Tag Archives: race plan

Joe Otten

Full steam ahead on infrastructure

By Joe Otten | Wed 23rd July 2014 - 1:16 pm

Tim Farron Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul WalterOne thing that struck me about Tim Farron’s Beveridge lecture last Saturday was the scale of his ambition for investment in infrastructure.

Conservatives have often talked about their admiration of Victorian values – if only they really did admire those values, because Victorian values included ambition to build an infrastructure, to create a transport, communications and logistics backbone to our economy, to make a difference, to see a problem and not worry about whether fixing it would fit with your ideology, but to just get on and fix it.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 34 Comments
Jeremy Browne MP

Jeremy Browne MP responds to LDV debates about his book

By Jeremy Browne MP | Thu 24th April 2014 - 1:32 pm

Screen Shot 2014-03-09 at 08.06.08 Liberal Democrats LibbyThank you to everyone on Lib Dem Voice who has taken the trouble to comment on my book ‘Race Plan’. It is healthy to have an active debate about how our liberalism can be applied to address the big political events of our time. I am appreciative of the favourable comments; I also thought it might be of interest (and good manners) to respond to some of the main criticisms and themes that emerged on LDV.

Timing of publication

The timing was determined by the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 102 Comments
Mark Pack

Jeremy Browne, South Korea and ‘Race Plan’

By Mark Pack | Tue 22nd April 2014 - 11:37 am

jeremy browne_Reform_Race_plan_coverIs Jeremy Browne really a secret lover of state intervention and a sceptic of free markets, believing in big state spending, government economic planning and regular intervention in the market? For all of the veneer of free marketeering in his book Race Plan, not to mention his choice of Reform as the publisher, it’s a question that comes to mind because in-between praising specific free market, small state policies, Browne regularly praises the results of governments such as the Chinese and the South Koreans, who are anything but.

It’s his praise of South Korea that is the most intriguing, for China can simply be put to one side as dramatic but its own unique case (though, as Stephen Tall has said, it is still an odd example for Jeremy Browne to trumpet).

South Korea is, as Browne rightly points out, seen by many developing countries as the one to emulate, transforming itself from a poor dictatorship to a wealthy democracy with globally successful industries in less than half of one person’s life time.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books and Op-eds | Also tagged | 17 Comments
Stephen Howse

Opinion: Liberalism – it’s not a set of policies, it’s a state of mind

By Stephen Howse | Tue 15th April 2014 - 10:49 am

8-5-10: They didA couple of things have struck me in the wake of the publication of Race Plan, Jeremy Browne’s personal liberal manifesto.

Don’t worry – this isn’t an article about the book itself. We’ve had enough of those over the last few days (as I write this, the top 5 most read articles on LDV are about it!) – I’d wager there have been more angry comments about the book on LibDemVoice than there are people who have actually read the thing.

Rather, this article concerns the nature of Liberalism.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 71 Comments
Stephen Tall

Jeremy Browne’s ‘Race Plan’. I’ve read it, so here’s my review…

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th April 2014 - 8:00 am

Jeremy Browne bookThree points to make right from the start about Jeremy Browne’s new book, Race Plan.

First, it’s a wholly Good Thing that a Lib Dem MP is choosing to think aloud, to set out clearly his views. Nick Clegg having decided that he did, after all, like one of the Beecroft recommendations and decided to fire-at-will his home office minister, Jeremy could have slunk away, tail between his legs, to nurse his bitterness. He’s chosen a rather more constructive outlet for his disappointment. By which I mean this book, rather than his short-lived, C.19th-throwback, gap year beard.

Secondly, there is a fundamental problem with the central conceit of this book: that Britain is in a global race, and that if we don’t get fitter, we’ll be overtaken by or competitors in the coming Asian Century, fall behind, and become poorer.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books, News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 59 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Browne and his plan for the privileged

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th April 2014 - 8:46 pm

Eton college sign. Photo by Paul WalterOver the last couple of days, discussion of Jeremy Browne’s new book has caused, it’s fair to say, a bit of controversy on this site. Race Plan, contains ideas which make some liberals dance with joy and others wince. We previewed it yesterday and Nick Thornsby has produced an extremely well written review. You might well disagree with it, but he presents his arguments knowledgeably and respectfully.

I have not read this book. I probably will, but it’ll take a wee while before it gets anywhere near the top of my “must read” list. I do, however, feel that I know enough of its contents from Jeremy’s Daily Politics video, various press articles and, of course,  Nick’s review.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 106 Comments
Nick T

Book review: Jeremy Browne’s ‘Race Plan’

By Nick T | Wed 9th April 2014 - 12:54 pm

Jeremy Browne - Some rights reserved by Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeJeremy Browne spent just over three years as a government minister following the formation of the coalition in 2010, first in the Foreign Office, where his responsibilities included Britain’s relations with countries in Pacific Asia and Latin America, and latterly in the Home Office. However, reading his new book, Race Plan: An authentic liberal plan to get Britain fit for ‘The Global Race’, it does not take long to discover which of these offices had the biggest influence on his political outlook.

Because while the detail of the book focusses primarily on domestic policy, the theme that pulls it together, which provides its context, is Britain’s role in a rapidly-changing, globalising world.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 88 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Nell
    As an autistic person, I am glad to see this hypocrisy being spoke about, and called out for the patriarchal nonsense that it is. Your analogy of the same all...
  • Simon R
    @Jude: That's a false comparison. The fact that gender-critical views are protected doesn't stop you from accessing medical treatment. It simply means that I c...
  • Joseph Bourke
    The 2010 US Supreme court ruling in the Citizens United case has seen spending on federal elections balloon tenfold over the past 15 years from around $550 mill...
  • Nigel Jones
    Some good comments about equality and beliefs, but freedom of expression is also an issue and there are a few people even within this party who want to silence...
  • Jenny Barnes
    Unfortunately there won't be any growth. We need to make things better without it....