If the title Baron Walker of Broxton leaves you blank, let me help: Richard Walker is executive chairman of the frozen food retailer Iceland, succeeding his father Sir Malcolm Walker, the company’s founder, in 2023. He was on the Conservative Party’s approved list of parliamentary candidates, then resigned in October 2023 because the party had […]
‘How good is our military?’ Donald Trump asked rhetorically when he addressed a group of Republican members of Congress recently. The answer – judging from the first 10 days of Operation Epic Fury – is, in many ways, exceptionally good. The joint American and Israeli air and missile strikes which began on 28 February have […]
Despite reviving economic growth being an avowed priority for every government since the Covid-19 era, the record has been lacklustre. The obvious question is why? What are the constraints that hold back ministers who want to support investment, innovation and growth? Of course, there are some fundamental limitations that any government has to operate within. […]
Only last week, when I wrote about the pre-Budget pantomime, it looked as though we had already seen every twist. Yet the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) still managed a final stumble, accidentally leaking its own forecasts shortly before the Chancellor was due to speak – an episode that said rather too much about the […]
Democrat Governors in California, Maryland, Virginia and the Republican Governor of Utah are wrestling with a key question: could a strong approach to the issues facing boys and men win back lost support? In the United States, the Democrats’ journey into identitarianism led to half the population thinking their presidential candidate didn’t care about the […]
The Government’s screeching u-turn on reforming Personal Independence Payments has distracted attention from a more fundamental problem with Britain’s broken benefits system. Regardless of whether the right people are getting the right kinds of benefits or not, too few of them stop claiming once they’ve started. We’ve got a ‘Hotel California’ system where people check […]
This publication of this week’s Industrial Strategy, and the first of five associated ‘Sector Plans’, marks the latest step in delivering on the Government’s ambitions to boost economic growth. There is much in the papers published that seems sound, including the importance of unlocking investment in skills, R&D and infrastructure – all of which are […]
The Strategic Defence Review has finally been published. It is rumoured to be two or three months since the independent reviewers, led by former defence secretary Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, delivered a final draft to the Ministry of Defence, and the wrangling continues within Whitehall over how much money the Government intends to spend […]
The King and Queen of Canada have made it home to open the 45th Session of Parliament. While King Charles III is the Canadian head of state through the development of unique constitutional doctrines, he, of course, remains the British monarch. Their Majesties’ presence in Canada raises the question of where the long-standing relationship between […]
I have previously criticised the Starmer government’s NHS reform plans as reheated Blairism. They rediscover reforms that were already implemented 20 years ago, repackage them a bit, and pass them off as novel and bold. After the new plans announced today, I still think ‘reheated Blairism’ is a fair description – but I’m starting to […]
In the grand theatre of US politics, a new act has taken the stage, and it’s one that could either be a masterclass in efficiency or a huge payday for entrepreneurs wanting to sell eggs to angry mobs. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. They […]
A common refrain heard from ‘wellness’ influencers on Instagram and motivational recruiters on LinkedIn is that the key to a happy life is to surround yourself with positive people. One can only assume they’re referring to the sort of person who would tell you to slow down after your fourth pint rather than pat you […]
For the next instalment of our ‘From the Archive’ series, we’re republishing a paper from 1990 identifying Nimbyism as one of the major policy challenges of the day. It provides a depressing reminder that the Centre for Policy Studies has been talking about the iniquity of the planning system, the anachronism of the green belt […]
To deliver a fully decarbonised grid by 2035, the government is banking on a near fivefold increase in solar capacity. Can it be done? Yes, but it won’t be easy. And as it stands the biggest barrier to installing those panels in time is our slow-motion bureaucratic planning system. To get permission to build a […]
The European Commission’s manoeuvre to exploit the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP) 10 meeting on Tobacco Control for the promotion of anti-vaping measures is nothing short of disgraceful. Leaked documents have laid bare the disturbing collusion between European Commission and European Council bureaucrats to exploit the minimal scrutiny and accountability of COP10 in order […]
There is a quote often attributed to the leader of the Russian Revolution Vladimir Ilyich Lenin which goes. ‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.’ Following that logic, 2022 feels as though it lasted a century – as the UK contended with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, political instability at […]
. . Baroness Dambisa Moyo is a seriously impressive woman. She’s worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs analysing global economic trends, and sat on the boards of numerous FTSE100 companies including Barclays and Chevron. She’s also the author of five books including best-sellers Dead Aid – a critique of development policy in Africa […]
Petitions are one of the bluntest instruments in politics. Two of the biggest petitions ever to appear on the UK Parliament website called for Britain to stay in the EU and Donald Trump to be banned from a State visit to the UK – both were demonstrable failures. Likewise unweighted surveys are a good way […]
When Harold Macmillan claimed in 1957 that the British people had “never had it so good”, he meant it as a warning. It stemmed partly from the tedious snobbery of this country’s squirearchy – the idea that nothing good could come proles getting new homes, cars, and washing machines. But also from a fear familiar […]
Inflation has been a thing of the past so long that it is easy to forget the brutal economic hardships of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s in the UK. Yet inflation is currently growing at its fastest rate in nearly 40 years prompting the outgoing Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, to warn […]
I voted for the first time in last week’s local elections. In our pandemic era, the only requirement was to bring a mask. It would be easy to use someone else’s name – you’d just have to know their address. It’s harder to pick up a package from the post office, which has no effect […]
The economy has been in an induced coma, and many are pinning their hopes on a burst of consumer spending to jolt it back to life. But months of inactivity may be masking changes to habits and perceptions that could lead to a greater propensity to save. This means recovery may not be as simple […]
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