Ever since Tony Blair set his ambition for 50% of young adults to enter higher education, successive governments have promoted university as the route to prosperity. The result is a bloated, expensive sector that has spent decades expanding on the assumption that more students, more degrees and more universities must somehow be a good thing. […]
This is the transcript of a speech delivered on November 10, 2026. Nikki is a mum in her fifties. On Universal Credit – since her job in a nursery became all too much. Without qualifications and – as she put it – no good at computers, she’s been struggling to find another job. But that’s […]
Britain’s higher education system, long heralded as a world leader in research and teaching, and a major export earner, is in big trouble. Yet our main political parties do not seem to be aware, or are turning a blind eye. The trouble is economic, academic and cultural, as we explain in a new book from […]
My favourite place in the world is outside Bank station, where Lombard Street meets Cornhill. To your right is Lombard Street, a name macroeconomists will recognise from Walter Bagehot’s 1873 book, which popularised the idea of the central bank as lender of last resort and which Ben Bernanke leaned on heavily during the 2008 financial […]
This week it seems that another Net Zero domino will fall. The Government is reported to be on the point of announcing that the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which lays down targets for the sale of new cars, will be watered down. This follows a consultation launched in August. At present, manufacturers are under […]
Andy Burnham’s much-promised strong and decisive leadership has been long on vibes, short on action during his first 100 days. With one telling exception. He has stuck to his guns about what the nation should call white bread rolls. Namely, ‘barm cakes’, as they do in his new constituency of Makerfield. In doing so, he’s […]
This week, Nimby Watch is paying a visit to the University of Warwick Warwick! What a beautiful place to visit. We’ve got the River Avon, a truly historic castle – begun by William the Conqueror himself – and a beautiful series of heritage buildings. What a delight. I assume you want to bulldoze half of […]
Andy Burnham is set to make the same mistake that led to the ruin of Keir Starmer: lack of a domestic agenda, other than pushing the proverbial peas around the plate on energy bills, bus fares and the like, paired – like a bottle of plonk – with ambiguous statements on the big public issues. […]
The problem with being a political golden boy like Labour pensions minister Torsten Bell is that it paints a target on your back, putting you firmly in the crosshairs of rivals and commentators in your own party and the opposition every time you do or say anything at all. Kudos, then, to the man widely […]
Ron DeSantis chose his moment with care. The night before the US midterms, the outgoing Governor of Florida appeared on a sports podcast. On election eve, DeSantis admitted that the Iran war had been ‘a big, big drag’ on Republicans, that the party had been ‘gaslighting’ voters by blaming Joe Biden for the price of […]
English rock fans are understandably thrilled over the announcement that Oasis will embark on another tour, including a stop in Manchester, where the band first got started in 1991. And while that may be good news, fans are still going to have a difficult time seeing them perform live – affording it, that is. Live […]
Has the pursuit of cheap goods come at the expense of Britain’s industrial future? As Donald Trump’s tariffs reshape global trade and China prepares to unleash a new wave of manufactured exports, the future of free trade is increasingly uncertain. In this episode of *The Capitalist*, Marc Sidwell is joined by Ed Conway, Sky News […]
Britain is spending more than it earns, borrowing to make up the difference and facing a debt burden that threatens to spiral out of control. Could the country be heading for a Greek-style financial crisis? Journalist and author Ross Clark joins Marc Sidwell to discuss his new book, Britain Is Bust: The Coming Sovereign Debt […]
Liam Halligan is joined by Daniel Herring, Head of Fiscal Policy at the Centre for Policy Studies, to pick apart John Healey’s first Budget. Their verdict? A handful of nothing. The Chancellor has avoided the worst tax rises, but done little to address Britain’s mounting fiscal problems. With debt interest soaring, growth forecasts downgraded and […]
Is Britain heading for another Brexit battle? A decade after the referendum, the question of Britain’s relationship with Europe is back on the political agenda. And Lord Frost, the man who led the UK’s Brexit negotiations, believes the campaign to keep Britain out of the EU must begin again. In this episode of The Capitalist, […]
Has Britain become a nation ashamed of its own history? And what happens when a country loses faith in its past? Historian Robert Tombs joins Marc Sidwell on The Capitalist to challenge the increasingly negative account of British history being taught in schools, universities and museums. In his new book, Our Islands’ Story, co-authored with […]
Andrew Griffith says Britain has already gone over the fiscal cliff. The question now is whether it can pull itself back. In a conversation with Centre for Policy Studies director Liam Halligan, the Shadow Chancellor delivers a clear diagnosis of Britain’s economy: a state consuming 45% of national income, punitive energy costs, rising taxes, excessive […]
Watch or listen to CapX’s weekly podcast ‘The Capitalist’ wherever you get your podcasts.
