Category Archives: Op-eds

Ian Hamilton

We need a plan that’s designed for everyone – please discuss

By Ian Hamilton | Sat 21st March 2020 - 3:34 pm

2020 is going to be a pretty rough year for all of us. Our front line NHS staff will have a particularly torrid time. Many of the financial losses incurred by individuals will not be covered and unemployment will become, sadly, quite common. So, is there anything extra we as individuals can do to improve the situation? How can we invest in our economy?

I am suggesting a form of Citizens Wealth Fund independent of national government and have laid out a possible format in this document.

Essentially any UK citizen or those with a right to live here could apply for an account that would hold their free share in the fund. You are only allowed one share, it cannot be sold or passed on and its life will end with yours. The free share would pay out an annual bonus which would be a portion of the previous year’s profits.

They could also invest in trade-able bonds which would pay a set interest rate plus a bonus. The bonus is also a share of the annual profits.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 6 Comments
Judy Abel

Has the Government been behind the curve in implementing coronavirus measures – and if so why?

By Judy Abel | Sat 21st March 2020 - 9:01 am

It appears that the UK Government has, at times, been slow-footed over dealing with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, reacting to events rather than leading on them. The first example was when the FA decided to suspend professional football matches to halt the spread of COVID-19, ahead of the Government banning mass gatherings a few days later in a policy U-turn on 13 March.

Then there were calls by experts last weekend (14/15 March) for social distancing and homeworking to be implemented, as we watched on while the World Health Organization said social distancing was vital to halt the spread of the virus, but nothing was being implemented on the ground. Hundreds of scientists supported an open letter to the Government on 14 March pressing for ‘more restrictive measures’ to contain the coronavirus. Jeremy Hunt, the former Health and Social Care Secretary, had also expressed serious concerns about the Government’s strategy in a Newsnight interview just days before. Eventually, on 16 March, Public Health England set out guidance on social distancing and Boris Johnson announced that social distancing was now all-important and that people should work from home and stay away from bars and restaurants*, a move which was widely welcomed, although many thought he could have gone further.

That same turbulent weekend of 14/15 March, Government policy announcements were being pushed out to an inner circle journalists like Robert Peston. His Twitter feed on 14 March read: “Elderly to be quarantined at home or in care homes for four months, in ‘wartime-style’ mobilisation” (an idea later watered down). There was serious disquiet on social media about the Government announcing measures like this with little transparency and accountability, so on Monday 16 March daily No 10 press briefings were instituted with Boris Johnson flanked by the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer….but would this have happened without all the pressure?

Continue reading »
Tagged | 88 Comments
Guy Patching

Working from home and tenancy agreements

By Guy Patching | Fri 20th March 2020 - 6:56 pm

Embed from Getty Images

In times such as these where we are dealing with rapidly emerging realities it can be easy to overlook strands of how society is made up. It can often take people directly involved with a particular issue to draw attention to potential problems, ideally before they arise.

One such problem involves private renting. Whilst the mess of UK housing policy is not an immediate triage problem there is a minor element of it that might be a ticking time bomb problem.

Many tenancy agreements come with clauses in the contract that prevent any business activity taking place within these private houses. Whilst at most times these are reasonable, not rigidly enforced, and signed quite casually by tenants they cause individuals potentially a deeply problematic dilemma.

One can easily imagine any number of office based workers in this country have signed such contracts, based on the assumption that they would never be compelled to break this aspect of their tenancy. Now, however, for the sake of their own health, their company’s reaction to Covid-19, or the greater public health many are working at home. None of these are areas where would want people to be punished for a breach of contract.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 10 Comments
Mary Reid

Isolation diary: Singing through

By Mary Reid | Fri 20th March 2020 - 5:00 pm

You can find previous Isolation diaries here.

I loved those clips of Italians singing from their balconies.

Traditionally we Brits don’t display the lack of self-consciousness about singing that the Italians enjoy – and we don’t have the balconies either.

But singing with others has grown hugely in popularity over the last 10 years or so, largely inspired by Gareth Malone and his projects that use singing to build communities. Choirs have popped up everywhere, and you don’t need to read music or even sing very well in order to take part.

