I’m in the odd situation of having a vote in the Labour leadership elections via my union, but having much more interest in the Lib Dem contest (and no vote). A lot of this is because I know the players individually, but at least part of it is because the debate isn’t being framed in… Continue reading Why the Lib Dems need to be saved from “true liberalism”
Tag: social liberalism
Why Charlotte Henry’s purity test of “real” liberalism is misguided
Charlotte Henry has a curious article on the Total Politics blog, suggesting that Clegg’s speech on a more participatory form of industrial democracy will help us to seperate the “real liberals” from the “SDP-statist-sandal wearers”. There are several problems with this diagnosis. For one thing, the famed “sandal wearers” and the SDP members are very… Continue reading Why Charlotte Henry’s purity test of “real” liberalism is misguided
Social Liberal Forum: a question of definition
Jonathan Calder demands that the Social Liberal Forum answers the following question: “What is the difference between a social liberal and a social democrat?” Personally, I don’t think we should do any such thing. It is certainly up to us to say what we mean by social liberalism, which is why we launched the SLF… Continue reading Social Liberal Forum: a question of definition