Liberator 430 is out and you can download it for free here:
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In addition to Radical Bulletin, Commentary, Letters and Lord Bonkers’ Diary, this issue contains:
WE’RE IN THE SERVICE SECTOR.
Politics has changed, with transactional voters looking at what parties can provide, and with little traditional loyalty. How should the Lib Dems respond asks Julian Ingram
SQUEEZING REFORM OUT OF OXFORDSHIRE
Reform won just one seat in Oxfordshire as battles between other parties denied them any space. Neil Fawcett explains how it was done
WE CAN BEAT REFORM
Reform’s bunch of bizarre obsessives surprised by taking control of Kent County Council, but they can be defeated by community politics, says Antony Hook
TAKING GOOD CARE
Sophie Layton looks at Ed Davey’s book on his life beyond politics as a carer
IS IT TOO LATE FOR AMERICA?
Trump’s cruel and dubiously legal acts are even splitting the MAGA base; could the Democrats retake Congress in time to stop him asks Martha Elliott
LABOUR’S WAR ON LOCAL DEMOCRACY
Under the guise of devolution, Labour is centralising power into huge councils and banning the committee system despite its strengths, says Sabah Hamed
FATAL WAITING…
Mathew Hulbert calls for a plan to sort out social care so the NHS is not leaving those like his late mother to suffer
NO CARE TO TAKE
Tempted by the talk of 130,000 social care vacancies Ruth Bright applied but ended up back where she started
IS POLITICS ONLY FOR PAVEMENTS
John Shreeve seeks a little help from Miss Marple to find out how the Lib Dems could appeal to angry voters turning to Reform
REVIEWS
Original Sin: President Biden’s decline, its cover-up and his disastrous choice to run again, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson (reviewed by Rebecca Tinsley)
A Different Kind of Power, by Jacinda Ardern (Sophie Layton)
The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher [play] by Edmund Green (Mark Smulian)
Blowing up Everything is Beautiful, Israel’s Extermination of Gaza, by James Robins (Stewart Rayment)
All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between, by Mike Parker (Jonathan Calder)
How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitlerby Peter Pomerantsev (Jonathan Calder)
Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by James Marcus (Christine Graf)
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Michael Meadowcroft: A Liberal of Intellectual Rigour and Uncommon Integrity
Debt-ridden graduates claim they are seen as cash cows
Why non-fiction books need their indexes
Changes in status: Local Elections wrap up
Tom Bailey
Matt (Bristol)
Hywel
Chloe
Sam Bateman
One Comment
Interesting article about the USA under Trump. I was reading an interesting article the other day that explained why we hear about raids by ICE on workplaces in California and why a low proportion of the illegal immigrants who are being detained there actually have criminal records, whereas we never hear of similar raids in Texas or Florida. It appears that Florida and Texas cooperate with ICE by informing them of illegal immigrants who come into contact with the police or the courts, so a high proportion of those detained by ICE in those states have committed crimes in the USA. However, California as a ‘sanctuary state’ refuses to cooperate with ICE by sharing information about illegal immigrants who come into contact with the police or courts, so the only way ICE can identify illegal immigrants is to actively look for them themselves in places they may be living or working.
So, politicians in California may be able to persuade themselves that they are protecting immigrants by refusing to cooperate with ICE, but they are actually protecting those illegal immigrants who may have committed crimes at the expense of immigrants who have not. To me, this is gesture politics at its worst. It may be beneficial for the politicians but it is not good for ordinary law-abiding people just trying to make the best of their lives.