Like many I am going to miss singing with others during isolation. But that changed yesterday evening. The musical director of my choir put a video on YouTube for us and encouraged us all to watch it at 8pm, our usual rehearsal time. In the video he played a recording of one of the pieces we had been working on and conducted us through it. So I, along with many of my choir friends, sang ‘Zadok the Priest’ at full volume in our separate homes, at roughly the same time. Of course, we couldn’t hear each other but it was great knowing that others were doing it as well, and the comments showed how much people appreciated it. Hopefully this is going to be a weekly online gathering.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 8 Comments
Lord William Wallace

Lord William Wallace writes …The impact of the coronavirus epidemic on British political debate

By Lord William Wallace | Fri 20th March 2020 - 2:41 pm

By the time we come out of the Coronavirus epidemic, the context of British politics may well look very different.  It’s hard yet to tell how far the dominant narratives will have changed, but some shifts are already occurring – many positive for Liberals, some not so easy to adjust to.  Positive changes include:-

  • Recognition that government is a complex, and constitutional, process, not a matter for populist slogans. Boris Johnson on March 16th said that Britain’s strength as ‘a mature liberal democracy’ was that we could manage to bring together broad national consent to difficult measures to combat the epidemic.  That’s a phrase he would never have used 3 months ago, when he was talking of ‘the will of the people’ and ‘people versus Parliament’.  This will make it harder for Right-wingers to push through the curbs on parliamentary and judicial scrutiny they hoped for through the planned commission on the constitution.
  • The libertarian drive to shrink government is over. The PM accepts that active government is essential, including economic planning and industrial strategy.  6 months ago Rishi Sunak was repeating the Taxpayers Alliance mantra that there’s a ‘natural’ ceiling to government revenue and spending at around 37% of GNP.  Now he’s become a full-blown Keynesian, mobilising public spending to support economy and society.
  • International cooperation has trumped nationalist assertion. Viruses don’t respect national sovereignty; sharing information with other governments, their health services and research laboratories, are self-evidently needed to combat the pandemic.  Johnson’s conversion here is reluctant and incomplete; he’s still committed to leaving the European Medicines Agency (risking delay in access to new drugs) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (set up with UK support in the wake of the Sars epidemic).  But we can mobilise this argument against our Vote Leave government.
  • Experts have regained the government’s (and the public’s?) respect. The PM has to listen to the Chief Medical Officer and others, and restrain his instinct to crack jokes about serious and complex topics.  Experts are ‘the liberal elite’ whom populists denigrate, who look at evidence rather than gut instincts.
  • The idea of ‘the public interest’ is back; and of civil servants as working for the public, national interest.
  • Public service broadcasting is demonstrating why it’s a national asset. The BBC is a trusted source of information, and a link between political leaders and public in a crisis – something that the USA lacks and is suffering from.
Continue reading »
Tagged | 40 Comments
Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Let’s go for a cruise

By Tom Arms | Fri 20th March 2020 - 12:33 pm

Embed from Getty Images

It is time to think about a cruise. Or, how about a visit to a stately home or an empty school?

All of these are places where beds could be placed for the victims of Coronavirus. And places to put beds are the first things needed for the anticipated thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of patients with which the already overstretched NHS hospitals will be unable to cope.

There are other accommodation possibilities. Top of the list – private hospitals. They already have administrative and nursing staffs. Most of the doctors work in the public and private sector. There are 28 private hospitals in London alone. In the UK as a whole there are an estimated 30,000 private beds.

Schools are shutting and will remain shut until September. There are 32,770 schools in the UK. Empty classrooms, halls and corridors can be filled if necessary. Also available are leisure centres with their vast sports halls and universities. All of these will be empty and could be pressed into service and low-paid staff who would otherwise be at home worrying about how to find money for food and rent could be very usefully employed.

Stately homes are a traditional source of instant hospitals. There are 1,650 stately homes in the UK. Many of them saw hospital service during World War I and World War II. People will not be visiting these homes during the pandemic. They will be empty and waiting to contribute as they have in the past.

Back to the cruise ships. President Trump has  offered New York City a military hospital ship to help that city cope with the coronavirus crisis. There are an estimated 550,000 passenger berths on ships involved in the world cruising industry. These ships and their crews are now idling in ports. They and their crews can be pressed into service, not just in developed counties, but in developing countries practically devoid of proper medical facilities.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 5 Comments
David Gray

Covid-19: Radical economic measures must be considered

By David Gray | Fri 20th March 2020 - 11:00 am

Embed from Getty Images

As a freelance musician and actor, I have seen and spoken to a lot of self-employed colleagues and friends recently about their fears regarding Covid-19. Obviously the number one priority must be the health and well-being of the general public, but the government must also consider how best to protect its citizens and businesses from financial ruin.

