Economics
Can you feel sorry for Liz Truss?
It is not easy to feel sorry for Liz Truss. She has a deeply unattractive streak of vanity – when…
Truss says no to spending cuts. Here’s the caveat
The mini-Budget was a spending spree. The ‘medium-term fiscal plan’ was meant to explain the funding. But what exactly is…
What crisis?
A tough week for Trussonomics
Will Liz Truss take on the IMF?
Tonight the International Monetary Fund has weighed in on the UK’s mini-Budget, offering a direct rebuke of Liz Truss and…
Why football needs a regulator
Plans by the government to introduce a regulator to the football industry – endorsed by all Westminster parties just a…
Can the Bank of England inspire confidence?
It has dawned on the government that last week’s mini-Budget might have been a bit too one-sided: £70 billion worth…
How worrying is the falling pound?
How are markets responding to Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget? A sharp fall in the pound today has plenty of critics arguing…
Who is Gordon Brown to pose as the voice of fiscal sanity?
Gordon Brown is demanding Parliament be recalled for an emergency budget. By October, he says, quoting a study he commissioned…
Is the US in recession?
There’s an almighty debate ongoing in the US about what exactly a ‘recession’ is. Regardless of semantics, the numbers are…
Read: the new Chancellor’s interview with the BBC
This is an edited transcript of the interview with the new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi on the Today programme this morning. Nick Robinson: You…
Inflation is a social evil, so why don’t our leaders care?
It was a ‘destroyer of society’, a ‘tax on ordinary people’s savings’ and a threat to social order. You don’t…
Down to grass roots
Thomas Piketty, the French economist who shot to fame for writing a colossal work of economics that many people bought…
The threat from within
According to Vladimir Putin, liberalism is an ‘obsolete’ doctrine, a worn-out political philosophy no longer fit for purpose. In this…
The Biden Bust is here
A wave of government spending would reboot the economy. Fairer taxes would pay for restored infrastructure. Skills would be improved,…
Be your own bank
There was a time when you could read a book to keep up to date about a subject. Well, that’s…
Rishi Sunak’s spring statement speech in full
Mr Speaker, As I stand here, men, women and children are huddled in basements across Ukraine seeking protection. Soldiers and…
Rishi Sunak’s energy bill dilemma
This morning’s revelation that the UK economy grew 0.8 per cent in January, the fastest growth since April last year, is…
Is the government in denial about the looming economic crisis?
The priority for the UK and other rich democracies is to protect the people of Ukraine from the depredations of…
Get ready to start paying the cost of Covid
Forget the desirability (or lack thereof) of tax hikes: can Britain survive them? That’s the economic question that kicked off…
The hypocrisy of Elon Musk
Tesla’s sleek, if expensive, electric cars are leading the battle against climate change. Its batteries are moving renewable energy into the…
Eighteen months of inflation is not ‘transitory’
The big central banks have been insisting for months now that the rise in inflation is temporary, and will fade…
What is the Bank of England playing at?
Last week, the Bank of England sent a number of confused messages. One was almost shocking: Andrew Bailey said that…
Will the Tories cut taxes before the next election?
The Tory party has reached a fork in the road, I say in the Times today. One path involves sticking…
Rishi Sunak’s low tax pitch to MPs
Is Rishi Sunak a low tax chancellor? He certainly likes to tell anyone who will listen that he is. Yet…
Sunak faces the free-marketeers
Rishi Sunak didn’t give too much away tonight when he spoke at the ThinkTent Conservative Party Conference. The Chancellor is…
