Author Archives: Ben Midgley

What would a truly liberal Britain look like?

Your Liberal BritainWell, let’s begin with this, it won’t be heaven on earth, but it certainly wouldn’t be hell on earth either.  Liberalism is not in my view, utopian, it is pragmatic and ethical, stemming from a set of principles for governance that tend towards the capacity for any society to thrive.

Britain is class ridden, and economically and socially divided, naturally these groups collude and come into conflict, a Liberal Britain would prevent these special interest groups from overpowering the rights and responsibilities of each and every citizen in law and opportunity. Harnessing to the greater good, the productive capacity of competition through regulation, rather than allowing conflicts to simmer into a demoralising morass through indifference or monopolies.

The different endowments in society suffer if political representation is skewed away from something which reflects the situation on the ground, and that in turn chokes our capacity to thrive, it turns people towards authoritarian solutions. So, a Liberal Britain would have an accessible political system that proportionally represents the will of the people, lives with the compromises that it produces and engenders something more tolerant than we now see. It rests on good will, rather than the desperate and often immoral striving for self assertion. 

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 4 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Steve Trevethan
    Thank you for a most relevant article on the vulnerabilities of our alleged "Democracy"! Might ignorance, both passive and imposed/structural, be a signific...
  • Kevin Hawkins
    There has been a lot of discussion on Lib Dem Voice about our party’s performance in different parts of the country with a number of people commenting that we...
  • Ellyott
    My memory from the time of the introduction of the triple lock was in response to the reduction of the state pension's buying power in preceding years and its l...
  • Nonconformistradical
    I agree with Paul Barker at 16th Oct '26 - 3:41pm...
  • David Raw
    @ Paul Barker "Lets leave Authoritarianism to Labour." An interesting observation, Paul, but from an historical point of view very difficult to sustain. It...