The measures announced to protect small and medium-sized businesses will hopefully help to prevent firms from closing (though for many even this will be too late, and I know of several that have already folded), but protection for the self-employed – an estimated 6 million people – is still a glaring omission.

The introduction of ESA claims being made available to the self-employed who are advised to self-isolate is, on the face of it, very welcome. However, without wishing to look this particular gift horse in the mouth, it does not address the root of the problem. A one-off payment of less than £100 for a week of self-isolation will do very little to help those who have lost thousands of pounds worth of work and do not know when bookings and contracts will pick up again.

I have spoken to people who work as entertainers in care homes who now face cancelled bookings with no compensation; musicians who have had to abandon entire tours; actors who have had  several months’ worth of work put on hold indefinitely, perhaps permanently. Even a dentist who, despite working for the NHS, counts as self-employed and is therefore not entitled to sick pay.

Covid-19 is likely to cause a significant number of deaths, but these could be outstripped by deaths caused by economic hardship, unemployment and increased levels of homelessness that we are bound to see in the coming months. As expected, it turns out the ‘flexible workforce’ that has long been advocated by conservatives (both small and large ‘c’) is a one-way street, proving resolutely inflexible for workers trapped in it. It seems likely that Britain’s patchwork, deunionised gig economy will soon be exposed in the harshest of ways.

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 11 Comments
Jane Dodds

Jane Dodds writes: Why UBI is the only way forward

By Jane Dodds | Thu 19th March 2020 - 9:00 pm

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the spread of Corona Virus continue at a frightening pace. Countries around the world are taking increasingly more authoritarian steps to try and contain the spread before it is too late to stop it.

A consequence of this has been millions of people left in limbo, unsure of what they’re going to do as the lockdown increases. Across the UK schools have closed and many businesses are slowly shutting down due to concerns over staff/customer safety and lack of custom.

But as the UK grinds to a halt, people’s lives simply do not stop. People still have bills coming in, they still have a mortgage/rent to pay and they still need to be able to put food on their table. However, for many even funding these bare essentials will be difficult.

Many small and independent shops are having to lay off staff or close outright, this means for many thousands of people their source of income and livelihood disappears overnight. I welcome the recent moves by the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments to support small businesses, but they simply haven’t gone far enough to support people themselves.

So, what happens if you lose your job due to Covid-19? You’re either forced to try and find a new job very quickly (almost impossible given the economic standstill) or apply for Universal Credit.

Universal Credit is an abhorrent system, one which lacks any compassion or grounding in reality. How is someone supposed to go five weeks without any support? How are they supposed to feed their families and keep up with their bills on just £80 a week?

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 100 Comments
Mary Reid

Isolation diary: Asking for refunds

By Mary Reid | Thu 19th March 2020 - 5:30 pm

You can find previous Isolation diaries here.

Over the last couple of days I have been receiving emails telling me that events I was planning to attend have been either cancelled or, optimistically, postponed. They offer me the choice of getting a refund for the tickets I bought, waiting to see whether the event will go ahead later, or leaving the ticket money as a donation. I have donated in every case, adding on the benefit of Giftaid.

I could afford to buy the tickets in the first place, and I am not experiencing a drop in income during this crisis, so my financial position has not changed at all as a result of the cancellations. So I don’t need the money, but in many cases the organisers and performers do.

Running local independent theatres and music venues is a risky enough business in good times, and I certainly want them to emerge from this dark tunnel with a future. So the Rose Theatre Kingston and the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith can keep the money I spent on tickets. As can the Mayor’s charity gig I was going to attend in a couple of weeks, and the 70th Anniversary Dinner for my choir.

Speaking of the choir, I was, in fact, due to sing in a concert myself this Saturday (Bach Magnificat, since you ask – see image). I do hope some of the people who had already bought tickets reciprocate and don’t ask for a refund. (For any other singers out there – take a look at the Sofa Singers.)

Continue reading »
Tagged | 8 Comments
Lorenzo Cherin

Boris Booster!

By Lorenzo Cherin | Thu 19th March 2020 - 2:37 pm

Asked a few months ago what his philosophy is, what his politics represent, what his programme means, Boris Johnson, new UK Prime Minister, said,  “ …boosterism!” The notion of boosting morale, of boosting services, boosting business, boosting…Britain! This was and is great news, at least, from the man who during Brexit, said, f***, business!

