This is the opening to my essay on the need to distinguish between criticism of liberalism and the politics of illiberalism, published in the Observer on 5 October 2025. You can read the full version in the Observer. The threat of mass deportations.The erosion of the right to protest. Treating protest groups as terrorists. The enforcement of blasphemy laws through the back door. Imprisonment for offensive slogans and tweets. The growth of ethnonationalist accounts of belonging. Much of contemporary policymaking and […]

Categories: Class, Justice & Liberties, Politics • Tags: broken social contract, cb mcpherson, illiberalism, individualism, john locke, john stuart mill, liberal norms, liberalism, neoliberalism, possessive individualism, property rights, putney debates, social contract, thatcherism, william wilberforce, working class