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A Social Liberal response to an unjust Conservative budget
July 09, 2015 7:01 AM
On Wednesday, George Osborne delivered the first Conservative only budget for almost two decades. The budget had many true blue Conservative policies in it on welfare and taxation; as well as a so-called "national living wage". Above all else this budget represented an attack on some of the most vulnerable...
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Annual Beveridge Lecture delivered by Claire Tyler
July 06, 2015 2:02 PM
Annual Beveridge Lecture delivered by Claire Tyler at the Social Liberal Forum Conference - 4 July 2015
May I start by saying what a great honour it is to have been asked to deliver this year’s Beveridge Lecture. I’m conscious that I’m following in some rather illustrious footsteps – Nick,...
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The future of the Liberal Democrats
June 29, 2015 10:31 AM
If you are attending the SLF conference you may have read an e-mail discussion about re-booting Liberalism and seen a lot of interesting ideas put into the ring. I am a member of the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists (ALDES) and a week or so earlier we...
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Equality - of Opportunity or of Outcome?
June 24, 2015 10:12 AM
The website of the centre-right-leaning Liberal think tank Liberal Reform used to say prominently, as though it was generally agreed, that Liberals believe in equality of opportunity and not equality of outcome. It’s still not unusual to meet people who suppose this is accepted Liberal Democrat doctrine. There is...
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Liberal reform of capitalism
June 22, 2015 4:39 PM
What is to be done about the corrosively increasing and much talked about inequality of wealth in our country? Conservatives will and UKIP would make it even worse by increasing the exemptions from Inheritance Tax or by abolishing the tax altogether, while other parties, given half a chance, switch the...
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The Liberal Case for Affirmative Action
June 15, 2015 12:22 PM
I joined the Liberal Democrats in 2008 after being inspired by a Barack Obama speech on democratic engagement during his first campaign. At the time I was Editor of an African and Caribbean newspaper reporting on UK politics every day. The Lib Dems were not the obvious party to join...Hope begins with our 108
June 11, 2015 6:27 PM
The disappointment of the election of 2015 will fade in time and the reality of a lone Conservative leadership will reveal its true blue. The previous benefits of mixing yellow with blue allowed great green achievements, like raising environmental concerns up the political agenda - where policies about sustainable living...
Tributes to Charles Kennedy
June 07, 2015 7:52 PM
Members of the SLF Council share their tributes to Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy was leader when I joined the Party as a student at Leeds University. David Hall-Matthews, a former Chair of the Social Liberal Forum, was the Leeds North West candidate in the 2001 General Election, and so I...
Charles Kennedy - thank you and may you rest in peace
June 02, 2015 7:29 AM
It is with immense sadness that we awake today to the news that former Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy has died. Tributes will follow, but for now, he will for many be best remembered for his work in trying to prevent the war in Iraq. We have reproduced below, his...
