BY ALEX STORY Ever since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, it has been common for economists to quip that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. If it was true then, the opposite must have been as well. If the health of our cousins beyond our shores got ruder, so should our prospects. Whilst the four months old … Continue reading Quasi Autonomous No Growth Organisations
BY STEWART SLATER John Calhoun had a problem. His rats kept dying. To most (residents of Birmingham surveying five weeks of uncollected rubbish, for example) this would be a blessing, but Calhoun was different. He was an American scientist studying rodent ecology, his job to construct the perfect environment for rats to thrive. No matter what he did, providing every material comfort he could think … Continue reading The Rat Race
BY ALEX STORY Rachel Reeves repeatedly tells her audience the world has changed. Her plan is to grow the economy by taxing work and growing the state, the power of which Starmer really believes in. Alongside Reeves stands, when not raving in some high-brow night club, Angela Rayner and her “pro-business, pro-worker, pro-growth” Employment Rights Bill. Rachel will make employment more expensive; Angela will … Continue reading Giving Away Someone Else’s Belongings
The UK housing market, a dynamic and intricate terrain, is moulded by numerous factors. Among these, interest rates stand out as a key influencer. This article explores the correlation between interest rate fluctuations and their impact on the UK housing market. Understanding Interest Rates Before delving into the correlation between interest rates and the housing market, let’s first grasp the essence of interest rates. Put … Continue reading How Interest Rates Impact the UK Housing Market
BY EFFIE DEANS In 1914 Britain was indisputably one of the Great Powers including France, Germany, Russia and the USA. Not only were we powerful we were one of the richest countries in the world. At that time Poland did not exist. It was divided between Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary. Now we are told Poland may in a few years be richer than Britain. How … Continue reading Why will Poland be Richer than Britain?
BY STEWART SLATER Money is, according to those sage observers of the public finances Simply Red, too tight to mention. Inflation stalks the land, the tax take is at multi-decade highs and the public debt is, more or less, enough to buy the entire annual output of India, the world’s fifth biggest economy. It was, therefore, odd for the Prime Minister, never slow to flaunt … Continue reading Rishesse Oblige
PHYLEGYAS Executive Summary: As the newly appointed Director of Behavioural Economics at the Treasury, I am circulating these guidelines to all colleagues of whatever rank, diversity, equality or any other designation that I might have missed. Given that Behavioural Economics is grounded in the emotional, cultural and social factors causing economic decisions, these rules are to be front and centre of future Treasury Policy. Phlegyas … Continue reading Behavioural Economics – Treasury Guidelines
BY STEWART SLATER Baffled by Brexit? Taken aback by Trump? Perplexed by Populism? You are not alone. Countless words have been spilled over recent years trying to make sense of the West’s ongoing political convulsions. If, however, a consensus is emerging over the concerns which have driven such eruptions, less attention is given to how we should solve them, or, indeed, if we should even … Continue reading Somewheres & Anywheres
THE CITY GRUMP In keeping with the spirit of the times, here is a warning: Some Readers may find some of the following content upsetting and the characters portrayed, disturbing. Having read this article, those readers may wish to seek help but I am unable to say where they may go for such. After the swift ejection of the Truss/ Kwarteng combo, the general consensus … Continue reading The Castration of Capitalism
THE CITY GRUMP The dowry of goodwill that we would normally expect to endow a new Prime Minister with has been well and truly trashed. The chorus of disapproval for what she and her Chancellor are trying to achieve has been deafening. Is the hue and cry reasonable, logical and justifiable or a Tower of Babel full of noise and confusion? I emphatically believe it … Continue reading The Trashing of Truss’s Trousseau
BY STEWART SLATER We are in a crisis. We know this because it is being screamed from the front pages of every newspaper. The television news is full of panels of talking heads, gravely giving us their opinions. The IMF has issued a strongly worded statement. The Opposition wants Parliament recalled. And yet, at the time of writing (massive hostage to fortune here) the pound … Continue reading Crisis? What Crisis?
BY JAMES FAULKNER This is the first Tory government since Thatcher – but is it too late? The “KamiKwasi” budget is how an apoplectic media establishment is framing Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s so-called “fiscal event”. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s new finance minister aimed to shock and awe the markets – and he certainly did. Sterling tumbled to an all-time low against the almighty … Continue reading Divine Wind?
BY ANDREW GIBSON Today, the 16th September, marks the thirtieth anniversary of the pound sterling’s suspension from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), an event that broke the credibility of the Major Government, emboldened the intellectual self-confidence of British Eurosceptics, and taught important lessons about the folly of large-scale state interventions in the economy. The episode also revealed John Major’s unattractive, low cunning. ERM membership was … Continue reading White Wednesday, Thirty Years On
BY ALEX STORY The Russian invasion of Ukraine has revealed a great deal. The West can bark but lost, seemingly, much of its teeth. The alliance, whatever that means, is strong on words but feeble in deeds. And it is, as the Good Book reminds us, “by their deeds” that “you shall know them”. We have wagged our finger at the Russian Bear with gusto, … Continue reading By Their Actions
BY ALEX STORY Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, said during a Downing Street Press Conference last week: “We must learn to live with Covid in the same way we live with flu” The vaccine of common sense was thus injected into England’s veins. In so doing the country stepped out of the COVID tsunami and climbed to sunnier and clearer peaks. With the skies ahead clear … Continue reading The Common Sense Vaccine
THE CITY GRUMP The dictionary defines a delinquent as someone who “is failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation”. The conduct of your MP in 2021 almost certainly fits that bill. Why? Because on just about every single important domestic issue, be it Covid, the NHS, energy, inflation or education your MP has done the square root of nothing in holding the Government to … Continue reading Your MP is a Delinquent
BY BERNADETTE SPOFFORTH Guest Writer Bernie Spofforth on the inevitable mask mountain Nothing has brought out the worst piousness and virtue signalling in certain sections of society like Covid. These latter-day self-styled saints have shown their do-goodery by wearing their sacrifice like a hair shirt, wilfully oblivious to the collateral damages of Covid restrictions, lockdowns and shifting human behavioural patterns. As COP26 gathers together to … Continue reading Saving the Planet One Mask at a Time
BY EFFIE DEANS How does civilisation begin? It begins with agriculture. Prior to the development of agriculture all we have is hunter gatherers in small bands living from moment to moment intent only on the bare necessities of life such as obtaining food and shelter. What enabled the transition to agriculture? It was the division of labour. In order for people to settle down and … Continue reading Casting Hume into the Flames
BY RONAN MAHER Is the minimum wage driving black youth unemployment and contributing to the knife crime epidemic? The UK economy shrank 20.4 percent in the second quarter of 2020, its largest fall on record, making tragically plausible the claims that we could get mass unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. I fear immense hardship is hurtling down the … Continue reading Minimum Wage’s Mobility Roadblock
THE CITY GRUMP The mainstream media seem to have fallen hook line and sinker for our photogenic Chancellor’s July 8th handouts. Headlines like “Come dine with me” and “Rishi Dishy” are everywhere, while the FT’s normally sensible Deputy Editor, Robert Shrimsley, declares “Mr Sunak presented a substantial and imaginative statement”. No he didn’t, it is all flash and no substance. Where to start? Okay let’s … Continue reading The Sunak Handouts
