The debate: should voting be compulsory? July 29, 2026 Andy Burnham is said to be considering voting reform. Two writers go head to head on whether Britain should introduce Australian-style compulsory voting YES: Everyone’s vote should count, not just those who turn up British politics has a turnout problem. Just three in five registered voters went to the polls in the 2024 general election. [...]
Zohran Mamdani’s socialist superstore stunt won’t help poor New Yorkers July 29, 2026 Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open five state=owned shops with subsidised groceries will make little to no difference to the lives of New Yorkers, so why are you reading about it? Ask Kristian Niemietz New York City has a population of over 8.5m people, or close to 20m if we include the wider metropolitan area, and [...]
James Reed: My advice for Andy Burnham on his big promotion July 29, 2026 James Reed, whose worked in recruitment for over three decades, shares his three tips for Andy Burnham on starting his big new job Having worked in recruitment for over 30 years, I am often asked for my advice on starting a big new job. They don’t come much bigger – or more scrutinised – than [...]
John Healey returns to a City that has outgrown his mid-2000s rulebook July 29, 2026 As Chancellor John Healey returns to the Treasury, he must recognise that the City’s competitive landscape has fundamentally shifted from the exchange-focused concerns of the mid-2000s toward a modern model where investment banks increasingly rely on shared, industrialised infrastructure, says Joe Channer As John Healey arrives at the Treasury – this time, to everyone’s surprise, [...]
Britain has the lowest level of millionaires since the financial crisis – and that’s no accident July 28, 2026 The number of millionaires in Britain has sunk to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Rich residents aren’t just fleeing because of policy choices like high levels of tax and the removal of non-dom status, but also a cultural hostility to wealth, says James Lawson It is no secret that the wealthy and [...]
Will Britain follow Japan’s great growth gamble? July 28, 2026 Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has unveiled an expansionary economic blueprint aiming to break Japan’s long-standing cycle of stagnation through state-led investment, creating a precarious balancing act for the Bank of Japan as it attempts to maintain market confidence and monetary stability, says Helen Thomas A newly installed leader promises to break with the economic [...]
Expanding London airports will help growth take off July 28, 2026 Extra runways at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton are not just lucrative transport infrastructure projects that will create construction jobs and supply chain benefits in the short-term. They are key to getting overseas visitors into the UK to spend money, says Alex Challoner The summer holidays are upon us. Chances are, at some time in the [...]
Burnham won’t be bold enough to make devolution shift the dial on growth July 28, 2026 Within a year of Cornwall abolishing the 45p additional rate of income tax and reducing corporation tax to 15 per cent, hundreds of entrepreneurs and businesses, including dozens of major financial and professional services firms, had relocated to the county. The influx of private sector dynamism delivered an astonishing economic boost to a region that [...]
Andy Burnham will find there is a limit to tax rises July 28, 2026 Since tax increases are constrained by adverse behavioral responses and public resistance, the government must prioritise improving long-stagnant public sector efficiency, says Paul Ormerod A brand new Cabinet is in place, with ministers eager to introduce new spending plans to demonstrate that they are making an impact. To pay for these, a range of potential [...]
OpenAI’s rogue agent doesn’t scare me – the millions of others do July 28, 2026 The model that broke out of a lab will get the headlines. The millions of agents already inside your banking app, wreaking havoc, are the ones that should worry you more, says Rory Blundell Frontier AI labs are racing to build faster, more capable, more autonomous agents. This week showed what that race can cost. [...]