Les Huckfield is an activist and academic, offering a range of services to support Trade Unions and Not for Profit Organisations.

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We have to stop normalising the absurd: Emily Maitlis’ 2022 MacTaggart Lecture

Emily Maitlis did us all a big favour on Wednesday 24 August in her MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Festival, by exposing the ongoing Tory subborning of the BBC. For those of us who watch Channel Four and won’t watch BBC News, none of this is new. But the full text below of what she […]

Study shows that Testing, Ventilation and Masks Virtually Eliminate Covid Transmission

If you’ve had COVID, you will know it can be pretty serious. Many of us, especially teaching and meeting in poorly ventilated and crowded rooms, especially with most folk not wearing masks, believe that we should bring back some previous restrictions. If you find this difficult to accept, please look through this highly reputable research […]

“It’s time to talk about the Russell Group”

This is a significant and quite brave piece for the Higher Education Policy Institute by Mary Curnock Cook, who was Chief Executive of UCAS (the universities’ ‘clearing’ system) from 2010 to 2017. After leaving school at 16, Mary has worked her way across the UK higher education system. So she knows her trade! Following serious […]

Challenging the Legacy of Thatcher’s Framework

During the Conservative PM selection process, both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss constantly claim to be the heirs of Thatcher. But they don’t seem to understand that the period of Margaret Thatcher and John Major in Government from 1979 to 1997 was unsuccessful in challenging or ameliorating any of Britain’s economic and social problems. Using […]

Les Huckfield is a lecturer and researcher at Glasgow Caledonian University and also teaches at the Open University. He is a trade union and third sector activist, known for his work on social enterprise and cooperatives.

He was a Director of SENSCOT (Social Enterprise Network Scotland) from 2009 till 2020 and was a Director of the Sheffield Cooperative Development Group from 2018 till this year. Throughout 2018 and 2019 he was a member of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP’s Implementation Group for Doubling the Size of the Cooperative Economy.

He has published book chapters and articles in academic journals and reports for trade unions, the Labour and Cooperative Parties. His book “How Blair Killed the Coops” was published in November 2021 by Manchester University Press (see further details below).

He was MP for Nuneaton and Bedworth, near Coventry, from 1967 till 1983 and Member of the European Parliament for Merseyside East from 1984 till 1989. He was Under Secretary of State in the Department of Industry from 1976 till 1979 and a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1978 till 1982. Before Glasgow Caledonian University, he worked on projects and funding for colleges, universities, the third sector and trade unions in Merseyside, the West Midlands and Scotland.

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In this detailed examination of social enterprise development under New Labour, Huckfield’s new book offers an alternative narrative of social enterprise in the UK and shows how communities have been denied the restoration of local economic and social democracy.

Buy it now

Leslie Huckfield is a lecturer and researcher at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is a trade union and third sector activist, known for his work on social enterprise and cooperatives.

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