OPINION

Author: Katharine Pindar

Almost 80 years ago in November 1942, Sir William Beveridge, working for the coalition government during the Second World War, produced a report, Social Insurance and Allied Services. It promised, he said, “a comprehensive policy of social progress”, to restore the country when the war should end. He identified ‘five giants’ to be confronted on the road to reconstruction: Want, Disease, Squalor, Ignorance and Idleness. Being himself an expert in social insurance, he determined that all citizens should be assured of a sufficient income at all times, working or not, for a small weekly contribution. There would also be children’s allowances, and comprehensive medical treatment and rehabilitation, all to be paid for by the state.

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Author: Dr Julian Huppert

Liberalism is a powerful political philosophy. Liberals have been responsible for transforming society in the UK and around the world. However, liberal governments are few and far between, and there is no one alive in the UK who remembers a Liberal Government.

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Author: Stephen J Richmond

We worry about government spending, is it money well spent? Is it hurting the economy? What we rarely do is take a step back and remind ourselves of the logic behind those questions. Why do we worry about government spending and how should Liberals think about it in a way that maximises human Liberty? We normally agree some government spending is good, how do we tell the difference between "good" and "bad" spending?

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Author: Paul Hindley

From Trump’s America to Putin’s Russia and from Bolsonaro’s Brazil to the streets of Hong Kong, liberalism faces its greatest challenge in decades. The future of viable liberal democracy in some EU member states is in doubt, as Poland and Hungary lurch towards authoritarianism. While Brexit Britain has become the poster boy for the world’s populist nationalists.

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Author: Rabina Khan

Drug, Gang and Knife Crime is Not a Class Issue – It’s a Collective One

Tower Hamlets Councillor, Rabina Khan, argues we need to re-think our entire understanding of drug, gang and knife crime and to start hearing the voices of those whose lives are most affected.

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Author: Stuart White

What role for Citizens’ Assemblies?

 

Citizens’ Assemblies are receiving increased attention as a tool for addressing some of the most pressing problems facing us. Here the Oxford University academic, Stuart White examines the case for their use against the backdrop of a UK democracy that isn’t working.

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"No-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity" - The Case for UBI

 Author: Adam Bernard 

On Friday, September 25th, the Liberal Democrat Conference voted overwhelmingly to support a Universal Basic Income (UBI). UBI is now Liberal Democrat policy.  This article formed the opening speech to the policy motion debate at the conference.

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Author: Jon Alexander

The Co-Founder of the New Citizenship Project discusses the politics of agency and the need to reinvent democracy and move beyond meritocracy. Originally published in 2019.

In October 2008 Iceland’s three largest banks went bankrupt in the course of three days. The stock market plummeted, and as the extent of corruption became clear, trust in every aspect of the national establishment went with it. What became known as the ‘pots and pans revolution’ brewed over five months, resulting in the resignations of the government, the head of the Central Bank, and the director of the Financial Supervisory Authority. Soon there were criminal convictions for many of those involved.

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