For Generation Insecurity, the British dream has turned sour November 1, 2019 My 14 year old son is in a band. He loves playing to his classmates and studying GCSE music. Bizarrely (for me), he’s quite into Queen and eighties songs, which I joke with him was the same stuff I was listening to when I was his age. Intergenerational humour apart, it got me thinking about [...]
DEBATE: Does the spate of Conservative MP resignations suggest that the party’s ideology is narrowing? November 1, 2019 Does the spate of Conservative MP resignations suggest that the party’s ideology is narrowing? Ben Kelly, a commentator for Reaction, says YES. The Conservative party has been a formidable election-winning machine because of an ability to adapt to its circumstances. This strength comes from its diversity as an alliance of various political factions, united by [...]
The moral of the pay gap story is that the future looks bright for women in work November 1, 2019 The gender pay gap has widened, read the headlines and news tickers this week, after the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released its 2019 data on pay, including the average difference for men and women in work. As the pay gap debate has highlighted for years now, statistics can be used to tell almost any [...]
Galliford Try joins the Winters of discontent October 31, 2019 Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT Group: even the Investment Association (IA) must have been surprised by the rich seam of targets it uncovered when it launched a campaign to curb the lavish pension perks enjoyed by the chief executives of listed companies. A quarter of FTSE 100 bosses have seen their pension [...]
DEBATE: Is Labour set to outperform its 2017 result in this election? October 31, 2019 Is Labour set to outperform its 2017 result in this election? YES, says James Meadway, an economist and former adviser to John McDonnell A solid guide to forecasting British politics is to look at whatever the Westminster consensus thinks, and assume the opposite. The pundits got Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership victory wrong, they got the referendum [...]
This may be the ideal time for a debate on a written constitution October 31, 2019 Recent events in parliament have led many people to ask whether this country needs a proper – or at least written – constitution. This suggests that we do not possess either of these things already. This is to some degree misguided, as significant parts of our constitution are already written and enshrined in legislation, all [...]
Tax cuts could do for our economy today what the Reformation did 502 years ago October 31, 2019 On this day in 1517, German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ church in Wittenberg. In so doing, Luther set in motion a series of events which would have a dramatic impact on the political landscape of Europe, transform the economy, and alter the lives of ordinary people [...]
It’s Halloween: Beware the horror of an inescapable Brexit deadline October 31, 2019 By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. And, though it may not be the devilry and delight of a Halloween Brexit, the new horror of an Advent election should fill us all with dread. Of the many spooky things in this world, the deadline is perhaps the most tense, highly-strung genre [...]
Can Boris Johnson magic the most important rabbit of all from out of his hat? October 31, 2019 Dynamo and Derren Brown had better watch out, for there is a new challenger looking to break through and compete for the title of Britain’s finest practitioner of magical arts: Boris Johnson. For his first act, our putative contender conjured up a Brexit deal with the EU that had previously been described as impossible to [...]
What problems do savers face when transferring their pensions? October 30, 2019 If you want to transfer your pension to another company, you could find it quicker to fly to Mars. That’s not an exaggeration – in some instances, it can take six months for your provider to process your request, so it’s hardly surprising that some people simply don’t bother trying to move their money at [...]