On St George's Day, the Young Fabians were proud to host its first Google Hangout, asking the question "What is the future of the English identity?"

The think tank British Future believes the English are "too nervous" to celebrate St George's Day, after a poll found they were more likely to be able to correctly name the date of the US Independence Day and St Patrick’s Day than they are their own national saint’s day.

The poll found that people in England are twice as likely to say they are more English than British than the other way round. Forty per cent said they were more English than British, while only 17 per cent feel more British than English. Just over a third (37 per cent) felt equally English and British.

In the context of the Scottish referendum, there is a space/need to explore the English identity and whether it has future in modern Britain? The Young Fabians are proud to pioneer new technologies like Google Hangouts as a way of increasing engagement with members outside of London. Look out for similar events in the future as we hope to share more of our experiences across different media platforms and offer more ways to get involved.

The Fabian Society is recruiting for the senior post of Head of Partnerships and Events (£30,000 – £34,000 pa + 6 weeks’ holiday and 7% pension contribution) to lead the Society’s events and partnerships strategy and deliver an events programme, which includes some of the highest-profile events in British politics.

The Society has a staff team of twelve people, based in our offices in Westminster (near St James’s Park Underground Station and within walking distance of Victoria). The Society is unique among think-tanks in being a thriving, democratically-constituted membership organisation, affiliated to the Labour Party while being organisationally, editorially and financially independent. With over 300 Fabian MPs, MEPs, Peers, MSPs and AMs among our national membership of over 6,500, the Society plays an unparalleled role in linking vigorous grassroots debate with the ability to influence policy debates at the highest level.

The role of the Head of Partnerships and Events is to coordinate and build the society’s relationships with funders and partners; and successfully lead and deliver an events programme which maximises the Society’s political and policy influence and public profile and contributes to the Society’s income.

For more information please visit the Fabian Society website.

The Young Fabians, led by Ade Adeyemi the Membership & Partnerships Officer, had a great time at our Hip Hop Karaoke Social last month. It wasn't a typical karaoke evening and YF members enjoyed getting down and funky to some Hip-Hop classics in a packed and friendly atmosphere. Forget jumping around and playing the air guitar to Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer, karaoke has now turned the cool up to '11' and the Young Fabians were happy to put down the pen and papers and relax.

The queues outside the venue snaked around the block proving the popularity of what is a very unique and fun event. The YF members who managed to get in had a great time so do keep a look out for our next events, social or otherwise, to get involved!

On the weekend of the Saturday 5th April the Young Fabians participated in the National Campaign Weekend in partnership with Young Labour and Labour Students in support of local and European candidates in the upcoming election. The delegation and subsequent social was led by Campaigns Officer Alvin Carpio and involved Young Fabians from the region and across the country.

Please visit the campaigns website for more information on the programme.

Last Friday Young Fabian, Treasurer, Martin Edobor was a special guest at the Peterborough Fabian Society AGM, speaking on the important topic of the NHS reforms and social care. His talk focused on many elements of the Young Fabian Health Network Pamphlet “Irreversible: Health and Social Care in a Post-Coalition Landscape”, outlining the real and damaging effects of the NHS bill, the looming crisis of an ageing population and the need to invest in our social care sector.

The Peterborough Fabian Society received a copy of the Young Fabian Health pamphlet for their archives.

The Young Fabians Executive regularly sends speakers to local societies to take part in discussions and debates. Fabian local societies form the foundation of our organisation, and we enjoy meeting and taking part in their local and regional events.  

On Saturday 1st of March, The Young Fabians Film Club 'kicked' off with the screening of La Haine. A French black-and-white drama/suspense film with a passionate look at racial tensions at a Paris housing project. 

 Plot:

After local youth Abdel is beaten unconscious by police, a riot ensues on his estate during which a policeman loses his gun. The gun is found by Vinz who threatens he will kill a cop if Abdel dies.

The three friends from different ethnic backgrounds live in the Bluebell housing projects on the outskirts of Paris.This is not the Paris of travel brochures or films like Amelie, but a desolate urban landscape, harsh and grim with housing projects that look as if they could be in any big city in the world. Vinz (Vincent Cassel), is a working class Jew; Hubert (Hubert Kounde), the most intelligent and self-reflective of the three, is an African boxer; and Said (Said Taghmaoui), an Arab from North Africa is younger but just as embittered. 

