Welcome to Left Foot Forward!

Welcome to Left Foot Forward. We have put together this short video to mark our launch. You can sign up for our daily politics summary by clicking here.

Left Foot Forward is a new political blog for progressives. We provide evidence-based analysis on British politics, news and policy developments.

We are a non-partisan blog. Because we are progressive and because of the aims we’re committed to, we often find ourselves in agreement with left of centre policies and politicians. But we are focused purely on the quality of policies and furthering progressive goals, rather than on promoting individual politicians and parties.

We have been inspired by our U.S. sister site, Think Progress, and have therefore adopted their approach to blogging by setting out our beliefs and categorising our stories accordingly.

We are fighting for:

1.    A proactive and sustainable economic policy that creates jobs, pulls Britain out of recession and towards a low-carbon and more equitable future.

2.    Public services that work for, and are accountable to, local people and leave no one behind.

3.    Safe communities where poverty and inequality are tackled, and the victims of crime are put first.

4.    A multilateral foreign policy to tackle climate change, poverty, nuclear proliferation, genocide, terrorism, and disease.

We are fighting against:

1.    Public greed and attempts by politicians and public servants to line their own pockets.

2.    Administrative incompetence whether it takes place at the national, regional, or local level.

3.    Media manipulation and bias to support a hidden agenda.

4.    The threat of racism and extremism.

18 Responses to “Welcome to Left Foot Forward!”

  1. Matthew Taylor

    I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, until they run their first attack piece. RT @torybear Two left feet more like: http://is.gd/3fFHc

  2. JackP

    Noble aims of course, and I think you’d probably find few people who would disagree with them, but I have a couple of questions. Firstly, for those of us who are not directly involved with politics, we might not understand all of your terminology: who exactly is a ‘progressive’, and what do you mean that the blog is for them? Do you mean in terms of contributors, or readership, or both?

    Secondly, given the fact that Will Straw is involved, it’s likely that people will assume that he automatically shares his father’s politics and will therefore seek to present him and/or his politics in a good light. I’m not saying this is the case – merely that some people will think so – what will/do you do to counter this assumption?

    It’s also interesting that you say you’re fighting to put ‘the victims of crime first’. I don’t believe anyone else is fighting to put criminals first – but equally does that mean you’re ignoring injustices meted out to prisoners – See Ben’s prison blog, for example?

    I’m looking forward to reading more … and of course disagreeing and arguing from time to time 🙂

  3. robvance

    RT @leftfootfwd launches today – short video to mark launch:- http://tinyurl.com/lff-intro – a promising vehicle for change…

  4. Luke

    I this is a very welcomed entry onto the blogosphere, even if I think being ‘evidence based’ is very hard to maintain without walking a few party lines. After all, we’re all human and we all believe passionately in some very noble causes.

    In answer to ‘JackP’, a progressive is not someone who necessarily pidgeon holes their ideology. By stating publicly your ideology you limit your own analysis to dogmatic principles, and this can become a very conservative way of thinking about issues and topics. I would certainly hope all progressives believe in the causes and aspirations that this blog has set out, and I would hope some progressives would be more left-leaning, or advanced, in their understanding of them.

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