Labour’s plans for rent control by stealth will cost £4.2bn a year May 7, 2026 An upward-only rent review ban on commercial property, which has been shoehorned into a devolution bill, will have massive unintended consequences, warns Martin Beck Last year, the then-housing and local government secretary, Angela Rayner, quietly and unexpectedly inserted a rent control policy for commercial property into the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. The measure [...]
How are prediction markets like Polymarket more accurate than Wall Street analysts? May 7, 2026 Prediction markets like Polymarket are more accurate than Wall Street analysts in forecasting corporate earnings, but it's not for the reason you think.
Why democracy needs the rich May 7, 2026 A new book argues that, in a democracy, an intellectual class that holds homogeneous, anti-capitalist views demands a counterweight of the wealthy contributing to politics, says Rainer Zitelmann In 2021 and 2022, a representative survey on attitudes toward the market economy and capitalism was conducted in 34 countries. Among other things, respondents were presented with [...]
Let’s create new hereditary peers and put them to work – just not in the Lords May 7, 2026 The government was right to abolish hereditary peers, but it would be a mistake to lose the custodians of the memories of great Britons of the past, says Bartek Staniszewski In the 70s, during a debate in the House of Lords, one of the peers quoted a Lord Chief Justice from the reign of King [...]
Big Tech wants a slice of the fashion world. But why? May 6, 2026 From Amazon to Meta, Big Tech is snapping up Met Gala tables and Vogue covers, but why, asks Anna Moloney.
Is it time to make voting compulsory? May 6, 2026 Low turnout at elections allows anti-growth minorities to dictate policy. Diluting that by ensuring all eligible voices are heard equally would return the incentives to deliver for all in our economy, says Charles White In 2024, Labour told the public: “Sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and [...]
The Debate: Is the Renters’ Rights Act good for London landlords? May 6, 2026 The Renters Rights' Act has completely rewritten the landlord-tenant relationship. But can it benefit both sides?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is right – our energy policy is ‘all over the place’ May 6, 2026 Punchy interventions from chemicals tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe are not rare; most announcements from his company, Ineos, are enriched with a missive from the billionaire on where exactly the UK is going wrong. But these are no mere PR ploys. The stakes are high and he knows what he’s talking about. Yesterday’s confirmation of his [...]
The Strait of Hormuz proves fossil fuels are essential for food security May 6, 2026 Carbon emissions are not a threat to food security – the war in the Middle East is highlighting that the much bigger food challenge for the world is not having enough access to fossil fuels, says Bjorn Lomborg For years, climate campaigners have claimed that our food supply is under grave threat from climate change [...]
Gary Stevenson is predictably wrong about wealth taxes May 6, 2026 Wealth taxes, as promoted by the likes of Gary Stevenson and Zack Polanski, are a terrible idea. Let’s make Britain rich instead, says Kristian Niemietz Wealth taxes are currently all the rage. Over the past few years, a massive hype has built up around the idea: 75 per cent of the public say they support [...]