Author Archives: The Liberator Collective

Liberator 412 can be downloaded here . This is the April 2022 online-only edition of Liberator and we hope you enjoy reading it.

What’s inside this issue?

Alongside Radical Bulletin, Commentary and Letters, Liberator 412 includes:

UKRAINE’S COMEDIAN PRESIDENT IS NO COMIC.

Kiron Reid saw great hope on democracy’s eastern border in Ukraine when this article was published in Liberator 398 in November 2019 after the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as president. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we reprint it here, followed by some necessarily anonymous reflections on Ukraine now and the path to war from an observer

…

Liberator 411 is out and can be downloaded here.

This is the February 2022 online-only edition of Liberator and we hope you enjoy reading it.

Remember Liberator is now free and you can sign up on our website to get notifications of each new issue: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

What’s inside this issue?

Alongside Radical Bulletin, Commentary and Reviews,  Liberator 411 includes:

UNABLE TO COUNT

The Liberal Democrats will be finished if they further narrow their appeal to voters, says Nick Harvey

TORIES PLUMB NEW DEPTHS

Home secretary Priti Patel’s use of cross-channel refugees as a populist weapon hasn’t been widely welcomed on the south coast, says Stewart Rayment

TIME TO GROW HAIRS

Last year’s two by-election gains showed what ‘Big Hairy Audacious Campaigns’ can do. Now spread that to wider campaigning, says Roger Hayes

LIBERATE SCHOOLS

Authoritarianism characterises too many schools, when wellbeing should be at the heart of everything they do, says Liz Makinson

AFGHANS NEGLECTED BY PATEL’S HOME OFFICE

Afghan refugees are being persecuted by the Home Office for suggesting how it could save money, says Rebecca Tinsley

Liberator’s second online only issue is out and available for free download at: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

What’s inside?

Alongside Radical Bulletin, Letters, Reviews and Lord Bonkers’ Diary, Liberator 404 includes:

Conflict, uncertainty and being wrong: welcome to ‘the science’

Science isn’t about boffins imparting hard facts – it involves a lot of disagreement and uncertainty. Acknowledging this could improve both how politicians use science and public trust in them, says Christy Lawrance.

Dazed and confused

Constantly chasing regulations, the failure of ‘track and trace’ and local political incompetence have combined to make Covid-19’s second wave worse in northern England, says Jackie Pearcey.

Now go and sell it

The Liberal Democrats have backed the idea of a universal basic income. Now they must promote it as the cornerstone of a new radical politics, says Paul Hindley.

The North moves the political plates

Liberal Democrat conference had to duck the issue of English regions, but anger is rising in the north at the lack of devolution, says Tony Greaves.

Will he go quietly?

Liberator’s first online issue is out and available for free download at: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

Alongside Radical Bulletin, Letters, Reviews and Lord Bonkers’ Diary, Liberator 403 includes:

The coffee smells off

Ed Davey’s listening tour is all very well, but have the Lib Dems any idea what they want people to think about them, wonders David Grace.

Generous Gesture

Julian Huppert explains the origin of The Generous Society,Tom King’s new booklet on the meaning of liberal values.

Will Russia rescue Trump again?

Tell a big lie often enough and people will believe it; that is presidential politics in the age of Trump, says Martha Elliott.

Who won the Iraq war?

Turns out it was Iran as American errors left the country at the mercy of their militias and a revived IS, says Rebecca Tinsley.

My enemy’s enemy

We’d intended to announce at York that Liberator will become a free online only publication in September.

Given the pandemic though, with potential readers stranded at home, we’re doing this a bit early with our 400th issue, which also marks Liberator’s 50th anniversary.

Go to: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk and you can download a pdf onto any device.

We will soon announce arrangements for those who’d like to sign up to be notified of when new issues come out.

Also now available on the website is our post-election review in Liberator 399.

Subscribers have been sent Liberator 400 by post and subject to how the present restrictions pan out we intend to produce Liberator 401 and 402 in print and then Liberator 403 will be online only. That was intended to coincide with the September conference but as that is in limbo we may have fortuitously picked the right time to go online only.

Liberator 400 includes:

Issue 395 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

Our first free sample article for this issue gives Liberator’s take on the potential contenders – with varying degrees of probability – as the next leader following Vince Cable signalling his retirement.

