young fabian annual report - 2009/10

YOUNG FABIANSANNUAL REPORT 2009/10

The Young Fabians

The Young Fabians are the under-31’s section of the Fabian Society, Britain’s foremost centre-left think tank. Set up in 1960, we remain the only think tank run by and for young people. Our Membership numbers over 1,400 and in-cludes young professional, students, parliamentary researchers, political activists and academics. The Young Fabians promote policy debate through seminars, conferences, pamphlets, and online through our website and blog. To find out more about the Young Fabians, visit www.youngfabians.org.uk.

The Fabian Society

The Fabian Society is Britain’s leading left of centre think tank and political society, committed to creating the political ideas and policy debates which can shape the future of progressive politics. Fabian publications, events and ideas reach and influence a wider audience than those of any comparable think tank. The Society is unique among think tanks in being a thriving, democratically constituted membership organisation, affiliated to the Labour Party but organi-sationally and editorially independent. For more information, visit www.fabian-society.org.uk.

First published November 2010.

Fabian Society11 Dartmouth StreetLondon SW1H 9BNwww.fabian-society.org.uk

Elected positions:

DAVID CHAPLINChair

ADRIAN PRANDLEVice-Chair

REBECCA RENNISONTreasurer

PRETH RAOSecretary

JAMES GREENEditor, Anticipations

ALEX BAKERNew Media Officer

CLAIRE LEIGHReform Officer

SARA IBRAHIMEmbassies Officer

BRIAN DUGGANInternational Officer

STEVE RACEFundraising Officer

RICHARD LANEOfficer without Portfolio

SHAMIK DASSocial and Membership Officer

Co-opted positions:

MARIE LOEWEEqualities Officer

ANNA-JOY RICKARDWeb Officer

NICK MAXWELLNetworks and Schools Officer

VINCENZO RAMPULLAMembership Development Officer

PAMELA NASH MPParliamentary Officer

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE2009/10


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This year has been exciting for the Young Fabians, but hugely disappointing for Labour. I’d like

to thank this year’s Young Fabian Executive who all give their time voluntarily and have shown

outstanding energy and commitment; ensuring our members have had more opportunities than

ever to get involved in our work through events, publications, campaigns and online debates. They

have helped lead a regeneration of our Society. In this report you will find a summary written by

each member of the 2009/10 Executive, I hope you find this report useful and that it is able to

encapsulate the breadth of activity we have undertaken this year.

The Young Fabians turned 50 years old in 2010. We began our fiftieth year with a speech from a

former member, Lord Mandelson, who urged young progressives to join the Young Fabians and help

shape the future of centre-left politics.

This year saw a professionalization of our new media output, with a new media strategy developed

by Alex Baker including the management of our Twitter activity, new web-chats, Blog, and adding a

consistent approach to our online image. This has successfully positioned the Young Fabian brand

as a truly distinctive voice.

In March we launched Young Fabian Equalities Month in partnership with Unison. This saw a month

of blogs and commentary from our members and from high-profile contributors including Alistair

Campbell. We also launched Young Fabian Women to boost engagement with our female members

and to enhance our offer to young women interested in progressive politics. We pioneered new

Young Fabian Networks to involve and engage our members with professional expertise in specific

fields such as finance, technology and science. Lord Drayson launched our Networks at a packed

event in the City in March and the Networks continue to offer a collaborative space for the Fabian

Society to attract new members.

In the run up to the General Election in May we launched ‘Campaign Corner’ to promote Young

Fabian campaign days. Our Membership Development Officer, Vincenzo Rampulla organised

successful campaign days in a number of key seats and worked closely with Hope Not Hate to

support their day of action against the BNP. We were proud to have three Prospective Parliamentary

Candidates on the Executive this year and through our Young Fabian Candidates Network we

supported many more candidates across the country.

Following on from the Young Fabians Fast Forward pamphlet published last year, we set up four

Policy Development Groups this year on a range of key themes, including Labour Party reform.

The groups have offered our members the chance to have their say on topical debates, expressing

views about Labour’s future agenda. A number of these debates have taken place online – allowing

members across the country to take part. This resulted in our flagship publication this year – ‘The

New Generation’.

James Green has taken our magazine Anticipations from strength to strength this year with three

fantastic editions and a huge range of member contributions alongside articles from all the Labour

Leadership candidates, Sarah Brown, Neil Kinnock, Oona King, Rachel Reeves, Matthew Taylor,

Patrick Diamond and many more.

DAVID CHAPLINCHAIR


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We also gave our members a unique platform to engage with the Labour Leadership candidates

including a live web-chat with the candidates, I particularly enjoyed chairing the web-chat with

David Miliband. While our biggest event of the year was the Young Fabians hustings event for

the Labour Party Leadership elections in Bristol which over 400 people attended which was

masterminded by our International Officer Brian Duggan.

Thanks to our Embassies Officer an impressive embassies programme was re-established this year

including events at the American embassy on the mind-term elections. Equally, strong links with the

Indonesian Embassy look set to continue.

