Set as a one day gathering of 1,000 people on Saturday 28 February 2009 at the Institute for Education in central London (with many again in the parallel regional and national meetings in Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow, Manchester, and - hopefully - Cardiff), the Convention on Modern Liberty was open to students, practitioners and shop keepers alike, concerned for the current state of relations with the state and for their fundamental rights and freedoms.

A quick glance at the list of sponsors (Rowntrees, openDemocracy, Liberty and the Guardian) reveals the heavyweight support that this event has garnered. Importantly, in what is seemingly a unique occasion, students, activists, NGOs, campaigners and civil society organisations were under one roof to join forces and consolidate a national platform toward a common purpose: for a renewal of our democratic self-confidence.

In the aftermath of the Convention, we invite you (yes you!) to join us in blogging about what the face of British liberty looks like today. This is a call to debate, explore and challenge the fundamental threats and subtle re-alignments of our rights and freedoms by government since 1997. Every week we will publish long comments and opinions from anyone who would like to join in on the debate chosen from any of the many plenary topics (or not, if this is the case!).

If you are interested in blogging about topics on the convention please forward your posts through the submissions page for brief link checking (and embedding material at your request) or send your ideas to Tony at .

Lastly, we hope that you will use this space as your own - as these issues do not belong to one organisation or one discipline or to be deliberated for only one event!