How independent is the Bank of England?
As Kate Andrews argues here, the Bank of England were never going to cut interest rates during an election campaign…
Why is Hollywood funding Just Stop Oil?
It will surprise no-one to learn that there is a trail of money which leads from climate protesters and their…
The inconvenient truth about ‘rewilding’
Angela Rayner has announced that the government will aim to build 370,000 new homes, up from the 300,000 a year…
Is Rachel Reeves really worried about a fiscal black hole?
There is one over-arching question hanging over Rachel Reeves’s speech today, in which she claimed that a £21.9 billion hole…
How Labour plans to justify its tax hike
Oh, the suspense. It seems that we will have to wait until next week to discover the details of the…
Are we really experiencing more ‘extreme’ weather?
The UK climate is getting ever more extreme. We know this because the BBC keeps telling us so, most recently…
Miliband will need natural gas to hit net zero
Three weeks into the new Labour government and it is already becoming clear where some of its weaknesses lie –…
Can Labour afford inflation-busting pay rises for teachers and NHS staff?
Well, that didn’t last long. Having preached to us about fiscal responsibility and ‘securonomics’, Chancellor Rachel Reeves appears to be…
Why is British retail so sluggish?
Is the retail sector ever going to recover from Covid-19? The rest of the economy seems to be purring quite…
Keir Starmer is deluding himself about the EU
‘We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,’ declared the Prime Minister ahead…
Labour’s war on nimbys won’t work
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has promised the ‘most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen’, with new…
Britain has entered a birth rate crisis
Few will notice, yet this year England and Wales are almost certainly going to cross a remarkable threshold: the number…
What makes George Osborne think he’s a centrist?
Don’t bother going after the Reform UK vote – the next Conservative leader should target voters lost to the Lib…
The trouble with Ed Miliband’s North Sea oil plan
Just Stop Oil continued its campaign by spreading orange paint over road junctions in Westminster this week, but why bother…
How Starmer should deal with Thames Water
Less than a week in to his government and Keir Starmer is already facing an ideological battle within the Labour…
The trouble with Rachel Reeves’s ‘National Wealth Fund’
What country ever went wrong with a sovereign wealth fund? It is easy to envy Singapore and Norway – the latter…
Was this council’s four-day week experiment really a success?
What a surprise. South Cambridgeshire District Council has declared its controversial experiment with a four day week – which put…
Will Reeves be brave enough to take on the eco blockers?
On the eve of the election the then shadow minister without portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds appeared to be getting Labour’s excuses…
Ed Miliband will be a liability as energy secretary
I know it has only just begun, but it is not too early to start wondering: what will it be…
Are the Lib Dems and Reform really right to feel happy?
It’s a disaster, a cataclysm, a wipeout. Half the cabinet will lose their seats, and Labour will be in power…
Why German carmakers don’t want EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles
I recant. On a number of occasions I have asserted that the European Union is run by lobbyists acting on behalf…
Stanley Johnson and the trouble with Green Tories
I have a theory about intra-Johnson family politics. Some time in 2017 or 2018 Stanley agreed to shut up about…
What Labour gets wrong about inheritance tax
What is the primary purpose of a tax: to raise revenue to fund public services or as a tool to…
The shame of Royal Mail’s postal vote delay
Britain’s creaking infrastructure and frequent paralysis of public services deserved to be a bigger factor in the election campaign than…
Proportional representation won’t save the Tories
Members and supporters of the Conservative party do not generally speak in favour of proportional representation (PR) – which is…