I was also very clear this year that the Young Fabians needed to change. We were able to take

the opportunity throughout this year to update our own structures through the appointment of our

first Reform Officer to refresh our way of working and our interaction with members. Through this

agenda I have been working hard to ensure that we continue to best represent our member’s views

and needs, and that we continue to improve transparency, accountability and diversity on our

Executive.

I hope to continue supporting the Young Fabians as a newly-elected member of the Fabian Society

Executive. In particular I hope to work with the new Executive to finish a project that I started this

year to digitise the Young Fabians back-catalogue of pamphlets with the LSE archive.

This has been the busiest Young Fabian year since I have been on the Executive. It was a year that

presented many challenges, which as a team we were able to overcome together. None of this

work would have been possible without the support of my Vice Chair, Adrian Prandle, who offered

constant advice throughout the year and who coordinated all our Policy Development Groups and

edited The New Generation.

It’s been a privilege to be Chair, and I wish next year’s Executive the best of luck.


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Over the last twelve months I have supported work across the executive committee, from helping

new colleagues – including those out of London – settle into their role to meeting regularly with the

Chair to plan activity and discuss strategy.

Start of the Year•

I took on three tasks shortly after becoming Vice Chair. Firstly, I organised an event in the House

of Commons to launch the Young Fabian blog. The event was addressed by John Wood from

TUC’s Touchstone blog, Jessica Asato, later to become David Miliband’s new media lead, and Alex

Smith, then editor of LabourList before joining Ed Miliband’s office to run online activity. We ran

coordinated activity online at the same time, targeting members outside of London, and encouraged

people to get more involved in the Young Fabians. Secondly, I helped create a lunchtime event

to celebrate the Young Fabians’ 50th anniversary, at the Fabian Society New Year Conference

which was addressed by former Young Fabian Lord Mandelson. Thirdly, I put together the annual

member’s survey, increasing the number of members that took part and using the feedback to guide

our work over the year, and to help determine the main areas of policy the Young Fabians would

delve into.

Main Focus - Policy Development•

My primary role this year was to lead the Young Fabian policy work. I built upon the policy forums

which ran in previous years and developed some new ways to engage our members.

I established four Policy Development Groups (PDGs) and recruited young experts to chair the

groups and encouraged as many members as possible to take part, offering numerous ways online

and offline for them to do so. Jessica Studdert chaired our special project PDG, ‘Transforming our

Party’, Josie Cluer led the Work & Families PDG, Adam Short took on development, the global

economy and energy in our Livelihoods & Resource Security PDG, and teacher and trade unionist

Carla Powell looked at education policy with the Aspiration & Equality PDG.

Hundreds of members participated in meetings with guest speakers, discussed issues amongst

themselves, and contributed ideas via the YF blog and Anticipations magazine. The PDGs ran the

first Young Fabian online meetings, experimented with wiki-policy development and facilitated the

participation and policy ideas of members from all over Britain.

A new Young Fabian pamphlet•

In October I turned the excellent work the PDGs had undertaken into a publication, the Young

Fabians’ 50th anniversary pamphlet, The New Generation. I worked to develop a narrative for the

pamphlet to show what it sought to offer the Labour movement and how it would fit in with current

thinking.

I also spent time guiding the authors of the chapters on how to focus their contribution; editing

drafts; liaising with printers; meeting with the sponsors (TU Fund Managers); visiting Royal Mail and

ADRIAN PRANDLEVICE-CHAIR

Sponsored by

The NewGeneration

Participating inchange for the next50 years

Young Fabians 50thAnniversary Pamphlet

Edited by Adrian Prandle

Young Fabians|57

FABIAN SOCIETY


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stationers’ website to help price the pamphlet; coordinated the printing and stuffing of over 2000

pamphlets; organised a launch event in parliament; and planned blog-posts across the major

left-wing blogs. Oh and luckily I didn’t forget to write my introduction for the pamphlet amongst

everything else.

I am very proud of the pamphlet and was delighted that Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP launched it

in Parliament. I couldn’t have done all this without the tremendous support of a significant number

of Executive Committee colleagues.

Other activity•

I have attended almost all Young Fabian events this year, including our campaign trips during the

general election. I have regularly contributed to the YF blog, and have written for Anticipations.

I helped to initiate our relationship with archivists at the London School of Economics and

represented our organisation at various political conferences. I co-organised the YF reception at

Labour’s annual conference and chaired our online webchat with Labour leadership candidate, Rt

Hon Andy Burnham MP.


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The Young Fabian’s international work builds on our reputation for exploring international policies

and practicing international campaigning.

Within a few weeks of taking office we sent two representatives to Vienna to undertake a project

with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies bringing together young people from across

Europe writing and researching on topics of interest to social democrats. Executive Member Marie-

Noelle Loewe and I presented the findings of our International and Security Policy Development

Group to Alfred Gusenbauer, former Austrian Chancellor and the other attendees. The project

group has since expanded to include Executive Member Preth Rao who attended the follow up

meeting and the group continues to grow from strength to strength with Young Fabians driving the

policy agenda.

The largest international event undertaken this year was to run the only Labour Leadership hustings

on International affairs. The Young Fabians hosted the Labour in the World hustings with support

from the Labour Campaign for International Development, SERA and Co-operative Party Youth. The

Labour in the World hustings took place in Bristol with an attendance of over 450 members and

received coverage on BBC Newsnight. The event was an enormous success in ensuring Labour’s

Leadership candidates talked firmly about world affairs ranging from the principles of ethical foreign

policy, to development policy and defence.

