Author Archives: Zack Polanski

Zack Polanski

We need to make internal selections affordable for all

By Zack Polanski | Mon 19th October 2015 - 11:55 am

What makes a great candidate? It can be an incredibly demanding job and I imagine it’s lots of things. A strong ability to communicate, to listen, to represent people effectively. To demonstrate generous leadership, to inspire and to continually learn. These are all what I’d consider the headlines.

What about fundraising? It’s certainly vital – but I’d argue that not only is it not the single *biggest* priority.  It’s certainly not more important than the above qualities. It’s one of the skills that can most often be generated truly as a team effort whilst potentially being most successful when lead by the candidate themselves.

I learnt so much during the recent GLA London List Election. As a first timer I was clearly delighted with the result and I loved the opportunity to speak to literally thousands of members. Having phone canvassed for lots of candidates as part of the Team 2015 efforts in the General Election, it was a really interesting next step to be phoning and listening to people’s concerns as the potential candidate myself.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 30 Comments
Zack Polanski

Where next in the campaign for electoral reform?

By Zack Polanski | Fri 31st July 2015 - 12:35 pm

Sometimes election results are indecisive but in the 2011 AV vote, the country gave a resounding no in the referendum.

What we’re not entirely sure of though is what the country were saying no to. Since the vote, the Conservative party in the main have claimed that people are happy with the First Past the Post system.

Progressives would argue that the result was simply a no to the Alternative Vote system – and people did state at the time they only wanted a change that would be proportional. In their opinion, AV didn’t go far enough. And they were right. The problem with AV was almost no one truly supported it without reservation. It was described at the time as a ‘miserable little compromise.’ It was the only system that Labour had advocated for in their 2010 manifesto but largely for what seems like short sighted political reasons, they didn’t support it fully when it came to the actual vote.

Last weekend, the Voting Reform Coalition, held a gathering opposite Parliament on College Green. Party activists, MPs and independents all gathered to support Electoral Reform. Incredibly heartening and hopefully a sign of consensus to come, there was a coalition of both the usual suspects such as the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, with UKIP also joining in smaller numbers. The really great surprise being that we even had activists from Labour and the Conservatives. The two parties both traditionally opposed to voting reform or at least opposed whilst they were in power. 

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 54 Comments
Zack Polanski

Opinion: Getting diverse in the arts

By Zack Polanski | Thu 2nd July 2015 - 3:15 pm

Last month, I was invited by my friend Danny Lee  Wynter to an event he had organised at the National Theatre called Act for Change. It’s a movement that was set up in response to a TV Advert in 2014 which trailed the upcoming season of TV but failed to feature a single BAME performer or disabled artist. AfC campaigns on a platform that the arts are for everyone, regardless of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age or disability, and they should reflect the societies we live in. Sound familiar to problems in any other places of work?

The event at the National was wonderful, eye opening and angry all in different measures. Chaired by Shami Chakrabati with a host of interesting voices on the panel including the actor Adrian Lester who told a wonderful story about his daughter commenting on the lack of diversity among Hobbits whilst they watched together the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He tried to reason with her until she pointed out an exact passage in Tolkein’s books in which the hobbits are described as being dark skinned which had just been ignored in the casting process.

I think Phyllida Lloyd summed the situation up best in the event when she answered a question by saying:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Zack Polanski

Opinion: Fury and the future

By Zack Polanski | Sat 16th May 2015 - 11:55 am

I’m furious.

It’s not an ideal place to begin to write a blog but I imagine it can be harnessed effectively by it’s conclusion.

I’m furious. Thankfully not at the electorate which is always a hiding to nothing. No, it’s mainly with a Tory party that has managed to sneak away with winning an election whilst avoiding being held truly accountable.

We know they will make £12 billion of welfare cuts yet they managed to avoid telling us which of the most vulnerable are most likely to be hit.

I’m furious at a Tory party who played the politics of nationalism and remember that only one day after the Scottish referendum, Cameron was talking the language of division over English votes for English laws.

And fury simply turns into incredulity when we see that Michael Gove is now the Minister responsible for justice.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
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