Just finished reading ...

How to be a liberal, by Ian Dunt. I only have two issues with it; the title, which doesn’t do it justice, and the length - it could have been longer and given more time to bridging past and present.

His basic argument is simple. Early modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Mills placed the individual at the heart of rational society and in so doing created a massive debate about the tension between the needs of a person and the needs of the collective. Feudal ideas were swept away but revolutions in England and France showed how difficult it was to achieve a balance between the individual and society. Then revolutions in industrialisation made the individual subservient to machines and processes and advances in economics sought to explain and manage the consequences of this - from Adam Smith through to Keynes, Hayek and Friedman. 

The twentieth century showed how some states - such as Nazi Germany and soviet Russia - used totalitarianism to destroy and manipulate the individual. In the twenty first century new and sinister figures undermined both individuals and the fragile social contract through manipulation of the newly developed World Wide Web and social media, which are themselves manipulating people through data analysis and advertising. Far from liberating people, the internet has acted to narrow thinking, manipulate it and use it to achieve a new form of authoritarianism in places like Hungary.  The refugee crisis is an example of how lies can determine perceptions and change the course of events. Trump in the US and Farage, Johnson & Cummings in the UK used the same tactics to manipulate the national psyche. Truth and reason itself were under assault. The liberal idea - of societies based on humanistic regard for the individual balanced against the needs of the collective - was threatened by this, and by identity politics which had itself emerged from the failure to address issues of discrimination and forced people into smaller tribes. Both left and right wings in politics need to accept that they have failed to properly develop the social contract and give voice and agency to minorities.

In short, to be a liberal is to reject totalitarianism in both its old and new forms and to find a way of supporting individuals to balance their unique voice with that of communities - in a way that means marginalised groups are included and reason and truth are themselves defended.

Brilliant book. The fact that I could write that review so easily is mainly due to the way Ian Dunt writes so clearly and effectively. Do go get a copy.

As for the rest:

Boris Johnson announced a new national lockdown.

I had a very good session with my optician who is making me some new glasses with prismatic lenses to correct my blurred vision.

I had a really good day that included some "me time" alongside domestic duty. I successfully managed to balance my personal needs with those of the collective ...