Boosterism, is not a half bad philosophy of government, come to think of it. Certainly with more of an appeal, than say, “frugalism!” It might be the philosophy of government for the future! Whatever the concerns that populists only stand for populism,” boosterists,” of course, might not in fact only pander, to popular opinion, whether that is good or bad opinions. The public contains individuals for whom different policies might be popular. The “will of the people,” from a Liberal view, can mean, what, all the people?! Lincoln was correct; you can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people, all of the time, but not, all of the people all of the time! Boosterism might need the mood of the people, but could gain from the leadership, of the politician. What needs a boost, what are the priorities?

The new Prime Minister got off to a bad start, as a test of his approach. Not much boost to anything much, in a boot up some of his own parliamentary party, whips applied, rather than boosts, and whips withdrawn! So too, not much evidence of this new dawn for a new way, in at least as far as the public opinion goes, backing HS2 and Huawei!

Continue reading »
Tagged | 15 Comments
Johnny McDermott

Drawing in a mirror – Merlyn’s torment

By Johnny McDermott | Thu 19th March 2020 - 12:25 pm

TH White’s story of King Arthur is unconstrained by the traditional myths. He reinvents the world of round tables completely, influenced by the horrors and futility of war.

His Merlyn, and the way in which he experiences time, is a mind-bending concept that has fascinated me since childhood. Scholars of the work debate aspects, but roughly, he began his existence at the end of time, and moves backwards to the beginning. Thus he knows outcomes but has little power to change them:

… one gets confused with time… gets muddled… if you know what’s going to happen to people, but not what has happened to them, it makes it difficult to prevent it happening… Like drawing in a mirror. (The Sword and the Stone, 1938)

It is a very difficult plot device to wrap one’s head around, and in the end it is not clear it works coherently. The theme remains unblemished: you can know the outcomes, perhaps not by supernatural means but say forecasting and the opinions of experts; you can tell people what this means for them, what is going to happen; but you cannot hope to persuade them if you do not know what has happened to them.

We are a party that has a clear diversity problem. I have no figures, but responses to these posts them to be from the same class of people. People like me. I have some experience of what I thereafter called the real world, but am under no illusions that, although I may have lived amongst men with less privilege, I did not become one of them. How can we hope to change minds when we do not properly understand how those minds form? How those deep divisions entrenched? We have our own trenches to dismantle, if we are to have any hope of affecting positive change in power (presumably by sharing it). Assumptions about Brexiteers and their beliefs, their capabilities and education, their backgrounds and true grievances, have made it impossible for us to spell out what we clearly see to be impending doom.

Thinking of Merlyn’s tormented journey backwards through time, led me to question our approach to winning the argument. I find wisdom in his words, but he offers no solution. I believe the point is to recognise that we cannot hope to control the actions of others. Applied to our political situation, we cannot hope to control the setting within which we try to win the argument. Views are entrenched, and we must investigate how they became so in an impartial manner, if we ever hope to alter them. We must learn what happened, before we can figure out what we should propose is going to happen.

Continue reading »
4 Comments

Why the Lib Dems need to lead the charge for #EmergencyUBI

By Mark Henderson | Thu 19th March 2020 - 10:20 am

Embed from Getty Images

Here in Hull, where I’m a Liberal Democrat Councillor, I was proud that in January we moved a motion that, with unanimous support called on the Government to run the first UK pilot of Universal Basic Income (UBI). This would see every person receive a fixed amount of money to free them from financial insecurity – protecting the most vulnerable in society.

It’s safe to say much has changed since January, but the issue of Universal Basic Income is more important than ever before. The Corvid-19 virus has plunged our nation into chaos and shown how financial insecurity through the nation is rife. We have a duty as a progressive party that champions freedom to act.

I was delighted that one of our leadership hopefuls Layla Moran backed our cause in Hull to the hills and even more so that she has recently written to the Government calling for an emergency UBI.

Liberal Democrats up and down the country should be championing this policy especially given its clear advantages in times of crisis.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 22 Comments
Mary Reid

Isolation diary: Doing the shopping

By Mary Reid | Wed 18th March 2020 - 5:06 pm

Embed from Getty Images

You can find previous Isolation diaries here.

The very first time I placed an online food order I wanted a pack of mushrooms. But I clearly misunderstood how these things work, because what I received was one large paper bag containing one very small mushroom.

I’m the cook in my family, and I don’t usually do the food shopping online because I always enjoy walking around the supermarket, spotting new products and picking up ideas.

