There is a difference between authority in the structure of political movements, and authority in the wider society. Symbolic prefiguring does have its place, but left movements' internal eschewal of hierarchy, the transferal of attention away from social inequality and onto organisational forms themselves, removes their ability both to critique the predicament we are in as a society and strategically to organise to do anything about it. I believe that we need to assess what it is about those traditional qualities of structure and hierarchy - both in the movement, and in politics and society - that is valuable and that we'd like to retain.

We need to separate authority from privilege, and work out ways to ensure that authority is constituted by experience, knowledge and expertise, and underpinned by democratic validation. [...] recognise the need to value everyone equally, while also recognising that people differ in their skills and levels of experience and also their time and inclination to participate.

The requirement for most of us to sell our labour and be ever more productive is compensated for by enabling us to increase our consumption. Given this dynamic, it makes little sense to forgo environmentally damaging behaviour when we know we have to work harder in the future regardless of our choices. Consumption is the payback for being ever-more productive at work. We often tell ourselves that we deserve the that lunch of foodstuffs sourced from hundreds of miles away, the highest high-tech gizmo, or long-haul holiday. We say: I'm working hard, I've earned it.