Make it Better

The Liverpool Salon launched in May 2014 as a forum for debate on Merseyside. It is part of a global network of Salons, based in cities as far a-field as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Zurich. The Liverpool Salon fosters thought-provoking, critical conversations around contemporary issues in welcoming and convivial surroundings. 'The Liverpool Salon on line' is experimenting with new ways of engaging with audiences that challenge social isolation and the current lockdown. We will be test running a series of virtual Liverpool Salons during spring and early summer. Join the debate and give us your feedback.

The Liverpool Salon on line

The Liverpool Salon is hosting a discussion on the future of Britain’s regional economies and local democracy, after Brexit, after the fall of the Labour heartlands and now after the pandemic.  Join Maurice Glasman (Labour life peer; director, the Common Good Foundation; author, Unnecessary Suffering: Managing Market Utopia),  Shelagh McNerney (Manchester based independent built environment consultant) and Dave Clements (local government adviser; chair, AoI Social Policy Forum; writer) to talk about the future direction of regional economies and the possibilities for rebuilding and making a better society.
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Over the last few years, the Liverpool Salon has been tracking the new politics emerging from economic upheavals and popular rebellions against the existing order. Much of the turmoil of recent years has been driven by a belief that big cites no longer care about the fate of poorer regions. There is every possibility that this sense of disaffection between different regions, identities and classes could be intensified as the economic and social impacts of the global pandemic become clear.  Drawing attention to regional disparities in wealth and health, northern political leaders, including North West metro mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham  are arguing against a return to “business as usual” after the coronavirus lockdown. Calling instead for consensus and cooperation, they are proposing a  strategy to Build Back Better. 
But what does that mean? Certainly a fairer distribution of resources. Perhaps even keeping some of the ‘benefits’ of the lockdown, with more cycling, walking and working from home. Or perhaps a strengthening of community bonds as people rediscover the importance of key workers, mutual aid and local organisations that sustain and support local life. And yet, only two months ago, Chancellor Rishi Sunak committed £640 billion capital investment in roads, railways schools, hospitals and power networks. Stating that ‘no region will be left behind’, Sunak had pledged to honour the Conservative's 2019 election promise to level up Britain’s forgotten towns and regions where economic growth had lagged behind the prosperous Southeast.  The new Tory government seemed intent on ripping up the fiscal rule book to cement its new class coalition in Labour’s old northern heartlands.
So what comes next?  Is Build Back Better a step forward or does it signal a return to the empty rhetoric of the Big Society and the Northern Powerhouse? Are there other forces that might transform Britain’s social and economic landscape for good? An awakening recognition of the dignity of labour and understanding of our mutual dependency and the common good? A further rejection or return to austerity and the untramelled power of the Market? Or are we perhaps in danger of projecting our own utopian and dystopian visions onto the current political moment?

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Make it Better

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