Lib Dems are confused on economic freedom: No wonder voters aren’t impressed October 6, 2014 THE ORANGE Book, written by a group of Liberal Democrat thinkers and politicians in 2004, had a clear message for a party often criticised for inconsistency. It articulated a desire for the Lib Dems to embrace economic liberalism and apply market solutions to a range of challenges, including in healthcare, environmental policy, and pensions. It [...]
Gutsy Osborne was right to gamble on a promise of further spending cuts September 29, 2014 ED MILIBAND made a pitch for office that was so forgettable that he forgot it himself.” That line was the key message chancellor George Osborne wanted us to take away from his party conference speech yesterday. While the Conservatives have a plan to continue to eliminate the budget deficit and create the conditions for prosperous [...]
Cost of living crisis myths: How Miliband could deliver a real pro-poor agenda September 22, 2014 Labour’s party conference will see Ed Miliband try to shift public focus away from the Scottish referendum fallout and back towards the choice at next year’s general election. In particular, he’ll seek to refocus our minds on the “cost of living crisis” narrative that he’s been composing since 2011. Policy announcements over the weekend suggest, [...]
Planning liberalisation is the closest thing there is to an economic silver bullet September 15, 2014 WITH low productivity, high inflation and terrible industrial relations, in 1977, Britain was a basket case. So that year, businessman John Hoskyns decided to dedicate substantial effort to analysing the UK’s economic problems. The result was a flow diagram, which sought to trace out the fundamental causes of the malaise. Hoskyns’s work pinned the blame [...]
Labour’s faulty rent control plans reflect the shallowness of UK politics today September 8, 2014 WHY DO politicians advocate policies which deal with the symptoms of problems rather than the underlying issues directly? In the past week we’ve seen Liberal Democrats react to expensive childcare by pledging to roll out “free” care for all two year-olds, which they say will help struggling families. George Osborne, meanwhile, has promised to cap [...]
Our policymakers’ hostility to low-cost flying is hurting the worst-off August 11, 2014 It’s that time of year when the City’s offices seem empty. For many families with children, these weeks represent the last opportunity of the year to get away for a well-earned break. Yet while two-thirds of MPs will use this period to fly abroad, policies they have implemented make it less likely that their constituents [...]
Pork barrel UK: Buying off voters with taxpayer cash has serious consequences August 4, 2014 THE CLASSICAL liberal French economist Frédéric Bastiat once said that “government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.” Over the past year or so, numerous examples and allegations suggest that a more accurate pearl of wisdom for the UK would be: “Government is the great fiction, [...]
Hollande’s solution to France’s economic tragedy is more failed corporatism July 28, 2014 THE UK is becoming a low-skilled, low pay economy, and ordinary workers aren’t sharing in the proceeds of growth.” How often do we hear this? Those who articulate these views, particularly on the left, argue that we need more state intervention in the economy: more “social investments” paid for by higher taxes, “worker representation”, industrial [...]
Forget the licence fee: Why Game of Thrones damns the case for a universal BBC July 21, 2014 Ahead of the 2016 Charter Review, the BBC is bunkering down to defend its funding through the licence fee. Last week alone saw director-general Tony Hall and head of policy James Heath robustly justify the continuation of the £145.50 annual charge for all those households who watch any type of live TV. It would be [...]
Don’t silence Lord Lawson: We can’t leave climate change policy to the scientists July 14, 2014 The row between former chancellor Lord Lawson and the BBC has escalated over the past week. In a letter to a green activist, the head of the Beeb’s Editorial Complaints Unit Fraser Steel has reportedly apologised for Lawson’s appearance on the BBC Today Programme to discuss climate change and the extensive flooding at the start [...]
