‘It’s simple,’ the Don’t Pay UK campaign website claims, ‘we are demanding a reduction of energy bills to an affordable level’. If they are ‘ignored’, and one million people make the pledge, they will cancel their direct debits on October 1. So far 94,000 people have signed up. If only things were that simple. If […]
This week the Government accepted the recommendations of independent pay review bodies for NHS staff, teachers and police. Nurses, paramedics and midwives will receive up to 9.3% while dentists and doctors will get a 4.5% rise. Teachers are set for between 5% and 8.9%, while police officers will get an average pay increase of £1,900. […]
Channel 4 has been an immensely successful enterprise. It regularly commissions popular programmes that attract substantial audiences funded by advertising revenue. In recent years shows like It’s A Sin, Russell T Davies’ heart-rending tale about five friends growing up in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, earned plaudits from critics. News that the Government is going […]
While there is little debate in this country over the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine, or the fortitude of Ukraine’s people, the question of how Britain can best help is still somewhat up in the air. There is a liberal answer that involves both responding directly to the war and navigating its economic […]
Michael Gove has always been a unique, somewhat iconoclastic figure, unafraid to think the unthinkable and take on the forces of inertia and convention. It’s what’s burnished his reputation as one of Whitehall’s great reformers, particularly during his stint as Education Secretary in the Coalition government. Lately, however, that iconoclasm has manifested itself in some […]
The problem with Levelling Up isn’t that it’s an empty slogan. Nor, contrary to some critics, is it a lack of new policy ideas or the unwillingness of the Treasury to splash yet more cash. The real issue is far deeper: levelling up is, at root, a bad idea. The whole notion of recalibrating Britiain’s […]
The latest news about the Omicron variant is positive. Pfizer and BioNTech have concluded that a three dose vaccine regime provides roughly the same protection against the new variant that a two-dose did against Delta and earlier variants. Other laboratory studies have reached similar conclusions. The real-world evidence is good as well. A private hospital […]
Parliamentarians are understandably angry about the brutal murder of a colleague. Sir David Amess was an exemplary parliamentarian, an extraordinary friend and a kind soul who will be dearly missed. This does not, however, justify every reaction. One suggestion we’ve seen repeatedly since Friday’s tragic events is a clampdown on social media. In the Commons […]
Last week Boris Johnson claimed that ending ‘uncontrolled immigration’ would produce a high-wage, high-skill and high-productivity economy. It was slightly ironic, therefore, that this week the most prestigious award in economics went to David Card, whose groundbreaking work debunked the idea Johnson’s case relies on – that immigration forces down wages. Card’s 1990 study – […]
The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda demonstrates the best and worst of humanity. It centres on the efforts of hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, who saved 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees from the Rwandan genocide. Here was a story of immense personal bravery, unremitting savagery and an international community that failed utterly to protect the vulnerable. The […]
Beyond Meat’s call for a meat tax is a textbook example of ‘bootleggers and baptists’: a policy supported by a coalition of profiteering rent seekers hiding on the moral high ground. Historically, it was illegal alcohol sellers co-opting evangelical Christians to create a powerful coalition demanding prohibition. Today it is a plant-based food company teaming […]
The moral panic about AstraZeneca vaccines and blood clots has done immense damage. It has undoubtedly increased vaccine hesitancy which reduced uptake, not only in the United Kingdom, but also across Europe and as far-flung as Australia. The result is more cases, hospitalisations and deaths. The restriction of AstraZeneca for younger cohorts has also reduced […]
After an agreement in principle hashed out over dinner between prime ministers Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, the details of the Australia UK trade deal have now been published. It paints a thoroughly optimistic picture for the future of the UK’s trade policy. There are still a few hoops to jump through: the deal be […]
Just a few weeks ago Britain’s free trading future appeared in doubt. There was vocal opposition to the UK’s trade deal with Australia emerging from the National Farmers Union (NFU) with the backing of some senior cabinet ministers and certain sections of the media. The rhetoric reached apocalyptic levels with NFU boss Minette Batters writing […]
The expropriation of Covid-19 vaccine patents will not lead to a single additional jab. This simple fact, sadly, has not prevented the Biden Administration from throwing their weight behind a proposal to waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation. Patents are not the bottleneck to producing more vaccines. There are […]
The forthcoming Online Safety Bill is meant to make “UK the safest place in the world to be online but at the same time defend freedom of expression” (my emphasis). The word “but” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in these proposals. There will be a “duty of care” on digital companies but no […]
The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine are exceedingly high and the risks astonishingly low. The latest US trial results put it at 76% effective at preventing Covid-19 and 100% effective at preventing serious disease. The UK’s overall vaccination programme, which was largely dependent on AZ, has already prevented 6,000 deaths in the first three months […]
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been temporarily suspended across France, Germany, Spain, Italy and a number of other European countries after reports of blood clots among some people who have received the shot. Thankfully, the UK has taken a different approach, with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency making clear that there is no evidence […]
Jenny Harries, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, is reportedly in line to head up a new UK-wide agency tasked with overseeing public health and battling pandemics. The National Institute for Health Protection is taking over responsibility for pandemics from the much-maligned Public Health England (PHE), which has rightly carried the can for its ill-preparedness for […]
Facebook’s decision to stop publishing news links in Australia is dominating politics Down Under today. But it’s implications are much broader. Though the headlines are about a Big Tech company, this is really about legacy news organisations using state power for a bombing raid on their competitors. In the process they are setting an awful […]
