Zack Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing instead
A government led by the Green party would not set targets for GDP growth but would instead focus on people’s mental health, social cohesion and community welfare, Zack Polanski has said in a major speech to set out his plans for the economy.In his first policy address since taking over as leader of the Greens in England and Wales six months ago, Polanski condemned what he called “rip-off Britain”, where a minority of asset owners benefited at the expense of people obliged to pay unaffordable sums for housing and other basics.In a post-speech press conference, when asked if a government he led would seek to create economic growth, Polanski argued this was the wrong way of looking at the issue.“Actually, I’m much more interested in growing people’s mental health, growing our public services, growing cohesion in our communities,” he said, arguing a focus on increasing GDP growth could create unintended incentives and outcomes.“If we’re looking at GDP – if a water company pumps sewage into the water and then pays for that to be cleaned up, then that technically improves your GDP, and that’s economic growth,” he said.
“That would seem absurd to most people, and it’s not a way to do it.”Instead, he said, governments should build policies around broader “missions”, such as tackling the climate emergency or reducing gender inequality, for which economic growth could be a byproduct.“Your missions should be cross-cutting across all sectors, rather than being a mission that’s about economic growth that can become arbitrary and then can result in perverse means to try and get to that end,” Polanski argued.“Really, what we should actually be doing is looking at how we can improve people’s lives in this country, make sure that our communities have more money in their pockets.Then we’re looking after communities.
”Speaking at a community garden in north London in an event organised by the New Economics Foundation thinktank, Polanski called for more government help with household energy bills as a result of the US-Israel attack on Iran, which he called “a war of choice” that was not launched because of any imminent threat.Polanski said the privatisation of social housing and utilities, followed by austerity, had created a hugely unjust economic landscape.“The picture for people living in the UK today is bleak,” he said.“Wages have all but stagnated since 2008.Unemployment is on the rise – and the number of young people out of work is at an 11-year high.
Growth has literally ground to a halt in spite of this government pursuing a policy of growth at all costs,”In contrast, he said, the Green party’s economic policy would be based around “three very simple questions: how do we make life more affordable? How do we back the caring majority over the wealthy elite? And how do we protect our planet for generations to come?”On specific policies, Polanski reiterated his calls for a wealth tax and measures to tackle the cost of living, such as rent controls and the renationalisation of the water industry, as well as a mass programme of home insulation,Asked about how a Green government would pay for all this, Polanski said the UK needed to “exit the bond market doom loop” with a rethink of economic rules,Questioned on whether this could include printing more money and changes to borrowing, Polanski said: “Ultimately, I’m a pragmatist,I’m not an ideologue, so I’m interested in anything that works.
”He added: “There will be borrowing, but it’s borrowing for investment.I think that’s the key point there.As well as that, I think there is a conversation to be had about quantitative easing, and I think part of it is there’s no one fixed approach.There’s no one jigsaw piece that’s going to solve everything.”
Carnivàle revisited: is this HBO’s strangest show?
Carnivàle premiered on HBO in 2003 and was cancelled after only two seasons. In the immediate aftermath, this decision was protested by the small but dedicated cult following the show had amassed (to the tune of 50,000 emails).But in the years since, as the television canon has expanded and the taste for mystery-box TV has waned, Carnivàle now seems little more than a minor curio in HBO’s ever-expanding back catalogue. So what is this curio about?Carnivàle follows the exploits of its titular carnival as they travel across the American dust bowl in the 1930s. At the beginning of the series, these nomadic showpeople pick up Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), an ex-con with a mysterious past (and inexplicable powers)
‘We kicked Bono’s arse’: how we made Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again (with a little help from Kraftwerk)
‘Kerry’s spoken verse needed 39 takes spread over several months because she’d had her tonsils out’People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten. In 1996, my band OMD released Walking on the Milky Way, which I thought was one of the best songs I’d ever written. But in the age of Britpop, we were perceived as an 80s synthpop band, past our sell-by date. Radio 2 wouldn’t play the song and Woolworths wouldn’t stock it. I thought: “I’m functioning with one arm tied behind my back
Gatz review – the Great Gatsby performed in eight and a half hours of attentive, immersive joy
A man enters his office in the morning, finds his computer on the fritz and, after a few attempts to turn it on and off again, comes across a copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. So he starts to read and when his colleagues enter they find themselves taking on the characters, and soon the novel unfolds around us, word by word. The New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service has produced a work that is not quite adaptation – given it doesn’t really adapt the novel at all – but that is utterly transfixing nonetheless.Following a keen interest in non-dramatic texts, the company wanted to see what would happen when a powerful literary work was read and performed in its entirety. The result is both strange and strangely familiar
How to Make a Killing to Wu-Tang Clan: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classicsHow to Make a KillingOut nowLoosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal).Reminders of HimOut nowMaika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel
The Guide #234: Five big questions before the 2026 Oscars
Happy Oscars Eve eve to you all. The film industry’s glitziest night takes place on Sunday, at an ungodly hour for those of us covering it from the other side of the Atlantic. Coffee will be essential for anyone staying up, as will the Guardian’s annual liveblog, covering every last minute of the ceremony as well as its red carpet run-up. Head over to the homepage on Sunday evening for that, plus news and commentary on the night’s events.There’s plenty to read before that too: our annual Oscar hustings, making the case for each of this year’s best picture nominees (I sided with Sentimental Value); an interview with Academy top dog Bill Kramer; a piece on the increasingly toxic discourse around many of this year’s nominees; and Guardian film editor Catherine Shoard’s reader Q&A on this year’s race and the state of film in general
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump being gifted an Olympic medal: ‘Yet another award he didn’t win’
On Thursday night, late-night hosts discussed an odd White House women’s history month event, the fallout of the war on Iran and why Melania Trump is starting to sound an awful lot like her husband.Jimmy Kimmel spent a chunk of his Thursday night monologue on a White House women’s history month fundraiser hosted by Donald Trump. As part of the event, Melania Trump gave an extended introduction to the president.“You know how some couples as they get older start to sound alike?” asked Kimmel. “Well, while introducing her husband, Melania had an awful lot of nice things to say about herself
War in Middle East has ‘heightened the risks to the global economy’; markets in ‘panic mode’ as oil jumps and shares fall – as it happened
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Oh deer! Rory McIlroy puts elk on the Masters champions dinner menu