You are invited to attend this meeting to understand how various organisations belonging to the newly formed Coalition for Economic Justice (C4EJ) - of which ALTER is a founder member - approach the idea of Land Value Capture in the current British political context. At least four organisations will have 15 minutes to present their views, followed by 15 minutes of questions.

The meeting is at the School of Economic Science, 11 Mandeville Place, London (near Bond Street underground) from 2pm to 6pm - and is free to members of ALTER or the Liberal Democrat Party, and their guests. Please let Tony Vickers know if you intend to be there.

A summary of ALTER's own position is being circulated to other C4EJ member organisations this week, along with those of the Labour Land Campaign, Social Liberalist Party and Land Value Taxation Campaign.

This summary was also sent to three Lib Dem MPs last week, prior to a meeting with them scheduled to discuss how ALTER can help them campaign on our policies in this area in the run-up to the General Election. Unfortunately the meeting was curtailed at the last minute: only Sarah Teather (housing spokesperson) could attend; Vince Cable had to be at a constituent's funeral and Lorely Burt had an important meeting with a small businesses lobby group (this is her portfolio). However all three MPs sent their researchers and four members of ALTER's committee had a useful discussion which we will be following up by further meetings.

I regard the use of the term "Social Liberal" rather like an annoying itch that one cannot quite reach! It is a distraction from more important matters and could be an indication of serious illness in the body politic - in this case the Liberal Democrat Party that we Liberals find ourselves in. Until so-called Social Liberals invented themselves, in my 45 years as a member of the Party I'd never felt any problem describing myself as an economic liberal (small 'e' and 'l'). The Forum's current homepage has a piece reprinted from Liberator by David Boyle. Well done David - I'd have been less measured (probably why Liberator didn't print my response to the article "Blues under the Bed" in their last issue!)

Now I wish they'd go away and stick with Liberalism without the Socialist bit! I'm reminded of the way the old Labour Party (which possibly some Social Liberals hanker after?) used to behave......

Anyway I've been invited to put my views on why the whole Social Liberal thing is a waste of time and effort on the new Social Liberal Forum. You might like to visit this Idea (which will be familiar!) and post your own comment.

I'm happier directing you to the report of the first public event organised by the Coalition for Economic Justice, to which ALTER belongs. Andrew George MP was the only Parliamentarian who attended, apart from a brief appearance by Vince Cable, who hosted the seminar in Parliament.on 24th March.

Incidentally, do buy Vince's new book The Storm - via the Party's link to Amazon, which puts a few 'p' in Lib Dem coffers. Hope they use it to help work out a way to win elections on our policy of Site Value Rating - which I'm pretty sure hasn't had a penny spent on it by Cowley Street since the merger with SDP.