Owen Bell

Tell us about yourself and your role:

I’m Owen Bell, I’m the Communications Officer. My job is to handle the YF weekly email and social media accounts, to promote YF events, pamphlets and initiatives.

What's your first political memory?

The invasion of Iraq in 2003. I remember it because my dad was in favour of the invasion but my mum was against. My dad later changed his mind.

What made you join and get involved with the Young Fabians?

I joined the Young Fabians after attending an event about political communication, which was run by both the Young Fabians and Labour in Communications. I joined because I wanted to learn more about how to communicate political ideas and how to run campaigns. I also liked how friendly and sociable everyone was.

What are your aims for the year ahead in your position?

I would like to help Young Fabians running for council in the upcoming local elections win their seats, and I think YF can play a role in any upcoming by-elections. I would also like to promote any events we hold at Labour Conference.

If you could write and implement one law, what would it be?

I would implement an Estonian style system of affordable childcare for all. Bridget Phillipson recently said Labour would like to reform childcare on Estonian lines if elected.

What was the last book you read?

Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country, by Craig Pittman. 

Finally, the most important question – dogs or cats?

Cats. 

You can contact Owen via [email protected]

Clark Beken

Tell us about yourself and your role:

My name is Clark, and I’m the Young Fabians Blog Editor this year. I was co-opted onto the Exec to fill the position of blog editor in December, and I have been carrying on the excellent work of Jimmy Sergi, now Antics Editor, who ran the blog last year. Outside the Young Fabians I’m a university student, but I’m currently switching institution and course so I will start again studying social policy in September. I live in the forgotten corner of north-west England known as Cumbria.

As blog editor I am responsible for getting blogs by YF members published, helping with appropriate editing and suggestions for pieces. I am always open for pitches so do get in touch! I also seek out guest writers for the blog, organise series such as Meet the Exec or our IWD 2023 series, and try to promote the blog to as wide an audience as possible. Later this year I am also hoping to coordinate some skills events for members who think they could benefit from developing their writing and other skills relevant to the blog.

What's your first political memory?

My first political memory is probably the 2015 election, when I was about twelve. I can remember seeing a lot about it on the news as my parents have always followed politics closely. I think I may also have been at least somewhat aware of *that* Miliband front page… I only found out about the Edstone a few years later though!

What made you join and get involved with the Young Fabians?

I actually joined YF before I joined the Labour Party, as I wasn’t as sure about getting actively involved in politics and YF seemed like a good place to explore policy, which I was more comfortable with. I then ended up as chair of the Environment Network last year, having turned up to the AGM with no expectation of becoming chair, and enjoyed getting involved through that. I also had the opportunity to go to last year’s Labour conference as a Fabian volunteer for our fringe events, which was a really great experience.

What are your aims for the year ahead in your position?

I am aiming to get similar number of articles published to what we had last year (about 150) and to maintain a high editorial standard.

We have serious deficit in the number of women writing for the blog and that is something I want to start to change, and I and other exec members will hopefully be launching something on that shortly, following on from the IWD 2023 series.

I am also keen to get new and less experienced writers involved in  general, and one of the ways I will try to do that will be through skills events as mentioned above.

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve the blog, please do get in touch.

If you could write and implement one law, what would it be?

Whilst I am very passionate about poverty and environmentalism, I don’t think these issues could be solved as whole with just one law. So I think it would be to implement a policy that I believe can have a broad range of economic, social, and environmental benefits – community land ownership through Right to Buy. I would give communities the right to first chance to purchase land valuable to the community that is up for sale, and also some power to force purchase of unused land, with a pot of money allocated to support community ownership bids. I think this policy is already starting to bear fruit in Scotland (where it was introduced by Labour), and there are great examples like the Langholm buyout and the Isle of Eigg. This fits in well with Labour’s pledge to devolve power to local communities, because ownership of land confers considerable power on land use and wealth extraction.

What was the last book you read?

Not a book, but I was recently re-reading the Fabian pamphlet from last year The Equality Question, by Stewart Lansley. I think it sets out really clearly and effectively the scale of the problem of inequality that has grown for decades in the UK, and the devastating effects through poverty and low productivity that it has had and still has on our society. It also lays out lots of useful suggestions as to how we can change that, which I think has to be always an important goal for the labour movement.

Finally, the most important question – dogs or cats?

Well, my family has both, and I tend to find cats are a lot less stressful!

You can contact Clark via [email protected]