If you believe getting more homes built in the right places is the most important issue facing the country, this has been a pretty dispiriting few months. First the Government agreed to significantly weaken the planning system in the face of a backbench rebellion, prompting dozens of councils to drop their own local targets. Then […]
Breathless predictions of AI-induced doom are all around, with some experts in the field saying the technology has already advanced beyond the point of no return. The recent open letter signed by the likes of Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Andrew Yang was just the latest example of the unease that programmes such as Chat […]
After years where prices barely seemed to rise and interest rates remained stubbornly low, the last two years have seen inflation come roaring back – combined with union strife and an energy crisis it has felt like we’ve been living through the 1970s all over again. . What better time then, for an economist to […]
This week Rishi Sunak popped into a ‘living museum’ in the West Midlands, Keir Starmer delivered a rousing speech in Swindon and, in true Lib Dem style, Ed Davey drove a big yellow tractor into some blue hay bales. Yes, folks, it’s that magical time of year when Westminster starts taking a keen interest in local councils – though […]
Would we all be better off if only we had better politicians? It’s a comforting illusion, but really the problem isn’t those who sweep in and out of power, but you and me, the public – that’s the basic argument put forward by political scientist Ben Ansell in his new book Why Politics Fails. . […]
Pensions are all the rage this week. Quite literally so in France, where protestors have engaged in running battles with the police and even torched the odd public building. King Charles has had his state visit cancelled, lest he be confronted by a regicidal mob – a stark reminder that while we Brits love a […]
How did an NHS clinic end up prescribing young people potential dangerous medical treatment with next to no data on the long-term effects? And why did that same clinic not respond to the concerns not just of outsiders, but its own staff? These are just some of the many questions posed by BBC journalist Hannah Barnes […]
From a purely political point of view, it was ‘job done’ for Jeremy Hunt this week. Where other Chancellors have seen their plans unravel the moment they sat down, the reaction to his Budget has so far been pretty low-key. Combined with a series of recent policy wins – on Northern Ireland, the Channel deal […]
It’s that special time of year again when the Chancellor delivers a Budget, before commentators, policy wonks and political opponents rush to tear it apart in the ensuing days. In that noblest of British traditions, we invited our editor-in-chief, Robert Colvile and the Centre for Policy Studies tax and policy guru, Tom Clougherty, for a […]
With all the important news and views about Gary Lineker’s Twitter account, you could be forgiven for forgetting there’s a Budget coming up this week. There has been the odd story about a tax cut here or a spending plea there, but nothing like the furious briefing and counter-briefing of years gone by. Perhaps that’s […]
It was all going so well for Rishi Sunak. A landmark deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol cast the PM in the role of international statesman and seemed to have won over even some of the most battle-hardened Brexiteers. This being British politics, however, fresh psychodrama was only ever a front page away. The Telegraph […]
The Government’s Net Zero target is nothing if not ambitious. It involves nothing less than decarbonising the British economy – energy, manufacturing, transport and agriculture included – all in the space of just a few decades. But while there is a glut of potentially exciting new low-carbon technologies, and some encouraging signs that renewables are […]
The war in Ukraine has now lasted 122 times longer than Vladimir Putin anticipated when he launched an all-out assault on the country just over a year ago. What was meant to be a three-day blitzkrieg has turned into a grinding, attritional conflict where the front lines resemble the trenches of World War 1, albeit […]
This week we’re talking about moola, lolly, dough or dosh – the thing that makes the world go round…Money. In his recent book Money in One Lesson the economic journalist Gavin Jackson tries to answer a seemingly basic but very tricky question: what is money and how does it work? It’s a grand tour of […]
In an era of high-velocity politics, it can be tricky to sort the genuinely significant political moments from the chaff of hyperbole and faux outrage. Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation on Wednesday morning, however, was certainly the former. The reaction in some quarters has been startlingly generous. ITV News’ political editor called the resignation speech ‘truly remarkable’, while columnists queued […]
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation on Wednesday morning was a slightly puzzling political event – ‘shocking’, in the sense that it heralds the departure of a politician who has occupied the highest perch in Scottish politics for so long, but also not all that surprising, given both the First Minister’s recent political travails and the fact she […]
You might not have heard of Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) but they’re all the rage today. Labour’s newly published ‘GPC Files’ – which sounds very much like a weird Twitter conspiracy theory – purport to reveal a ‘scandalous catalogue of waste’, redolent of ‘the last days of Rome’. According to Angela Rayner, Tory ministers have […]
Britain isn’t working well for many of us right now. The cost of energy, housing, and food are too high, while decent jobs with real prospects are hard to come by. Those aren’t my words, but the clarion call of a new campaign group that aims to get Britain building again – Britain Remade starts from the […]
This week marked three years since the UK officially left the European Union. To mark the occasion, a new poll from UnHerd revealed that 54% of voters now think leaving was the wrong decision. Much as that finding will gladden the hearts of the Rejoiner community, it’s really not that surprising. After all we are […]
Few political questions are as basic, or as pressing, as how a government raises the money it spends – and the last year in British politics has provided ample examples of the political pitfalls of tax reform. In principle a good tax system should be a winning combination of fairness, efficiency, smooth revenue raising and […]
