The State Under Attack

Editor: Tom Hampson, Assistant Editor: Ed Wallis

Fabian Review Volume 123, no 2

£4.95

People find it increasingly hard to find anything good to say about the state; the ‘big state’ has become a big stick with which to beat Labour’s record in office. With the state under attack - not just from spending cuts by a Government ideologically committed to dramatically replacing government's role, but from Labour critics intent on seeing the party travel a less centralising and technocratic path - the summer Fabian Review investigates the charges on their merits.

Tim Horton analyses new YouGov polling which finds the state to be curiously popular – even among Tories. Mary Riddell interviews Ed Miliband’s charismatic adviser Maurice Glasman. In a series of specially commissioned Fabian Essays investigating the role of the state, John Denham argues our national identity should guide how we use the state; Will Straw investigates whether the Labour Government was addicted to law; Alison McGovern keeps sight of the 'real life' of the state; and Tim Horton argues that far from being remote or distant, big state institutions are at the core of many meaningful relationships and shared experiences. Also Jemima Olchawski reviews Owen Jones's Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class.

Read full analysis of our YouGov poll on the role of the state, plus a report in the Independent and further analysis at YouGov.

Read Mary Riddell's interview with Maurice Glasman. You can also read reaction to the interview in the Telegraph, the Express, and the New Statesman.

Maurice Glasman reponded to the reaction to the interview in a piece for the New Statesman

Read Will Straw's essay arguing legislation should be Labour's last resort.