THE NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY supports localism (1).  Localism is a belief that supports the local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identity.

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The online Cambridge Dictionary (2) describes localism as ‘the idea that people should have control over what happens in their local area, that local businesses should be supported, and that differences between places should be respected.’

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With the above in mind, it can be safely said that localism can be summed up in the slogan Small is Beautiful!

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Our economic ideas also reflect our belief in, and support for, localism.  We’re probably best known for our support of local shops.  A quick look at the NLPs web-site – http://nationalliberal.org/ – Twitter feed – Twitter/NationalLiberal and and two Facebook sites – Facebook/National Liberals & Facebook/National Liberal Party – will demonstrate this.  Indeed, virtually every day our Twitter feed encourages folks to Shop Local as well as supporting the following groups:

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• Local Self-Employed Workers,

• Local Independent Traders,

• Local Small Businesses,

• Local Shops,

• Local Entrepreneurs,

• Local Co-Operatives,

• Local Social Enterprises and

• Local Micro-Businesses

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Our social and economic ideas support localism and are also rooted in the slogan Small is Beautiful! For instance, we favour organic, self-sustaining communities living in harmony with nature. Thus we favour a greater empthasis on rural living – a return to the land – as opposed to cramming more and more people into teeming cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester and so on.

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Economically, we are inspired by many – and varied – ideas.  An article entiled The Economic Roots and influences of National Liberalism (in issue 1 of New Horizon – the ideological journal of the National Liberal Party) noted:

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‘Some of these influences – and the people who have promoted them – include, the liberal national interpretation of classical liberal free trade, the progressive yet pragmatic Liberal National party approach to labour relations and economic affairs e.g. Earnest Brown’s tenure as Minister for Labour or even earlier, Lord Rosebery’s call for Britain to become (and Britons to be part of) a ‘great property-owning democracy’. Then there are ‘visionary’ ideas such as the Distributism of GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, monetary reform ideas (including elements of Social Credit), even some early socialists such as Kier Hardie and Bob Blatchford and Guild Socialism (as advocated by the likes of William Morris, GDH Cole and Arthur Penty). The ideas of the Co-operative movement, the Chartists and Levelers and support for small businesses and shopkeepers, and some libertarian economists, are also of interest.

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Therefore, it could be said that our economic ideological roots represent a synthesis of various radical, free-thinking ideas that seek to offer a genuine alternative to orthodox capitalist and socialist (or communist) solutions.’

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In issue 2 of New Horizon we also referenced a future examination of ‘the principles of Islamic Banking (sometimes called ‘participant banking’ and which forbids usury)’ and ‘National Syndicalism.’  (To obtain FREE pdf copies of issues 1–4 of New Horizon, simply e-mail natliberal@aol.com and we’ll send you them.)

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With all of the above in mind, we should now add Coworking to the list of social and economic ideas which both inspire us and sit easily with our localist ideals.

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Coworking was started in 2005 by Brad Neuberg in San Francisco, California.  According to the main Coworking site (3) the idea was effectively conceived out of confusion and frustration.  In Neuberg’s words:

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“In 2005 I was working at a startup and was unhappy with my job. Before that I had worked for myself doing consulting and traveling and hungered for the community a job can provide. At that point I was confused because I had both worked for myself and worked at a job and was unhappy because I couldn’t seem to combine all the things I wanted at the same time: the freedom and independence of working for myself along with the structure and community of working with others.

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… I decided to create a new kind of space to support the community and structure that I hungered for and gave it a new name: coworking.”

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It’s generally accepthed that there are five core values which underpin Coworking:  Community, Openness, Collaboration, Sustainability and Accessibility.

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But – in practical terms – what does coworking offer?  Basically, it’s an arrangement in which several workers from different companies share ‘incubator’ facilities – such as office space, (allowing cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructure, such as equipment, utilities, and receptionist and custodial services.)  Sometimes coworking spaces offer simple refreshments (or kitchens and/or cafes) and parcel acceptance services. In some cases, they are even pet-friendly and offer bike storage.  Local coworking spaces are normally regarded as affordable comfortable working offices ‘on your doorstep’ where the likes of creative freelancers and entrepreneurs can even use a desk for a day.

