Abso-bloody-actly

Very interesting farewell piece from David Miliband in the New Statesman, that's available free online here. The whole thing is worth a read, but what he says about empowerment and the workplace, and the (misplaced?) belief in win-win outcomes is on the money.

The sense of disempowerment can be economic, in workplaces that lack the collective power of trade unions and where employee satisfaction and opportunity are limited...

In truth, the “Third Way” discussions of the 1990s were too weak in addressing issues of economic power, in the workplace and elsewhere. There seemed to be sufficient common ground to facilitate win-win solutions. But the stagnation of wages, among other matters, has shown that this perception was optimistic at best. Economic empowerment needs a harder edge.

He also backs 'pre-distribution':

[T]he tendency of markets towards inequality and instability needs to be countered by action upstream in order to curb abuse of power, and to empower citizens and employees with rights, information and control. “Predistribution” does not fit on an electoral pledge card, but the idea is right and so is the challenge of developing new ways, either through individual rights or collective organisation, to tilt the balance of power towards ordinary people.

This is punchier than you'd get from some of Blairite supporters.