Over recent decades, liberalism has gradually given way to progressivism. The mechanics of this shift explain why institutions that believe they are defending liberal values now operate on illiberal ones – and why those inside often cannot tell the difference.
The BBC offered a compelling case study this week: an organisation so steeped in progressive assumptions that it mistakes moral certainty for objectivity. But the pattern extends far beyond one broadcaster. Universities that once protected controversial speech now treat it as harm. Civil services that defended individual rights now prioritise group identity. And professions built on evidence now defer to “lived experience”.
To see clearly where liberalism ends and progressivism begins – and how the latter has distorted the former – it helps to examine three basic principles.