The National Liberal Party feels that these coworking spaces can play a vital role in revitalising both rural areas (as people don’t need to move to large towns and cities to seek work) and our urban High Streets, many of which are sadly becoming increasingly desolate.

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The concept of Coworking ties in with our ideas on economic self-determination (4) and freedom.  Coworking spaces also sit nicely alongside social enterprises, workers co-operatives, small family businesses and the like.

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To sum up, there are many advantages to coworking.  They are:

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• Environmentally friendly

• Reducing the amount of landlords earning (often extortionate) income from renting businesses premises

• No hierarchical employer/employee relationship

• Shared resources, equipment, skills & costs

• Business Networking

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In future articles we hope to take another look at coworking spaces.  We’ll also be running articles in support of the other forms of economic activity that we favour (as mentioned earlier).  In the meantime, we’d urge all of our readers to support their local coworking spaces!

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1. http://nationalliberal.org/the-national-liberal-party-supports-localism
2. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/localism
3. https://coworking.com/
4. https://nationalliberal.org/for-economic-self-determination

IN FOUR DAYS TIME – on 14th February – it’ll be Valentines Day. Also known  as Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, it’s generally considered as a celebration of romance.  With thin in mind, and to mark Valentines Day itself, our friends and comrades at Free Speech: How Do We Protect It? have just produced a special Love Free Speech poster (pictured at top right).  This follows the example of our friends and comrades from Nations without States, who produced a Love Your Nation – Love Your People poster last year.  It can be seen at above left.

For those who don’t know, Nations without States – NwS – is a pressure group which was established to highlight the plight of peoples who aspire to nationhood.  As the NwS Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/184919468292372/– notes, these ‘might be based on peoples or tribes based within a state or even across borders that may or may not have been independently organised in the past.  They might have a linguistic or historical separateness from their neighbours or fellow citizens.  However, all will aspire to recognition, autonomy or independence.

As Self-Determinists, the group NwS will support the right of all such peoples to determine their future whatever they wish that to be. This includes for example the Kurds, Flemish, Sikhs and Tamils. A genuine Self-determinist supports the right of self-determination globally where it is based upon a sound and just position and is supported by the majority of its ‘national’ community. The slogan ‘what is right for me is right for you’ simplifies why genuine nationalism is actually an inter-nationalist creed, quite separate to chauvinism which seeks advantage for one nation at the expense of others.’

We feel that the NwS poster reinforces the positive message that Self-Determination is all about love of one’s own & not hatred of others.

The poster produced this year by Free Speech: How Do We Protect It? is a positive one as well.  It reflects the concept of ‘free thought, free speech & free assembly for all,’ which should be a universal principle.  Their Facebook site –  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607711629485795/ – expands on this idea by stating:

‘We believe that Britain should have a formal constitution and bill of rights, based on the concept of civil and religious liberties for all. We also feel that a civil rights watchdog should be established to protect the people’s ability to make use of these rights.

We believe in absolute free speech with very few exceptions to this rule – say for those who promote violence. Either we all have rights – or none of us has rights. We support civil and religious liberties for all.’

Free Speech is particularly interested in cases whereby ‘elements of the State’ are ‘trying to curtail free speech.’  However, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that a bizarre combination of Big Tech multinational capitalist corporations and woke Metropolitan ‘socialists’ are doing the bidding of the State in terms of censorship.

Both Nations without States & Free Speech should be congratulated on their positive Valentines Day-related posters.  Fighting for Self-Determination & freedom of speech can be a daunting prospect, as both causes involve dealing with powerful vested interests – particularly in terms of the State & multinational corporations.  Fortunately, however, neither group is interested in simply moaning or, even worse, acting in a purely reactive manner.

