Liberalism in the papers

Will one of the best things, in terms of our politics, to emerge from the recession and Lindsey's Total mess be a recovery of freedom on a wider front? Just as the fight for civil liberties has to get tougher, so perhaps our broadsheets will begin to be more vocal in their economic liberalism. Here is a brief round-up of some of the best recent editorialising.

Today's Independent editorial declares itself openly: Our leaders must make the case for economic liberalism. I was glad to hear both Ken Clarke and Lord Mandelson take that side when talking about Lindsey.

On much the same subject, Dominic Lawson points out the political relationships at work here: Nationalism has its roots in socialism as well as fascism. Actually, what he argued—correctly—was that fascism has its roots in socialism as well as nationalism, and that was not even his main point.

In the Telegraph, Boris Johnson argues: If we put a brake on free trade, the world will skid into a crash. Just as a driver's natural instinct on ice is liable to get him killed, so a government's natural instinct in recession is liable to drive us into penury.

At the beginning of the Lindsey saga, the Times' leader writer dealt with the topic of: British Jobs and British Workers. The leader proves that I am not the only person who has noticed that every worker not only takes a job but also creates work.

Today in the Times, David Aaronovitch observes: Fabricated fear and loathing in Lincolnshire.

A few days ago, before Lindsey became an issue, Camilla Cavendish called for the Government to: Lift the barriers blocking the rescue party. To get ourselves out of economic crisis, we do not need more government meddling, but freedom for entrepreneurs.

And now for something completely different…

Yesterday, the Telegraph's Iain Martin blogged: Snow, strikes, Labour in office and a PM which has never won an election. This is uncanny about three hours after I had made a very similar observation. That just goes to prove, you get the same kind of insightful analysis here as in the Telegraph, only I do so free of charge.