There’s a solution to dire public services: make our public sector more productive
Pre-election blows are being traded with increasing ferocity by both the main parties. Do the costs of Labour’s energy policies bear scrutiny? And can the Conservatives really afford to cut taxes? All of these questions relate back to the state of the public finances. Taxes are already at a post-war high relative to the size […]
Academics publishing pointless papers is another sign of a dire crisis in universities
Universities in the UK have received bad press in the past week or so. It was revealed that many of them have been admitting foreign students with much lower grades than those of British students. The reason is a classic example of the importance of incentives in driving behaviour. Despite their many pretentions to wokery, […]
Marriage: Romantics bemoan its demise but so should economists
The dramatic erosion of marriage in the UK is one of the key social changes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data showing that for the first time the proportion of the population aged over 16 who were married had fallen to below 50 per cent. […]
Port Talbot closure highlights uncomfortable truth about clinging onto the past
The decision by Tata Steel to shut the blast furnaces at the steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales, has provoked outrage. Almost three quarters of the 4,000 workers at the plant will lose their jobs. On the same day that the news broke, the government announced a £500m subsidy for Tata’s £1.25bn proposed investment on the […]
They may be annoying, but Gen Z’s quarter life gap years are economically rational
Generation Z has been getting a lot of bad press recently. Allegations that they enjoy “quiet quitting” and boast of their “lazy girl jobs” were gathering momentum last year. These were given a huge boost in November when the American television personality Whoopi Goldberg made headlines with her claim that they just were not willing […]
A look at Germany shows the UK’s growth problem is not a Brexit phenomenon
We English are notoriously bad at languages. But, like magpies, rather than bothering to make the effort, we steal words from others. That is why there is no word in our language for “Schadenfreude”, taking pleasure in the misfortunes of others. And all but the most diehard of Remainers, eyes firmly closed to the evidence, […]
May Cameron’s Wellbeing Unit rest in peace, money can buy happiness after all
Last month, the government announced that the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, set up with great fanfare by David Cameron in 2014 with the mission to boost national happiness, is to be shut down. Ever since the concept was first launched after the Second World War, the main focus of the policy of governments of […]
Tougher borders won’t stop Britain from being overwhelmed by illegal migration
Last weekend, at his meeting with the Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni, Rishi Sunak claimed migrants were threatening to “overwhelm” countries like the UK unless drastic action is taken. Sunak’s Italian counterpart is currently considering a similar scheme to the now highly controversial plan to send refugees to Rwanda. But the PM’s comments sparked a fresh wave […]
The vast social costs of Covid lockdowns are clear, so why is the inquiry silent?
The liberal establishment appears to remain wedded to a narrow and blinkered view of the Covid pandemic and its consequences. It has been on full display during the Covid inquiry, especially during the cross-examination of Boris Johnson. Hugo Keith KC, the lead barrister at the inquiry, made a great effort to establish that the UK […]
Seven years on, we need to finally stop blaming Brexit – just look at the numbers
Two quite contradictory messages have been given about Brexit over the past few days or so. First, Makoto Uchida, the chief executive of Nissan, a company originally very critical about the UK’s exit from the EU, pronounced that the impact of Brexit on its UK operations is now negligible. He urged the country to be […]