Whilst many people would be downbeat and disillusioned, those involved with NwS & Free Speech remain upbeat.  Both groups are working to a strategy, which involves the building the infrastructure of an alternative mass media of news, views, information, culture, sport  & entertainment.  The production of these respective posters is a both a reflection of their positive outlook for the future and a strong conviction in respect of their ideals.

‘Bigotry is an incapacity to conceive seriously the alternative to a proposition. It has nothing whatever to do with belief in the proposition itself.’

• G.K. Chesterton

WELCOME to the second debate sponsored by Ulster Voice – the voice of the National Liberal Party in Ulster. One of the initial aims of UV is to publicise and promote the work of non-conformists and free thinkers in Ulster. We’re interested in those who ‘think outside of the box’ and we’re particularly interested in those who’re willing to reach out beyond the religious divide.

With the above in mind we’re reproducing an article – originally called Unionists Should Wake Up And Smell The Tory Coffee – written by Dr. John Coulter last month. Dr Coulter is a journalist and political commentator for the Daily Telegraph online and Sunday Times who describes himself as a ‘revolutionary unionist’. The article – the original can be viewed here: https://www.thepensivequill.com/2020/01/unionists-should-wake-up-and-smell-tory.html – originally appeared in The Pensive Quill, which is edited by Anthony McIntyre. McIntyre is an Irish Republican (who is critical of and dissents considerably from current Sinn Féin thinking). Uniquely, he allows non-Republicans to have their say in TPQ.

Ulster Voice doesn’t agree with everything in this article – for instance, we have no interest in ‘milking the EU cow for all that it is worth’ and would rather stand on our own two feet. However, we do agree with Dr. Coulter’s critism of the woeful failure of Unionism to think or plan strategically and their (almost blind) reliance on the Tories.

We’d invite everyone to read the article and answer this simple question: Independence for Ulster? Let us know via the National Liberals Facebook site – https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313/– or the National Liberal Party Facebook site – https://www.facebook.com/NationalLiberalParty/

It goes without saying that there are no official links between Dr. John Coulter, The Pensive Quill, Anthony McIntyre, UlsterVoice and the National Liberal Party.

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Unionists Should Wake Up And Smell The Tory Coffee

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Dr. John Coulter has been a long-time advocate of an independent Ulster. Our Ulster artwork features what's officially called the Second Ulster National flag – but more commonly known as the Ulster Independence (or Ulster nationalist) flag.

Could an Independent Ulster survive economically along with an Independent Scotland and the Irish Republic as a Celtic Alliance of Nations within the European Union? Political commentator, Dr John Coulter, uses his latest Fearless Flying Column to put the case for this solution in the event of a Boris Government throwing Northern Ireland ‘under the bus’ as the price for the UK exiting the EU.

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I’ll be 61 this year, God Willing, and I’ve been a card-carrying member of the Ulster Unionist Party since I was 18 when I joined the North Antrim Young Unionists as an A Level student at Ballymena Academy.

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My parents and grandparents all had long associations with the Party, with my late father, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, being a former UUP Councillor and Mayor in Ballymena, UUP Chief Whip in the Northern Ireland Forum, and a former Assembly member and Stormont Commissioner between 1998 and 2011.

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Even as a primary school pupil, I recall serving sandwiches to UUP Westminster candidate Henry Clark during the 1970 Westminster election campaign when he lost the supposed safe Ulster Unionist Commons seat to a certain Rev Ian Paisley.

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One element has always struck me about the Unionist ideology – we never seem to have a Plan B when things go wrong! Today, Monday 13 January, is a D-Day for the Stormont Assembly; either the power-sharing Executive is on the road to clear restoration, or Northern Ireland faces another Assembly poll, or the Boris Government imposes Direct Rule from Westminster.

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In the past, many Unionist leaders have deluded themselves into thinking that a Conservative Government really politically ‘loves’ Northern Ireland. Unionists, in reality, need to waken up politically and smell the coffee on offer from the Tories.

