How Albania went from Europe’s socialist poorhouse to a narco-state February 6, 2025 Albania was once a socialist backwater with just 1,265 cars in the whole country. And though living standards have improved considerably since that time, it’s failure to transform into a true market economy has handed power to drug lords and driven the brightest and best to emigrate, says Rainer Zitelmann I was in Tirana, the [...]
Labour’s waning brand is a boost for the Lib Dems, not the Tories February 5, 2025 Labour has followed the Tories in embroiling itself in a crisis of trust, and it's the Lib Dems who stand to gain, writes James Reed.
The Debate: Has Britain lost its work ethic? February 5, 2025 Chris Philp has told Brits to pull up their bootstraps, but have we really lost our work ethic? We let two writers hash it out.
ONS chief ‘very confident’ UK is suffering from rise in economic inactivity February 4, 2025 Professor Sir Ian Diamond said he was "very confident" that the UK was suffering from a rise in health-related economic inactivity, despite question marks about the quality of the data.
‘Rachel Reeves, you must do better’: Chancellor urged to act before hospitality’s collapse February 4, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told to take urgent action to prevent the collapse of thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK. In an open letter Sacha Lord, who was until recently Andy Burnham’s night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said he no longer considers Labour to be the party of “business and growth”. [...]
Banker Rowland launches Britain’s most lucrative padel tournament February 3, 2025 Redwood Bank founder Jonathan Rowland’s R3 Sport is launching Britain’s most lucrative padel tournament in association with Bullpadel, one of the game’s leading brands. The R3 Bullpadel Cup will consist of up to six events taking place across the country from April this year and culminating in the Cup Finals in December. It is understood [...]
Starmer accused of ‘fudging the facts’ of his schooling by education expert February 1, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has faced accusations of “fudging the facts” about his education, from the founder of a social mobility charity. Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl, who went to the same school as the Prime Minister, Reigate Grammar, made the claim as he attacked the government’s plans to charge VAT on private school fees. [...]
Britain needs to work harder to ‘compete globally’, Chris Philp says January 31, 2025 Brits need to work harder in order to “compete globally” with rival nations, Chris Philp has argued. The Conservative shadow home secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast that the UK “needs everyone to make a contribution” to keep up with states like China and India. He told presenter Nick Robinson that there were [...]
A school reform that could actually help the economy? Teaching financial literacy January 31, 2025 It's not just students who would benefit from school reforms to teach financial literacy, but the UK economy, writes Quentin Nason.
Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson: ‘New founders aren’t blaming Brexit’ January 30, 2025 Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson has backed brands like TALA and Pasta Evangelists. He tells us the wisdom he's picked up along his career.