Aside from policy the Young Fabians ensured again we are campaigners as well as thinkers, by

sending a joint delegation with Young Labour of 15 members to campaign for the Swedish Social

Democrats in their general election. Our members campaigned in Stockholm Central district and

received briefings from the Social Democrats as well as the SSU, the party’s youth wing. We were

also invited to the official results reception where we met with the British Ambassador to Sweden

as well as the Leader of the Social Democrats, Mona Salin. Although the result was not what

we had hoped for, the experience of campaigning in another country, learning new tactics and

engaging with challenging policy arguments as well as combating the rise of the far right were

great opportunities for our members. Our experiences in this election are being drawn together to

be shared with other Young Fabian members, the Labour Party and our colleagues in Sweden. The

Young Fabians also lent support through telephone canvassing with Young Democrats Abroad for

the US Mid term elections.

Lastly, the Young Fabians have been invited by the Overseas Development Institute to send

delegates to a round table discussion bringing together leading think tanks working on and

engaging with international development.

Our reach on international policy and campaigns this year has again proved extremely valuable to

our membership and to those with whom our members lend their expertise and abilities. From the

Labour Party, to UK and international think tanks and political parties our work in the international

field remains high calibre as well as highly respected.

BRIAN DUGGANINTERNATIONAL OFFICER


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This year the Young Fabians have worked towards building long term relationships with the

Embassies and High Commissions in London. A range of events were organised which explored

areas of policy where we could learn from other countries and also how we could work together to

solve global problems.

The first event was with the Swedish Embassy on 27 May, where in the region of 50 Young Fabian

members attended to debate the issue of ‘gender and equality’ from the Swedish perspective. It

was of interest to hear the Deputy Head of Mission explain the Swedish system of ‘parental leave’

and the impact of not dividing childcare into maternity and paternity leave as is the custom in this

country. Perhaps the most striking part of the evening was in spite of overall better parity between

the sexes in Sweden, that there seemed to be a greater ambition to resolve existing gender

inequalities than in the UK.

Before Labour Party Conference, the Young Fabians held two further events: one with the Indonesian

Embassy and one with the US Embassy. In view of Indonesia’s position as the most populous Muslim

country, it was decided to debate the compatibility of Islam and Democracy. Two speakers attended

the event, Dr Sukma (a visiting academic from Indonesia) and Dr Hargey (a liberal Imam and chair

of the Muslim Educational Centre in Oxford) to offer their insights. Given the publicity received by

countries with predominately Muslim populations such as Iran and Pakistan, it was timely to focus

on other examples.

This event was followed by a joint debate on the approaching US mid-term elections and the

anticipated impact on Foreign Policy with the youth branches of the Liberal Democrats and the

Conservatives. Professor Thomas Mann attended as a speaker (senior fellow from the Brookings

Institute) as well as MPs from all three political parties including Chris Bryant MP.

Additionally, as the Young Fabian Embassies officer I have attended Italian Day celebrations at the

Italian Embassy and also had a meeting with the Brazilian Embassy staff.

SARA IBRAHIMEMBASSIES OFFICER


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There has been lots of hard work behind the scenes on the Young Fabian website this year to keep it

up-to-date and at the forefront of Young Fabian activity. In the last year traffic to the Young Fabian

website has grown from around 1,000 unique users viewing 4,500 pages per month to an average

of around 1,500 unique users viewing 5,500 pages per month across the year.

The face of the website has been given a refresh, and its content has expanded significantly. New

content added this year have included pages dedicated to:

Young Fabian Networks•

Young Fabian Women•

People who are new to politics, and •

Young Fabian members outside of London. •

The Policy Development Groups Hub on the website has been central to the 2010 Young Fabian

policy work, and the first year that online web chats have been used to facilitate the participation of

members outside of London.

I’ve also played a key role in facilitating the Aspiration and Equality Policy Development Group,

and over the year I have given particular support to Young Fabian Women activities and our

Reform work. Based in Nottingham, I’ve endeavoured to bring the perspective of members outside

of London to the Executive table and create a model of active, sustainable exec involvement from

outside of London.

ANNA-JOY RICKARDWEB OFFICER


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My goal this year was a fairly modest one – to improve our the content offer on our website, and

bring the benefit of emerging technology to Young Fabian activity. I also wanted to continue the

work I started as Anticipations editor between 2007 and 2009 in professionalising our published

material, both online and offline.

I’ve made significant progress in delivering my objective this year, including:

Blog. Readership of our multi-author blog has grown over the year, with around 1,000 unique •

users a month now accessing the site. We regularly feature contributions from Young Fabian

members as well as guest writers, such as Alastair Campbell who wrote about mental health

during Equalities Month. We were also voted amongst the Top 100 Labour blogs in a recent

Total Politics survey. This is a considerable success given the blog only launched a year ago.

