international

Website launched to track global conservative thinking on social justice

I am currently in Washington DC for the fourth annual gathering of organisations and thinkers from the English-speaking world - all broadly of the centre right - that are interested in developing new solutions to the problems of poverty.  The gathering was launched by Iain Duncan Smith in 2005.

This year, about thirty people from a dozen organisations and five countries are here. Britain's Centre for Social Justice, America's Heritage Foundation, President George W Bush's new Institute (which has already raised more than $200m), Canada's Institute for Marriage and Family, New Zealand's Maxim Institute and Australia's Kevin Andrews MP are some of the key contributors. A new website has been launched by the Heritage Foundation's Jennifer Marshall - RestoringSocialJustice.com - to track what we are all doing. It's early days for the website but over time we hope it will grow into a useful resource for all conservative people interested in tackling social problems that have defeated the Left. It will record policy thinking, profile key thinkers and case study effective programmes.

Readers of the ToryDiary will know that I am seized with the enormous potential of compassionate conservatism and during this conference my excitement reached new heights. Deeper and deeper friendships are being formed by people who have given their lives to philanthropy, school reform, family policy, tackling crime and understanding welfare systems. An international movement is being built and the RSJ website will be its online home.

Tim Montgomerie

New conservative magazine launches in Australia

Kevin Andrews MP has launched a new journal to help the rebuilding of the Australian Liberal party.

The Australian Polity has the following mission statement:

"That the dignity of the individual is the foundation of all other relationships;

That the political and economic freedom of the individual is central to societal well being, and that personal responsibility underpins such freedom;

That the covental relationships of love, loyalty, friendship and trust exist outside the political sphere but are essential to the health of society;

That social order and shared values underpin a healthy society;

That government should be limited, without forgetting that the protection of the poor and the weak are pivotal political challenges;

That functional families are crucial for the raising of children and the stability of society;

That society is a partnership across generations;

That we belong to a nation, not a series of segregated groups; and

That our western, liberal democracy best enhances individual freedom and human dignity and is worth defending."