Tag Archives: thinking

Paul Reynolds

Reform the Reformers – Part 3, The Search for a ‘Big Idea’

By Paul Reynolds | Mon 30th July 2018 - 12:19 pm

Liberal Democrat activists will be familiar with two apparently contradictory refrains.

One is that Liberal Democrats should pursue what is morally right for the country, regardless of public opinion. The other is that ‘no-one ever voted Lib Dem because of our policy on (… insert obscure policy…)’.

The point of the latter refrain is that the public’s problem-solving priorities should dominate policymaking effort.

There is another, potentially reconciling, refrain; that liberal democracy in the UK needs a new popular ‘big idea’. Opposition to the Iraq war is a common reference point, a major contributor to Liberal Democrats having 60+ MPs in the Commons. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Simon Robinson
    'One Nation Liberals' sounds an interesting group, but googling to find out about them draws pretty much a complete blank, apart from a Guardian article about C...
  • Mark Smulian
    Good to see Attila Borzak still active in the party (see Bosmere above). I recall him from London Liberal Party in the mid-1980s when he was also one of the ver...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thanks to Tom Arms and Matt Wardman for the relevant and interesting article and comment. In short, might it be that the USA opposes the U. N. because its ba...
  • Chloe
    Paul; At that rate are you suggesting Reform will struggle to hold onto their remaining MPs at the next election ? I understand you're narrative, but let's not ...
  • Nonconformistradical
    Jason Connor asks a fair question:- "I do wonder what level of support these LD candidates are getting. Did leaflets go out or just paper candidates?" Were ...