Social Media. We’ve made better use of social media this year. For example, this year is the •

first the Young Fabians has had a Twitter account, which we use to market our events and

publications – @youngfabians is now followed by getting on for 1,000 people. And we’ve

encouraged the use of “live-tweeting” at events.

Webchats. This year we’ve incorporated online discussions as part of our broader activity. We •

held a number of online discussions as part of the Policy Development Group activity, and

webchats with three of the Labour leadership candidates – Ed Miliband, David Miliband and

Andy Burnham.

Podcasts. We’ve brought you audio from a number of events this year – the Labour Leadership •

hustings event in Bristol, the launch of The New Generation pamphlet, the Emergency Budget

debate, our new members’ reception, and the launch of Young Fabian Women.

Antics:Lite. This year saw the launch of a new Young Fabian publication – Antics:Lite. A •

sister publication to Anticipations, the journal of the Young Fabians, Antics:Lite is a shorter

e-publication which is designed to be more responsive to current events. We published two

editions in the last few months, on Copenhagen and the Robin Hood Tax.

Archive. We began the process of building an archive of published content online in •

celebration of our 50th year with the development of the Anticipations archive. Editions from

as far back as 2001 are now available to read on the Young Fabian website, with plans to

add other publications in the coming year.

More targeted communications. We now send separate e-mail updates to members and non-•

members and have recently started e-mailing MPs with a special digest of our activity.

Design. I’ve overhauled the design of the blog, updated design elements on the website and •

provided design support to other colleagues throughout the year. In addition, the email update

was redesigned at the turn of the year and I’ve provided extensive support to Preth to deliver

the weekly updates and other mailings to our email lists.

A lot of my work has been focused on supporting my colleagues on the Executive ‘behind-the-

scenes’ to ensure their activity is as successful as possible, which has often entailed long hours and

late nights. Importantly, this activity has allowed us to better involve members who live outside of

London, or who otherwise may not have participated.

It’s been a challenge to effect a culture change in the way the Executive approach Young Fabian

activity, but increasingly new media forms an important – and sometimes central – component to

our activity.

ALEX BAKERNEW MEDIA OFFICER


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Over the course of this year Anticipations has gone from strength to strength. The quality of its

content and profile of its guest contributors is testament to the success not only of the magazine but

also of the Young Fabians more widely. Anticipations has included contributions from top politicians,

leading journalists and key opinion formers including the new leader of the Labour Party Ed

Miliband, RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor and the chair of Britain’s first ever televised leaders

debate, Alastair Stewart. The Young Fabians have also created more ways than ever before for our

members to contribute with a wide variety of new features and sections.

The Young Fabians would like to thank the many politicians who have written for the magazine

over the course of the year. We received contributions from all the leadership candidates, many of

Labour’s new MPs (Emma Reynolds MP, Rachel Reeves MP, Pamela Nash MP, Gloria De Perio MP)

and a good number of Labour stalwarts (Gordon Brown MP, John Prescott, David Blunkett MP).

We also included contributions from key opinion formers including Ben Page, Sarah Brown, Adam

Boulton and Patrick Diamond.

In addition to securing strong content, we have led a number of notable innovation during this year

including:

A full redesign. Anticipations has been redesigned and our new look magazine has been well •

received by politicians, opinion formers and Young Fabian members;

The first ever colour Young Fabians magazine. For the first time in its history Anticipations was •

printed in full colour this year;

The first ever online edition. For the first time Anticipations was published online. The online •

‘taster edition’ allowed the Young Fabians to reach out to a wider audience, increasing our

influence and reach;

An online Anticipations archive. Past copies of Anticipations are now available to read and •

download in full on the Young Fabians website;

Posting Anticipations with Fabian Review. This shared mailing strengthened the Young Fabian •

brand, built a stronger relationship between us and the Fabian Society and led to significant

cost savings;

A wider distribution. Anticipations is now sent to a wide range of key opinion formers from •

politics, thinktanks and the media. It was recently referenced by David Aaronovitch in his Times

column.

For further information about Anticipations, to view the magazine archive and to read the latest

edition online, visit www.youngfabians.org.uk.

JAMES GREENEDITOR, ANTICIPATIONS


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As Young Fabians we should constantly seek ways to improve how we operate. In this spirit and to

coincide with our 50th Anniversary, last year our Chair decided to create the new role of Reform

Officer within the executive committee.

As Reform Officer I was tasked with taking a fresh look at the functioning of the Young Fabians

to consider what changes we could make to become more relevant, transparent, democratic

and inclusive. Through the annual members survey conducted by Adrian Prandle and other

consultations, many Executive members came up with brilliant ideas for improving the way we

work. Using these suggestions I produced a discussion paper, which you can now read on our

website [Can we hyperlink this?], which presented a range of options for opening up meaningful

participation in the society. In particular the paper looked at the way YFs recruit and elect the

Executive Committee.

This paper informed a range of initiatives that took place the year and will continue to affect our

work, such as publishing a mission statement at the beginning of the year and actively explaining

our constitution and internal structures to our members. Many of the proposed changes were

adopted and some implemented ahead of this year’s Executive election, but a host of other reforms

will be introduced over the coming year under the leadership of the incoming committee. So watch

this space!

