Latest news
The Incredible Hull
Students at Hull University have taken the bold step of launching a Co-op and Fairtrade Society at this year’s Freshers’ Fair. Led by the formidable Ian Adderley, the society promotes co-ops, fairtrade and the Co-operative Party. Up and down the country, Labour Clubs have been promoting the Co-operative Party and the co-op movement, as well [...]
Hazel Blears – promoting co-ops all over
Hazel Blears MP has once again shown her great support for the co-operative movement. In the Progress document, Beyond the first 100 days, published to coincide with Gordon Brown’s 100th day as Prime Minister, Hazel makes clear the increased role she sees for co-operatives providing public and community services. In her essay, ‘Equality in all [...]
The people trust co-ops – it’s time to get engaged
For the 90th Anniversary Conference last month, the Co-operative Party commissioned a YouGov poll which reflected overwhelming support for organisations that put consumers first and act in their interests. Key findings of the poll are that: People in the UK trust co-ops or mutuals far more to deal fairly with their customers than either Government [...]
Co-op Conference photo diary
While some people get ready for Bournemouth, this year’s biggest political event – Co-operative Party Annual Conference – has come and gone. Others have blogged extensively on what happened (and what happened outside), and Lorenzo has condensed conference to an excellent two-minute 40 second video of the whole weekend. Here’s a series of photos summing [...]
Gordon Brown – a co-op statesman for the New Statesman
As we look forward to next week’s speech by Gordon Brown to Labour Party Conference, Martin Bright of the New Statesman has written a timely article considering how Gordon’s values are rooted in co-operative values. Drawing upon the new history of the Co-operative Party, Bright considers how traditional co-op values of self-help, common ownership and [...]
Serving the people – from Fred Perry to Gordon Brown
Greg Rosen of the Labour History Group has written a new book – Serving the People, a Co-operative Party History, from Fred Perry to Gordon Brown. With an intro from the Prime Minister, Greg details the origins of the Party and takes it right up to date, showing how our work has been transformed over [...]
Twigg brings number of new co-op candidates to five
Stephen Twigg’s selection in Liverpool West Derby yesterday, as widely reported, is a major boost for the Co-operative Party. As a member of our parliamentary panel, Stephen will return to Parliament as a Labour and Co-operative MP. This brings the number of new Co-operative candidates at the next election to five, right across the country. [...]
Northern Rot
The likely disappearance of the Northern Rock from our high streets in the months to come is a troubling matter. It is ironic too, because Northern Rock had become a flag bearer for demutualisation, attempting to show how former building societies could thrive as shareholder-led profit-making bodies. Northern Rock Building Society arose out of the [...]
