OPINION

Both Sunder Katwala and Grant Shapps are quite wrong: not only is local variation a price more than worth paying for local control, but it would end the phenomena of postcode lotteries. "Postcode lottery" is a

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Steve Webb MP will be amongst those responding to Jon Cruddas at the Compass Summer Lecture on the future of Social Democracy.

On the one hand with the crisis of capitalism and the systemic failure of free markets, coupled with the election of Barack Obama in the United States, centre-left politics is getting far more interesting and it would seem that the opportunity for seismic change is greater now than at any point for a generation, indeed some including Compass have called this

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Dear friend, With Parliament now in recess for the rest of the summer, the Social Liberal Forum is gearing up for the conference season. We are also looking to growing our network, especially outside London. But to do that, we need your help. Would you like a speaker for your local party or student group? Would you like to know if there are any other social liberals living near you? Now is the ideal time to get involved. A Fresh Start – what do you think? The Lib Dems' p

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Matthew Sowemimo, Director of the Social Liberal Forum, has written a new opinion piece on Liberal Democrat Voice arguing for the party not to be timid in the way it presents its agenda:

The party’s pre-election manifesto – A Fresh Start for Britain – is based around strong themes and ones that have t

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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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