It’s hot, sure but we don’t need the health bureaucrats to tell us to open the windows July 20, 2022 Phew, What A Scorcha! No, not a tabloid headline from this week, but from 1976. As many have pointed out already, in that distant summer Britain experienced a prolonged heatwave. The temperature was over 30 degrees for several weeks, without respite. We survived without the hysteria of the Met Office or the pronouncements of the [...]
Politicians and voters must learn that every policy has a cost and an impact on growth July 13, 2022 The runners and riders battling for leadership of the Conservative Party are setting out their stalls. Tax, lockdown, defence and Brexit are all key issues which have been raised. On some of these, at least, there are marked differences between the candidates. But there is an elephant in the room: how to raise the underlying [...]
Universities follow perverse incentive models out of touch with the labour market July 6, 2022 THE days tick by to the summer ritual of the announcement of A-level results. Yet panic is already spreading among those wanting to start university in the autumn. The number of applicants has risen by 5 per cent this year, according to the university admissions service (UCAS). In addition, many universities are cutting back the [...]
Central banks have fooled themselves into thinking they have power over inflation June 29, 2022 If we look under the bonnet of central banks, we find a debate which is almost theological in its nature.
We’re not reliving the 1970s yet, but today’s decisions will keep us out or drag us back June 22, 2022 In the current wave of discontent, rail unions, along with teachers, NHS and other public sector unions, are asking for increases which match inflation. They are still, just about, in single figures and a long way from the 20 per cent-plus of 1975. But only eighteen months previously, at the end of 1973, inflation had still been in high single figures.
Scotland needs to abandon its dream world and realise what independence truly means June 15, 2022 Nicola Sturgeon has relaunched her bid for Scottish Independence.
A windfall tax raised by a money-hungry government will scare off our businesses June 8, 2022 Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax on energy firms – what he called a “temporary targeted profits levy” – has gone down well with voters. The tax makes it look like money is raised from someone else and given to them through subsidies to their bills. Despite claims that the tax will yield an additional £5bn in [...]
As Johnson squirms, his party must remember the roots of Conservatives values June 1, 2022 Boris Johnson has strayed very far from Conservative ideals
Many lessons can be learned from drink driving and smoking laws to tackle obesity May 25, 2022 Obesity has been a hot topic over the past week. The government announced it would delay its plan to implement restrictions on junk food marketing and volume-based price promotions. These had been presented as key elements in the strategy to reduce obesity. With a timing which was either impeccable or pure good luck, the Cancer [...]
As we resume our life back to normal, the costs of lockdowns become painfully clear May 11, 2022 The enormous costs of a policy of strict lockdowns – identified and predicted by many economists in the summer of 2020 – are now becoming obvious. As our memory of them starts to fade away, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still tracking vital Covid-19 data. The WHO provides estimates of the excess deaths due [...]
