In 2017, South West Surrey Compass organised and slashed Jeremy Hunt’s majority taking it from the 7th safest Tory-held seat to the 121st. In 2019, they took control of a local council. In 2023, they sued the government.

In the beginning of a an election year, we brought old Compass friends Paul Follows and Steve Williams onto It’s Bloody Complicated to talk about their journey, lessons, and plans for cooperation in South West Surrey.

For the past 8 years, they have been a leading light for progressive cooperation. They have illustrated time and time again that coalitions and cooperative politics isn’t lowest common denominator politics – it’s our future.

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The mainstream press in Britain has been in a state of managed decline for much of the 21st century. Once massive news outlets have suffered massive staff reductions as they have struggled to adapt to a digital age. But over the last few years, green shoots of growth have emerged. From the national level with publications like Byline Times and Novara Media to the regional level with the Manchester Mill, Sheffield Tribune, Bristol Cable and more, new media outlets are daring to do things differently and challenging the industry orthodoxy. But all the while, outlets on the Right such as GB News are also going from strength to strength. What opportunities – and challenges – might arise from this new media landscape? And will it help or hinder our fight for a new democracy?

To discuss all of this and more, we were joined by:

• Hardeep Matharu, Editor of Byline Times
• Priyanka Raval, Reporter at the Bristol Cable

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As another year comes to a close, we were excited to welcome Ayesha Hazarika and Andrew Grice to It’s Bloody Complicated to round up another year in politics.

• Ayesha Hazarika is a broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians.
• Andrew Grice is a political columnist for The Independent, having been its political editor from 1998 to 2015. He has worked in Westminster since 1982.

2023 was a year of strikes and protests, record-breaking global temperatures, a coronation, 2 cabinet and 1 shadow cabinet reshuffles, and horrific conflict.

What’s on the report cards for our progressive parties?

What can we expect from 2024 with a general election (probably) on the horizon – and what are the prospects for genuine system change, including proportional representation?

We digested the year that was, alongside some mince pies. Members joined us live at 6pm on Tuesday 12th December with Ayesha and Andy.

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According to the Right to Roam campaign, 92% of the UK’s countryside and 97% of its rivers are not available to the vast majority of the public. For Episode 96 of It’s Bloody Complicated, we’ll be discussing land ownership and the Commons, and why democratising and sharing control of our land, rivers and seas could slash inequality and help calm political instability in this country.

We were joined by :

• Guy Standing, a leading thinker and writer on this issue. In his book Plunder of the Commons, Guy deep dives into a history of our country’s democracy that created the commons and why we need to fight to keep it.
• Pam Warhurst, the founder and chair of Incredible Edible the community urban gardening project. In its 15th year of “propaganda gardening”, Incredible Edible has 170+ groups in the UK, and around 1000 groups worldwide, growing food, building communities, and transforming our relationship with the public land around us.

On the podcast, we discussed why our relationship to land is such a pressing issue, what a new progressive settlement for the Commons might look like and how we can get there.

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Climate chaos is looming. The question of how to protect and preserve our planet for future generations is a conversation that’s not just timely, but absolutely essential.

That’s why, for Episode 95 of It’s Bloody Complicated, we were joined by Areeba Hamid, co-Director of Greenpeace. When she took up the role last October, Areeba became the first woman of colour and first migrant to lead Greenpeace and, along with Will McCallum, the first to share the top job.

From grassroots activism to global campaigns, Areeba shared insights into the transformative power of environmental advocacy and explored the challenges Greenpeace has faced in the fight against climate change. We explored the complexities of environmental conservation, the role of Greenpeace alongside newer organisations like XR and JSO, and why we must renew our democracy to achieve climate justice.

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After Labour came to power in 1997, Clare Short served as the UK’s first cabinet-level Secretary of State for International Development, a post she would go on to hold for six years. In this role, she secured large increases in the British government’s overseas aid budget and persuaded then-chancellor Gordon Brown to write off the debts to Britain of Africa’s poorest countries. A famously independent-minded politician, she stood down from her role over the Iraq war in 2003 and later resigned the Labour whip in 2006. She then served the remainder of her term as an independent before standing down as an MP in 2010.

She joined us on It’s Bloody Complicated to discuss the legacy of New Labour, the future of the UK’s role in international development and how the current political moment compares to 1997.

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Labour faces a huge challenge at the next election: first to win power, then to use it to change our country for the better. The polls suggest it will clear the first hurdle, but what of the second?

The challenges our county faces have never been greater. We need a bold and reforming progressive government to rebuild our crumbling public services, restore trust in our democracy and tackle the climate crisis head-on. We brought you a live episode of It’s Bloody Complicated from Labour Conference 2023 to ask: is Labour up to the challenge?

We were joined by journalist and broadcaster Steve Richards, the New Statesman’s Zoe Grunewald, and The Guardian's Zoe Williams to talk about the key headline announcements, reflected on the mood on the conference floor and discussed whether Labour is ready for power.

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In 1993, New Zealanders voted to replace First Past the Post with a proportional voting system. 30 years on, we discussed how this all-important electoral overhaul came about with two special guests:

• Max Rashbrooke, a New Zealand based writer on democracy and economic inequality
• And Danna Glendining, a New Zealand Green Party activist and MMP advocate

We discussed the challenges and difficulties of changing the voting system, how a transition to PR has transformed politics in New Zealand and what democracy campaigners in the UK can learn about the road to electoral reform.

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On this episode, we brought together an expert panel to discuss the threat of the far-right to democracy and how progressives are fighting for change.

• Nick Lowles, Hope Not Hate chief executive
• Hannah Rose, Hate and Extremism Analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
• And Luke Cooper, author of Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy.

With the far right marching steadily into the mainstream in Europe and elsewhere, the endurance of progressive forces and their capacity to win will depend on their ability to build deep and enduring alliances with their political neighbours.

We delved into why now is such a vital moment for this political discussion, what’s at stake and why progressives need to go big to combat the tide of far right extremism sweeping Europe and the globe.

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The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. If you live to be 80, you’ll have had about 4,000 weeks. But, to Oliver Burkeman, that’s no reason for despair. 

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals was a smash hit from author and journalist Oliver Burkeman. On 25th July, he’ll join us on It’s Bloody Complicated to talk time, reality, the delusions we hold about productivity, and how to focus on the ‘gloriously possible’ in a time of spiralling global crises.

Oliver is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. He wrote a long-running column for the Guardian, This Column Will Change Your Life, and has a devoted following for his writing on productivity, mortality and the power of limits.

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