tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post1173236864972414996..comments2024-02-10T12:12:06.028+00:00Comments on The Real Blog: The new frontiersDavid Boylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11410159311875228620noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-50644830225920804492009-11-03T22:42:00.947+00:002009-11-03T22:42:00.947+00:00You may be too kind. The climate change policy is...You may be too kind. The climate change policy is getting out of date in many areas - it's fast moving debate and the party is struggling to keep up, let alone lead. You may like to have a look at my letter in the latest Lib Dem News.Neil Stockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11049181290242914014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-38053361484152508852009-11-01T20:16:36.268+00:002009-11-01T20:16:36.268+00:00Information about the lectures is at http://www.sc...Information about the lectures is at http://www.schumacher.org.uk/schumacher_event.php?event_id=1<br /><br />But I don't think the lectures themselves are up anywhere yet.<br /><br />Perhaps political parties can never be, by their very nature, in the forefront of new thinking. But if they are going to have any chance of electoral success, they need to be at the heart of debate about new thinking, and especially for third parties.<br /><br />This is a real problem for Lib Dems right now. Partly because they are now too knitted into the Westminster agenda and Westminster life, they are generally speaking not part of the latest debates.<br /><br />Nor are they really leading the old Liberal ones. They are leaving a number of keys on the old Liberal organ unplayed, which is a pity - I don't, for example, see much interest in the implications of diversity for economics, or education, or health at the moment. <br /><br />They are closer to the forefront of debate on the environment than anything else, and your (Neil's) chairmanship of the climate change policy has a great deal to do with that...David Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11410159311875228620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-18055501499968796782009-11-01T19:35:14.441+00:002009-11-01T19:35:14.441+00:00I find it hard to think of many areas where the Li...I find it hard to think of many areas where the Lib Dems are "out in front", with new thinking. I put this up as a commment on someone's post on Lib Dem Voice a week or so back, but am not aware that anyone had an answer. Maybe the party is feeling comfortable and (self?) satisfied.<br /><br />Can you let me know the details for the new Schumacher lectures?<br /><br />NNeil Stockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11049181290242914014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-84713352114069661722009-10-22T21:35:58.590+01:002009-10-22T21:35:58.590+01:00I'm not saying that we are going to go beyond ...I'm not saying that we are going to go beyond tax and spend. But I am saying that politics is now very much broader than that. We have left behind the old Fabian assumption that tax and spend is all there is - as if it was obvious that everything we spend money on now is justified, and the systems sensible.<br /><br />It seems to me, just as far as public services are concerned, that we are spending a great deal of money on things we shouldn't be spending money on - and not spending on things we urgently need to. If it was all about how high the income tax is, we never get to discuss that.David Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11410159311875228620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4169740113013066976.post-1201401262542811312009-10-19T21:55:59.268+01:002009-10-19T21:55:59.268+01:00Well I'm told that you're at the forefront...Well I'm told that you're at the forefront of this new thinking, so therefore we are.<br /><br />But do you really have an alternative to taxing and spending? I would be happy to hear it.Joe Ottenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18380362092159905533noreply@blogger.com