We will be at our most effective if Executive members bring a range of backgrounds, experiences,

networks and opinions to the table, as well as the talent and dedication to leverage these. Diversity

has not been our strongest asset in the past, and it is vital we address the issues that underlie this.

CLAIRE LEIGHREFORM OFFICER

This year the Young Fabians provided a number of ways for its mem-bers - and others - to get involved in the Labour leadership contest.

Web-chats - we hosted web-chats with almost all of the Leadership •candidates. They attracted hundreds of participants and allowed members across the UK to put their questions directly the the can-didates.

Hustings - we co-hosted a unique hustings event in Bristol along-•side WWF, LCID and SERA titled ‘Labour in the World’ to focus on issues of international development and environmental change. Over 400 people attended and the event was opened by Young Fabian International Officer Brian Duggan. We also co-hosted a hustings event in London, with the Fabians, LabourList, Progress, Labour List, Left Foot Forward and Compass.

Anticipations - the Summer edition of our magazine featured •contributions from all of the Leadership candidates. They answered a series of questions such as ‘What is your vision for Britain?’ and ‘What are the lessons of the last 13 years?’

FOCUS ON...LABOUR LEADERSHIP CONTEST


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In our 50th anniversary year, we dedicated an entire month to one subject: March became the

Young Fabians Equalities Month. For four weeks, we held events and dedicated most of our blog

content to the Equality Bill, Women in Parliament, and for the first time ever, we raised the issue of

Mental Health.

Our panel debate “What’s next for Equalities” with panellists Nia Griffith MP, then PPS to Harriet

Harman MP, Seema Malhotra, Founder of the Fabians Women’s Network, Tom Copley (LGBT

Labour) and Tulip Siddiq, BAME Officer for Young Labour, spoke to a packed room about the

achievements of the last Labour Government and the next big challenges the Left had to take on to

create a fairer society.

Our panel debate “Equalties and Mental Health” with panellists Lynne Jones MP (Chair of APPG on

Mental Health), Dr Rachel Perkins (South West London and St Georges Mental Health Trust) Janet

Davies (Time to Change) and Victoria Walsh (Rethink) saw an engaged and often passionate debate

about the stigma people with Mental Health issues often encounter, as well as the lack of support

from health services and employers they often experience. As one of the best known campaigners

for Mental Health issues, Alistair Campbell wrote a very personal contribution to our blog.

The highlight of Equalities Month was the launch of Young Fabian Women (YFW) in Parliament:

with the support of UNISON and with our guest speaker and host Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP.

Young Fabian Women provides a space on the left for young women to get involved in progressive

politics, and encourages more young women to make their voices heard by joining the debate, on

and offline or standing for public positions. At our YFW event in June; “Learning Lessons from the

Election” our guest speakers Tulip Siddiq, then newly elected Councillor in Camden, Young Fabian

Executive member Rebecca Rennison, a former PPC, and Young Fabian Executive member Pamela

Nash MP shared their experiences with a packed room of women.

MARIE-NOELLE LOEWEEQUALITIES OFFICER


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As secretary for my main role has consisted of collating and writing the weekly email update to help

inform our members of all the upcoming Young Fabian activities.

In addition, in the year I organised three events. The first was a “Standing for the Young Fabian

Executive” event, a follow-up from last year which aims to encourage members to stand for election

or co-option to the Young Fabian Executive, dispelling myths and providing transparency on the

process, this was informed by Reform agenda which was a priority for the Executive this year and

will continue to be.

I also organised an event with Young Fabian Women after the May election with local government

and Parliamentary candidates (both elected and defeated) to ask them about their experiences in

standing for political office, exploring barriers and discussing strategies to overcome them. This

was a ‘Chatham House’ rules women only event and aimed to encourage more young women to

stand for political office in the future, addressing the representation gap. This is one of the many

objectives of the Young Fabian Women.

In October I also organised an event entitled “Power to the People” with Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of

the London Borough of Lambeth, Jonathan Cox from London Citizens and Young Fabian member

and academic Dr Claire Russell to debate what can the progressive left expect of people with

political focus and discourse centring on the concept of the Big Society and community organising

which requires different expectations from individuals and society.

PRETH RAOSECRETARY


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This has been a great year for member development, with the Executive working flat out to increase

opportunities for Young Fabians to get involved. We have moved to not just being the pre-eminent

membership think-tank for young people on the political left, but we have opened up ways to grow

the ‘do-tank’ side of what Young Fabians membership offers.

The Executive as a whole has worked together across the year improving opportunities for our

members across the UK to take part in activities and members have shown their support though a

larger and growing membership, as well as an increased participation in Young Fabian events both

on and off-line. This means that we enter the new Young Fabian year with an increased expectation

on the Executive to develop our work to include more members and open up the the society in

future years.

As well as delivering some of the permanent fixtures of the Young Fabian calender: the new

members’ reception, the annual dinner and the annual boat party, I have shown an appetite to

branch out into delivering new social events for members. This year, before General Election fever

took hold, I developed a Young Fabian Film Night focusing on racism. It was popular enough to

ensure that we look forward to developing this type of social event in 2011.

