Wikipedia

Grace Blakeley

Grace Blakeley (born 26 June 1993)[1] is an English economics and politics commentator,[2][3] 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 and has contributed to Novara Media.

Grace Blakeley
Blakeley in 2019
Born (1993-06-26) 26 June 1993 (age 31)
Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Education
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Commentator
  • columnist
  • journalist
  • author
Employers
Writing career
Subjects
Notable works
  • Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation (2019)
  • The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism (2020)
  • Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom (2024)
Websitegraceblakeley.co.uk

Early life

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Grace Blakeley was born in Basingstoke in Hampshire, England.[4] She is half Welsh on her father's side.[5] She was privately educated to GCSE level at Lord Wandsworth College,[6] where she captained the girls' rounders team, and later attended the Sixth Form College, Farnborough.[7] She studied philosophy, politics and economics at St Peter's College, Oxford, graduating with a first class honours degree.[7][8] Blakeley then obtained a master's degree in African studies at St Antony's College, Oxford.[9] After graduating, she worked as a management consultant for KPMG in their Public Sector and Healthcare Practice division.[8] Blakeley then worked as a research fellow for a year at a left-wing think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, in Manchester, specialising in regional economic policy.[8]

Career

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Blakeley in September 2018

Blakeley joined the magazine New Statesman in January 2019 as its economics commentator, writing a fortnightly column and contributing to the website and podcasts.[10] Her articles for the magazine included support for Lexit and a Green New Deal.[11][12] Her first book, Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation, was published by Repeater Books on 10 September 2019.[13] Michael Galant writing for the openDemocracy website, praised the book as a "convincing critique of modern capitalism for socialists and sceptics alike".[14] CapX's Diego Zuluaga commented in his review that it was a "sweeping polemic against the market economy", and felt the author had been selective in how she presented evidence for her arguments.[15]

Blakeley became a staff writer for the democratic socialist magazine Tribune in January 2020.[16] She has sat on the Labour Party's National Policy Forum, which is responsible for policy development.[17]

Blakeley's second book, The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism, was published in October 2020.[18] Her next book, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom, was published in 2024.[19]

Political views

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Blakeley identifies as a democratic socialist[20] and supports the use of capital controls.[21] She supported Jeremy Corbyn and voted for him in the 2015 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.[21][22] Blakeley stated in June 2024 that she left the Labour Party in 2023 over Keir Starmer's public statement during the Israel–Hamas war that Israel had the right to cut off Gaza's power and water.[23][24]

Blakeley promotes a Green New Deal.[21][25] 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".[26]

Blakeley is a Eurosceptic, and has branded the European Union as "neoliberal", "neo-colonial" and "run in the interests of financial and corporate elites".[21][27] In 2019, she wrote an article titled: "Why the left should champion Brexit", where she argued the EU was a barrier to building a socialist economy.[28]

Works

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Books

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  • (2019). Stolen: How to Save the World From Financialisation (London: Repeater Books), ISBN 9781912248377
  • (2020). The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism (London: Verso Books), ISBN 9781839762055
  • (2024). Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom (London: Bloomsbury Publishing), ISBN 9781982180850, 9781982180874, 9781797174754

Edited books

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  • (2020). Futures of Socialism: The Pandemic and the Post-Corbyn Era (London: Verso Books), ISBN 9781839761331

References

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  1. ^ Grace Blakeley [@graceblakeley] (26 June 2019). "T-W-E-N-T-Y S-I-X 2DAY BITCHEZ And I got to spend it with these beauts" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Lomeña, Andrés (20 February 2020). "Economics for millennials: an interview with Grace Blakeley". openDemocracy.
  3. ^ Denvir, Daniel (27 March 2020). "Coronavirus Economics with Grace Blakeley". The Dig. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Famous people from Basingstoke". Basingstoke Gazette. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. ^ Grace Blakeley (26 September 2020). "Well I am half welsh... This is going to make my dad extraordinarily happy". Retrieved 8 November 2020 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "The Sower 2009" (PDF). The Sower. p. 16. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b "University Admissions 2011" (PDF). Sixth Form College, Farnborough. p. 3. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  8. ^ a b c "Biography". Institute for Public Policy Research. 21 November 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  9. ^ "E-Newsletter: Antonian Books – TT19". St Antony's College, Oxford. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Grace Blakeley appointed New Statesman economics commentator". New Statesman. 12 November 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  11. ^ Blakeley, Grace (16 January 2019). "Why the left should champion Brexit". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  12. ^ Blakeley, Grace (2 October 2019). "Why we need a Green New Deal to solve humanity's greatest challenge". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation". Repeater Books.
  14. ^ Galant, Michael (9 October 2019). "Socialism or barbarism: a review of 'Stolen' by Grace Blakeley". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  15. ^ Zuluaga, Diego (2 September 2019). "Grace Blakeley's 'Stolen' is a tired invective against market capitalism". CapX. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  16. ^ Strutt, Andrew (4 February 2020). "Grace Blakeley joins the team at Tribune". Response Source. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Grace Blakeley". Labour Party. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  18. ^ "The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism". Waterstones. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  19. ^ O'Kane, Conor (22 April 2024). "Vulture Capitalism: Grace Blakeley's new book is smart on what has gone wrong since the 1980s". The Conversation. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  20. ^ Cohen, Roger (8 March 2019). "Socialism and the 2020 American Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  21. ^ a b c d Blakeley, Grace (16 January 2019). "Another Britain Is Possible". The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  22. ^ Blakeley, Grace (4 July 2016). "I campaigned for Corbyn – but he's failed to change the conversation". Left Foot Forward. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  23. ^ Grace Blakeley (12 June 2024). Green Party Launch Manifesto Of Bold Policies For "Real Change" #NovaraLIVE (Video). YouTube. Event occurs at 20:36 – 20:45. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  24. ^ McShane, Asher (11 October 2023). "Israel 'has the right' to withhold power and water from Gaza, says Sir Keir Starmer". lbc.co.uk. LBC. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  25. ^ Blakeley, Grace (13 February 2019). "Whatever the Brexit outcome, the UK desperately needs a green new deal". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  26. ^ Blakeley, Grace (1 May 2019). "Why Britain needs its own Green New Deal". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  27. ^ "Lexit: The left's strategy for Brexit". BBC One. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  28. ^ Blakeley, Grace (16 January 2019). "Why the left should champion Brexit". New Statesman. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
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