Even in the middle of the war, we need to plan how to rebuild – and fund – Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is approaching its one year anniversary, and even now, there is little sense of when it will finish or how it will end. But minds are already beginning to turn to the question of the post-war reconstruction of the country. The same thing happened in Britain during the Second World War. […]
Rishi Sunak’s strategy of quiet governance won’t deliver an election victory
One of the prayers in the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book entreats that we be “godly and quietly governed”. In other words, government should not just be reasonable and morally upright, there should also not be too much of it. Rishi Sunak appears to have taken this to heart, or at least the “quiet” bit, given […]
A miniscule bit of growth last November is unlikely to save us from a recession this year
In November last year, the economy grew by 0.1 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week. The news, in the midst of many a miserable headline, was greeted with great excitement. Most City economists had predicted a fall by around 0.2 per cent. Cue animated performances on the TV news […]
Sunak is right. If more Brits could do maths our economy might just start growing again
According to Rishi Sunak, everyone up to the age of 18 should be learning maths. It was an idea widely disparaged when the prime minister laid out his plans for the year ahead. But it is essential at all levels of society. It was during the pandemic that we saw the importance of having a […]
China’s zero-Covid policy must be a cautionary tale for the UK
As we greet the new year with the hope of more serene times ahead, some might do it with a measure of doubt and trepidation for a variety of reasons, one of them being the government’s decision to resurrect Covid-19 restrictions. Admittedly, it is in a very limited form and only affects arrivals from China. For […]
This Christmas, let’s all reconsider how we think about innovation, jobs and wages
There is still time to have a last minute Christmas present delivered. No, of course not by Royal Mail; but one of its enthusiastic competitors will do the job. Given the impact which technology in general and the internet in particular has had on postal service, it is hard to imagine a more pointless strike […]
If we concede to the unions, Britain will find itself in a dizzying wage-price spiral
A wage price spiral. We have not experienced one for so long that for most people the phrase might just as well be written in the Old English of a thousand years ago. It is, well, sort of comprehensible but only just. But such spirals can take hold with terrifying swiftness. Towards the end of […]
If you can build a football team, you can advance the fortunes of poor nations
In Qatar, there has been a storm over its treatment of women, the LGBT community, and other minorities. But it has also, in another way, been the most egalitarian World Cup. What used to be called “upsets”, with notionally weaker teams beating their alleged superiors have almost become the norm. So, Cameroon beat Brazil, Tunisia […]
In low income parts of the UK, boosting productivity is a question of competition
Productivity is a puzzle with many different layers. When it becomes a mainstay in political speeches, it is rarely for a good reason. Most of the recent focus is on why it has been so slow, in the overall economy, for the last decade or so. In the 1990s, productivity in G7 countries rose at […]
Housing Associations have no accountability and a 2-year-old has paid the price
The tragic death of Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old killed by exposure to mould, has been described in detail over the last week. We’ve heard of all the complaints made against Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), the housing association which owned and managed the flat. And yet, the organisation appears to be full of self-congratulation. It boasts […]
