Evidence is accumulating that membership of the EU imposes a heavy ongoing net cost on the UK economy possibly in excess of ten per cent of GDP, over £140 billion a year at 2009 prices. The author examines this and other questions in detail, including the three main alternatives to EU membership. He concludes by… [Read More]
The move towards a low-carbon economy has been described as the second industrial revolution. As state mandates drive the adoption of renewable energy sources, we are assured that multiple benefits will result. In The Green Mirage, John Constable challenges this optimistic scenario. Constable marshals evidence suggesting that target-led, state-managed and subsidy-driven clean energy policies are… [Read More]
Alan Reece, an academic-turned-successful-manufacturer, argues that we must revive our manufacturing industry. However, the problems are enormous. Between 1997 and 2008 manufacturing output remained flat at around GBP150 billion a year. Allowing for inflation, this represents a real reduction of around GBP3.5 billion a year. Alan Reece argues that we need to increase our output… [Read More]
Drawing on interviews with experts in the chemical industry, Merlin- Jones argues that the chemicals sector is the key to reducing UK carbon emissions and ensuring economic prosperity. Britain needs a policy that ensures an even footing for chemical firms competing internationally, by keeping the UK’s energy costs attractive. Only this will allow chemical firms… [Read More]
The ruling that convicted prisoners have the right to vote has put the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg at loggerheads with the UK Parliament and, hence, the will of the British people. This was reinforced in 2011 when backbenchers of all parties rejected enfranchising prisoners in a free vote. In this forensic examination,… [Read More]
Civitas publishes the findings of a year-long study into the effectiveness of the market in the NHS: whether and why it has driven the performance of providers as was intended; and what should be done to make it work better going forwards. Based on in-depth interviews with executives at NHS (foundation) trusts, PCTs, practice-based commissioners… [Read More]
Open societies in which we try to settle our differences without violence have been a great human achievement. However, because freedom of speech is the prevailing view in Britain, we are not as alert to the risk of its overthrow as we should be. In A New Inquisition, Jon Gower Davies, former Head of the… [Read More]
The recession has sparked a debate about the renewal of manufacturing. It is now generally accepted that the government should create the conditions in which manufacturing can flourish. How it should do so is strongly disputed. David Green presents new thinking on how to encourage economic growth without compromising our commitment to free enterprise.He advocates… [Read More]
The NHS has operated on the basis of a market since 2002, with a split between purchasers and providers of health care. In the first comprehensive review of the evidence thus far, the authors show market forces have contributed to: improved access for patients; reduced waiting times and increased efficiency; and improved financial management in… [Read More]
Professor David Conway traces the history of proposed school curricula from the liberal reformers of the 1860s to modern times. All children, whatever their backgrounds, should be introduced to ‘the best that has been thought and said’.