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New research, which included a “first-of-its-kind survey”, reveals six “key findings about the state of British culture – and what this could mean for those of us working to change culture nationwide.” The findings in brief are: “1. Individualism is our default – but not when we get issue-specific; 2. Precarity is seen as our new normal – and people support bold action on extreme wealth; 3. More of us believe the economy is rigged; 4. We see health as a national resource; 5. Politicians are seen as ‘not like us’; 6. Some mindsets cluster together, with major implications for social change work.” The final finding suggests that coordinated effort by actors working on different issues to move one “lynchpin mindset” can maximise collective impact with a “positive spillover effect.”

As the rapid rise of Reform prompts urgency and alarm, Taylor feels “something deeper and more uncomfortable is also being asked of us: to invest in the quieter work that surfaces both our nation’s ghosts and our neglected traditions of care, so as to tend to the soil that keeps growing Farages.” Over four articles, she reflects on the fragility of the English identity: “not bedrock but wet clay”, a “quagmire of histories and deep narratives” that is “shaped and reshaped by the stories we allow ourselves to tell.” We are encouraged to imagine and pursue projects, processes, places and practices – an effective “accumulation of small, messy, unglamorous acts” – that face into three paradoxes: “seeding liberatory futures, while refusing to ignore the rot…addressing today’s hardships, while facing modernity’s lies… and tending belonging, while unapologetically naming harm.” She hopes for an Englishness “truer, humbler and more entangled with the land and the people who call this place home.” Also see Parts 2, 3, 4

“Make no missteps with the title of this piece — we need more than ‘talking to white people’ or a redirecting of programmes to focus on the ‘left behind white communities.’ Through these niceties and arbitrary binaries, we risk maintaining a perpetual reversal; a sustained paradigm of haves and have-nots; a de-equilibrium that temporarily benefits a few but continually favours extractive power. To really contend with radical grievance is to orient with a politicised analysis of liberation. We are talking a rigorous, astute, multifaceted, systemic, (infra)structural, intersectional framing of liberation that grasps at the root of dispossession and class… This is not about saving poor white people. It is about refusing to let fascism monopolise their grief. It is about refusing to cede the terrain of belonging, ritual and story to the far right… To insist that the longing for belonging, the ache of loss, can be transformed into radical grievance.”

Having previously reflected on “the core norms” that people share: “a belief in democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, and the fundamental right of all people to belong,” and what we need to share more of: “being open to working in new coalitions, sharing risk and learning, and embracing courage and complexity,” Powell outlines the fight for a collective story about “who we believe we are and who we want to become.” Recognising that “what we believe is what we create” (seeing isn’t believing), he calls for a “We The People” story that “rejects inevitability-thinking, and acknowledges the possibility of change,” and that makes room for fear, “while also employing collective courage as a practice and strategy.” This is a public, out-loud endeavour: “collective meaning-making, deeper collaboration, and gathering together are all vital antidotes in a time of crisis and division.⁠⁠”

“Dominant stories do not triumph because they are more persuasive or imaginative, but because they have the infrastructures that allow them to be diffused, repeated, and naturalised… The key question is not only what we say, but who can say it, where, and with what resources… The great emancipatory narratives (feminisms, trade unionism, anti-fascism, anti-colonialism) were not born as communication strategies but as material practices of solidarity, organisation, and conflict… Language can be a tool of liberation, but only when it is backed by material power: by institutions, by resources, by spaces and media that are not dependent on capital… Perhaps the task is not to ‘change the narrative,’ but to reorganise the collective power capable of changing reality itself.” There is no ‘narrative game’ without ‘the ground game’.

In response to the realisation that bad actors are well ahead in the new media game, “we’re standing up a next generation narrative campaign: a distributed creative force that turns big moments into viral content within hours, not days. We’re investing in pods of internet-native creators and connecting them with strategists, designers, and distribution infrastructure. Our goal: coordinated infrastructure to make fast decisions and flood the zone so our worldview can compete when and where people are deciding how to make sense of this moment… multiple pods with different focuses on audiences, content types, and stories to disrupt or amplify… the true ‘alt-left pipeline’: creative, bold, loud opposition to having our rights stripped away.” Also see

“After the first Global Tipping Points Conference in 2022, the University of Exeter’s Green Futures Network ran a series of workshops to explore the potential and enthusiasm for applying the growing research into Positive Tipping Points in practice to different contexts, including economics, food systems, activism, climate justice, and business. The response was clear: the idea of positive tipping points has huge potential for helping those working on systems change to better understand how complex systems can change, and how we can shift our thinking to work towards non-linear change… Following these workshops, the Green Futures Network began a slow and intentional process of co-creating an open source Toolkit that could make the ongoing research accessible to a wider community of people already working on meaningful and long-term systems change.”

