Paul Mason is a journalist, writer and political consultant. He appears regularly on UK TV and radio, as a commentator on politics, economics and geopolitics – for example LBC’s CrossTalk, BBC Question Time, BBC Politics and BBC Broadcasting House. He was formerly the economics editor of BBC Newsnight and Channel... Read more
Paul Mason is a journalist, writer and political consultant. He appears regularly on UK TV and radio, as a commentator on politics, economics and geopolitics – for example LBC’s CrossTalk, BBC Question Time, BBC Politics and BBC Broadcasting House. He was formerly the economics editor of BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News, where he won numerous awards, including RTS Specialist Reporter of the Year and the Wincott Award. Before that, during the dotcom boom, he was deputy editor of Computer Weekly. In 2024 he became Aneurin Bevan associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, focused on Defence and Resilience.
He went freelance in 2016 and has since contributed regular columns to the Guardian, The New Statesman, The New European, Frankfurter Rundschau and Social Europe. Paul is the author of seven books, including Postcapitalism (2015), Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere (2012), Clear Bright Future (2019) and Rare Earth: A Novel (2011). His latest book How To Stop Fascism: History, Ideology, Resistance (2021) describes the rise of the modern far-right, its influence on conservatism and the danger it poses amid the wider process of democratic decay.
Paul was on the front line of covering the global financial crisis from 2007 onwards – but his work as a reporter ranged beyond economics: he reported from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, the Taksim Square uprising in Turkey, the Gaza War of 2014 and from the floor of the Congress of the Communist Party of China when Xi Jin Ping was inaugurated. His four-part documentary series #ThisIsACoup covered the Greek crisis of 2015 from inside the corridors of power, and on the streets.
As a Labour-aligned journalist Paul has fronted and participated numerous conferences and policy initiatives: he helped present North West England’s session at Cop26 in Glasgow, alongside mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham. He is a regular speaker at Fabian society conferences on the subject of security and defence. He has done consultancy work for the Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey MP on issues concerning Ukraine and defence industrial policy.
In February 2022, on the eve of the Ukraine war Paul travelled to Kyiv with trade union leaders and members of the Welsh Senedd to meet both government officials and defence personnel, and has since remained publicly engaged in advocacy of Western support for Ukraine, both here and across Europe. In 2022 he participated in the Progressive Governance Summit in Berlin, alongside the Chancellor Scholz’ chief adviser Wolfgang Scholz. In May 2023 he visited Estonia, speaking to ministers and decision makers, alongside a delegation of Labour MPs.
Three of Paul’s plays have been performed: Party Animals (JB Shorts 2016, co-written with James Quinn), Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere (Young Vic 2017) and The Divine Chaos of Starry Things (White Bear 2017). He wrote and directed the short film Astoria (2016) commissioned by Young Vic films. He worked as a consultant on Paul Greengrass’ 2017 movie Jason Bourne. In 2018 Paul received the Ellen Meiksens Wood Prize for his work on Postcapitalism; in 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Erich Fromm Prize for his work on promoting humanism and democratic values.