Tag Archives: liberator magazine

New Edition of Liberator (September 2011)

Liberator subscribers have just received the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.348 – September 2011). For those of you who are not yet subscribers, here’s a summary of the contents:

  • The editorial column Commentary contrasts Nick Clegg’s pre-election prediction of riots with the situation now. There is also criticism of the declining proportion of time allocated to policy motions at party conference.
  • The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with an exposé of a ‘policy and strategy’ document prepared by Nick Clegg’s adviser Richard Reeves.
  • ‘Cut the cringe’ – Matthew Oakeshott (former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman in the

Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments

New edition of Liberator

Liberator subscribers have just received the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.347 – August 2011). For those of you who are not yet subscribers, here’s a summary of the contents:

  • The editorial column Commentary looks at the implications of phone-hacking scandal. There is also a call to withdraw the whip from Liberal Democrat peers who oppose reform of the House of Lords.
  • The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with revelations of what went on at a recent ‘awayday’ for Liberal Democrat MPs.
  • ‘Lansley undone’ – John Pugh (Liberal Democrat MP for Southport) says the party has finally found

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New edition of Liberator out

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

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

Liberator: new edition on sale now

Liberator subscribers will be picking up the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.341 – September 2010) this week from the Liberator stall at the Liverpool party conference. For those of you not yet subscribing, here’s a summary of the contents:

  • The editorial column Commentary questions why the Liberal Democrats aren’t fighting their corner within the coalition and carving out a more distinct position. There is also a lament for the ignorance of the media about the Liberal Democrats, likely to be worse than ever in Liverpool because so many media ‘newbies’ will be showing up.

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New edition of Liberator

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.

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New edition of Liberator

If you were in Bournemouth, you may have already picked up a copy of the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.335 – September 2009). It’s a bumper 40-page conference edition, packed with comment from many leading Liberal Democrats.

Here’s a summary of the contents:

• The editorial column Commentary identifies the four key elements of ‘Cleggism’.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin analyses the dispute in the Federal Policy Committee over ‘commitments’ and ‘aspirations’.
• Our lead article ‘Stop, search, listen’ is written by Duwayne Brooks (a Liberal Democrat councillor in Lewisham and author of Steve and Me: My Friendship with Stephen Lawrence and the Search for Justice). He favours stop and search powers, but asks why policing still targets black people.

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New edition of Liberator

The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.334 – July 2009) has just been mailed to subscribers. This month it’s a bumper 32-page crisis edition, packed with comment from many leading Liberal Democrats.

Here’s a summary of the contents:
• The editorial column Commentary considers the Liberal Democrat response to the political crisis. The party must question why it is poor at fighting PR system elections and timid in putting forward its principles and policies.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin examines the circumstances of Chris Rennard’s abrupt resignation as chief executive.
• Our lead article ‘Considering the beam’ is written by Bill le Breton (former chair and president of ALDC), who argues that the Liberal Democrats should scrap their highly centralised Campaigns Department and revive authentic grassroots campaigning.

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New edition of Liberator

The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.333 – May 2009) has just landed on subscribers’ doormats. We went to press just before the MPs’ expenses scandal broke so you’ll search in vain for gratuitous finger-wagging about trouser presses. Instead, here’s a summary of the contents:

• The editorial column Commentary looks at Labour’s poor record on civil liberties and at the prospects of a change in Liberal Democrat policy on replacing Trident.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin questions the robustness of the Liberal Democrats’ European election campaign.
• Our lead article ‘The MP caught in the kettle’ is written by Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who describes his experiences during last month’s G20 demonstrations in the City.
• ‘Never again’ – Dee Doocey (a Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly and the Metropolitan Police Authority) says that the policing of the recent G20 demonstrations was wrong and fundamental reform is needed.

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New edition of Liberator

The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.332 – April 2009) has just been mailed to subscribers. Here’s a summary of the contents:

• The ever popular Commentary editorial considers the Tories’ complicity in the financial crisis and the problem of neoliberal economic dogma.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin leads with an analysis of the continuing internal dispute in Aberdeenshire.
• Our lead article ‘Reconnecting with our radical heritage’ is written by Matthew Sowemimo, Director of the Social Liberal Forum. He explains why the Social Liberal Forum has been created and why it has been launched now.

Posted in News | 7 Comments

Riddell me Clegg

The most recent issue of Liberator magazine mentioned the comments made recently by a senior Lib Dem MP that he felt the party suffered from a ‘Peter Riddell problem’ – that the Lib Dem leadership appears at times desperate to earn the praise of The Times’s senior political commentator, and arch civil servant manque, as a ‘government in waiting’. And in the process the party loses its radical edge and drops its most popular policies.

It’s interesting, then, to read today’s analysis by Mr Riddell of Nick Clegg’s leadership and Lib Dem fortunes ahead of the party’s spring …

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Opinion: We’re a diverse party, get over it already

You do have to wonder who writes the Liberator Magazine Editorial sometimes. In February’s issue, the Collective launch into a fabulously splenetic rant (even by this shy retiring organ’s own standards) against the “blues under the bed” who they demand “should accept (their) defeat and clear off”.

That the majority of Liberator’s editorial board dislike the classical-liberal or economic-liberal or (shudder) right-wing of the party has never been in doubt, but you do wonder if there will be a point, after over 30 years of publication, where this Hamas-like Commentariat will proclaim an acceptance of the rights of the other side to exist, even if they do not always agree with them.

I should note that away from the left-wing sermon that is their editorial and Radical Bulletin they do print a variety of articles and even tolerate token eco-lib Jonathan Calder on their committee; but he is funny and occasionally pretends to be a post-centennial peer, so presumably fulfills some exclusive acceptability criteria of being ‘a bit right’ but Bonkers, and thus in need of some kind of compassionate care in their community.

There has always been a ‘left’ and ‘right’ to this liberal party, and even if the centre of gravity has shifted in response to events, what unites them, internationalism, tolerance, a belief in human rights, the importance of caring for each other and the environment etc., has always been greater than what divides… more often than not tax, spending, and other economic policies.

It is surely evident though, even to Liberator’s most bilious wordsmiths, that their perennial hate figures… Nick Clegg, David Laws, Gavin Grant, Mark Littlewood et. al. have more in common with them than Norman Tebbit and George Galloway?

Their clinching ‘evidence’ to demand for a schism though is the bizarre argument that:

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New edition of Liberator

The latest edition of Liberator magazine has just landed on subscribers’ doormats. Here’s a preview of the contents:

‘Commentary’ editorial praises Nick Clegg for making some bold statements in recent weeks. It concludes: “His recent statements on Gaza, the euro and the City are morally right, clear and distinctive. The party needs more statements like this and less of the PR twaddle.”

• The insider gossip column ‘Radical Bulletin’.

• Our lead article ‘Peace from Gaza’s wreck?’ is written by Jonathan Fryer. He argues that Israel’s real friends must admit that the Middle East conflict cannot have

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New edition of Liberator

The latest edition of Liberator magazine is landing on subscribers’ doormats this week. The consequences of the economic crisis for Liberal Democrat policy feature heavily in this issue. Here’s a preview of the contents:


* The ‘Commentary’
– editorial criticises Lib Dem policing policy as an example of the party lumbering itself with “a policy that is wrong, incomprehensible except to specialists, indistinct from the other parties and likely to be neutral in its electoral impact since voters will be unaware of it.”
* The insider gossip column ‘Radical Bulletin’.
* Our lead article – ‘Please ignore us’ is

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