Burnham sets out his socialist stall and business barely gets a mention September 30, 2026 We were told to expect a speech that would leave no room for doubt about what Andy Burnham believes in, and we got one. There might not be much detail yet about how the Burnham Revolution will unfold but there is no ambiguity, either. The Prime Minister painted a vision of what this country could [...]
What can steam trains teach us about progress in AI? September 30, 2026 Contrary to popular belief, Stephenson’s Rocket did not hail the dawn of the steam age. Likewise, AI has actually been in development for decades, but progress could now begin to move faster than steam trains ever could, says Paul Ormerod The economics Nobel Laureate Robert Solow famously stated in 1987: “you can see the computer [...]
The state wants to ‘buy British’. But the British don’t want to work with the state September 30, 2026 The government's drive to 'buy British' is futile if British companies don't want to sell to them, writes Joe Hill.
AI doom headlines aren’t spooking all investors September 29, 2026 Retail investors' response to AI doom headlines disproves the common notion that they move as a herd, writes Finimize CEO Carl Hazeley.
Markets should accept cheap money isn’t coming back September 29, 2026 We are no longer living in the post-financial crisis world, and the market needs to adjust, writes Helen Thomas.
A National Social Care Service would be a total disaster September 29, 2026 Even if we generously assume that a National Care Service would not lead to efficiency losses, crude rationing of care services, and an explosion in waiting times, it would still be a bad idea, because it would lead to the politicisation of key decisions in the sector, says Kristian Niemietz Britain spends about 2.6 per [...]
Andy Burnham can’t treat Heathrow expansion as a local planning issue September 29, 2026 Has Andy Burnham’s commitment to devolution morphed into a convenient excuse not to lead? I ask, because he seems to have excused himself from the debate about a critical £50bn national infrastructure project: Heathrow’s third runway. The project has been debated since the 1980s but officially kicked off in 2003 when Labour’s Alistair Darling, then [...]
Are we regulating all the fun out of fireworks? September 29, 2026 As Truro cancels its Bonfire Night display, the government is consulting on tightening regulations around fireworks that could put a dampener on this great British tradition, says Steve Raper Nobody is proposing to ban Bonfire Night. Of course they aren’t; but there is more than one way to make a tradition disappear. As Brits, we [...]
Labour will learn to love deregulation September 29, 2026 The Labour government I served in made advances in planning reform and curbing regulator overreach. But those efforts should be seen as a first step, not job done. Not least because there is barely a great progressive cause that does not now require deregulation to advance, says Alan Lockey Warm words for business are a [...]
Burnham must kill off bonkers Chagos deal for good September 28, 2026 The proposal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and pay for the privilege appeals to no voters and has lost the support of Donald Trump. Andy Burnham should pull the plug, says Eliot Wilson It became clear early in Sir Keir Starmer’s brief premiership that here was a leader of unusual political [...]