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It was Ted Heath who shafted the original Stormont Parliament in 1972; it was Maggie Thatcher who stabbed Unionism in the back with the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement; it was John Major who agreed the Downing Street Declaration in 1993 which set the wheels in motion for Sinn Fein in government in Northern Ireland, and the eventual disbanding of the RUC; and it was Boris Johnston who has thrown the DUP ‘under a bus’ concerning the Brexit deal.

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Have you got the message in Northern Ireland, Unionists? You may be able to trust individual Tories, but you cannot trust a Conservative party in Government. Get with the programme!

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So if things go ‘pear shaped’ for the Assembly today, and the Northern Ireland economy goes equally ‘pear shaped’ after Brexit on 31 January, what is Unionism’s Plan B for the Six Counties of political Ulster?

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Alliance, the SDLP and Sinn Fein all have their Plan B’s ready to implement – Irish unity. Even liberal Unionism wants a discussion on the possibility of a Unionist role in a united Ireland.

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Unionism’s Plan B should be an Independent Ulster within the European Union, forming a Celtic Alliance with the Irish Republic and an equally Independent Scotland.

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The key question which Unionists must ask; given that Boris Johnston threw the DUP ‘under the bus’ regarding his Brexit deal, he is equally capable of driving that bus over Northern Ireland several times economically so that the Province becomes a financially crippled wasteland.
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Yes, you can point to the fact that Johnston has chucked a bucket of politically freezing water over Scottish National Party calls for a second independence referendum, but even with his massive Commons majority, even Boris cannot ignore the latest surge in support for the SNP in December’s Westminster General Election.

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I’ve made mention (1) of the solution of Ulster Independence in my writing in the past. Indeed, for the past five years, since 2015, I have been advocating (2) the need for Unionists to consider the merits of an economic Celtic Alliance.

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The one pitfall which a Celtic Alliance must avoid is that the European Union fails to fund the new political arrangement. This may sound politically hypocritical coming from myself as an ardent Brexiteer.

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I have not switched sides. I am recognising that while in a national UK vote, the electorate in 2016 opted to leave the EU, but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted ‘Remain’.

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What Unionists need to understand is the brutally honest question – which is the better situation? To be in an Independent Ulster which is milking the EU cow for all that it is worth, or to be a minority partner in a UK in which the Tory Government is punishing Northern Ireland with massive austerity for the DUP pre-Christmas voting habits?
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A key plank of the SNP’s independence programme is that it would rejoin the EU, but Scots take note – you need to avoid the scenario that you become nothing more than a third rate banana republic (3).
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The ‘Independence’ Plan B involving Ulster, Scotland and the Irish Republic will only work if the EU can guarantee funding for the new Celtic Alliance, especially if the economic price tag for the UK leaving the EU under a Boris Brexit Deal is financial austerity in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but an economic boost for England and Wales.

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In the meantime, Unionists must not hang around their Orange Halls with wee meetings hoping that Johnston and his massive Commons majority will change their minds on Tory austerity for Northern Ireland.

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Unionists need to some time in early 2020 establish a Unionist Embassy in Dublin’s Leinster House. It is something which I have campaigned for since 2014 (4):

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Unionism made a fatal tactical error in 1985 after Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Unionists should have reciprocated the Republic establishing the Maryfield Secretariat by setting up a Unionist Embassy at the very heart of the Dublin parliament and demanding a say in the running of Southern affairs.

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Maryfield gave the Dublin government its first real say in the running of Northern Ireland since partition in the 1920s. As we near the centenary of the original Anglo Irish Treaty which paved the way for partition, Unionism needs to box clever and get its Unionist Embassy in Dublin off the ground and up and running politically.

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In 1985 and 1986, while Unionism tramped the streets of Northern Ireland with its ‘Ulster Says No’ and ‘Ulster Still Says No’ campaigns, Dublin Nationalism made strides politically using Maryfield.

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Such a Unionist Embassy would lay the foundations for a Celtic Alliance and could also act as a springboard to defuse the emergence of a dissident loyalist movement; the latter aiming to repeat the Dublin and Monaghan atrocities of 1974 in the event that Irish unity becomes a reality in a post Brexit British Isles.

