Comments on: Whither the Liberal?

By: douglas scott

douglas scott — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 13:18:02 +0000

i took out a subscription a year ago and have received nothing this year!!

By: Quaequam Blog! » Has it passed on? Is it no more? Has it ceased to be? Has it expired? Has it met its maker? Is is stiff? Bereft of life, does it rest in peace? Is it pushing up the daisies? Are its metabolic processes now history? Is it off the twi

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 12:51:53 +0000

[...] I’m sorry to keep going on about this, but have we seen the last gasp of The Liberal magazine? Since my last post on the subject it has emerged that Ben Ramm has got into further problems for publishing a Mohammed cartoon on its website, which is now dead. [...]

By: James Blanchard

James Blanchard — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:45:35 +0000

I’d really press them to take that bit down then, I’d assumed you were complicit with the petition as a result of seeing you on the site- while you deserve kudos for quitting over it instead.

By: Simon Radford

Simon Radford — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:03:56 +0000

Indeed, it still lists me as the ‘go-to guy’ on the ID card campaign when I resigned over the Kennedy issue some time ago. Not t

By: Angus J Huck

Angus J Huck — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 13:10:53 +0000

James, the name “The Ummer” sounds ominous, since it is strikingly similar to UMMO, the name of an alleged planet which is the focus of a UFO cult (established by a Spanish civil servant, Fernando Sesma). UMMO afficionados compose lengthy screeds depicting life on Planet UMMO and send it anonymously to scientists, writers and journalists across the world. The original “UMMO” event was a hoax perpetrated by the Spanish military in the latter days of Franco’s dictatorship. The idea was to launch a balloon disguised as a UFO across Madrid and see if it caused mass panic. (It didn’t. Someone had to fake the photographs because no-one bothered to snap the real thing.) Now, just to sound slightly more sinister, Dr Jacques Vallee claims that some of the European UMMO people are associated with the LaRouche Movement (they’re the ones who say the Duke of Edinburgh is the godfather of the world illegal drugs trade).

Back to “The Liberal”. There just isn’t the market for it. Remember what happened to Greg Thain’s “The Democrat”, back in 1982? The “Spectator” loses money hand over fist, but it is kept alive by its proprietor. If you don’t get cover-to-cover advertising, you have to make your money on the cover price (minus the 50% which goes to the distributor), and that requires mass circulation. Or you have to have a huge subscription base (as BTB publications do). Don’t be surprised if “The Liberal” sinks without trace like many before it.

By: James

James — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:13:47 +0000

Yes. But it’s been killed off by the Centre for Um.

Rumours that they intend to produce their own journal The Ummer, are unfounded I understand.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:39:31 +0000

Changing the subject (from Tristan’s unashamably liberal publications) - does anyone remember ‘The Reformer’?

By: Tristan Mills

Tristan Mills — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:24:33 +0000

The Liberal hasn’t ever managed a regular output.
The website is never up to date, they still have a statement claiming they’re relaunching an anti-ID card campaign in April 2005.
It smacks of disorganisation… I’ve given up waiting for copies to appear.

We do need more unashamably liberal publications, it would be a shame to see it disappear.

By: Paul Evans

Paul Evans — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:14:43 +0000

I, perhaps rashly, took out a subscription some months ago, and am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival…

By: Paul Griffiths

Paul Griffiths — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 20:59:19 +0000

And on Five Live too.

Christ, I hope the media haven’t decided that Ramm is someone with a finger on the pulse of the party.