This Halloween, I will be sympathetic to adults cowering behind their desks, dreading one of the most haunting and daunting times of the year. As midnight approaches I do not, of course, think that grown men and women will be worrying about imaginary ghosts and ghouls – instead, they will be anxious about the very […]
Most companies estimate they are analysing just 12 per cent of the data they hold, and it is likely the government is doing far worse than that. As the array of data collected about us rapidly expands – with our mobile phones, cars and Oyster cards recording more and more information about who we are, where […]
Yesterday, John McDonnell gave a stark warning to the British public about the Government’s upcoming “chaotic breakfast”. Of course, breakfast – or as McDonnell meant to say, Brexit – does pose challenges for the UK economy in the short term. However, it pales into insignificance when compared to those posed by McDonnell himself. The fact […]
It is four years ago since I first tipped up at the Centre for Policy Studies with what seemed like a brilliant idea. I had been introduced to the longest-serving Concorde pilot, Jock Lowe, and he had a scheme for expanding Heathrow for the least cost and bother. Jock’s idea was simply to extend the […]
Today’s confirmation that the UK is to deploy a battalion to Estonia has reawoken concerns that, far from having a new Cold War with Russia, things are beginning to look decidedly hot. Yet with 330,000 Russian troops deployed across the border, the 800 British soldiers might feel rather like their counterparts who served in Germany during […]
Work is one of the most effective routes out of poverty. As well as providing income, being in work improves self-esteem and physical and mental health. Work is an all-round good thing, and this Government and the last have made it a driving force for welfare reforms. This week, for example, the Government announced new funding […]
Extending the length of human life has long held a natural fascination for us all. Arguably our earliest surviving work of literature, “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, dating back to 2100BC, tells of the search by the King of Uruk for the secret of eternal life. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have seen lifespan increase dramatically, with life […]
In October 2007, having resigned earlier that year as Prime Minister, Tony Blair gave a speech at Blenheim Palace in which he said: The real dividing line to think of in modern politics has less to do with traditional positions of right versus left, and more to do today, with what I would call the […]
Ever since the Conservative Party set a target to reduce net migration into the UK, there has been a lively debate about whether overseas students should be included in these immigration statistics. The Home Office – looking both at the magnitude of student immigration (over 400,000 foreign students were studying in the UK in 2014/15), […]
There was shock, horror and protest today as an investigation by the Press Association told us that the Government’s plans for the UK’s flood defences are skewed towards wealthy families and regions. The loudest criticism came from the Green MP Caroline Lucas, who announced: “It’s simply wrong for richer areas to get more protection than […]
After the referendum result this summer, the Government signalled its intention to reduce the number of overseas students studying in the UK. In July, shortly after Theresa May became Prime Minister, Government sources revealed their intention to “restrict visas” in order to meet the net migration target. Then at the Conservative Party Conference earlier, international students became […]
No one will ever abolish boom and bust. Not while human beings are driving the business cycle. So our reaction when the inevitable downturn comes is important. This past recession shows the value of the neoliberal – Thatcherite even – insistence on a flexible labour market. For when GDP dropped so did productivity – rather than employment. The Sheffield Political Economy […]
These are turbulent times for the UK – and for banks. International banking is probably more affected by Brexit than any other sector – it is our biggest export industry far, it gets its rules and right to serve cross-border from the EU, and it is internationally mobile. Fortunately, our banking sector weathered the initial […]
For some years the government has talked a good game on infrastructure, but the actual playing has been conspicuously absent. In no case has this been more conspicuous than at Heathrow. It was back in January 2009, nearly eight years ago, that Geoff Hoon (remember him?) announced that the government supported the construction of a […]
In 2006, exploration in Brazil’s Campos Basin discovered pre-salt, an ultra-deep geological layer known to harbour high-grade oil. The announcement was greeted with euphoria. Politicians said the discovery would launch a new era for the country. The former president, Lula da Silva, described the pre-salt layer as a “winning ticket” for Brazilians. Now, ten years later, […]
It was always a matter of when, not if, the attention of the media would turn to the future of the financial services sector after the UK leaves the EU. Will Brexit make no difference, or will the loss of the EU financial services passport – which allows UK-headquartered firms to do business across the […]
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