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Whatever decisions emerge on 13 January, there can be no doubting that Unionism must begin thinking with its head rather than marching with its feet in 2020. Unionism requires a Plan B if the Stormont Plan A flops – like it or not, the Celtic Alliance is that Plan B.

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Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter

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Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 9.30 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online at www.thisissunshine.com

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1. https://www.northernslant.com/could-the-idea-of-independence-for-northern-ireland-re-emerge-after-brexit/
2. http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Daily_Star/arts2015/may11_Celtic-Alliance__JCoulter_Star.php
3. https://www.thepensivequill.com/2014/08/theyve-scot-no-chance-republic-would-be.html?m=0
4. http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Daily_Star/arts2014/jul14_Loyalists_need_Dublin_input__JCoulter_Star.ph

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THE WHOLE raison d’être of the National Liberal Party can be summed up in the slogan SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL!

This is all well and good, but what exactly is Self-Determination?  To answer this question, the online Encyclopaedia Britannica – https://www.britannica.com/topic/self-determination – seems as good a place to start.  It describes Self-Determination like this:

‘Self-determination, the process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, form their own state and choose their own government.  As a political principle, the idea of self-determination evolved at first as a by-product of the doctrine of nationalism, to which early expression was given by the French and American revolutions. In World War I the Allies accepted self-determination as a peace aim. In his Fourteen Points – the essential terms for peace – U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson listed self-determination as an important objective for the postwar world; the result was the fragmentation of the old Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires and Russia’s former Baltic territories into a number of new states.

After World War II, promotion of self-determination among subject peoples became one of the chief goals of the United Nations.  The UN’s predecessor, the League of Nations, had also recognized the principle, but it was in the UN that the idea received its clearest statement and affirmation.

The UN Charter clarifies two meanings of the term self-determination. First, a state is said to have the right of self-determination in the sense of having the right to choose freely its political, economic, social, and cultural systems. Second, the right to self-determination is defined as the right of a people to constitute itself in a state or otherwise freely determine the form of its association with an existing state. Both meanings have their basis in the charter (Article 1, paragraph 2; and Article 55, paragraph 1). With respect to dependent territories, the charter asserts that administering authorities should undertake to ensure political advancement and the development of self-government (Article 73, paragraphs a and b; and Article 76, paragraph b).’

The National Liberal Party has previously sought to distil the Encyclopaedia Britannica’s authoritative definition of Self-Determination into something much simpler and easier to remember.  Thus, we believe that the principle of Self-Determination can be applied to three areas: National Self-Determination, Political Self-Determination & Economic Self-Determination.

Our poster (above) looks at Economic Self-Determination and indicates that this means avoiding a life of wage slavery.  The NLP has previously noted that Economic Self-Determination:

‘seeks to distribute ownership as widely as possible and as close to the individual as practical by favouring home ownership, self-employment, small businesses, cooperatives and employee shareholdings. (We believe that ownership is the key to economic and social health: where workers obtain a just reward for their labours and gain a feeling of well-being through their having a genuine personal stake in society).’

The following e-poster http://nationalliberal.org/liberty-nation-says-neither-capitalism-nor-socialism(produced by Liberty & Nation – the voice of the National Liberal Party) successfully illustrates what Economic Self-Determination is all about and notes that it stands in opposition to the centralising and exploitative nature of both capitalism & socialism.

NLP members and supporters will be aware that we intend to fight next year’s Greater London Assembly elections.  Here we’ll be standing under the banner of Self-Determination For All!

We intend to use the GLA election to raise awareness of the concept of self-determination, gain experience in electioneering – with special emphasis on Social Media tactics – and to forge links and build alliances between various different self-determinists living in London.

Although our campaign will largely concentrate on National Self-Determination, we also hope to use it to promote – and develop – our ideas on Economic & Political Self-Determination as well.

With the above in mind, look out for our forthcoming article and poster entitled Self-Determination is a human right. In the meantime, we’d encourage our readers to check out the following links and do whatever they can to support our campaign.  Self-Determination For All!

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