The Greek poets understood that the cruellest fate is not the one a man brings upon himself, but the one that was waiting for him before he arrived. Oedipus did not choose his fate, indeed he walked into it with the very best of intentions. So too, in his quieter and more lawyerly fashion, did […]
Every year, I eagerly await a report that confirms what I see before my eyes. KPMG’s ‘Illicit Trade in Tobacco Report’ is a beast of research, conducting in-person ‘pack-surveys’ (where packets of tobacco, whether to be rolled or already neatly packed into paper, are surveyed to find whether they are legally bought or smuggled, counterfeit […]
The Green Party has a new plan to solve the housing crisis that is simple: make it worse. With local elections looming, the Greens are set to offer rent controls and various measures against ‘commercial housebuilders’ as part of their local election offer. It is the political equivalent of treating a fever by smashing the […]
Grenfell was a preventable tragedy. The £177 million, seven-year inquiry established as much – fault was found in every corner, from the fire brigade, to the cladding, to the funding of fire safety in the building and how the government regulates building safety. The loss of 72 lives was horrifying, and owed to a confluence […]
Jonathan Hinder, Labour’s MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, has taken to X to deliver what he clearly hopes will be received as a bracing call to arms. In a forty-second video (the medium is very much the message) he laments that ‘Trump’s whims, tariff wars, global energy prices’ now ‘dictate living standards in Britain’. The […]
If you want to see the physical manifestation of the British state’s inability to actually do things anymore, you need only look out of the window of a passing Thames clipper at the Palace of Westminster. It is a crumbling Victorian masterpiece, a neo-gothic labyrinth of asbestos, leaking pipes and fire risks that would see […]
Those with the broadest shoulders may have the biggest homes, but as Michael Simmons of The Spectator has often said, they also have the longest legs. On Budget day, the final kites have been flown before Rachel Reeves brings the tax hammer down to fill her £30–40 billion black hole. One of her more destructive […]
With Donald Trump having once again visited Britain, it is worth asking if we might be able to learn something from America’s devotion to liberty. Say what you will about the 45th President, he has never been shy of wading into the ‘culture wars’, at the heart of which lies our right to freedom of […]
Britain’s war on tobacco is increasingly being waged in the wrong theatre. As the Government ramps up taxes, advertising bans and generational smoking restrictions, it is losing sight of the basic economic truth that when legal supply is throttled and demand endures, the black market fills the gap. And now, the cost of that blind […]
Keir Starmer and David Lammy face a foreign policy landscape in flux. The West is facing new challenges, as old alliances break down. France is cutting deals with Denmark to protect Greenland from potential US encroachment while the Hungarians work to undermine the EU’s next round of sanctions against Russia. The post-Cold war order is […]
The scent of tobacco still wafts through Britain’s streets. It’s not just a whiff of rebellion against the nanny state – it’s a crime wave. High taxes and stringent regulations have driven smokers away from legitimate retailers and into the arms of organised criminal gangs, importing bags of ‘baccy’ from warehouses from as far afield […]
On Wednesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer addressed the nation to ‘kickstart growth’. As ever with these big political speeches, she spent much of it pointing to things that this Government has already announced and going ‘ooh, isn’t this brilliant,’ while the remainder had already been leaked heavily to the press. Nonetheless, there were some […]
‘Britain is set to be the worst in the world’ is hardly something that any government wants to see blasted across the headlines. Unfortunately for Labour, this is exactly what the Adam Smith Institute’s (ASI) new analysis is telling us about how many millionaires are thinking about legging it out of the UK. Specifically, we […]
There are few taxes more damaging than those levied against aspiration. Stamp duty is such a tax. By placing extra financial burdens on those seeking to buy a property, especially during an acute housing crisis, we’re pushing the goal of home-ownership just that extra bit further out of reach. It’s encouraging to see members of […]
Over one week into Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia, it appears the gamble has, so far, paid off. What is less of a cause for celebration is the state of our sanctions regime. Britain can rightly be proud of the military and economic support we’ve given to Ukraine, and the aims of the economic punishments […]
Alongside Tax Freedom Day, we at the Adam Smith Institute have decided to highlight one of the other equally pernicious ways that poor policy choices are eating into our pay packets; namely, the objectively insane prices that many of us are paying monthly just to keep a roof over our heads. Sunday marked Cost of […]
A new protest recently took hold of Westminster, as tractors flooded Parliament Square and beyond. Britain is the latest Western European country where farmers have been protesting. They seem to be demonstrating over two key topics – the fact that every Briton now has access to cheaper food through free trade deals, and that insufficient […]
For many free marketeers, VAT is a contentious issue. Purists argue that it should be applied to all items in order for the base to be widened and tax lowered. But the more realistic school recognises that politicians will raise taxes on anything they can touch. Education, including commercial language tuition, tutoring and universities, is […]
Peering over the present Chancellor’s shoulder, as he polished off the Budget, was a photo of the former, Nigel Lawson. The language that Hunt used over the course of yesterday certainly invoked the spirit of his much acclaimed predecessor. He dangled the keys to growth in front of our eyes; from teasing his intention to […]
Despite the fairly gloomy outlook, the Autumn Statement is rumoured to contain a ‘rabbit’ for businesses – permanent full expensing. The policy, currently set to expire in 2026, allows UK companies 100% tax relief on qualifying plant and machinery investments to help accelerate growth and improve infrastructure. Most importantly, full expensing enables companies to write […]
