A list of freedom-boosting wishes for the 2018 budget from FREER’s director, Rebecca Lowe.

On 10 October, FREER Co-Chair Lee Rowley visited the University of Warwick, to discuss FREER and debate with students about free speech and other issues related to economically and socially liberal ideas.

FREER held two events at this year’s Conservative Party conference, in the ThinkTent. Here are details, photos, and the opportunity to watch some footage.

Daniel Hill, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, writes for FREER, contending that marriage should be ‘set free from the romance-killing hand of the state, and returned to the people to be celebrated where it belongs, in the religious or secular communities where the parties find their homes’.

Some pictures from the event, which was held at the IEA, and featured speeches by Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP, and the FREER Co-Chairs and Director.

In response to Eddie Hughes’ new FREER paper, Rebecca Lowe contends that new technologies, such as blockchain, which focus on transparent data distribution, cut out intermediaries, and can afford complete control to the data’s subject, should offer some solace to those of us who worry about the intrusions and interventions of the digital identity age.

FREER Director Rebecca Lowe and FREER Co-Chair Lee Rowley are joined by special guest Tom Harwood to discuss generational attitudes to freedom, and more. 

FREER Director Rebecca Lowe and FREER Co-Chairs Lee Rowley and Luke Graham are joined by special guests Paulina Neuding and David Goodhart, to discuss immigration and integration in Sweden and the UK.

Ben Houchen, Mayor of the Tees Valley, writes for us about the opportunities of Free Ports, and how they could be ‘the spark that ignites the Northern Powerhouse project’.

FREER Director Rebecca Lowe and FREER Co-Chair Lee Rowley are joined by special guest Matt Singh, the founder of Number Cruncher Politics, to discuss his recent polling on attitudes to capitalism.

David S. Oderberg, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, sets out why he thinks conscientious objection in health care should be a fundamental civil right in a liberal, pluralistic society where different religious and ethical codes are supposed to co-exist with a high degree of mutual respect and tolerance.

FREER Director Rebecca Lowe and FREER Co-Chairs Lee Rowley and Luke Graham are joined by special guest Matt Ridley to discuss robots and freedom.

James Boyd-Wallis, Director of Fourteen Forty, argues that, to win the moral case, we need to share better and more compelling stories — and that we need to tell them in more human ways.

Ben Houchen, Mayor of the Tees Valley, writes for us on how he’s communicating the appeal of liberal free-market ideas, including his proposal for a Teesside ‘Free Port’ and his new call to businesses to help solve societal problems.

‘Free Speech: How far is too far?’ Cross-party event in conjunction with Liverpool University’s Department of Politics, to mark the launch of Kemi Badenoch’s FREER paper on free speech. Thursday 10 May, 5-7pm. Rendall Building (432), Lecture Theatre 8, Liverpool University.  

FREER Director Rebecca Lowe and FREER Co-Chair Lee Rowley are joined by special guest Bim Afolami to discuss tax, freedom, and his upcoming FREER paper.