I recently spoke at a fabulous event in Birmingham organised by the Liberty League. Called the Liberty League Forum and hosted for 100 young people and students, my brief was to provide a rousing conclusion to what had clearly been a very successful three days of lectures and leadership training.
There were many things I enjoyed about this event and three are worthy of comment. First, I thought the audience was terrific. Lots of new faces, lots of people from different backgrounds and not too many young-Tory-fogey types! Second, I liked the way the audience enjoyed radical ideas and the spirit of pushing at boundaries. Academia is often too conservative and narrow these days. Too often, university reading lists fail to provide students with the rounded and challenging exposure to ideas that so many of them love. Finally, I thought the organisation was excellent. Supported by key players at the Institute of Economic Affairs, The Freedom Association and the Adam Smith Institute, I thought the range of speakers, the subjects chosen and all the underpinning logistics were excellent.
This is important because as a member of the Liberty League’s Advisory Board, my understanding is that they want to unite the young free market movement in a way that has never been achieved before. Using social media platforms, holding seminars and major conferences, they want to take the ideas of classical liberalism and liberty to a new generation. Wonderful.
Great news!