A new story of Englishness with Caroline Lucas

Co-hosts Claire Brown and Alex Evans welcome former Green Party leader and MP Caroline Lucas. They discuss the evolution of green politics in Britain, and  can help shape a better future.

Key Topics:

- Caroline Lucas’s Journey. Her path to becoming the UK Green Party’s first MP.

- Green Party Now. The party’s growth under new leader Zack Polanski.

- Progressive Alliances & Electoral Reform. Proportional representation and how can progressive parties collaborate more effectively?

- English Identity Post-Brexit. Caroline discusses her new book, “Another England”. What does Englishness mean today?

- History, Empire & Education. Unpacking Britain’s colonial past.

- Religion & Politics. The risks of ceding these "mythic" spaces to the hard right.

- Democracy & Local Power. Radical devolution, participatory democracy, and grassroots innovation.

- Climate Action for All. Why “inclusive adaptation” matters.

People:

Caroline Lucas was the UK’s first Green Party Member of Parliament (between 2010 and 2024), and before that served as a Member of the European Parliament for 10 years.  She has also served as Leader and Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.  

She is passionate about the role of education and the arts in mobilising action on the climate and nature emergencies.  Caroline is Professor of Practice in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Sussex and Co-President of the European Movement.  Her latest book is Another England: How to Reclaim our National Story.

Alex Evans is the founder and Executive Director of Larger Us. He’s also a Visiting Professor in Practice at Newcastle University’s School of Arts and Cultures, a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, and the author of "The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough?" (Penguin, 2017). Alex is a former Campaign Director at Avaaz, where he ran campaigns on areas including Brexit. He’s also been a political adviser, including for two UK Secretaries of State for International Development and in the UN Secretary-General’s office.

Claire Brown

Claire has spent most of her career living and working in and with communities that have been disadvantaged by inequality. This includes time spent as a journalist reporting on the issues impacting former coal mining towns in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire; helping to design and find funding for programmes tackling problems like youth crime, homelessness and health inequality; and making it fun and easy for locals to cook and eat with refugees who are new to their area. Communication and proactive community engagement has always been at the core of her work, spanning journalism, education, charity and the arts.

Further Reading:

The Myth Gap by Alex Evans 

Another England by Caroline Lucas