In the second Paul Hindley wonders why the Lib Dems won’t grasp Liberal policies in place over decades offer solutions to the crises of Brexit and inequality,

Both are on: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk 

Also in this issue:

Getting on without us? – The UK may end up absent but European Parliament elections will be held in May. David Grace assesses the ALDE group’s chances

What’s the record of the last man standing? – Vince Cable probably did not intend to become leader in 2017, but as others fell away the job was his. How did he do, ask Ruth Coleman Taylor and Mick Taylor?

From riches to rags – Lorraine Zuleta charts Venezuela’s fall from wealth and democracy to poverty and repression under its socialist government

And they’re off! – With 16 candidates already in the field do the Democrats have any hope of finding someone who can beat Donald Trump asks James R Davidson

Porn baffles the tories – The Government’s bid to stop minors accessing porn sites is technologically illiterate and bound to fail, says Natasha Chapman

Issue 393 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

Our first free sample article for this issue is by Sarah Green deploring the diversion of money and time caused by the way Vince Cable’s reform proposals were handled.

In the other free article, Liverpool group leader Richard Kemp explains why he for one is not a ‘moderate’.

Both are on: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk 

Also in this issue:

Reverse Double – The Immigration debate at Brighton showed the party both morally and politically wrong, says Natasha Chapman 

Damned From the Start –The Liberal Democrats’ new foreign policy paper is riddled with flaws, hardly surprising when …

Issue 388 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

Find out with our two free articles from this issue how Adrian Sanders thinks there is an ‘exit from Brexit ‘, and why Rebecca Tinsley is sounding the alarm over the persecution of Cameroon’s English speakers.

Also in this issue:

Blood Flows in Myanmar – Phil Bennion describes Liberal International’s activity to try to protect the Rohingya

How Universities Sold Their Souls – Trevor Smith looks at why seats of learning decided to chase money

Battling Brexit From the Red Benches – Tony Greaves on what Lib Dem peers can do to try to halt Brexit

Corbyn is Nick Clegg’s Fault – Allan Biggar has been out of active politics for many years, and looks at whether he should contemplate a return.

Issue 386 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

Find out with our two free articles from this issue why Norman Lamb wants the party to tackle the endemic powerlessness that helped lead to Brexit, and why Sarah Olney might have benefitted from a ‘progressive alliance’ in Richmond Park, but views the idea with great suspicion.

Also in this issue:

John Pugh says a state that wants to enable has to be active too.

Sarah Green looks at who the new Liberal Democrats are, as they now vastly outnumber the old ones.

Jonathan Calder revisits the work of Richard Rorty, a philosopher who has much to tell liberals now about what happened when the cultural left supplanted the reformist one.

Roger Hayes argues that opposing Brexit and the economic crisis it threatens isn’t Liberal Democrat policy, but the context against which the party must set its policy.

Wendy Kyrle-Pope looks at how to tempt savers into investing in new affordable housing, while Jon Reeds says homes should not be directed into ’garden towns’ that waste land.

Rebecca Tinsley reports on why too much foreign aid money goes into perpetuating inadequate education systems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Issue 385 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

This includes in Radical Bulletin our piecing together of the story of Tim Farron’s resignation and who did and did not conspire to do what. We also look at what went on in some controversies over candidates and campaigns.

Its traditional for Liberator to send a questionnaire to leadership contenders, so we did so even though there is only one and Vince Cable’s answers can be seen here.

This issue’s other free sample article is Liz Barker’s recounting of how she tried to get Tim Farron to see the political implications of his views on gay sex.

Elsewhere, Liberator includes Vauxhall candidate George Turner’s criticism of party headquarters’ role in his campaign, reflections on the results from Tony Greaves,  Michael Meadowcroft, Paul Hindley, Nigel Lindsay and others, and to remind us that it’s not just the UK that has had a general election, Marianne Magnin reports on Macron’s win in France.

Issue 384 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

This necessarily rather truncated pre-election issue’s free sample online content is from Claire Tyler on why the poor pay more by being excluded from financial services, and Andrew Duff on why the UK should seek an association agreement with the EU

Elsewhere in the issue there is:
How the Lib Dems Lost Their Think Tank – Seth Thevoz analyses Centre Forum’s slide out of liberal politics and eventual demise
Out With the Old – English county results show some old guards should step aside, says Chris White

Issue 383 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

This issue’s free sample online content is from Tony Greaves on what ‘taking back control’ really means, and from Dave Raval on why the much-vaunted post-Brexit trade deals will bring more problems.

