Jackie Danicki

This was my first Liberty conference, but will definitely not be my last. Five things I loved about it:

1) The conversational feel to the event was wonderful - as both a presenter and as an ‘audience member’. Considering it was a traditional conference format, those lines were admirably blurred.

2) The variety of speakers and topics was fantastic. (I did miss yesterday morning’s panels, sadly.) At what other event would you have discussion of space entrepreneurship, a debate about what exactly constitutes ‘Western values,’ and a talk about the truly sickening extent to which sexual pleasure has been criminalised by the state? What other event would feature presentations from the International Mr Leather winner, the publisher of Living Marxism, and the editor of Samizdata? (If you know of any, tell me!)

3) Giving my talk, on the top technologies that the global free market movement should be embracing and exploiting to the hilt, was a lot of fun. Watching Antoine give his presentation, an analysis on how the movement is currently failing and being outpaced by the enemies of personal liberty, was just as enjoyable. I always worry about my bit putting everyone to sleep, so it was very gratifying to have lots of people come up to me immediately afterwards to continue the conversation. Some of Antoine’s data actually elicited gasps of shock, which was the first time I’d observed such a thing at a conference.

4) The venue, the National Liberal Club, offers stunning views of the Victoria Embankment and the London Eye, and has lots of interesting historical artifacts sprinkled around the place - trad Englishness at its most pleasing.

5) Apart from Antoine (but of course), my favourite speakers were Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas (and a Marxist, inexplicably) - who gave a truly engaging, funny, and clever talk this morning about who we’re really in a culture war against (hint: not radical Muslims) - and John Pendal from the Spanner Trust, who frightened and angered me to the core with his many stories of how the British government is ruining lives, of gay and straight people alike, in the name of outlawing sexual pleasure. I was deeply moved by John’s well-delivered talk (again, more a conversation than a presentation) and am seriously contemplating how I can help the Spanner Trust without having my own life ruined for daring to do so.

It’s been a fun, exhausting weekend. Liberty 2007 will be held October 27 and 28 in London; inshallah, we will be there.

Filed under: Life