The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.362 – November 2013) was delivered to subscribers last week.

Here’s a summary of the new magazine’s contents:

• The editorial column Commentary applauds the Liberal Democrats’ decision to run an unashamedly pro-EU campaign for next year’s European elections. There is also an examination of how the party’s new policy on free school meals has opened up the question of universal benefits.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with an investigation of the briefing of the media against Vince Cable at September’s party conference.
• ‘How to be a Liberal minister’ – Felix Dodds and Simon Titley argue that Liberal Democrat ministers must now consider life after 2015 and cannot be hidebound by conventional thinking.
• ‘Something Lib Dems should drink to’ – Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West) says that the ‘pubco’ model is destroying pubs and communities but two Liberal Democrat ministers are in a position to right a historic wrong.
• ‘Diverting aid away from the thieves’ – British people are generous to overseas disaster funds but hostile to overseas aid, which they fear is abused. Too much of it does end up in the wrong hands and Rebecca Tinsley (of Waging Peace) suggests how to stop this.
• ‘Spinning the wheels into poverty’ – The Stop the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals campaign was all over Liberal Democrat conference, even sponsoring the credentials lanyards. It is clearly a big organisation, but what is it about? Co-founder Derek Webb explains.
• ‘Orange skies’ – Do Liberal Democrats do God? Jonathan Calder (a member of the Liberator Collective) takes issue with a book that makes that claim.
• ‘An unwanted meal ticket’ – Margaret Rowley (a Liberal Democrat councillor in Wychavon) says that free school meals for all infants is a poorly thought out piece of populism that many councils and schools will struggle to implement.
• ‘Time to close the casino’ – Kiron Reid (a member of the Liberator Collective and a former councillor in Liverpool) questions whether the shareholder model works.
• ‘Unknown manifesto’ – David Grace (a former Liberal Democrat European Parliament candidate) says that, although few will read the ALDE manifesto for Europe, the ALDE should have the courage to call for further democratisation of the EU.
• ‘Obituary: Stan Hardy’ – Simon Hughes (MP for Old Southwark and Bermondsey) pays tribute to a pillar of local liberalism.
• Reviews.
• Lord Bonkers’ Diary – Lord Bonkers (Liberal MP for Rutland South West 1906-10) pours a tumbler of Auld Johnston and shares his postbag with readers.

If you missed any of our previous editions, they are available online here.

You can subscribe to Liberator here. Liberator is now also available in versions for Kindle and iPad; subscribers can opt for the print version or electronic or both, all for the same price.

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The Liberator Collective may be e-mailed at: [email protected].

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Finally, don’t forget to visit The Really Useful Links Page. It’s the best collection of political weblinks anywhere for the discerning Liberal Democrat.