age of industrial planning, which was a disaster. It is always important to remember that as a true liberal you should not be looking to preserve 'British' freedoms but instead the freedoms of every individual in the world. I agree with Timothy Cox that protectionist policies may give a short term (and fragile) boost to our economy but to the detriment of those much less well off than ourselves. It seems much better to aim for true free trade around the world rather than hide behind our own protectionist policies just because "everyone else is doing it' (I realise you have not quite said words to that effect in the article and I am just making a general point not concocting a straw man against you). To Timothy Cox: Sorry, but I don't see any contradiction between the support to companies to be more international (a terrible handicap in Britain compared to German, Swedish, Dutch and, tant pis, French) and getting more national value added (in Norfolk or Lancashire). On the contrary, the latter would derive from the former with a stronger industrial fabric and processes "Made in Britain". Why does this should be a dirty word? Saying that fostering your own interests over foreign ones is protectionist sounds to be much stretched definition of free trade! Have you ever thought that British companies in Imperial times or American companies in "Pax Americana" times were the noble promoters of free trade. They were the defenders of their self-interest. It would