But a week ago I set up a new online account. Placing the order was a doddle because they already knew all my shopping habits via my loyalty card. But when I got to the checkout I discovered that the earliest delivery slot was over a week away.

Fortunately we had a few days to prepare for going into self-isolation, so I was able to get in essentials from the convenience store to tide me over – enough loo rolls for two or three weeks seems a reasonable amount.

I was a bit worried about those delivery waits so went back on the site on Monday. This time the earliest slot was 6th April. So I can quite understand why people might be buying more than usual.

By yesterday evening I had thought of a few extra items that I needed for tomorrow’s delivery, so I logged in again and started to amend my order. The site, which has been a bit wobbly throughout, crashed.  9pm is probably peak demand, so I left it and tried again this morning at 7am – still down. At the moment I really don’t know whether we will get any more shower gel this time round.

Yes I know – shortage of shower gel is a first world problem, and I can manage perfectly well without it. We seem to have a stack of unloved soap in the bathroom, anyway. But it has set off another trail of worries about whether the supermarkets will be able to cope with the increased demand for online shopping.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 30 Comments
James MacCleary

We should argue for a temporary Universal Basic Income

By James MacCleary | Wed 18th March 2020 - 2:30 pm

It is a scary time. As Covid-19 spreads across the globe, it is causing severe disruption and panic. The shift in government policy away from gambling lives on the mass infection (so-called ‘herd immunity’) to instead falling in line with most of the rest of world in attempting to slow the spread of the virus means that the likely death toll from the outbreak has fallen dramatically.

However, the impact on the economy will be enormous and will compound the significant damage already done by Brexit. Companies are already calling in the receivers, thousands of staff are being laid off or sent home unpaid, and millions of people are facing uncertainty and fear for their family’s financial future.

Continue reading »
Also posted in News | Tagged and | 33 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Helping small businesses get through Covid-19 – Pay it anyway

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th March 2020 - 11:45 am

So how is this for a random idea? I realised yesterday that I have a hair appointment on 2 April that I’m not going to be able to go to. My husband is in a high risk group. And, according to  the small print in the Public Health England guidance,  so am I.

It looks like we’ll be spending the next few weeks with as little social interaction as possible.

But our income, at least in the short term, isn’t going to be affected by this. Unfortunately, small businesses, especially independent ones face an existential threat. Hospitality and entertainment venues are going to be particularly badly affected.

Our hairdresser has been doing a great job for years. Why shouldn’t I just pay for my haircut anyway?  Same principle if you go to a restaurant that you love regularly.  Why not pay them what you would normally spend while you are sitting at home watching obscure things on Netflix or taking the party up on its offer to keep you out of mischief?  Same with the pub where you might regularly have a couple of pints a few times a week or the coffee shop where you stop for breakfast.

If your income is stable, it’s a relatively easy way to help out.

You could even think about some way to support that wonderful country hotel you love so much., or the campsite which will lose out from tourism.

Another suggestion I’ve seen is that you buy gift vouchers if possible, and look out for ways in which businesses are diversifying. Some restaurants will deliver meals. Some pubs will turn into off-licences.

It’s important to support the small, independent outlets which have served us well so that we have them when this nightmare is over.

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 5 Comments
Simon Banks

A personal specification for a leader

By Simon Banks | Wed 18th March 2020 - 8:30 am

With another leadership election looming, what do we need in a leader? What’s essential and what’s merely desirable? If we don’t think clearly about these things, we’re likely to make bad choices.

We don’t have a Person Specification for the job, but maybe we should at least think that way. What would it look like?

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stay the same. At some times, the ability to inspire the activists or to gain the attention of the media is vital. At others, the activists are already inspired, and the media are listening, but keen to find weaknesses. Then judgment is crucial. So I’ve not divided the points into Essential and Desirable, as would be normal with other Person Specs. I’ve also not mentioned specific issues such as the climate emergency, though I think not choosing a leader strong on that would be unwise.

Continue reading »
Also posted in News | Tagged | 13 Comments
Mary Reid

Isolation diary: Going for a walk

By Mary Reid | Tue 17th March 2020 - 5:18 pm

We went for a walk today on Box Hill.

What? Is that allowed under the rules of self-isolation?

There are two types of self-isolation – quarantine and extreme social distancing, although the media haven’t been very helpful in distinguishing between the two.

