Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched the largest ever public offering of stock today, selling $75 billion worth of shares. SpaceX emphasised its remarkable achievements in its IPO filing: ‘We are the primary launch provider for the US government. In 2025, we launched 11 of 12 National Security Space Launch (‘NSSL’) medium and heavy lift missions […]
The British investment industry wants everyone to be familiar with a cartoon squirrel. Savvy, the character fronting a 20 million pound advertising campaign, is the latest attempt to boost investment in the UK. The government-backed ‘Invest for the Future’ initiative, launched last Thursday, is supported by some of the biggest financial services firms in the […]
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, so the saying goes. If that is true, Britain’s political class must be losing its mind. Faced with persistent economic stagnation, the highest youth unemployment in Europe and embarrassingly high levels of debt, they continue to reach for the same interventionist […]
‘We came into work on a manifesto to make work pay’, Jo Stevens, Labour’s Welsh Secretary, told Radio 4 this week. ‘And that’s exactly what we’re doing.’ Well, Ms. Stevens, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a different story to tell. Youth unemployment is now at its highest level in 11 years. Almost one […]
Subsidies create distortions. They alter the natural balance of supply, demand and fair competition in the marketplace. The Government’s Net Zero target has resulted in millions of pounds of taxpayer money being spent on subsidising ‘green’ projects, and, unsurprisingly, the distortionary effects are enormous. In some cases, the subsidies are not simply distortionary, but they […]
Another year, another Government U-turn. From welfare cuts to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, Labour have consistently adhered to policy positions, only to subsequently reverse them. In the first U-turn of 2026, the Government is expected to say it will make changes to how pubs have their business rates calculated, resulting in a smaller tax […]
Christmas is just around the corner. Brits across the country are preparing their mince pies, filling stockings with gifts for loved ones and stocking up on booze. Yet despite the festive cheer, the Grinch is trying to steal Christmas once again. Not the green, Christmas-hating monster. No, this is a more familiar fun sponge. Our […]
Time and time again, politicians will promise new ‘rights’. These rights are usually in the form of new regulations, and are generally taken at face value, with the smiling faces of the beneficiaries being propagated as proof of its success. The French economist Bastiat called this the ‘seen’ vs the ‘unseen’. The ‘seen’ is what […]
One of the most common public policy misconceptions is that higher public spending, and higher taxes to fund that spending, results in better welfare. For years, many British politicians have looked at Scandinavian public services with envy. The assumption that if you want Scandinavian-style welfare, you need Scandinavian levels of tax, has gone largely unchallenged. […]
The pre-Budget speculation continues. How on earth is Rachel Reeves going to find £30 billion without breaking the manifesto pledge? In her speech earlier this week, which in itself was rather unprecedented, Reeves set the stage for tax rises that would, probably, break the pledge. Page 21 of the Labour Party manifesto last summer read: […]
The UK is facing a fertility crisis. Since 1979, women’s intended fertility has remained relatively stable, at around 2.2 children. In 2023, the total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.44 children per woman. There is a widening gap between the number of children women want to have, and how many they actually have. […]
We’re now less than five weeks away from Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget, and the only person dreading it more than taxpayers might be the Chancellor herself. We are expecting to see, yet again, tax rises to meet the rising cost of the state. Public spending as a proportion of GDP is now at about 44%. […]
Keir Starmer’s child poverty taskforce is set to recommend scrapping the two-child benefit cap, increasing pressure on the Government to do it. The taskforce was established by the Prime Minister to look at how to bring down child poverty, and was initially supposed to publish its findings earlier this spring. However, the taskforce, which is […]
With the cost of renting a property steadily going up, you probably wouldn’t expect the Government to introduce legislation that makes it more difficult to rent. But alas, the consequences of new laws are not always obvious. The Government has hailed the return of the Renters’ Rights Bill, which returned to Parliament yesterday, as the […]
From announcing a general election in the pouring rain to the mixed reaction he received for his promise of compulsory national service, it’s fair to say that the Prime Minister’s reelection campaign has not gotten off to a great start. And the last 24 hours have been no different. Last night, the Conservatives announced the […]
It’s amusing to think about how Churchill might have responded to the news that the Conservative Party were intending to ban tobacco products for future generations. ‘I shall fight them on the beaches, I shall fight them in the smoking lounges,’ ChatGPT informs me of his response. ‘I shall fight them in the gentlemen’s clubs, […]
Our inability to build is perhaps the most pressing issue facing Britain today. It affects everything: stifling growth, repelling investment and worsening depopulation. It’s also toxified our politics, creating perverse political incentives that have given Nimbys a significant foothold over approvals. Matters have gotten so bad that both main parties have been dragged kicking and […]
My generation is set to be the first in 100 years to be poorer than our parents, yet we have a political system that funnels money into the hands of the old. The most obvious, and perhaps most egregious manifestation of this is the triple lock on pensions. Spending on pensions is expected to balloon […]
Earlier this week Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride suggested that that older people should consider working for Deliveroo, the takeaway delivery company. His idea was derided in some quarters as something akin to sending children back up the chimneys and down the mines. But is it really so ridiculous? To start with the specific […]
