This is a wonderful contrast to our recent habit of being as nuanced as we can to try to avoid upsetting people. It’s an antidote to the paint by numbers, soulless, brand based, dull centrist mush that we have been prone to cling to. Maybe one day we’ll learn that subtlety never won anything and that we need the sort of liberal heart and sprit that The Generous Society contains.
It has some superb illustrations and does not pull its punches:
No economist can calculate the beauty and wonder lost from our world because of the restrictions our society has placed on the freedom to create and contribute. We must reduce the burden on those who want the dignity and peace that comes with a secure, well-paid job – but instead find themselves ripped off, spied on, or otherwise mistreated by their employers. In a liberal society, you will not have to spend excessive physical and mental energy on basic needs.
I also liked the acknowledgement that in a liberal society, we recognise that there will be a small amount of abuse of social security systems, but that the wider aim of ensuring that people have enough to meet their basic needs is more important.
In a fringe meeting on Friday, Julian Huppert chaired a discussion between Polly Mackenzie of Demos, Ailbhe Rea of the New Statesman and Generous Society author Tom King.
You can watch it here.
Ailbhe Rea said that her experience of her first Lib Dem conference was that we had a whole stack of policy but no underpinning vision.
George Thomas "Of course, devolution cannot simply mean moving responsibilities without resources. Local leaders need meaningful fiscal powers, long-term funding settlements ...
George Thomas Greater devolution without greater funding is a poisoned chalice and that is what's being offered in Wales. That and sly digs at the Senedd.
Then it leads t...
William Wallace I think I became a Liberal from listening to sermons of the social gospel when I was a choirboy. But the social gospel of the New Testament is a very long way ...
Nick Baird I would add to David Evans' valid concerns above. We are facing reverse-devolution via the abolition of our local (firmly Lib Dem controlled) Borough Council. W...
Mick Taylor @Jana. I am a lifelong Liberal Democrat and a Quaker. I am a believer in the Quaker Peace testimony and this means that I differ from the party on ways to achie...
On Lib Dem Voice: 
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
A shocking abuse of the legal system where the rich try to bully the weak and poor into submission
The Joy of Six 1540
Are we doing enough to insure against climate change?
Brexit: The Uncivil War - the TV drama with Benedict Cumberbatch
George Thomas 
William Wallace 
Nick Baird 
Mick Taylor 