Stephen Fry’s fence sitting is dangerous but a stupid idea

Stephen Fry has pronounced the death of classical liberalism. As someone who watched their political party destroy itself after dredging up that ossified Victorian ideology up from the deep and find itself as coalition bedfellows with those who have always been liberalism’s (of all varieties) greatest opponents, I can only cheer. But I do find… Continue reading Stephen Fry’s fence sitting is dangerous but a stupid idea

Why the Lib Dems need to be saved from “true liberalism”

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”

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