The General Election took up a huge amount of the year but also provided an important

opportunity to show that Young Fabians as campaigners too. Our series of campaigning days in

London, for parliamentary and local candidates who have shown particular commitment to issues

of importance to Young Fabians: housing, international development, community action, anti-

racism, to name a few, were both popular and successful. The turnout for these events showed that

Young Fabians are interested in campaigning and these sessions were allowed new members to get

involved and meet other members in non-policy focused activities.

This year we also showed our ability to bring together political groups together, and organise

events outside of London. We took the lead with other organisations to deliver three Leaders TV

debate watch-and-campaign-parties, with a further one organised in Manchester. Members from

throughout the UK were able to take part in these events through our on-line work supporting the

debate screenings. Excitingly we able to show that we can empower non-Executive members to

organise successful events and build activity outside of London. We have learned from this work,

looking at how we can integrate on-line access for all our events to widen participation.

This was particularly evident in the Leadership webchats delivered during the Labour Leader contest.

With the three candidates talking to Young Fabian members throughout the UK, we were able to

attract hundreds of interested young people to take part.

More generally we have continued to ensure that members have been able to contribute their ideas

through regular guest content on the Young Fabian blog, including the ‘Campaigner’s Diary’ guest-

post series.

There has been more. As testament to our membership work we leave 2010 in the envious position

of having had an unprecedented 44 candidates put their name down to be part of Executive in this

year’s election. It will be a tough act for next year’s Executive to beat.

VINCENZO RAMPULLAMEMBERSHIP OFFICER

1,380Nov 2009:

1,720Nov 2010:

MEMBERSHIP FIGURES:


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After being elected to the Young Fabian Executive in November 2009, I took the role of Officer

without Portfolio. As part of this role I have been involved in organising a number of events and

helping co-ordinate Young Fabian activity throughout the year.

To mark the launch of the 50th year of the Young Fabians I secured us a special weekend of guest

editing LabourList to coincide with the Fabian Society New Year Conference.

In March I organised an ‘In Conversation Event’ between Oona King and Lord Kinnock in Portcullis

House, Westminster, which was attended by almost 80 Young Fabian members. Lord Kinnock

spoke about a wide range of topics including reflecting on his own experience of the 1992 general

election and offering parallels with the General Election that took place in May 2010.

Furthermore I helped organise the Young Fabian presence at both the Progress and Compass

Annual Conferences in May and June 2010. At both events we had a strong presence and

promoted our latest work to attendees allowing us to sign up new members in the process.

I have recently organised the first Young Fabian pub quiz of 2010 where we welcomed over 50

people to compete for the top prize.

Finally, alongside Vincenzo Rampulla, I have been organising the Young Fabian Annual Dinner

which took place on Friday 12thNovember where we welcomed guest speaker Stella Creasy and

over 50 Young Fabian members.

Over the past 12 months we have held many events, and seen a significant rise in our membership.

I am particularly proud that we have branched out of London and held a number of events outside

the capital.

The annual Young Fabian Boat Party attracted nearly 150 guests and our events in Manchester

at the Fabian Conference and during the Leaders TV debates also attracted big crowds, many of

whom had never been to a Young Fabian event before.

I also helped set up the Young Fabians PayPal account, which will hopefully enable us to collect

payment for events and advertise our events online more easily in the future.

I contributed regularly to the blog, which has flourished this year, and I believe will continue to do

so.

RICHARD LANEOFFICER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO

SHAMIK DASSOCIAL AND MEMBERSHIP OFFICER


20

In March 2010, the Young Fabians launched a new series of online collaborative Networks

to enable specific professional groups to better engage with the work of the Young Fabians.

We established a ‘Future of Finance’ Network and a ‘Technology and Society’ Network, which

- together - aim to connect socially-minded individuals from finance, research, technology,

engineering, and scientific communities with progressive politics.

Our hope was that the Networks would provide an empowering opportunity for progressives, of all

shades, to contribute their expertise to the effort to respond to global policy challenges. Network

membership is not limited to Young Fabian members, but open to all individuals who identify as

socially-minded.

Since the launch we have had a number of successes. Through the Network steering groups, we’ve

created a new body of active members who are in regular contact with me as the YF Networks

Officer. The concept and mission of the Networks has received wide support from the Chair and

YF Executive, the steering groups, our members and interested stakeholders – including the Labour

Finance and Industry Group and prominent MPs. Membership of both Networks has grown steadily,

including bringing in members who were not previously Young Fabians, and in particular, the

Networks have secured the £2,050 in sponsorship from organisations that the Young Fabians did

not have a previous relationship with.

In short the networks have brought in members and funding and, through events, special

publications and high quality blogs, increased our ability to comment on social and economic

issues. The current Executive has produced a handover document for the next Executive to help

ensure that the existing member and sponsor engagement around the Networks is not lost.

Our schools work in 2010 included a series of discussions on ‘Fabianism’ and modern politics

in schools within and around the London area. A number of schools were visited and talks given,

including providing the John Locke lecture at Westminster School, however with more dedicated

resources there is ample opportunity for the Executive to engage with school students in a more

effective and comprehensive way in 2010/11.