Elsewhere in the issue there is:

On the Fence With A Part-Time Submarine

Liberal Democrats look set to yet again show they lack the guts to scrap the waste of money that is Trident, says David Grace

A Vote for A Delusion

Leave voters who think they have made Britain a global player again are in for a shock, says Paul Hindley

The Tinkerbell Approach to Politics

Issue 382 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

This issue’s free sample online content is from Nick Harvey on winning back support in the south west from voters who may have backed Brexit, and from Lester Holloway on whether the Alderdice review of diversity will tackle issues facing Liberal Democrats from ethnic groups

Elsewhere the new issue has:

MENTAL HEALTH – WHY IS IT LAST IN LINE FOR RESOURCES?

by Claire Tyler, who has secured new legislation to improve child mental

health

TROUBLE IN J-TOWN by Rebecca Tinsley, who has seen terrorism, religious polarisation, and eye-watering corruption in northern Nigeria

Issue 380 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers, and the magazine can be bought from our stall at the Brighton conference. It’s only £25 a year.

This issue’s free sample online content is from former MP David Howarth on how to use the 48% as the basis for building a core vote, and from Lord Trevor Smith on how politics must respond to the effects of ‘robber barons and falling incomes’.

Elsewhere the issue has:

• Norman Baker on what it was like to work with Theresa May in government.
• An analysis by Seth Thevoz of how the Liberal Democrats badly misdirected their campaign spending at the last general election.
• Paul Hindley on why the north mainly voted for Brexit.
• Rebecca Tinsley explains the fresh outbreak of war in South Sudan.
• Our American correspondents Christine and Dennis Graf look at whether Donald Trump can be stopped.

Issue 379 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

This issue’s free sample online content is from Baroness Julie Smith on what went wrong with the Remain campaign, and Roger Hayes on a plan to take the political temperature of the post-referendum UK and devise liberal responses to this.

Elsewhere the issue has the Commentary on how 48% of the electorate is an ample pool in which the party can fish, news and gossip in Radical Bulletin, reviews and Lord Bonkers’ Diary.

There is also more referendum reaction from: Kiron Reid, Sir Graham Watson, Jane McBennett and Lord Trevor Smith and a set of Vox Pops from party activists.

Jonathan Calder looks at the final disgrace of Tony Blair in the Chilcot report, David Grace reviews David Laws’ book on the Coalition and Energlyn Churchill assesses what he calls the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ existential crisis. Nick Winch contributes an obituary for David Rendel.

This issue’s free sample online content is the Commentary on how the party got both the vote on Syria wrong and the process leading up to it.

Also as a free sample, Seth Thevoz describes how, as he saw it, the attempted ousting of Nick Clegg after the disastrous results of May 2014 nearly succeeded – and why it didn’t.

Elsewhere the issue has news and gossip in Radical Bulletin, book reviews, Lord Bonkers’ latest thoughts and among the articles:

More Cats Needed: Sarah Green offers an answer to the Liberal Democrats’ essay competition

Not In My Name: By backing bombing in Syria the …

Issue 373 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers and this one’s free sample online content is the Commentary on Tim Farron’s election as Lib Dem leader, and Tony Greaves’ article in which he argues that the party has forgotten how to campaign and must avoiding wasting the potential of its thousand of new members. The full version of Liberator 372 is now also online. See: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

The new issue also includes:

THE PATH TO PADDY’S HAT – the general election exit poll should not have surprised those who had followed what the market research industry was doing, says Alex Dee

WELLBEING WORKS – Looking at wellbeing provides liberals with route to express their commitment to redistribution, and they should accept the need for state involvement, says Claire Tyler

PLACES THAT DON’T MATTER – The wave of migrants trying to reach Europe is driven by corruption and poverty in misgoverned African states, says Rebecca Tinsley

POWER CHANGES IN NIGERIA – A first peaceful change of power between civilian parties shows Nigeria’s democracy has finally established itself, says Donald Inwalomhe