As we all know, people should go into quarantine if they have symptoms of coronavirus or have been in contact with someone who has. Whole families are now being asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days if one member needs to. There is full advice on quarantining here.

People like us, who are vulnerable because of age, pregnancy or underlying health issues, are now also being asked to isolate for 12 weeks, but in a marginally more relaxed way. Again, advice on social distancing for vulnerable people is here.

With extreme social distancing the idea is to minimise risk, although recognising that some contact with others may be necessary, but in a controlled way.

Crucially, the guidance specifically says: “You can also go for a walk outdoors if you stay more than 2 metres from others.” So that’s what we did.  Although my other half doesn’t usually walk 2 metres away from me!

We did go in the car to get to Box Hill and took some extra precautions, such as wiping the steering wheel and gear-stick with antiseptic wipes, as well as the front door handle after we returned. And sadly we weren’t able to stop off at the cafe for hot chocolate and cake as we normally would.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 18 Comments
Michael Berwick-Gooding

Thoughts on the budget – Part 2

By Michael Berwick-Gooding | Tue 17th March 2020 - 1:56 pm

Embed from Getty Images

This is the second of two articles looking at last week’s budget. The focus of this article is the action the government announced to deal with the coronavirus.

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 49 Comments
Lee Howgate

Why we need to close schools

By Lee Howgate | Tue 17th March 2020 - 1:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Yesterday the government announced a range of measures to protect the public from the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a former Assistant Headteacher, parent and more importantly son, I am concerned that this has not extended to schools. Here’s why:

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 27 Comments
Michael Berwick-Gooding

Thoughts on the Budget – Part 1

By Michael Berwick-Gooding | Tue 17th March 2020 - 9:00 am

Embed from Getty Images

This is the first of two articles looking at last week’s budget.

Looking at the headlines of the budget there is much to welcome and support:

Continue reading »
Tagged | 46 Comments
Layla Moran MP

Let’s put our values into action

By Layla Moran MP | Tue 17th March 2020 - 8:30 am

Embed from Getty Images
 

Coronavirus, covid-19 will indiscriminately impact the most vulnerable people in our communities, leaving them isolated. Today I am asking all of us, as Liberal Democrats, to put our values into action.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 8 Comments
Mary Reid

Isolation diary: Paying the newsagent

By Mary Reid | Mon 16th March 2020 - 5:07 pm

Today we have gone into self-isolation.

I live with my husband, Ian, and we have not got any coronavirus symptoms, nor have we been in contact with anyone who has, as far as we know. But Ian’s immune system is compromised so we decided a few days ago to isolate ourselves at home ‘for the duration’ (as they said in the war).

Now it may surprise those of you who know my digital credentials that we still have a daily newspaper delivered. And we’ve decided to continue with it as we like leisurely working our way through the news, reading the opinion articles and doing the crosswords and puzzles.

So the last thing I did today, before going into seclusion, was to call in at the newsagent and ask how I could pay my bill in the coming weeks. (I was oddly reminded of Pope Francis who, soon after he was announced as the new pontiff, phoned his newsagent in Buenos Aires to cancel his papers).

The manager clearly hadn’t thought about it. “You’ve got to come in to the shop,” he said.  “Can I do a bank transfer, or standing order?” “No, you’ve got to come in to the shop.”

Hmmm … I do want to support the local businesses, which are very much at risk at present. I think I will phone up every few weeks to ask what I owe and then find my old cheque book (thank goodness they still exist), write him a cheque and ask my neighbour to drop it in.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 26 Comments
Johnny McDermott

‘Keep the heid!’: Dad and the Cuban missile crisis

By Johnny McDermott | Mon 16th March 2020 - 12:25 pm

May you live in interesting times. These ‘interesting times’ we find ourselves in are frightening, doubtless. My ‘boomer’ mother admitted the restrictive measures are definitely ‘weird’, even in her lifetime. I am forced to turn to memories of my father, who better remembered far darker times.

He was born around the time of the great depression, and died around the time of our great recession. It was a life marred by personal tragedy, one in which he had, I believe, almost always felt a powerless observer. He rarely spoke of being a young boy at the edges of the blitzed area …

Continue reading »
Tagged | 15 Comments
George Kendall

Lack of humility could kill us

By George Kendall | Mon 16th March 2020 - 9:31 am

One of the most impressive threads I’ve seen on Twitter about Coronavirus is by Professor Francois Balloux, a computational/system biologist working on infectious diseases, who has spent five years in a world class ‘pandemic response modelling’ unit.

