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Grace Blakeley (born 26 June 1993) is an English economics and politics commentator, columnist, journalist and author. She is a staff writer for '' Tribune'' and panelist on TalkTV. She was previously the economics commentator of the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' and has contributed to Novara Media.


Early life

Blakeley was born in
Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
in Hampshire. She is half Welsh on her father's side. She was privately educated at Lord Wandsworth College, and later attended the
Sixth Form College, Farnborough The Sixth Form College Farnborough is a sixth form college situated in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. It caters for around 3,915 students and admission is mostly from schools in the local areas of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. The college is ...
. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at
St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom. It occupies the site of two of the university's medieval halls, dating back to at least the 14th ...
, graduating with a
first class honours degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
. Blakeley then obtained a master's degree in
African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...
at
St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, econo ...
. After graduating, she worked as a management consultant for
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, alth ...
in their Public Sector and Healthcare Practice division. Blakeley then worked as a research fellow for a year at the left-wing
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...
,
Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Funding comes from ...
in Manchester, specialising in regional economic policy.


Career

Blakeley joined the magazine ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' in January 2019 as its economics commentator, writing a fortnightly column and contributing to the website and podcasts. Her articles for the magazine included support for
Lexit In the wake of the referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016, many new pieces of Brexit-related jargon entered popular use.Al Jazeera. (2018)''Brexit jargon: From backstop to no deal, 17 key terms explained'' (Al Jazeera) Retrieved 2 ...
and a
Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...
. Her first book, ''Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation'', was published by
Repeater Books Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini. Formation ...
on 10 September 2019. Michael Galant writing for the
openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...
website, praised the book as a "convincing critique of modern capitalism for socialists and skeptics alike". CapX's Diego Zuluaga commented in his review that it was a "sweeping
polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
against the market economy", and felt the author had been selective in how she presented evidence for her arguments. Blakeley became a staff writer for the
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...
magazine '' Tribune'' in January 2020. She sits on the Labour Party's
National Policy Forum The National Policy Forum (NPF) of the British Labour Party is part of the policy-making system of the Party, set up by Leader Tony Blair as part of the Partnership in Power process. A Provisional National Policy Forum had been established by B ...
, which is responsible for policy development. Blakeley's second book, ''The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism'', was published in October 2020.


Political views

Blakeley identifies as a
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...
and supports the use of
capital control Capital controls are residency-based measures such as transaction taxes, other limits, or outright prohibitions that a nation's government can use to regulate flows from capital markets into and out of the country's capital account. These measures ...
s. Blakeley supports
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
and voted for him in the
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
and 2016 Labour leadership elections, though she criticised him in 2016 for failing to "challenge the hegemony of neoliberalism" in the way she had imagined he would. Blakeley promotes a Green New Deal. Though she has emphasised it as running "counter to a capitalist system", she has argued that "even those who do not identify as socialists" may soon realise that a green industrial revolution is the "only option". She calls for a "fair transition towards a low-carbon economy". Blakeley is a
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...
, and has branded the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
as "
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
", "
neo-colonial Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, ...
" and "run in the interests of financial and corporate elites".


Works


Books

* Blakeley, G. (2019). ''Stolen: How to Save the World From Financialisation'' (London: Repeater) * Blakeley, G. (2020). ''The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism'' (London: Verso)


Edited books

* Blakeley, G. (ed.) (2020). ''Futures of Socialism: The Pandemic and the Post-Corbyn Era'' (London: Verso)


References


External links


British economist Grace Blakeley on Amazon, capitalism and socialism
Detailed interview (3 ½ hours) with Tilo Jung and Hans Jessen, 2 November 2021 on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

Articles by Grace Blakeley
at Tribune
A World to Win podcast
hosted by Grace Blakeley
Articles by Grace Blakeley
at ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blakeley, Grace Living people 1993 births 21st-century English women writers Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford British anti-capitalists Anti-globalization writers British Eurosceptics British women columnists English columnists English Marxists English people of Welsh descent English socialists English women non-fiction writers Labour Party (UK) people Novara Media People educated at Lord Wandsworth College People from Basingstoke Writers from Hampshire