It’s interesting to see the ways that two organisations take politics. I am talking about attending and presenting ideas at the Labour Party Conference and how the Social Market Foundation work with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries to get ideas on the table and to the Pensions Minister.
Post courtesy of Alexandra Miles.
Then we have the Investment Association getting its sponsor on the table and Zoe Alexandra of Pensions UK promoting – well herself – we don’t have a clue about what was talked about from this post. Clearly it was popular but apart from “supporters”, I know nothing more!
Here’s more from the PLSA, what does this tell us about what is being discussed , what points are being put across?
What is the point? To discuss or lobby?
Clearly this stuff is getting professionally done but in such different ways. The discussion is the thing with the Social Market Foundation and we have what was discussed as the point of Alexandra’s post. The post from Zoe Alexander is about the representatives at the session. It’s big hitters and aims to impress not inform.
I know which approach to reporting matters to me. I want to know – at a Labour party conference – what matters to people. I am not interested in what BlackRock, Arden Strategies (who are they?) and various lobbyists are doing there. This is about policy please!
What is getting said?
Look at what matters when people talk about their opportunities to speak at these events. Ask yourself whether their business is to get a better retirement for people or to further careers and presence of a commercial lobby.
When I used to go to these events (they let me when I was at Eagle Star) , I had to pay my own way and go as a delegate. The panels were much more male and there were journalists at each session reporting the discussion. Things have changed a lot in a quarter of century but I am pleased to see that there are still sessions that bring experts to talk and answer questions of those who choose to come to their sessions. This is how we can influence politics too – that’s why the presence of the Pension Minister is important. Torsten Bell attracts attention to pensions and those going to talk and listen do so because they’re interested in him and what happens over the next four years.
Let’s stop lobbying and grand standing and insist on discussing the things that a party conference should be about.
This video was shot not at the Conference but at an earlier SMF event but at a conference that seems to have got no coverage early in the month. Had it not been by accident, I would have no idea – maybe you too?
— Henry Tapper (@henryhtapper) September 30, 2025
Here is the stuff that matters right now, without report – how do we know what the agenda is. The video is four hours long, Bell is on from 3.14 (hours).
