Liberal Democrats have become deeply conservative about public services

Not my words, but those of David Boyle and Simon Titley who have co-authored an alternative policy paper called 'Really facing the future' which has been published through the offices of Liberator magazine. It's certainly an analysis I agree with and have blogged previously about in context of the Lib Dems' response to the current NHS reforms.

I don't agree with all of it - but it poses some significant questions for Liberal Democrats (and indeed all politicians) - this one is particularly apposite:

Because there is another problem here, which lies behind the policy vacuum. It is that the whole concept of political parties is beginning to unravel as membership and commitment shrinks. A sizeable proportion of the population is actively opposed to the whole idea of politics.

It deserves a wide circulation and I hope the party leadership and policy making bureaucracy take it seriously.