Liberator subscribers have already received the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.336 – November 2009). For those of you not yet subscribing, here’s a summary of the contents:

• The editorial column Commentary predicts that the Liberal Democrats will soon have to clarify whether they believe Britain should pull out of Afghanistan.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin analyses the context of the ‘mansion tax’ debacle.
• Our lead article ‘Happier, healthier… Why equality matters’ is written by Richard Wilkinson (emeritus professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham Medical School). He summarises the arguments in his latest book, written with Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.
• ‘Afghanistan – the war nobody wants’ – There will be no solution to the Afghanistan war without a regional peace deal, says Professor Paul Reynolds, who moved the motion at September’s party conference. Professor Reynolds is Liberal Democrat PPC for North West Leicestershire and a member of the party’s International Relations Committee. He has worked in Afghanistan with UK forces.
• ‘Man of the moment’ – Jonathan Calder (a member of the Liberator Collective) reviews Nick Clegg’s Demos pamphlet ‘The Liberal Moment’ and says that it suggests Clegg is less ordinary than his advisors would like you to think.
• ‘Tackling Vince’ – Ed Randall reviews Vince Cable’s Reform pamphlet ‘Tackling the fiscal crisis’ and concludes that it is fiscally conservative to a dangerous degree. Ed Randall is a former Liberal Democrat councillor in Greenwich and is a senior lecturer in politics and social policy at Goldsmiths, University of London.
• ‘Now wash you hands’ – Simon Titley (a member of the Liberator Collective) reviews Mark Oaten’s autobiography ‘Screwing Up’ and concludes that it is neither one thing nor the other.
• ‘Welfare without the state’ – Sara Scarlett (director of development for Liberal Vision) argues that we should replace a centralised welfare state with the spirit of the nineteenth century co-operative movement.
• ‘Majority rule’ – Dennis Graf (Liberator’s American correspondent) examines why President Obama’s reform plans are getting bogged down.
• ‘Golf or homes?’ – Gina Ford reports on the continuing row tearing apart Aberdeenshire Liberal Democrats over Donald Trump’s controversial property development scheme.
• Book reviews.
• Lord Bonkers’ Diary.
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