Making lifelong learning a reality in the EU
There was a time when education and training were for life. But amid today’s social transformations only lifelong learning will do.
Brexit: why does Northern Ireland matter so much?
So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else.
The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy
In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.
Why a new University of Labour?
As workers’ representatives face the challenges of digitalised work and fragmented workforces, a ‘University of Labour’ in Germany offers support.
The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win
In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.
The new way of doing politics in times of elections
As Czechs go to the polls, a new politics is emerging across Europe, variously populist and technocratic.
Trade unions take on platform companies in the struggle for decent work
On World Day of Decent Work, the European Trade Union Confederation puts the spotlight on justice for platform workers.
Hungary’s path puts everyone’s rights in danger
The ostensible assault on LGBT+ rights in Hungary, Poland and Russia has a very big target—anyone who signs up to universal norms.
Intellectual monopoly capitalism—challenge of our times
Unregulated capitalism has always tended to monopoly. But Big Tech represents a challenge antitrust tools can’t tame.
Britain heads further down the Brexit rabbit-hole
Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button.
‘Recovery and resilience’—how that looks from the east
EU funding of bricks-and-mortar projects in central and eastern Europe hasn’t addressed its human-resources crisis. Could the Recovery and Resilience Facility be a turning point?
Most of Europe fails to guarantee access to abortion care
A comprehensive atlas of abortion policies across Europe shows that women’s experience ‘largely depends on their postcode’.
How Olaf Scholz won Germany
In a few months, Scholz reversed the social democrats’ decade-long decline, running on a message of dignity and respect for all workers.
After the Bundestag elections—a change of climate?
Angela Merkel was labelled the ‘climate chancellor’. But powerful coal and car industries limited her achievements. Will her successor break free?
The myth of green capitalism
Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.
Coming second in the game of life
‘We don’t want to decapitate the tall poppies,’ said Boris Johnson in July. Yet for Kate Pickett his ‘levelling up’ ambitions will necessitate flattening the whole social gradient.
Ecosocialism: more than another Third Way
The old left was too slow to see beyond materialist consumption. But an ecosocialism can underpin coalitions with the green parties which filled the gap.