Last Wednesday, a fire destroyed part of Eastbourne’s 150 year-old pier. Within two days, David Cameron arrived in the town and announced that the government would make £2 million available to help with rebuilding. Four years earlier, just 17 miles along the coast from Eastbourne, Hastings pier was similarly engulfed by fire. Built in 1872… [Read More]
Earlier this week the Bank of England announced new measures to claw back bankers’ bonuses, the latest in a series of plans to clamp down on misconduct in the banking industry. Bankers’ bonuses are currently paid out over three to five years and can be taken back during this time; the new rule means that… [Read More]
We live in a GDP-fixated age. If something promotes economic growth, it’s got to be a good thing, right? Well immigration is a case in point, and – as Robert Rowthorn’s report for Civitas today illustrates – it is one example of how limited a picture the latest GDP stats provide. Yes, a larger population… [Read More]
Any financial transaction tax needs only to be introduced with care. Enlisting Robin Hood to take from London and give to Brussels looks like a mistake.
Looking to Germany as an economic model for the UK has its pitfalls. Policy is not as transferable between nations as is sometimes proffered by comparative reports, because businesses and people work within a culture – a culture cultivated over centuries. It is the reason there is so much resistance to making the UK economy… [Read More]
I thought I would partake in the proud tradition of using as headlines ‘questions to which the answer is No’. At least, not yet. In amidst the horror of MH17, the sickening news from Gaza and Israel, and David Cameron’s ‘put Britain first’ immigration PR stunt, you would be forgiven for not knowing why Hungary… [Read More]
Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk announced his resignation on Thursday after his governing coalition collapsed. This has left the beleaguered country in political gridlock in the midst of economic troubles and a pro-Russia insurgency in the east of the country. A pro-Europe party led by the mayor of Kiev and a far-right party quit the… [Read More]
The latest instalment in the English Housing Survey series highlights many of the difficulties facing that growing mass of would-be first-time buyers despairing of ever getting a foot on the ladder. An important point is the proportion of people’s incomes being taken up in rent, preventing them from saving that money towards a home to… [Read More]
Following employment minister Esther McVey, one reason self-employed workers deserve respect is that it is hard work to make a success of it.
Regionalism has become a woolly technocratic term with fading traction in public discourse. It’s a political platitude which switches the disengage button when uttered by politicians. For decades, political parties in the ascendant have promised devolution, but consistently failed to deliver in office. All the while, the economic canyon between North and South (see the… [Read More]