What solution did he offer?

He offered none, and that was what was so impressive.

He said that, after considerable study, he had failed to identify the best course of action, and wasn’t even sure there was an acceptable solution.

He thought a more severe wave of the pandemic in the winter is the most plausible scenario. He linked to the graph below of the deaths …

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 44 Comments
Lorenzo Cherin

Lock down is not the alternative to herd immunity

By Lorenzo Cherin | Sat 14th March 2020 - 6:33 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Some think only in what is often called binary ways, left, right, black, white, male, female, rich poor, young, old, sick, well, us, them…

I see things differently. I have often put it like this: why should the answer to that which we do not like, automatically be considered to be the opposite of it? Why does it have to be, either, or, why can’t it be neither, and something more?!

Group think is herd mentality. But that is not quite herd immunity. But herd immunity, in theory or practice, is not one thing. And the government strategy is not one thing, not even if they have presented it thus. It seems like they are making it up as they go along, even if that is not the case.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 66 Comments
Harry Mayall

We are underestimating the threat of antimicrobial resistance; where is the “Clean New Deal”?

By Harry Mayall | Fri 13th March 2020 - 5:59 pm

Embed from Getty Images

It can be very soundly argued that if someone was to objectively look at the biggest issues facing humanity today then antimicrobial resistance (AMR) would be easily considered one of the greatest.

According to the World Bank, AMR is likely to cause a 1.1-3.8% fall in Global GDP by 2050, with the damage to get continuously worse in the following years. For scale, this is an economic effect potentially larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis, and also larger than some estimates of the damage that global climate change would inflict over the same time period. Let us not understate the human costs as well: the WHO estimates the death count of AMR pathogens is already 700,000 annually and will rise to 10 million by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.

These statistics are very scary and should be enough to convince anyone of the severity of the threat, which in both economic and human consequences is expected to rival climate change. Despite this, there is very little political attention given to AMR.

In the 20,000 words that make up the 2019 Liberal Democrat manifesto, there is only one mention of antimicrobial resistance, which is simply mentioned in passing as part of a policy on improving hygiene in livestock. The 2019 Conservative manifesto and the 2019 Labour manifesto both do even worse, not mentioning antimicrobial resistance a single time; they only mention offhandedly that they will spend more money to counter the threat of numerous things, including antibiotic resistance (which unlike AMR doesn’t include resistance to non-antibiotic drugs such as medications used to counter pathogens such as Malaria and Tuberculosis).

Continue reading »
Tagged | 11 Comments
Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Viral Trump

By Tom Arms | Fri 13th March 2020 - 4:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Up until the Second World War the United States was an isolationist country. It stayed out of the European-led  imperial carve-up to concentrate on developing its own contiguous empire. The country briefly emerged from its shell in World War, and then promptly pulled up the drawbridge, lowered the portcullis and retreated back into a continental shell protected by two ocean moats.

After World War Two, US involvement in world affairs was essential for holding off the Soviet Union and world stability. Then came Donald Trump. It was not clear at first whether the New York property mogul and his “America First” policy was an isolationist or unilateralist,  or a bit of both. Coronavirus has helped to answer the question.

But before that, it must be made clear that Donald Trump’s major concern is not America’s national interest or world stability. It is, quite simply, Donald Trump. At the moment that means winning a second White House tenancy agreement in November 2020.

That is why in the early days of coronavirus  he was keen to minimise the dangers. He had a “hunch” that it was going to be OK. People should continue going to work even if they had Covid-19 symptoms. Flu, said Trump, was more dangerous than Coronavirus. He claimed there were plenty of testing kits when his scientific experts said the opposite.

There was a purpose to these  irresponsibly dangerous and false statements:  to keep the stock market indices as high as possible.  Trump’s best chance of winning a second term is a continuation of the booming market that has marked his first three years.  Trump once famously said that if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue his supporters would still vote for him. Perhaps, but will they vote for Trump if their pensions are destroyed; meagre savings wiped out and jobs and homes lost?

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 3 Comments
David Warren

Classic Winners

By David Warren | Thu 12th March 2020 - 4:04 pm

Embed from Getty Images

It was nearly twenty years ago that a very special lady got me interested in the sport of kings by asking me to place a bet on a horse called Legal Right tipped by the Guardian columnist Marcel Berlins. It was a success and from then on I was hooked.

