Beyond the European Union: Inequality in British society is the biggest Issue...
I am a solid “Remainer,” believing that the United Kingdom is better off inside the European Union, particularly in terms of the economy but also because of the standards which the EU upholds in terms...
View ArticleWhat happened to those burning injustices?
When she took office, Theresa May spoke on the steps of Downing Street about the just about managing. She said, “We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives. When we take the...
View ArticleThe fundamentals of Brexit don’t change – so opposition to it is a matter of...
“If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, then you have seriously misjudged the gravity of the situation” – goes the rather silly adaptation of Kipling’s famous line. I am not...
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Why the Liberal Democrats must adopt Universal Basic Income
To be quite blunt, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about where it’s all gone wrong for the Liberal Democrats. I’ve been a member of the party for seven years now, three-quarters of a...
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How can we be seen as relevant again?
We have to offer people what they need, and I don’t think we are doing that. The Southport Conference earlier this month, besides passing many useful motions, agreed a Strategy, grandly entitled,...
View ArticleInequality in society harms our mental health – how can we fix it?
“Wealth is not a measure of worth. But low income is related to feelings of inferiority.” Across a range of countries, studies have shown, the experience of poverty leads to people believing they have...
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Demand Better: Liberal Democrat Priorities for a Better Britain
For as long as I’ve been active in politics people have complained they don’t know what we stand for. We may have a reasonable profile for our position on Brexit, but the fact that we’re only the...
View ArticleCorbyn is right about inequality
Corbyn is clearly right to highlight the ‘grotesque inequality’ in our society. Wage growth has stagnated. Continued cuts are hitting the poorest hardest. And this generation is on set to be the first...
View ArticleChallenges for liberalism 1: How should liberalism respond to inequality and...
Editor’s Note: These posts are based on a speech given by the author at an event organised by York University Liberal Democrats. It seems to me that inequity is a huge problem right now. We have some...
View ArticleLooking beyond Brexit
The sense of things going horribly wrong is likely to get much worse as 2019 gets under way and #BrexitShambles becomes #BrexitFarce. In the probable chaos of the coming months the country needs us to...
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Being a PPC: what’s your motivation?
Caron asked me to write a series a little while ago about being a PPC – and my response at the time was that a day-in-the-life blog might put people off ever applying to be a PPC! Being a PPC is hard...
View ArticleChristine Jardine: A tax on women just for being women is plain wrong
In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine describes seeing an offer for deodorant for £1 in a pharmacy. Men could buy a full size can. Women got a travel size. That encapsulates the problem...
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The Brexit Delusion
Brexiteers say about the consequences of Brexit, “I don’t care, we voted for out and that’s what should happen”. I detect also that they know it’s the best way to annoy the establishment and all those...
View ArticleYou’re on free school meals – you can’t have that
Frustrations are ten a penny in politics at the moment as Parliament blunders its way through Brexit. Few things are as heartbreaking, though, as some of the experiences outlined in this Guardian...
View ArticleOn Policies, Perceptions and Potentials
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. (Anon.) “Lack of social mobility” and “austerity” confront us. Perhaps much of what we might, and might not do, depends upon...
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Reject! Reject! Reject! We Demand Better
There is a lot of anger about in British politics today. But I believe we Liberal Democrats are not angry enough. We write a whole pamphlet on Demanding Better, and pass an entire motion on what we...
View ArticleIt’s time for us to prove our progressive credentials
We want to hang on to the Remain voters who flocked to us in the Euro elections. We believe that our party could radically change our conflicted country for the better, while we see that the two main...
View ArticleThe best way to answer Coalition guilt-shaming is to challenge austerity and...
The election of a new Liberal Democrat leader has been followed by a predictable burst of accusations and guilt-shaming – mostly, but not only, from Labour sources – regarding the Lib Dems’ part in the...
View ArticleA Fairer Share for All – a missed opportunity
At our Conference next month we will be discussing the policy motion and paper A Fairer Share For All. What I particularly like is the policy to have “a £50 billion capital Rebalancing Fund to address...
View ArticleRevoking Article 50 alone isn’t enough
With the prospect of a general election on the horizon, we have just finished another successful Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Bournemouth. Jo Swinson delivered a stirring first leader’s speech...
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