Tag Archives: alex marsh

Stephen Tall

10 Years on from The Orange Book: What should authentic liberalism look like?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th October 2014 - 8:55 am

Orange_Book“10 Years on from The Orange Book: what should authentic liberalism look like?” That was the title of a Lib Dem conference fringe meeting in Glasgow, organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), at which I was speaking alongside MPs Tim Farron and Jeremy Browne, Orange Book co-editor Paul Marshall, the IEA’s Ryan Bourne and ComRes pollster Tom Mludzinski. Here’s what I said…

I often describe myself as an Orange Booker. Like most labels it’s a short-hand. To me it simply means I’m a Lib Dem at ease with the role of a competitive market and who believes also in social justice. To many others in our party, though, Orange Booker is a term of abuse – Orange Bookers are thrusting, smart-suited, neoliberal Thatcherities, never happier than when mixing with red-blooded free-marketeers like the IEA.

What I want to do briefly is make a pitch for something that’s become quite unpopular among the party ranks: I’m going to make a pitch that the Lib Dems should be a party that’s unabashedly of the liberal centre.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 75 Comments
Duncan Stott

Opinion: Private sector tenants are disenfranchised

By Duncan Stott | Sun 10th July 2011 - 2:15 pm

There has been a lively debate on Lib Dem Voice this week on housing policy. Well-argued articles from Alex Marsh, Mike Tuffrey and Stephen Gilbert have ignited equally interesting debates in the comments. All sorts of intriguing policy ideas have been proposed to address the growing crisis in housing supply.

However, a great idea is just the starting point on the long journey to create a successful policy. For a mainstream party with ambitions to form the next government, it is crucial that ideas enjoy popular support with voters. Housing development invokes strong feelings amongst the electorate, both …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 13 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Nonconformistradical
    @Pawel Urbanski "That is the disconnect nobody talks about: the jobs are there, the young people are there, and the pipeline between them barely functions. Bef...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    A real-world data point. I recently recruited for an apprenticeship in my business - £25k, four days' work plus one day's training, salary part-subsidised by t...
  • Andy Daer
    Israelis are fed with the memory of the Holocaust from birth, so you can't blame them for thinking they will be eternal victims of hatred, which is one obvious ...
  • Mark ValladaresMark Valladares
    Chloe, The fact that there are 1.5 million people on ESA doesn’t really tell you much about the viability of bringing them back into the workforce. Are...
  • Andy Daer
    It may be that Hamas will go ahead with disarming, despite knowing Israel won't withdraw from Gaza, or stop killing Palestinians, on the assumption that World o...