Our economy remains in a perilous state June 12, 2025 With the long-awaited Spending Review, the UK Chancellor finally gets to reveal the goodies rather than simply be the baddie. But there will be one question lurking behind every line item, behind every pound pledged and every Treasury footnote: how are you going to pay for it?
What did a rally across the world teach me about business? It’s about being in the drivers’ seat June 12, 2025 Driving across deserts from Peking to Paris is a reminder that, in business, it’s not always the strongest or the fastest who win the race, it’s those that stay cool under pressure and get back on the road, says John Caudwell I’m filing this month’s column a short distance from the border of Georgia and [...]
How worried should Ed Miliband be about the CBI’s net zero U-turn? June 12, 2025 Is the CBI’s about-face on the cost of net zero a case of shameless opportunism or an overdue conversion to common sense, asks James Ford We are arguably living in an age of screeching political U-turns. The government’s abrupt volte-face over withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance is probably the most egregious example. Others would include [...]
Happy Tax Freedom Day! You’re working for the government longer than ever June 12, 2025 Today is Tax Freedom Day, the point in the year where British workers earn enough to pay their off their tax bill and start working for themselves – and it’s later than at any point since 1981, says James Lawson “There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program”. So wrote 20th-century American economist [...]
What a difference a day makes for Russia June 12, 2025 Today is 38 years since Ronald Reagan’s ‘tear down this wall’ speech, which ushered in the most free and fair election Russia has ever had, says Eliot Wilson There is such a thing as coincidence, and sometimes a specific date arises again and again in the same context. Today’s date, 12 June, was like that [...]
Spending review: Labour’s economy is austerity for the taxpayer June 11, 2025 'Austerity' isn’t just about reducing public expenditure – it also applies to tax hikes, writes John O'Connell following the Spending Review.
Only roaring growth can save Reeves, and the country June 11, 2025 The Chancellor had been speaking for about five minutes when it dawned on me that she wasn’t going to say anything interesting. By the time she got to discussing the finer points of Southport’s pier and Kirkcaldy’s high street, I’d moved on to other things. That’s not to say that the Spending Review wasn’t interesting, [...]
London Tech Week day 3: Let’s use that NHS budget on tech June 11, 2025 From NHS waiting lists to global warming, if we get it right we can use technology to address our biggest challenges, writes Russ Shaw.
Reeves’ straitjacket: Why Britain’s spending problem is political, not economic June 11, 2025 Public spending should not be held hostage to the OBR’s latest spreadsheet projections, as if the future of school funding hangs on whether GDP is revised up by 0.1 per cent. Our leaders should acknowledge that fiscal headroom is a political choice, says Dimitri Zenghelis The UK government is right to focus on investment and [...]
The Debate: Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles to Greece? June 11, 2025 As rumours about talks to repatriate the Elgin Marbles to Greece resurface, we get two experts to make the case for and against their return.