Tag Archives: recession

Congratulations to Centre Forum

Belated congratulations to Centre Forum, and in particular Giles Wilkes, for winning Prospect Magazines’ Think Tank Publication of the Year Award for A Balancing Act: Fair Solutions to the Modern Debt Crisis.

One of the many things I meant to do this summer was to write a review of this pamphlet.  It is a highly readable account of the financial mess we are in and challenges a lot of assumptions – in particular George Osborne’s apocalyptic insistance that cutting public borrowing is the main priority and that the situation is analogous to where the UK was at in the late-70s/early-80s.  It also proposes the introduction of a property tax – albeit at a higher rate than the one Vince Cable is now proposing.

It is a well deserved award and congratulations to all concerned.

Lynne Featherstone meeting THIS WEDNESDAY

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 attending on that website so we can keep an eye on numbers.

Our meeting the other week with Danny Alexander MP was very constructive (and well attended!). One of the recurrent themes at that discussion was the need to tackle equality and in particular the findings in The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. Social Liberal Forum council member Rev Chris Brice will be hosting a talk with Richard Wilkinson at St Martins Church, Gospel Oak, on Sunday 5 July and would like to extend an invitation to SLF supporters to attend. Details are available at the Flock Together website.