Mr Mosbacher -- you are a miserabilist and a misanthrope. The Stepfuredi Wives would not dispatch you to a re-education camp, because that is no longer in accordance with the Eternal Laws of Reason, but be warned: it may become so again. http://franklymrfuredi.wordpress.com/

two points 1. The dishonesty claim appears to be, not that they espouse views they disagree with, but that they hide their underlying Marxism or Trotskyism to achieve entryism. This appears a rather weak claim given the continual reminder by people across the spectrum from George Monbiot to this Standpoint article of their past history. "Entryism" is even a section on the Wikipedia Spiked article. If there is a conspiracy it is a conspiracy in open view. 2. Your claim reminds me somewhat of the alliance between the SWP and the Muslim Brotherhood. In the latter case, the comrades assumed that the alliance would give them greater credibility (if only in terms of feet on the ground) and more importantly, that there would be a conveyor belt of converts - people abandoning the "opiate of the people" in favour of secular Marxism. In fact the reverse was true. The Marxists, more and more had to subsume their secularism to the Islamist agenda. I feel the same would inevitably be true of entryists to Libertarian politics. It has long been acknowledge that Individualists are handicapped by their unwillingness to subsume their politics to a collective entity. I'm reminded of the old Jewish Joke: 3 Jews, 4 opinions. In other words, I'm not sure there's any collective body to enter and capture and if such a thing occurred the then most Individualists would quickly leave. Individualism trumps party Loyalty. I'm not sure that anyone's opinion will be changed, particular when the underlying Trotskyism is revealed after a few drinks. After all we all sober up.

Thomas S - I am not trying to dismiss every position that Spiked/Institute of Ideas/LM/RCP takes. Indeed on not a few individual issues I would strongly agree with the line that the RCP nexus takes (on others their views are simply disgusting - such as the line they took over Bosnia). My point is rather that Frank Furedi and his followers are profundly dishonest about the nature of their enterprise and what they are about.

I don't agree with every stance they take on spiked, but they make valid points on free speech, the culture of victimhood, identity politics, multiculturalism, the decline of adult authority, the erosion of community and individual responsibility through state welfarism. You can't just blithely dismiss it all as you have done.

There's also the national network of salons, promoting 'free debate' that are actually forums to promote RCP ideas and bring susceptible new people into the fold. Michael Mosbacher is quite right - the mention of the Trotskyist faith comes a long time after a long courtship.

Why exactly is Frank Furedi 'overrated'? If he thinks 'we have lost faith in reason and humanity and become fearful of progress', he's dead right. The more we hear of him the better. Thanks for publicising him and his views.