We recently wrote about the existence of threats to democracy and the rule of law in the UK, drawing particular attention to the Internal Market Bill. Many members wrote to their MPs, but the Bill nevertheless passed through the Commons and is now with the House of Lords. Does this mean that its passage is […]
The government’s rhetoric in relation to its handling of COVID has been superlative – in the literal sense: they have used superlatives to describe their performance. Johnson described the UK test and trace system, for example, as “world-beating.” The statistics tell a more dismal story: the UK has both one of the worst COVID records […]
The conventional picture of how the economy works as shown in economics textbooks depicts a beautiful self-regulating system of supply and demand, which constantly seeks an equilibrium that ensures optimal distribution of resources. But observation of the real world – especially now – makes it very hard to believe that this rosy picture is an […]
This is a transcript of the presentation Mark E Thomas gave to the Imperial College MBA students and Alumni on Thursday 8 October 2020. We hope to have a video available on our YouTube channel soon. Good afternoon everybody. Since we are on Zoom today, we decided to split the session into two parts, […]
In a speech to the House last week, Rishi Sunak explained his thinking on how to protect businesses, jobs and the economy as a whole: “Our economy is now likely to undergo a more permanent adjustment. [Because of COVID] The sources of our economic growth and the kinds of jobs we create, will adapt and […]
Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time – Winston Churchill The UK, of course, is a democracy, but it is not guaranteed to remain a functioning democracy especially if the the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill passes: our democratic system contains checks […]
This post has now been updated (11/10/2020). Even though the total value now exceeds £1 billion, it still does not give the complete picture. The Good Law Project recently identified a number of ‘curious’ procurement transactions involving large amounts of taxpayers’ money being transferred to businesses with no apparently relevant qualifications for providing personal protective […]
This is a difficult time for any Government. They have all been hit by COVID-19 and have had to work out a complex response, not only protecting the lives of their citizens but also avoiding lasting economic damage. It would be natural to expect that perceptions of each government – and therefore voting intentions – […]
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines merit as follows: Merit (noun) 1a: a praiseworthy quality : VIRTUE But originality, as it is one of the highest, is also one of the rarest, of merits. — Edgar Allan Poe b: character or conduct deserving reward, honor, or esteem also : ACHIEVEMENT … he composed a number of works […]
This is an approximate transcript of the presentation Mark E Thomas gave to the H3 book club on 4 August 2020. You can now view the video here. Thank you, Emma. Good afternoon everybody. As Emma said, we decided to split the session into three parts, each with a bit of me talking and […]
