The State We’re In at 25: reconsidering progressive politics

Will Hutton’s The State We’re In was one of the most important polemical works of the 1990s. The challenging, creative critique of the UK’s political economy caught the public mood and provided intellectual underpinning for a period of progressive renewal. The book remains one of the bestselling books on UK public policy. But how relevant is it today?

Are the problems faced by the UK different now? And what lessons are there in progressive renewal? To mark the book’s 25th anniversary, this event will bring together Will Hutton with leading political thinkers to update the work and consider parallels between the UK politics of the mid-90s and now.

Speakers and chair: Will Hutton is a political economist, author and journalist.
Alison McGovern (@Alison_McGovern) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Wirral South since 2010.
Geoff Mulgan CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation between 2011 and 2019.
Neil Lee (@ndrlee) is Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science.