NICK MAXWELLNETWORK AND SCHOOLS OFFICER


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The Young Fabians Candidates Network has become an important resource for Labour candidates

up and down the country. Set up last year, the network aimed to provide a space for Labour

candidates to get advice, explore ideas and share best practice with each other. To foster this

sharing, the network moved online at the beginning of this year. This marked an important turning

point, shifting control away from the Young Fabian executive and giving ownership of the network to

the candidates themselves.

There was a clear demand for the network. Within two weeks of launch 75 parliamentary and

council candidates had joined the network and by the time the General Election came around

nearly 10% of Labour’s Parliamentary Candidates had signed up. Based online, the network

allowed candidates to upload videos, blog posts and leaflets, participate in discussion forums and

post any questions that they had.

A great deal of innovative work was shared on the network and the Young Fabians updated network

members on the latest content on a frequent basis (bi-weekly during the short campaign). Network

members such as Kevin McKeever, who fought for Labour in Harborough, discussed how social

media could be used to its full potential. Others such as Jonathan Todd, Labour’s candidate in

Westmorland and Lonsdale, shared their experiences of hustings and working with the media. And

candidates such as Howard Dawber in Bexleyheath and Crayford uploaded great leaflets that went

far beyond traditional efforts.

During the General Election the network offered invaluable support to Labour candidates across

the country. Candidates often had similar aims, tasks and challenges and yet have few, if any,

opportunities to learn from each other. In the time-pressured environment of a General Election

the network allowed them to collaborate, learn from each other and share their experiences of the

campaign trail.

For further information and to view the network visit http://youngfabians-networks-candidates.ning.

com/.

JAMES GREENCANDIDATES NETWORK OFFICER


22

This year has been another challenging financial year, with the significant drop-off in regular

sponsorship we have often struggled to fund all our activities. Whilst the Young Fabians are run by

volunteers and many of our events are hosted at no cost, we do need money to print Anticipations,

pamphlets, and ongoing costs such as our website and mailing provider, and ideally to provide

social and reception events such as the launch of Young Fabian Women. The Young Fabians is run

on a very small budget and whilst we receive some money from the senior society this alone is not

sufficient for us to put on a full range of events and publications and fundraising is a key part of

Young Fabian activities.

Unfortunately, the recession mean tough times for left-wing organisations seeking sponsorship.

However, thanks to the efforts of Executive members and the generosity of our sponsors we have still

managed to put on a full range of Young Fabian events throughout the course of the year and finish

the year with a healthy bank balance.

I’d like to thank our sponsors this year:

WWF•

TUC•

Unison•

TU Fund Managers •

Jersey Finance •

Prospect Magazine•

Egon Zehnder•

REBECCA RENNISONTREASURER


23

As stated by our Treasurer, this year has continued to present challenges on the fundraising front,

the economic conditions exacerbated for us by the General Election result.

Specifically this year I co-ordinated a write-round to all Labour MPs to ask for financial support

which generated a welcome sum of money. In addition I sourced raffle prizes for events including

the boat party – our most successful, raising over £200. We also received ongoing donations from

Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP.

I was pleased to have helped our International Officer organise the Young Fabian ‘Labour in the

World’ Labour leadership hustings. I sourced and booked the venue in Bristol, the Passenger Shed,

which provided an impressive backdrop for the hustings and over 400 Young Fabian and Labour

members in the South West. It is important that the Young Fabians organise events outside of

London, and this proved our commitment to doing so.

I worked closely with the Chair to help organise our event at this year’s annual Labour Party

Conference. Specifically I organised and provided briefings for the speakers: Glenis Willmott MEP,

Stella Creasy MP, Hazel Blears MP, and Sadiq Khan MP. I’d like to thank all the speakers who took

time out of their busy conference schedules to speak to the Young Fabians.

I organised an event in November titled ‘Selections & Elections: New MPs talk about the General

Election 2010’ and was pleased to have Emma Reynolds MP, Luciana Berger MP, Gavin Shuker

MP and former Harborough PPC Kevin McKeever on the panel. It provided a forum for MPs to talk

candidly with Young Fabian members who may be PPC’s in the future. The event was chaired by

former PPC and Young Fabian Executive member James Green.

On December 6th I have planned an event with Lord Adonis to discuss the coalition negotiations in

May of this year, and the implications for future collaboration with the Liberal Democrats.

Finally, I have been very happy to co-ordinate the booking of rooms in Parliament for our events,

and thanks again to Ben Bradshaw MP for being our principle sponsor on this front. It is only with

this access that we are able to put on such a full and broad programme of policy panel events. I’ve

endeavoured to be as useful as possible to Young Fabian members and Executive colleagues in

organising their own work, and wish the 2010/11 executive all the best for their term.

STEVE RACEFUNDRAISING OFFICER


24

53 events – excluding all the Policy Development Group meetings which are not individually listed

From the Webbs to the Web: The official Launch of the Young Fabian Blog

Wednesday 18th November 2009, the House of Commons

Young Fabians 50th Year Launch with Lord Mandelson – at Fabian Society New Year Conference

Saturday 16th January 2010, Imperial College, London

Young Fabian Film Club launch

Monday 25th January, Birkbeck Student Bar, London

Young Fabians/Young Labour - First-time voters telephone campaigning

Tuesday 9th March, Labour HQ, Victoria Street

Young Fabians New Members Reception

Tuesday 9th March, Westminster

Young Fabian Social at Fabian Society Conference

Saturday 13th March, Manchester

Young Fabians Equalities Month: “What next for Equalities?”

