My Blog
The vast social costs of Covid lockdowns are clear, so why is the inquiry silent?
The liberal establishment appears to remain wedded to a narrow and blinkered view of the Covid pandemic and its consequences.
Seven years on, we need to finally stop blaming Brexit – just look at the numbers
Two quite contradictory messages have been given about Brexit over the past few days or so. First, Makoto Uchida, the
We can’t subsidise or incentivise away the pain of a transition to renewable energy
The Scottish Nationalist Party has become notorious for their inconsistency. The latest example is its hapless health minister, Michael Matheson,
Sluggish global growth cannot be an excuse for Britain ignoring opportunities
With Labour currently looking to win the next election by a mile, the centre-left think tank the Institute for Public
From Alison Rose to water exec bonuses, massive payouts are killing productivity
The last week has been momentous on various fronts. The decision by the NatWest board to scrap £7.6m of former
Brits are afraid of failure, and the flop of WeWork will deter future entrepreneurs
The conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on multiple charges of massive fraud last week throws
We’re fighting over-regulation with yet more regulations in an insane spiral
The policy of the Welsh government to impose a 20mph speed limit in towns and villages across the country has
If economic experts wield political power, we’ll get dragged into fiscal groupthink
Even before the double win in last week’s by-elections, Labour was behaving like a government-in-waiting. Apparently the party has begun
Without a recession, Bailey won’t wrest back control over inflation
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, admitted last week that interest rates will remain higher for some time
Daunting task of improving public services is the real challenge for next government
Scotland has featured prominently in the media following Labour’s massive victory over the SNP in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Taxes have never been so high but it’s still not enough for some
Taxes are higher than at any time since the Second World War. The UK’s overall tax burden now stands at
We need to get to net zero, but we will fail if we lose public support
Rishi Sunak’s proposals to adjust some of the timetables on the path to net zero have provoked outrage in many
Rush hour pricing in pubs will kill off the customer loyalty businesses badly need
Britain’s largest pub group, Stonegate, caused outrage last week with its proposal to charge 20p a pint more at peak
Don’t blame austerity for the crumbling concrete, Osborne salvaged Britain’s deficit
If only the Conservatives had loosened the purse strings on public spending in the 2010s, the story now goes, all
Politicians must understand that taxation is not a substitute for economic growth
In a speech last week, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party provided a ray of sunshine. I am not
Years on, we still haven’t learnt to quantify the damage done during the pandemic
The Royal Society is the world’s oldest independent scientific academy. Last week, some of its scientists trespassed onto public policy with
Keep dreaming if you think Brexit is the reason craft beer breweries are going bust
A couple of weeks in the Highlands is always refreshing; the scenery is fantastic and the locals are welcoming, even
House prices will eventually start to fall, as long as owners accept their new reality
Economic news has had few moments of optimism lately: living standards are being squeezed and the overall level of economic
Edinburgh Fringe fame for a one woman show is proof of the randomness of celebrity
The Edinburgh Festival is in full swing and the number of performers is almost incredible: the overall total this year
The big beasts of banking, supermarkets and tech are behind our productivity slump
The mystery of the dramatic slowdown in productivity growth across the West since the late 2000s remains unsolved. It is
