Before the industrial revolution, the gap between richest and poorest economies was tiny compared to today – the richest being two or three times larger than the poorest. The industrial revolution and the rise of the developed economies changed the balance. Today the US economy is 50 times that of the poorer economies. The gap… [Read More]
Every day, the Prime Minister’s policy on the European Union becomes more baffling. In the latest debacle with the EU budget, Cameron claimed that he wasn’t aware of the increase in contributions; this turned out not to be true, with the government having known since May that any upward revision of Britain’s national income would… [Read More]
Blackstone famously said in the 1760s: ‘the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’. Benjamin Franklin increased the number to 100. He thought it had been long and generally approved that ‘it is better 100 guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer’.… [Read More]
Britain has been asked to pay an extra £1.7bn (€2.1bn) into the European Union’s budget because the economy has outperformed projections in the last four years. Greece and the Netherlands are also being asked to pay more, while large economies like Germany and France will see billions in rebates. This seems grossly unfair, as all… [Read More]
The prime minster has rejected claims from the EU that Britain will not be able to get reforms concerning aspects of membership. David Cameron asserted that the British people were his ‘boss’, not Brussels. Cameron claims he ‘will not take no for an answer’ and has vowed to ‘get what Britain needs’ in renegotiating the… [Read More]
David Cameron announced yesterday that the EU has one last chance to reform on immigration, and that he would attempt to put a brake on the free movement of people within the bloc. The Prime Minister’s speech, given in Rochester and Strood, where former Tory MP Mark Reckless’s defection to Ukip triggered a by-election, was… [Read More]
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves has said that it is ‘unacceptable’ for Lord Freud to remain in his post after he answered a question about the impact of the minimum wage on disabled people. He was recorded as saying: ‘There is a group – and I know exactly who you mean – where… [Read More]
Welfare Reform Minister, Lord Freud, agreed in answer to a question at a Conservative conference fringe meeting that some disabled people cannot do the same value work as more able people can. For this, he is being crucified. I would have thought Freud’s observation was true by definition (isn’t this what defines some people as… [Read More]
The skills gap is becoming a consistent concern among businesses, especially for manufacturers desperate to make a global mark. Technology, and how enterprise uses it, is moving at a rate difficult for schools, universities and colleges to keep pace with. Adding to this, not enough Brits study STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) to… [Read More]
In August, the great German machine posted a 4 per cent drop in manufacturing output, the steepest drop in production since 2009. It sparked worries that Germany will enter recession. Some have pointed to a shift in holiday timings from July to August to explain the dip, particularly the 25 per cent fall in auto… [Read More]