Liberal Conspiracy is a political magazine and discussion site in the form of a multi-author blog.

We aim to bring together and re-invigorate the liberal-left in Britain through discussion and campaigning. To read answers to more such questions, see the Frequently Asked Questions.

Mission Statement

Is Britain run by a vast liberal-left conspiracy? Conservatives are often determined to find such plots stretching from the media and government to public services and other organisations.

Yet the reality suggests otherwise. Not only is public debate in Britain often lacking in left-liberal energy, if there was a vast conspiracy then it is way too disorganised and dysfunctional. Most of us believe in freedom, transparency, human rights, democracy and the public good. But somehow that isn’t what we usually end up with.

We don’t want to define what being part of the liberal-left means because that limits us. We want you to tell us where the liberal-left should be going and why.

Liberal Conspiracy is a space for us to:

1) Have an intelligent conversation about liberal-left ideas and values.
We want to do this by involving commentators from newspapers and magazines, thinkers, analysts, academics and think-tanks, but also ordinary citizens (through blogging) who are too often shut out of this debate.

2) Campaign for liberal-left policies and causes.
The internet helps citizens to get connected, organise and make our voice heard better than ever before. We want to open up a new space for individuals and campaigning groups who support liberal-left causes to come together and make change happen.

3) Get organised.
We can no longer depend solely on political parties, trade unions or fragmented single-issue lobby groups to drive change. The internet gives us new tools to organise ourselves from the grassroots, all around the country. It’s not about replacing older institutions, but building new ones to join them. We want to strengthen democratic liberal-left organisations, local and national, so this movement can be sustained over the long term. We want to be that online hub of information and collaboration.

Contributors

(fuller biogs for each are found on their posts)

Sunny Hundal is editor of Liberal Conspiracy.
Also found at: Comment is free, Pickled Politics / sunnyh*at*liberalconspiracy*dot*org

Aaron Murin-Heath is a writer based in both Tallinn and Newark-on-Trent. He is both socially and economically liberal. His main areas of interest are foreign affairs, culture, technology, and economics.
Also at: tygerland.net / aaronh*at*liberalconspiracy*dot*org

Adam Bienkov is a blogger, journalist and freelance writer living and working in South London. He mostly writes about right-wing politicians and the media but has a special interest in London and the Mayoralty.
Also at: Tory Troll and Comment is free.

Alan T is a blogger.
Also at: Shiraz Socialist

Alix Mortimer is a freelance writer and researcher living in London. She is a Liberal Democrat party member and has been shortlisted for the party’s Campaign for Gender Balance Best Blogger Award 2008.
Also at: The People’s Republic of Mortimer

Cath Elliott is a feminist and a trade union activist. Her main areas of interest are women’s issues; trade unionism; equalities and human rights.
Also at: Comment is free

Chris Dillow is blogger. He lives in Belsize Park and is author of the book The End of Politics: New Labour and the Folly of Managerialism
Also at: Stumbling and Mumbling

Conor Foley is a humanitarian aid worker. He has worked for a variety of human rights and humanitarian aid organizations. His books include Combating Torture: a manual for judges and prosecutors (2003) and A Guide to Property Law in Afghanistan (2005).
Also at: Comment is free

Dave Hill is a novelist, blogger, journalist, married resident of Hackney in east London and father of six children. His novels are about family life.
Also at: Comment is free, London, Mayor & more and Clapton Pond

Dave Osler is a journalist and blogger is likely to touch on politics, business and economics.
Also at: Dave Osler

David Semple is a student, currently studying for a PGCE at Canterbury Christ Church University. He is a member of the British Labour Party and active with the local party.
Also at: Though Cowards Flinch

Davide Simonetti is a London-based blogger with no connection to any political party but is, however, positioned to the left of the current mainstream.
Also at: Nether World, Blairwatch

Douglas Johnson is an angry London student. He recently joined the Greens in disgust at New Labour, and wishes Nye Bevan were still alive. He the editor of Scribo Ergo Sum, a prickly group blog that pisses-off all the right people.

Donald S is travel journalist, editor, author and copywriter. In the wake of the 2005 General Election, he co-founded and edited The Sharpener for a couple of years.
Also at: hackneye, donaldstrachan.com

Garry Smith lives in Aberdeen on the north east coast of Scotland and has nothing much else to declare. He has an interest in politics but no connections to any political party or media organisation.
Also at: Big Sticks and Small Carrotts

Gracchi is a PhD student at Cambridge University working on 17th Century Political Thought. He writes for various websites.
Also at: Westminster Wisdom

Jamie K is a blogger.
Also at: Blood & Treasure

Jennie Rigg is a barmaid with a law degree and has been active on the internet since the early nineties. She dabbles in Web Design, works for AQA on the side.
Also at: The Yorksher Gob

Jess McCabe is the editor of The F Word, an online magazine and blog on contemporary UK feminism. She also works as a journalist covering environmental issues.
Also at: The F Word, Comment is free

Justin McKeating is a Brighton-based writer and blogger. Qualified as a journalist, Justin has written for a number of publications, including the Press Gazette and several local newspapers on the South Coast.
Also at: Chicken Yoghurt, Comment is free

Kate Belgrave is a New Zealander who moved to the UK five years ago. She was a columnist and journalist at the New Zealand Herald and is now a web editor. She spends rest of her time interviewing and writing on issues like public sector cuts, workplace disputes and related topics. Also at: Hangbitch.com

Keith-Kahn-Harris is a research associate at the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths College and the convener of New Jewish Thought.
Also at: Metal Jew and www.kahn-harris.org

Kerron Cross is leader of the Labour Group on Three Rivers District Council, representing South Oxhey; former Vice-Chair of Croxley Green Parish Council and was a school governor at Harvey Road School for 4 years.
Also at: Kerron Cross blog

Lee Griffin is a 20 something web developer from Cornwall now residing in Bristol since completing his degree at the lesser university.
Also at: program your own mind.

Natalie Bennett is a writer and journalist based in London and recently became deputy editor of the Guardian Weekly. She was founder of the Carnival of Feminists and is a Green Party member.
Also at: Comment is free, her blog & personal website

Neil Robertson is a Cambridge graduate whoworks for an engineering consultancy and writes from a liberal-left perspective about social issues, the maddening rightwards lurches of the Labour Party and the need to revitalise grassroots political activism.
Also at: Bleeding Heart Show.

Padraig Reidy is news editor of Index on Censorship and former deputy editor of New Humanist. His work has also featured in the Guardian, the Independent, Tribune, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Post.
Also at: Comment is free, Index on comment

Paul Hilder co-founded the global debate network openDemocracy in 2000, and more recently helped set up Avaaz.org, where he now directs people-powered campaigns on a range of issues - conflicts, climate, global justice and democracy.
Also at: Avaaz

Paul Linford is a digital publishing manager and former Parliamentary Lobby journalist where he was political editor of the Newcastle Journal for seven years. He is also a leading voice in support of an English Parliament and other democratic reforms.
Also at: Paul Linford blog

Robert Sharp is a blogger, and a co-director of digital design company Fifty Nine Productions
Also at his eponymous blog

Septicisle is a pseudonym. He blogs at at Obsolete.

Simon Barrow is a writer, commentator and theologian. He is co-director of the think-tank Ekklesia, which is critical of ‘established religion’, and open towards all who share common commitments on social justice and conflict transformation. Also at: Faith in society

Stroppybird is a Labour party and union member. She blogs at Stroppyblog

Unity is a pseudonym. He is a member of the Labour party.
Also at: Ministry of Truth