In the years that have followed I have improved my knowledge of the game immensely and It is around this time of year that my excitement really builds in anticipation of the start of a new flat season. The first of the four classics are run in early May and we see how the previous autumn’s two year old stars have trained on. This time around the ‘Boys in blue’ at Godolphin have a really smart prospect called Pinatubo who I am sure they are anxious to unleash. Their rivals across the sea in Ireland at Ballydoyle will have their own plans to add to their impressive haul of winners.

All that said, as with almost everything else my thoughts often turn to the politics of racing. I am afraid to say we are unlikely to find many high profile Liberals amongst the stars of the sport. Having read interviews with Frankie Dettori I can confirm that he is most definitely a Tory. Rachel Hood wife of his current employer champion trainer John Gosden applied to be Conservative candidate for West Suffolk (the Constituency that includes Newmarket) awhile back and I know from my time as a resident of Newbury that the other big racing centre Lambourn is also a true blue stronghold.

Continue reading »
Tagged | 12 Comments
Rob Davidson

From progress to freedom – the need for liberation politics

By Rob Davidson | Thu 12th March 2020 - 12:41 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Liberals around the world need to define our cause. In the absence of a clear vision of liberation politics, we are left in the vacuous, uninspiring ‘middle.’ Worse, liberalism is under open attack globally and without a clear message and strong network of messengers, it’s losing. Liberals must move away from nebulous phrases like ‘progressive’ and finally make the case for freedom.

The Conservatives are known as ‘the party of business’ and that holds up even as Johnson says “F*** business.”  Labour are known as the party of public services, of human rights and equality – even as Labour staggers through an anti-Semitism scandal.

But what does the public associate with the Liberal Democrats? More importantly, what does liberal democracy mean to people of Britain and the world?

Without a clear vision of liberation politics, our opponents on all sides have laid waste to liberalism.

Putin has declared liberalism, “obsolete” Orbán proclaims ‘illiberal democracy’ as his goal and Trump and Bolsonaro follow suit. In Britain, it is no wonder that Brexit leaders were so easily able to promote their populism as an attack on the “liberal elite.”

As I described recently, they do this with the support of a network of thinktanks, new media, pundits and bots that have normalized and promoted their agenda – including their unchallenged attacks on liberalism.

Continue reading »
10 Comments
Lorenzo Cherin

Making a drama out of a crisis? Taking the harm out of the virus!

By Lorenzo Cherin | Thu 12th March 2020 - 10:46 am

Embed from Getty Images

If we believe in anything, it is the Harm Principle of John Stuart Mill. People should be at liberty, to make their own choices, unless they do harm, to others, or to themselves, if in ways that might harm others too. The bar for the deciding of what is a harm, is set higher or lower, according to whether you are a Liberal or a Libertarian. Mill was a Liberal. He believed the state, the government, needed to exercise authority, on, for example law and order. The balance, is what is to be considered. The preamble to the constitution of this party refers to that as “between the fundamental values, of liberty, equality and community.

I have often put it this way. I am a Classical Liberal, on liberty related issues, a Social Liberal, on equality related issues, a Social Democrat, on community related issues. I am of the view that there has rarely been an issue that combines all these and more, and requires strong thinking and action, than Covid19.

I have just written an article for the Ustinov Prejudice Awareness Forum, an organisation of which I am a member and writer. The article is titled “Viral Expertise“, in which I look at greater word length and in different ways, from a more international perspective, at what I want to say here, from a UK Classical Liberal, Social Liberal and Social Democrat point of view. The importance of this issue, is such, that I would very much welcome colleagues visit the link too.

I, we, surely must subscribe to support policies that reveal and encourage, personal responsibility and public good. For all , responsible, for goodness sake, more needs to be done at home and abroad to combat this virus and act as a rehearsal for, an ongoing effort where the world performs better.

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 57 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jana
    @Hywel “ It is inherently nonsensical for a blanket prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of belief to apply to political parties which are founded on...
  • Hywel
    " 65 seats on 8% is a possible outcome which would see us overrepresented significantly under fptp." That may be possible. The actual electoral arithmetic g...
  • Chris Nicholson
    Theakes, nowhere does that article say there was a coalition or a confidence and supply agreement so there is no agreement for us ‘to pull out of forthwith’...
  • David Raw
    @ Jana There was a time, of course, when the Liberal Party in its good old riding high days, was the party of the nonconformist conscience ....................
  • Hywel
    It is inherently nonsensical for a blanket prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of belief to apply to political parties which are founded on the basis o...