Trailer:

On Tuesday 8th April 2014, the Young Fabians, in partnership with the Young Icebreakers and the LSE SU China Development Society held a panel discussion on ‘UK- Chinese Relations – The UK’s Place in the Asian Century: challenges and opportunities’.

The discussion was led by the chairman of the 48 Group Stephen Perry and the panel included the Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills and former Chief Secretary to the HM Treasury Liam Byrne MP, the newly appointed Minister Counsellor Zhang Jiminig, John Zai, the chairman of the UK-China Student Entrepreneur Association and Tianran Cheng, the president of the LSE China Development Society SU (CDS).

Topics discussed included the growing trading relationship between the UK and China, the appeal of the British higher education system to young Chinese and thoughts on how the partnership between the two countries could be strengthened in future.

This event is part of a wider programme on the UK-China relationship.

Our Chair, James Hallwood will be speaking at FEPS Renaissance for Europe Conference (3rd-5th April) on the Friday morning discussing the topic of "Youth guarantee: Implementing and complementing" - alongside:

Happy April Fools!

At a national executive meeting of the Young Fabians last weekend, it was formally voted upon for the Young Fabians to disaffiliate from the Labour Party.

Proposals from the Labour leadership to prevent this move were listened to with respect, but we as a committee felt that the future of the Young Fabians was best served by engaging with other political parties, not solely Labour. It has been done very successfully by other centre-left groups, so we follow in a fine tradition.

Rumours that the Young Fabians had been ‘fixing’ selections to promote Fabian candidates, categorically played no part in this decision – it is something that had long been considered and we refuse to comment on these baseless accusations.

In keeping with our gradualist tradition, we have simply grown beyond our current relationship – we bear no ill will to the Party but make no apologies for this decision nor for witholding it from our membership until now.

Labour members of the Young Fabians will soon be joined by those of different political traditions. Today we welcomed several Liberal Democrats, some Tories and even UKIP members to stand with us in our fight for a better future. It’s a move that ushers in an exciting time for us all.

From 01/04/2014 the Young Fabians will be considered separate to the Fabian Society and formally decoupled from the Labour Party and our position in Young Labour.

Of course change can be hard to accept, but a truly One Nation vision of British politics incorporates all political strands.

Our flagship project looking at the isms that make up One Nationism will reflect this – with patriotism being headed by a LibDem, feminism and internationalism by UKIP members, and environmentalism and socialism by Tories.

Liberal Democrats have long spoken of a need for plural politics and their contribution to young people over the course of this parliament truly speaks for itself. Nick Clegg and David Cameron have both defined the formative experiences of so many of our members – it will be a delight to work with them.

Socialism is a Broad Church – but why should it just be for socialists? This move by the Young Fabians is bold and perhaps scary for some but it is an essential step forward. Long lambasted as the champagne socialists of the Labour Movement, we are delighted that that very champagne will now be courtesy of our new friends at CCHQ.

UPDATE: 12:00 1st April 2014

If you put together the first letter of every paragraph above you’ll understand the true nature of our announcement to disaffiliate from Labour! The Young Fabians are the youth movement of the Fabian Society, a founding member of the Labour Party and the original Socialist Society. That should tell you all you need to know about our commitment to Labour.

While our members include those of no firm political persuasion and a small number of non-voting affiliates, our relationship with the Labour Party is fundamental to who we are as an organisation… so shame on you if you believed the spoof!*

We don’t just do cracking April Fools Day jokes – we commission member-led research, campaign, hold great socials and events and work hard to be a voice for our members within the Labour Movement and beyond. The march to victory in 2015 will be a hard one so if you haven’t already, please consider joining the Fabian Society and the Labour Party as well.

*If you did fall for it don’t feel too bad.. we caught out quite a few MPs who should’ve known better!

Douglas Alexander MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, joined the Young Fabians for a wide-ranging discussion on the future foreign policy challenges facing the UK as part of a two-part series of events on Britain’s role in the world.

Speaking at the height of tensions over Crimea the Shadow Foreign Secretary argued that Russian President Putin was acting from a position of weakness rather than one of strength, and said it was crucial that the UK had the groundwork in place to match our rhetoric with action.

He also stated that any future Labour Foreign Office would be much more active in multi-lateral forums than the current FCO has been under Cameron and Hague.

A further event with Jonathan Powell, former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair will be held on June 16^th. Further details can be found here. His talk will focus on how we can best promote our humanitarian values abroad, promote British businesses internationally, and remain an influential global player.