Politicians have abandoned economics for paternalism August 30, 2018 Have advocates of lifestyle and environmental regulation given up pretending that the policies they advocate are grounded in good economic analysis? Two stories from last week suggest so. The first was reporting around a new study by the Global Burden of Disease project, which concluded that even moderate drinking increases the risk of alcohol-related health [...]
DEBATE: Does the shock resignation of the French energy minister prove that Macron’s regime has lost its shine? August 30, 2018 Does the shock resignation of the French energy minister prove that Macron’s regime has lost its shine? Adam Bartha, director of Epicenter, says YES. It’s hard to lose something that you haven’t had for a while, but Nicolas Hulot’s resignation in protest of Emmanuel Macron’s agenda shows what we should already have known. The French [...]
The revolving door of Australian Prime Ministers is a lesson for May August 30, 2018 You know the story: Australia has yet another Prime Minister. In fact, it has been 11 years since one has completed a full three-year term, and as of last week, five people have held the office in as many years. It is enough to make British politics look strong and stable. Read more: Lidington tells [...]
Pound rises as Michel Barnier plans to offer UK an unprecedented third country deal August 29, 2018 The pound surged this afternoon after the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier appeared to offer a breakthrough on Brexit, telling reporters the UK would receive an unprecedented deal for a third country. Sterling climbed more than one per cent higher on the news, breaking the $1.30 mark for the first time in three weeks. Meanwhile the yield [...]
Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington tells Europe: Accept our Brexit deal or face no deal August 29, 2018 Theresa May's deputy David Lidington has warned Europe to accept the Prime Minister's Brexit plan or run the risk of no deal. In a speech to French business leaders this afternoon, Lidington, who effectively serves as May’s deputy alongside his role as Cabinet Office minister, warned it was too late to go back to the drawing board. [...]
Trump puts China behind Clinton email hacks August 29, 2018 US President Donald Trump has accused China of hacking the emails of his 2016 presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton, despite an ongoing investigation into Russian involvement by US officials. "Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information [sic], got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all [...]
Northern Ireland can’t afford to wait any longer for a government August 29, 2018 Northern Ireland has taken centre-stage in Westminster over the past year. The Irish border forms a crux of the Brexit debate, and there’s also the small matter of the confidence-and-supply arrangement the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has formed to prop up the Conservative government. However, there’s an even more pressing political story over the Irish Sea [...]
From Venezuela to East Berlin, people will always choose capitalism over socialism August 29, 2018 How many people across the world in the history of humanity have fled from a capitalist country to a socialist one? There was much amusement at the height of the long miners’ strike of 1984/85. A National Union of Mineworkers official from Yorkshire, a crony of Marxist trade unionist Arthur Scargill, sought sanctuary in the Stasi-controlled [...]
October Brexit deadline dropped as negotiators eye November August 29, 2018 Senior officials in both London and Brussels have privately admitted that the October deadline for a deal on Brexit is now unlikely. Instead both sides are pinning their hopes on a November breakthrough to the deadlock that has plagued talks. It is thought an emergency European Council session is being earmarked for that month in order [...]
John McCain was a champion against pork barrel spending August 28, 2018 Millions of words have been written about US senator John McCain since his death last weekend. He has rightly been lauded as a statesman, a hero, a maverick (his own term) – but one accolade that has been missing is his role as a champion for taxpayers. Given his military background and heroism during the [...]