Liberator subscribers have just received the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.345 – April 2011). For those of you who are not yet subscribers, here’s a summary of the contents:

• The editorial column Commentary considers the risks of an open-ended commitment to war in Libya. There is also a warning to STV purists and Clegg-haters on the left not to vote ‘no’ in the AV referendum for purist or puerile motives respectively.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with an account of the strange handling of the conference debate on the NHS.
• Our lead article ‘Danger stalks a damaged party’ is written by Adrian Sanders, Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay. In this controversial piece, Adrian argues that the party has been taken over by opportunistic careerists, and its real supporters must act to save it.
• ‘Too much Lansley can damage your health’ – John Bryant (a Liberal Democrat councillor in Camden and chair of Camden’s Health Scrutiny Committee) says that the resolution at the Liberal Democrat spring conference might stimulate some useful changes to the Health and Social Care Bill, but the damage could already have been done.
• ‘Our Barnsley chop’ – Geoff Reid (a former candidate for Barnsley Central, now secretary of Bradford Liberal Democrats and a councillor in Bradford East) says that the Barnsley Central by-election was awful, but he has seen it all before.
• ‘Out of the paper bag’ – Matthew Oakeshott (a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords) explains why he quit as Treasury spokesman over the government’s deal with the banks.
• ‘A class act’ – Simon Titley (a member of the Liberator Collective) says that the Liberal Democrats rightly want more of their MPs to be women, ethnic minority, disabled or gay, but asks why the party lacks a similar concern about social class.
• ‘Barriers outside, aqua within’ – The Sheffield conference took place under siege. Mark Smulian (a member of the Liberator Collective) says no wonder, since the Lib Dems vary between being unwilling to explain themselves or incapable of it.
• ‘Open on all sides’ – Simon Hebditch (a party activist and one of Liberator’s founders) says that equidistance means keeping lines open to Labour and the Greens.
• ‘Party first’ – Jonathan Hunt (a former Liberal Democrat councillor and parliamentary candidate) says that the Lib Dems can survive 2015 only with a vision of an attractive future.
• ‘The tribe gathers’ – Geoff Payne (a member of the Social Liberal Forum executive) explains why the Social Liberal Forum will hold a conference on 18 June for Liberal Democrats concerned about the coalition’s direction and the party’s future.
• ‘Time for pressure in the Middle East’ – Guy Burton (a researcher at the Centre for Development Studies at Birzeit University in Palestine) says that the Israel/Palestine peace process may have run into the sand, but that foreign aid gives both the EU and UK more power than either thinks it has to get the process moving again.
• Letters.
• Book reviews.
• Lord Bonkers’ Diary – in which Lord Bonkers (Liberal MP for Rutland South West 1906-10) turns ‘agony uncle’ and answers some readers’ queries.

If you missed any of our previous editions, they are available online here and you can subscribe to Liberator here. Liberator welcomes your articles, letters and book reviews. Please read our style guide before submitting any copy.

The Liberator Collective may be emailed at [email protected].