16th March, House of Commons

Young Fabians Equalities Months: Reception to celebrate the launch of Young Fabian Women with

Patricia Hewitt MP

18th March, Portcullis House

Young Fabians Equalities Months: “Mental Health and Equalities: What more can he Government

do for young people?”

23rd March, House of Commons

Young Fabians campaign with National Volunteer Taskforce

Wednesday 24th March

Launch of the Young Fabian Networks - “Technology and Society” and “Future of Finance”

Networks

Thursday 25th March, Association of British Insurers, London

Young Fabians 50th Year Event - election Special with Lord Neil Kinnock

Chaired by Oona King

Monday, 29 March, House of Commons

Young Fabians campaign with National Volunteer Taskforce

Wednesday 31 March

Young Fabian community campaigning with Stella Creasy MP and Cllr Mark Rusling, Waltham

Forest

Saturday 3rd April

EVENTS DIARY2009/10


25

Young Fabian community campaigning with Cllr Kate Groucutt and Conor McGinn, Islington

Saturday 10 April

Young Fabian community campaigning in Islington South and Finsbury with Emily Thornberry

Sunday 11th April

Young Fabian Women and Unite4Labour “Winning 4 Women” Phone Banking Day

Wednesday 14th April

Leaders’ Debate Campaign Event and Launch of the Labour LGBT Manifesto

Thursday 15th April, Old Compton Street, London

Young Fabian community campaigning in Barking and Dagenham with Hope Not Hate

Saturday 17th April

Young Fabian community campaigning in Islington South and Finsbury with Emily Thornberry

Sunday 18th April

Young Fabians Phone Canvassing and Leaders’ TV Debate event

Thursday 22nd April, New Oxford Street, London

Young Fabian community campaigning Westminster North

Saturday 24th April

Young Fabian Women and Unite4Labour “Winning 4 Women” Phone Banking Day

Wednesday 21st and 28th April


Thursday 29th April, The Strand, London


Thursday 29th April, Manchester

Young Fabian community campaigning in Bethnal Green and Bow

Saturday 1st May

Young Fabian community campaigning in Harrow West

Monday 3rd May

Young Fabian Post Election social gathering with David Miliband and Ed Miliband

Wednesday 19th May, The George, London

Young Fabian event at the Swedish Embassy – ‘The Swedish Model of Equality’

Thursday 27th May, Swedish Embassy, London

Young Fabian Boat Party 2010

Friday July 9th, Westminster Docks

Young Fabians co-hosted Labour Leadership Hustings

Monday June 14th, London

Young Fabian Women: Learning Lessons From the Election

Tuesday June 15th, House of Commons

The Young Fabians Budget Debate: Cutting waste or wasting potential? Co-hosted with Progress

Tuesday 22 June, House of Commons

Young Fabian Campaign Session: Chadwell By-election

3 July


26

Young Fabian London Theatre Outing

Thursday 15th July, Tricycle Theatre, London

Standing for the Young Fabian Executive

Monday 19th July, House of Commons

Young Fabians next Leader web-chats: Ed Miliband MP

Friday 13 August

Young Fabians next Leader web-chats: David Miliband MP

Friday 27 August

Young Fabians next Leader web-chats: Andy Burnham MP

Thursday 2 September

Young Fabians co-hosted Labour Leadership Hustings - Labour in the World

Thursday 9th September, The Passenger Shed, Bristol

Young Fabians and Movement for Change special Community Organising Workshop

13th September, Westminster

Young Fabians Campaigning trip to Sweden

16th -20th September

Young Fabians Embassy event: ‘Indonesia - Islam & Democracy’

Thursday 16th September, Indonesian Embassy, London

Young Fabians ‘Future of Finance’ Network event - “Balance in the boardroom: How to get more

women leaders in the City?”

Wednesday 22 September, London Stock Exchange, London

Young Fabians Embassy event: ‘US Mid-term Elections and Foreign Policy - Discussion and

Reception’

Thursday 23rd September, U.S. Embassy, London

Young Fabians Labour Party Conference Rally

Sunday 28th September, Manchester Centre

Young Fabian Pub Quiz

Tuesday 12th October, Old Star Pub, Westminster

Launch of ‘The New Generation’ pamphlet

Thursday 21 October, , House of Commons, London

‘Power to the people’ - a debate on co-ops, mutualism and community organising

Monday 25th October, House of Commons

‘Protected or pilfered? - What the CSR really means for R&D and science in the UK?’

Wednesday 27 October, House of Commons

‘Selections and Elections: New MPs talk about the General Election 2010’

Monday 8th November, House of Commons

Young Fabians Annual Dinner

Friday, 12th November, The Rose, Albert Embankment, London

Young Fabians AGM

Saturday 13th November, London

young fabian annual report - 2009/10

Documents

young fabiansthe young

young fabian brand

young progressives

young people

years young fabian executive

young fabian equalities

cludes young professional

fabian publications