Opinion: The tyranny of the state and my conversion to social liberalism
I came into politics thirty years ago believing that the abolition of nuclear weapons, private education, health care and a massive expansion of the public sector represented a socialist programme that...
View ArticleOpinion: further curbs on unions are wrong and counterproductive
As someone who has been a trade union member since the age of 16 and a representative for almost as long I follow with interest any new developments in industrial relations in our country. Employment...
View ArticleOpinion: Trade unions, pensions and Labour
I have been following very closely the pensions dispute as it unfolds and one of my concerns is public sector workers could lose a lot of pay through strike action in what I am starting to believe is a...
View ArticleOpinion: Crisis in our social care system, a personal memoir
There is a crisis in our social care system and it needs addressing as a matter of urgency. I made a public call for cross party talks on social care following an interview on BBC Radio Berkshire last...
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The Independent View: Where Next for Royal Mail?
With privatisation done and dusted it was inevitable that the debate about Britain’s postal service would move beyond the public vs private argument. Royal Mail is now a private company and is likely...
View ArticleOpinion: A life after caring
There are an estimated six million carers in the UK and the system is struggling to provide them with the support they need. I have written previously about my experience, in which I abruptly had to...
View ArticleOpinion: The Trade Union and Workplace Reforms Debate
The issue of the unions and strikes is back in the political arena. I have lost count of the number of times in recent years that the Tories have called for participation thresholds in industrial...
View ArticleOpinion: Thoughts on some Liberal candidates past and present
The first General Election I can remember was in 1979, when as a fifteen year old I was starting to really get interested in politics. In my village and constituency (Henley) the Tories were well...
View ArticleOpinion: What’s in a name ?
View image | gettyimages.com Having recently finished reading a biography of Charles Kennedy, which covered the merger of the Liberal Party and SDP in detail, I pondered for some time on the...
View ArticleOpinion: The Liberal Democrats are setting the agenda on health and social care
View image | gettyimages.com As the General Election campaign gathers pace all parties are focusing on the future of our NHS and social care, but it is the Liberal Democrats who are setting the...
View ArticleOpinion: A golden handshake
Jonny Smith, the principal character in Stephen King’s ‘The Dead Zone’, awakes from a coma with the power to see into a person’s future by touching them. It starts in hospital where he forsees a...
View ArticleOpinion: The Betting Industry and Animal Welfare
The proliferation of betting shops in our high streets and the associated issue of the amounts gambled on high stakes gaming machines have been the subject of intense political debate recently. The...
View ArticleOpinion: What if ?
View image | gettyimages.com In February 1974 Edward Heath called a snap General Election in response to a second miners’ strike in three years. Heath famously posed the election as a decision on...
View ArticleOpinion: The future of pensioner benefits
Our pensioners quite rightly enjoy a number of benefits and it was of course a Liberal government that introduced the old age pension over a century ago. As part of the coalition it was a Lib Dem...
View ArticleA liberal century
View image | gettyimages.com In many ways the 20th century could be described as a socialist one. Internationally parties using that label emerged gaining electoral strength, or in some cases,notably...
View ArticleWhat a mess – the Labour leadership election
A lot of fellow Liberals, and indeed those from right across the political spectrum, will share my view that the current Labour Party leadership election has descended into farce. The question is how...
View ArticleTime to evaluate the privatisation of Royal Mail
View image | gettyimages.com The privatisation of Royal Mail was mooted by all the main political parties and finally happened under the last government. Like a lot of the public sector, our postal...
View ArticleWe need more blue collar Liberals
View image | gettyimages.com There is plenty of debate across the political spectrum about how unrepresentative of the overall population our elected politicians are. Much of this discussion focuses...
View ArticleLet’s get some national campaigns going on issues the voters care about
Our Party is all about campaigning. It is what saved the old Liberal Party from extinction and what sustains us in difficult times. I know local parties up and down the country are running campaigns on...
View ArticleBlair’s other legacy
It is inevitable given that it became the issue that defined his premiership – the failed invasion of Iraq will be seen as Blair’s great legacy. He got plenty of other things wrong too, but for all his...
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