this collective joy… for a few hours anyways!

[Carlota Perez @CarlotaPrzPerez]

If you want to understand the troubles of British Steel and the solutions to them, read this article by @mazzucatoM @annapick_ and @AnnaHopeEmerson in Substack. It makes clear both the proper role of the State and the harm done by some financialised actors

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

@LaraMerling @IIPP_UCL @MazzucatoM @FinanceInCommon Can’t wait! Really enjoyed your piece in @devex about this important work: https://t.co/o9AS1KVsPV

[The New Statesman @NewStatesman]

HOW TO BEAT REFORM: BY @dai_alectic

Nigel Farage’s Reform succeeds because it gives words and ideas to people, which they can use to feel they better understand what is happening to them and the country, and can plan action to make it better: the elite did it, because they are stupid lefties who don’t understand the traditions which have served us well; stand by them, raise a flag, vote Reform and do your duty as part of the resistance. That political argument has been developed and propagated online for years, and applied by hundreds of thousands of people to all kinds of issues and local experiences.

For me the twin issues are understanding Reform’s base and understanding why said people are voting for Reform. Labour seem to understand neither. Firstly, the Morgan McSweeney strategy of winning over the working class (in the abstract) seems to have alienated Labour’s new progressive base while also not winning over said “working class”.

Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher understood that the “hero voters” are not the working class but the petty bourgeoisie: the lower middle classes who are being squeezed and broken by the current economic settlement.

Labour have thus far totally alienated this group through minimum wage hikes, the national insurance burden, and increasing bureaucracy across the board. Nigel Farage understands this and much of Reform’s pitch is to this group. Labour have to win that group back over.

https://t.co/JnUK6plqo3

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Nationalising utilities and banning VAR––are these the core tenets of the so-called Manchester-ism?

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham says he would ban VAR if he had the power

"You can't celebrate a goal because you think someone, somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out"

[Bloomberg @business]

Why do governments use consultants and why has that weakened businesses and economies?

University College London Professor Mariana Mazzucato joins @tracyalloway and @TheStalwart on the Odd Lots podcast to discuss why governments' use of consultants often leads to inefficiencies and civic failures https://t.co/qoGXjc1GMM

[Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM]

For too long, economic policy has rested on assumptions treated as facts: that markets self-correct, that governments should stand back, that growth will trickle down.

Today in Barcelona with Deputy Prime Minister of Spain @Carlos_Cuerpo and the Government of Spain we are launching the Global Council for a Common Good Economy: an international council of leading economists to challenge these assumptions and set out the economic thinking that progressive governments need.

[Isabella M Weber @IsabellaMWeber]

To defeat the extreme right an economics for the common people is indispensable.

Honored to be part of a new Global Council for a progressive economics under the leadership of @MazzucatoM and Spain‘s Minister of the Economy @carlos_cuerpo.

Spain’s success is showing the way.

[Carlos Cuerpo @carlos_cuerpo]

Today, alongside Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM, we launch the Global Council for a Common Good Economy.

The old playbook has failed. We need growth with purpose — one that protects people, invests in education, and accelerates the green transition.

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Inspiring stuff from @IsabellaMWeber. Serious thinking on how to build an anti-fascist economics and policy proposals to go with it.

Great piece with @GregorSemieniuk in @ProSyn on creating a Buyer's Club for oil to keep energy bills down: https://t.co/J4rJ3KmLSN

[Isabella M Weber @IsabellaMWeber]

To defeat the extreme right an economics for the common people is indispensable.

Honored to be part of a new Global Council for a progressive economics under the leadership of @MazzucatoM and Spain‘s Minister of the Economy @carlos_cuerpo.

Spain’s success is showing the way.

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

https://t.co/c2DPgqIAa7

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Procurement isn't sexy. But £341 billion spent strategically? That can transform an economy.

Great piece by @MazzucatoM and @annapick_ on UK procurement changes this week and next steps

This isn't yet another comms reset, but maybe a sign of a more interventionist Labour govt?

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Thanks James, looks interesting. ‘DOGE of the left’ - provocative!

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@MazzucatoM Exactly right - we have some proposals on how to cut back on it and save £££ over here: https://t.co/XSj618pmg2

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

Efficiency as a left-wing virtue - as it should be.

Verdant's report advocates for UK government-wide Chief Savings Officer, along the lines Mamdani describes here: to promote effective spending and gaurd against negligent austerity.

Report here: https://t.co/XSj618pmg2

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

@meadwaj Efficient comms!

Whoever decided that Verdant should launch with it's first policy on efficiency savings in Government on the same day as Mamdani's announcement deserves some of the proceeds of any efficiency savings!

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Thanks for the re-post @ZackPolanski -- glad you're enjoying our work at @IIPP_UCL.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

While we're hooked on oil & gas we're vulnerable to price shocks caused by a rogue US president.

It doesn't have to be like this.

Invest in renewables, insulate our homes, cut the cost of living.

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Energy price spikes strengthen the case for green energy sovereignty.

“Rosebank...if developed would provide just 1% of UK gas demand. Like all North Sea production, it would do nothing to lower our energy bills.”

Great work @Cmmonwealth & @cashmank_! https://t.co/89QZDpZQnd

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

@andrewjb_ @b_judah For good reason given the events of the last week! However, and our speakers would of course agree, questions of the UK’s positioning in a shifting global order are inextricable from state capacity in its broadest definition. Look forward to discussing at another @txp_io soon!

[Sol Hallam @SolHallam]

Interesting conversation from @b_judah and others on state capacity.

More interesting still that state capacity is so often interpreted only through the narrow prism of defence and foreign policy.

Far less discussion of climate mitigation, service provision or market shaping!

[Tom Westgarth @Tom_Westgarth15]

Not a bad location to discuss how to revive the state and world order @txp_io @civic_future.

Thanks so much to @b_judah, John Bew, and Munira Mirza for a brilliant discussion.

Know any crazy venues for us to host? Get in touch