Ever since Tony Blair set his ambition for 50% of young adults to enter higher education, successive governments have promoted university as the route to prosperity. The result is a bloated, expensive sector that has spent decades expanding on the assumption that more students, more degrees and more universities must somehow be a good thing. […]
This is the transcript of a speech delivered on November 10, 2026. Nikki is a mum in her fifties. On Universal Credit – since her job in a nursery became all too much. Without qualifications and – as she put it – no good at computers, she’s been struggling to find another job. But that’s […]
Britain’s higher education system, long heralded as a world leader in research and teaching, and a major export earner, is in big trouble. Yet our main political parties do not seem to be aware, or are turning a blind eye. The trouble is economic, academic and cultural, as we explain in a new book from […]
This week it seems that another Net Zero domino will fall. The Government is reported to be on the point of announcing that the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which lays down targets for the sale of new cars, will be watered down. This follows a consultation launched in August. At present, manufacturers are under […]
Andy Burnham’s much-promised strong and decisive leadership has been long on vibes, short on action during his first 100 days. With one telling exception. He has stuck to his guns about what the nation should call white bread rolls. Namely, ‘barm cakes’, as they do in his new constituency of Makerfield. In doing so, he’s […]
This week, Nimby Watch is paying a visit to the University of Warwick Warwick! What a beautiful place to visit. We’ve got the River Avon, a truly historic castle – begun by William the Conqueror himself – and a beautiful series of heritage buildings. What a delight. I assume you want to bulldoze half of […]
My favourite place in the world is outside Bank station, where Lombard Street meets Cornhill. To your right is Lombard Street, a name macroeconomists will recognise from Walter Bagehot’s 1873 book, which popularised the idea of the central bank as lender of last resort and which Ben Bernanke leaned on heavily during the 2008 financial […]
English rock fans are understandably thrilled over the announcement that Oasis will embark on another tour, including a stop in Manchester, where the band first got started in 1991. And while that may be good news, fans are still going to have a difficult time seeing them perform live – affording it, that is. Live […]
The Commonwealth is an anachronism in the 21st century – an imperial hangover that shows no signs of abatement but is instead getting worse. As King Charles addressed his subjects in Antigua and Barbuda ahead of this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM), our Prime Minister was throwing out statements about possible apologies and […]
Andy Burnham is set to make the same mistake that led to the ruin of Keir Starmer: lack of a domestic agenda, other than pushing the proverbial peas around the plate on energy bills, bus fares and the like, paired – like a bottle of plonk – with ambiguous statements on the big public issues. […]
Reports earlier this week suggested that there have been ‘robust cabinet discussions’ over the Government’s approach to AI. The Financial Times reports that those discussions have yielded seven core principles, signed off but not yet published, including that ‘control and sovereignty matter’ and ‘infrastructure must serve a national purpose and deliver for communities’. Missing from […]
Most people experience data regulation pretty much every day through those insufferable cookie pop-ups. This tick box process of getting user consent ultimately benefited nobody while practically annoying everyone. Hundreds of millions of human hours have been spent clicking through those things on websites across the internet. The previous Conservative government promised to get rid […]
Britain needs new talent and ideas in its politics. The old factions of Westminster have proven themselves incapable or unwilling to take the radical action required to fix the country. They push our best abroad, ignore new ideas (or claim they are ‘not serious’ or ‘sensible’), abandon their principles and kick difficult decisions down the […]
In the mid-90s, you could save up a deposit for a house in a year; now it takes about a decade. That’s a really meaningful change. That’s a whole stage of your life where 30 years ago you might reasonably have expected to become a homeowner and now that is highly unlikely In a room […]
Ed Conway is a great economic commentator. Yet even the best of us err. In a long essay for the New Statesman, the Sky News economics and data editor recently argued that Britain runs on what he calls the ‘MoneySavingExpert model’. ‘The country’s guiding principle,’ Conway wrote, ‘from the Thatcher years to the Blair ones […]
There is much discussion right now about the dysfunctionality of UK politics. This goes beyond complaints about the policy incoherence or ineffectuality of any particular government, whether that be the current one or its Tory and Coalition predecessors. Rather, there is a growing feeling that the political system itself, the whole process of politics, no […]
‘Isn’t it time we stopped talking about her?’ Fifty years since Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party, her face, and even some of her iconic outfits, were all over this year’s party conference. Not everyone was happy about that. Hot takes and tweets grumbled about it being time to move on, to pack […]
Ten years ago, the EU referendum created two new political tribes: Leavers and Remainers. As Sara Hobolt and I show in our new book ‘Tribal Politics: How Brexit divided Britain’, both tribes are very much still with us. Even today, about 60% of people in Britain identify as a Remainer or a Leaver, and people’s […]
