http://new-progressive.com A journal of progressive liberalism. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:34:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There are reasons why liberalism has always exalted the importance of education. For a free society to function, educated citizens are needed who can think and act for themselves, for their familes and communities, and for the common good. An ignorant population will always in the end be ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/10/on-democracy-and-ignorance/ Donald Douglas strikes a chord with this comment on the political exploitation of 9/11:I admit, Rachel Maddow is infuriating. She basically spouts off netroots lies as fact and assumes she's got some kind of wisdom from on high. It's always pretty pathetic, but it's especially bad to hear her attack ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/09/trivialising-murder/ Good grief. Now this. In case anyone is seriously worried about the threat of a boycott of Scottish or British goods by Americans, the original website is this amateurish effort. I won't be quaking in my boots just yet, thank you.Why did MacAskill and the Scottish National Party desire so ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/08/the-scottish-boycott/ I'm clearly the only "neocon" blogger on the planet to have supported the release of Megrahi (if this doesn't get me expelled from the union altogether). In the circumstances a rethink is called for. So I've rethought and I still think the same as before. Quick recap of my ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/08/compassion-when-possible-revenge-when-necessary/ U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman stepped into the row about the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi earlier in the week to add their voices to the growing demands, especially from America, that Megrahi be left in prison to die of cancer, rather than be allowed to return ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/08/megrahi/ The people have spoken, and the politicians have ignored them. Again. Labour "won" less than 16% of the vote on a turnout of 34%. About 5% of the electorate (that's one out of twenty people on the electoral register, folks) turned out to vote for the government party last Thursday. ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/06/anti-politics-2/ Time to break the long silence.I've got very mixed feelings about the current expenses furore. I've said before on this blog that not all of the expenses scandals that have come up before the Telegraph started its massive campaign of exposure have really excited my indignation particularly. Some ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/05/on-expenses/ I was shocked to learn this morning of the resignation of the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali. This is a massive blow to the Church of England, which has little enough credibility as it is. There are, effectively, only two Bishops of the established Church who make a regular and ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/03/michael-nazir-ali-resigns/ The Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has suspended ties with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in a row about a statement signed by one of its leaders, Daud Abdullah, which appears to countenance the use of violence against British forces:Blears has suspended official links with the MCB over allegations that ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/03/cutting-ties-with-the-mcb/ Sadie Smith has a thing or two to say about Jon Cruddas' call for proportional representation:Firstly, there's the brain-wangling contention that to thwart the BNP we should actually work on getting more of them elected:"First-past-the-post actually increases support for marginal parties such as the BNP because it allows Labour to ... http://new-progressive.com/2009/03/proportional-representation-and-the-bnp/