A Tale of Two Conferences
Last week was the Conservative Party Conference, CPC23. Or perhaps there were two different conferences: The official conference, run by Sunak’s team, whose objective was to rally the party […]
The Letter Andrew Bailey Should be Writing
The UK government has left management of inflation almost entirely to the Bank of England, which has a remit to keep inflation to around 2% per annum. And the Bank […]
How not to handle the cost-of-living crisis
Churchill commented, “It is a joke in Britain to say that the War Office is always preparing for the last war. But this is probably true of other departments and […]
Still Invulnerable?
Yesterday, faced with the humiliation of a damning report by the House of Commons Privileges Committee, due to be published shortly, Boris Johnson resigned as an MP. For him personally, […]
“We Can’t Afford It” – Is that True?
Our government claims to want strong public services, but refuses to fund them adequately on the grounds that to do so would be “financially irresponsible.” Most of the media […]
The Debate We Need to Have
Our social contract – the ‘deal’ that makes us a civilised country – is under grave threat both practically and philosophically. And we are not talking about it. Practically, the […]
A Non-Solution to the Wrong Problems
Introduction Before looking in detail at this Budget, it is worth reminding ourselves that the economy is the system we as a country have chosen to put in place to […]
What the IMF Really Said
Twice a year, the IMF releases its World Economic Outlook. The most recent was published on 11 October 2022. Some on the extreme right have been claiming that it is […]
How to Stop the Government
The Conservative government works hard to give an impression of strength and determination: nothing we can say or do will stop it in its plans. And yet, over the last […]
The “Creative” Destruction of the UK
Last week, we wrote about Truss and Kwarteng’s Budget that “It is very clear that this Budget does not produce the change in direction the country needs; it is a […]