By: Alys Denby

Alys Denby is opinion and features editor of City AM. She writes the weekly Free Thinking newsletter and presents the video series of the same name. She regularly appears in broadcast media including BBC, Channel 5 Sky News, Times Radio, LBC and GB News. She has previously worked for a think tank and as a parliamentary researcher

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Benefit cap punishes children for their parents’ choices

July 24, 2024

If Labour are looking to make savings on the welfare bill, there are plenty of places other than the two-child benefit cap to look – starting with the pensions triple lock In a manifesto that was light on detail, two of Labour’s biggest promises were to adopt Conservative policies: on the fiscal rules and the [...]
Tedium alone won’t restore confidence in the economy

July 23, 2024

The theory of Ricardian Equivalence posits that financing public spending out of taxes or borrowing will have the same overall economic consequences. This, David Ricardo argued in 1820, was because rational consumers understand that debt will eventually have to be paid off. They will therefore set aside current income in anticipation of future tax rises. [...]
What’s to blame for Tory woes? Boris Johnson and Brexit

July 9, 2024

If Boris Johnson hadn’t backed Brexit, the Tories could still be in power – and further pandering to the right will only push voters further into the pinstripe embrace of Nigel Farage, argues Alys Denby As an endorsement of Keir Starmer, this election result was equivocal. His thumping majority was won with a vote share [...]
Which is the real party of business?

June 26, 2024

Rishi Sunak has won praise from political strategists for finally distancing himself from his short-lived predecessor, saying “I was right when I warned you about Liz Truss”. But what should the City make of the Conservative leader drawing such a firm line under his party’s experiment with free market ideology? To answer that question, it’s [...]
Reform is needed to save the House of Lords from an abuse of patronage

June 25, 2024

With ‘gamblegate’ engulfing the Conservatives, City A.M. does not recommend betting on politics. But there’s one outcome of this election that’s a dead cert: a victorious Keir Starmer will swiftly appoint dozens of new peers to nod through his legislation and Rishi Sunak will draw up a resignation honour list cloaking various acolytes in ermine as a [...]
London: The 10 stunning projects held up by the planning system

June 20, 2024

All this week, City A.M. has been making the case that London’s future prosperity depends on new buildings. But what about the future that might have been? From rock stars objecting to affordable housing to jumping spiders blocking rollercoasters, vested interests are too often allowed to get in the way of potentially transformative new developments. [...]
Yes in my backyard! It’s time to get London building

June 17, 2024

In JG Ballard’s High-Rise, life in a pseudo-luxury tower block disintegrates into atavistic violence with residents of different floors battling for territory and against the rigid class divisions the building itself imposes on them. London hasn’t quite reached this stage, but like all dystopias the novel magnifies a basic truth – that the urban environment [...]
Baillie Gifford sponsorship row reflects the sorry state of the arts

May 31, 2024

Book festivals have come under pressure to refuse funding from Baillie Gifford.
Eco activists calling for literature festival boycotts should read a book

May 20, 2024

Writers signing a letter calling on book festival sponsor Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels exhibit a lazy habit of mind that has no place in literature, says Alys Denby The arts should always be anti-establishment. Only an autocracy would demand that all its creative output mindlessly cohered to the values of the regime. [...]
Humza Yousaf’s SNP is more like a cult than a political project

April 30, 2024

The SNP has held on to power in Scotland through the force of personality of its leaders and the pursuit of independence at all cost

Brits increasingly turning to ChatGPT for investment advice

Reading owner Rob Couhig considers selling training ground to raise funds

Food trends 2026: What Londoners will eat in the new year

By: Alys Denby

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