Readers of this blog may be interested in attending the Progressive London conference on 30th January – “A progressive agenda to stop the right in 2010.”

Some of the initial speakers, including Ken Livingstone, leading members of the London Assembly, MPs such as Jon Cruddas, Diane Abbott and Tessa Jowell, trade unionists, bloggers, writers, London councillors, MEPs, campaigners and activists, are listed here along with an early indication of some of the subjects for discussion.

As Progressive London reports, Ken Livingstone says:

“We are at a key moment in British politics. The global financial crisis led to the worst economic situation since the second world war. There has been massive state intervention to bailout bankers and bank shareholders. Unemployment has risen and private investment has collapsed. Although the Thatcher-Reagan consensus was discredited by the meltdown of the right’s economic model, nonetheless the Tories are using the deterioration in the public finances to openly plan painful attacks on public spending that would do great damage to an economic revival and bring misery to millions.

“We are getting a taste of that in London. Boris Johnson has defended the worst of the bankers, protected drivers of the most polluting cars, but promises yet more painful fare increases this January, on top of last year’s inflation-busting package - and threatens reductions in bus and tube services.

“It is vital that alternatives to the right’s arguments prevail.

“The challenges we face, from recession and global economic crisis to climate change, make progressive policies more relevant than ever. Only progressive political solutions provide a way forward – investment, planning and collective action are the levers that would allow us to climb out of the economic crisis and raise ourselves up to the scale of the environmental catastrophe that has to averted.

“Progressive political forces must seize back the agenda by offering policies that ensure that the majority of people are not made to pay for a crisis they did not create.”

This is the third conference Progressive London will have held – the first last January, and a confernce on the economy during the summer, were both excellent and stimulating events.

Online registration for the event is now open here. Book early to avoid disappointment, as they say.