Liberal believers would recognize not the equal rightness of other beliefs but the equal sincerity of the men and women who hold those beliefs. From Viktor Orban in Hungary, to Brexit in Britain, to Donald Trump in America, nationalists are launching an all-out assault on liberal values. They are both deeply interested in the reality of how people think, whether it is patriotism or group belonging.

It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what it means to be a liberal today and how to defend the values that we hold dear. The pandemic is perhaps the best way to understand the harm principle at work, when the state intervenes to minimise harm. And if the populists, despite all their efforts to ensure victory, were ever to lose an election, that would be a disaster for them—since we (liberal democrats) believe that their attacks on the constitution and their violations of civil rights are criminal acts. My parents loved freedom to pursue their interests, which strangely reproduced their pre-existing values of social cohesion, church, family, gardening, home making. It follows from this account of liberal and illiberal religion that state power cannot be used to indoctrinate future citizens in the orthodox version of Judaism or Catholicism (or any other religion) or to persecute heretics or infidels.Dunt believes the current liberal crisis could and should lead to liberalism reinventing itself in ways which will guarantee the freedom of individuals in the future.

Win or lose, I am pretty sure Ian is not the sort of person who would demand I apologise for my privilege and have me ‘cancelled’.

Prospect magazine said: 'A journalist who has come to prominence on Twitter as a staunch critic of Brexit, Dunt has delved into heavy academic theory and interpreted it in an accessible manner for the ordinary reader. Being Liberal for a long time and being jaded about today's political situation, this was a good overview of history of liberalism and definitely an inspirational of why I became one in the first place.