“Today, almost 40 percent of the world’s population live in countries where democracy is deteriorating; a sharp increase in the last ten years; 80 percent of the global population lives in countries or territories rated not free or only partly free; and the trend of democratic erosion shows no signs of slowing down… This resource library is a curated collection of articles, essays, tools, and analyses designed to help you understand the roots, tactics, and impacts of authoritarian movements. But knowledge is only the first step. These resources are meant to empower educators, organisers, students, and everyday people with the insight and language needed to challenge authoritarianism, stand up for democracy, and build a world of belonging without othering. Whether you’re just beginning to learn or seeking deeper context to take action, you’ll find resources here to inform, connect, and inspire.”

The newly elected leader of the UK Greens ran an ad earlier this summer, which racked up 2m views on social media. Here we learn the “nerdy” strategy that went into it, with some lessons for comms elsewhere. ”Some things happen above the line: visible, graspable, immediate.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Others happen below it: structural, symbolic, emotional – shaping what people feel before they know why.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠This film was built on both… The structure makes the metaphor land. That’s the diamond… It’s not just a call to action. It’s an invitation to ask: what kind of country are we? And what will we refuse to become?… The deeper thread: ecology → psychology → sociology. The crisis isn’t just ecological – it’s structural. And the Greens get that.” In what Clancy calls “the narrative war – over meaning, memory, and who gets to define reality,” this film “wasn’t just a political act – it was a strike in that deeper war.”

An encouragement to recognise that systems are “dynamic and relational”, and the truth in Donella Meadows’ insistence that “we can’t impose our will on a system”. As such, “impact isn’t always immediate, and meaning often takes time to surface,” because “impact isn’t linear – it radiates, overlaps, collides; feedback matters – as ripples encounter edges, they return, reshape, or amplify; scale doesn’t always equal significance – even small drops can change the pattern if they land in the right place; and context shapes movement – what lies beneath the surface (culture, trauma, history, relationships) can alter how far and fast impact travels.” Which means recognising that “sometimes, our work is not about causing the biggest splash. It’s about creating the conditions for the right kind of ripple – one that is generative, sustaining, and in harmony with the broader system.”

A reflection on how to “reshape the spaces around us – not only as containers of action, but as co-authors of meaning.” How space “whether physical or social,” becomes “a site to unearth conflict, negotiation and power dynamics;” architecture “a score for living”, and how designing is composing: “to layer time, relation, and desire into form” beginning with longing, and centering the erotic. “To engage in spatial dramaturgy is to ask: What is this space rehearsing? And what other stories and worlds might it be capable of holding? Activating this lens, invites reflection through Black feminist thought, to dream how we might recompose the world otherwise, as led by the curiosities of those who have opted out of the dominant script and developed counter-compositional practices for survival, joy and memory.”

A review of the Cascade Institute's Polycrisis Core Model Technical Synopsis prompts an uncomfortable question: “are you preparing for collapse, resisting decline, or building alternatives?” The answer, “we need all three: resilience, resistance, and renewal,” with the insight that across the 10,000 possible ‘Hope attractor’ scenarios (0.25% of all possibilities*) “strong democracy” is a cross-cutting feature. This demands “a critical mass of mature, engaged citizens” equipped with “complexity consciousness” and “long-term, relational, ecological and principled perspectives.” All of which requires a shift in our “how we belong to and are in relationship with the world.” Norris calls this ‘worldview:’ something which “unfolds through the living relationship between the inner and outer arcs of our experience.” As such, shifting worldviews “becomes less reformation and more remembering. Not so much building new mental structures but dissolving back into the aliveness that predates all our stories about it.” *yes, it’s a lot like that scene in Avengers: Endgame