Liberalism: The Life of an Idea by Edmund Fawcett review – what is a liberal?

Gladstone, Lloyd George … Bernie Sanders? This remarkable book about a still controversial body of thought helps us understand not just the positions of philosophers but the actions of politicians

In Tom Stoppard’s screenplay for Fred Schepisi’s movie of John Le Carré’s book, The Russia House, an American intelligence officer is interrogating a dishevelled English publisher, Bartholomew Scott Blair, about his political background.

“Your background is fairly liberal, isn’t it, Mr Blair?”

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