OPINION

This is just a short reminder that our discussion evening with Lynne Featherstone MP will be taking place this Wednesday. Title: After the recession, a different future Date: Wednesday 1 July 2009 Time: 7.30pm-8.30pm Location: Room Q, Portcullis House, Westminster, SW1A 2JR Full details are available on the Flock Together website. Please confirm if you are likely to be a

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Richard Grayson, Chair of the Social Liberal Forum joined people from across the political spectrum today calling for: "On the day of the next general election, there should be a binding referendum on whether to change to a more proportional electoral system. This should be drawn up by a large jury of randomly selected citizens, given the time and information to deliberate on what voting system and other changes would make Parliament more accountable to citizens." See the full text of

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British society is perceived to be more unequal than ever with socio-economic status having as much if not more of an effect on a child’s future than ever before.  The link between social and educational inequality has been assumed in policy for many years, with a good education seen almost universally as a way of accessing a better quality of life. This may well still be true, particularly in areas where education is not universal, but it now seems that the reforms that were introduced in weste

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When I was 16 I joined the Labour Party for much the same reasons Daniel Clarke did; now the former Labour PPC for Eastleigh has joined the Liberal Democrats because he feels that our policies best advance the causes he cares passionately about, social justice, the environment and above all moving towards a Britain of ‘opportunity for all’. One thing I think we still

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By the time Alistar Darling rose to deliver his speech Prime Ministers Questions had already set the tone with David Cameron undermining the government’s projections at every opportunity and Nick Clegg questioning the record of delivery on pledges of ‘one million new jobs’. Darling had an impossible task because the media narrative of a government ‘ready for the knackers-yard’, as Cameron puts it, is already pretty well-established but even by a

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The Social Liberal Forum will be hosting a fringe event at this years Compass Conference; No Turning Back – building a new political economy for the 21st century. The Conference will be held on the 13th June at the Institute of Education in London Running in the afternoon slot the SLF session is titled Work and Happiness: Democracy and Work-Life Balance. Register for the Conference on the Compass website, come along and join the debate.

The Ideas Factory is a chance for you to pitch your own idea of what should be in the next Liberal Democrat manifesto. The proposal here is not the policy of the Social Liberal Forum. We will however be passing it - and the response it generates - onto the Manifesto Working Group.

The Proposal

Richard Church: Public services are now more accountable to inspectors than they are to the public th

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I very much welcome the challenge laid down by David Boyle to the Social Liberal Forum. Indeed, there is very little in it with which I can disagree. In particular, I share the view held by David that the view that ‘everything can be solved by tax and spending’ is mistaken. I strongly believe that we need a revolution in the way that decisions are made in this country, and that we need to take a totally different approach,

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