ASI expectations for the Autumn Statement feature in City AM

The Adam Smith Institute has featured in City AM for our comments on the upcoming Autumn Statement, and what we hope will happen vs what we expect will happen.

The IEA isn’t alone. The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) wants working tax credit cuts reversed, or at least “mitigated significantly”. It's the money it saves isn't “terribly substantial, in the grand scheme of things”, and he'd be better off reforming tax credits and the Universal Credit itself to make it much simpler overall – along the lines of the negative income tax.

Read the full article here.

Sam Bowman writes for the IBTimes on why Brits are wrong about the US gun debate

Deputy Director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, has written for the International Business Times on why Britain is wrong about the gun debate in America. He argues the fundamental issues are much less straight forward than most of us assume.

The debate in America is far from where most Britons think it should be – it is simply not realistic, practically or politically, to expect that guns can be banned any time soon, and so the debate in America is over much more fine questions: how long should you have to wait between buying a gun and receiving it? What sort of background checks should would-be gun owners have to go through? Are concealed carry laws a boon to criminals or to their potential victims? What is the right balance between the freedom to own a gun and the freedom not to be threatened with one? These are questions to which there are no easy answers.

Read the full article here.

The Sunday Times covers the ASI's Ayn Rand Lecture

The Adam Smith Institute's 2015 Ayn Rand lecture featured in The Sunday Times:

Ken Moelis, veteran investment banker and founder of the eponymous advisory boutique, delivered the Adam Smith Institute's annual Ayn Rand lecture. Moelis, 57, opened his speech on the state of finance with a paean to the libertarian author and her most famous book, Atlas Shrugged.

"I've read it four different times," he boasted: at 17, 25, 47, and in his fifties after he started Moelis & Co. The most recent time he decided to dog-ear each interesting page. "The whole book was dog-eared," Moelis said. Trust an investment banker to tell his audience what they want to hear.

Kate Andrews and Ken Clarke battle it out over tax credits and the welfare state in Prospect magazine

Kate Andrews, Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, took part in a debate piece with Ken Clarke for Prospect magazine. In it, they both agree the welfare system is in need of reform , but should the tax credit cuts be rethought too? Kate Argues YES:

It’s easy to understand why people might be conflicted about tax credits. On the one hand, tax credits are a direct handout from the state, often given to those only working part-time. On the other, they incentivise work and benefit those at the bottom on relatively low pay.

Combine this internal conflict with the UK’s welfare structure as a whole, and it would seem necessary for the government to implement some kind of reform to the various systems, tax credits included.

But the Chancellor is only interested in cuts, not reform.

Read the full article here. 

Are Western societies too tolerant of intolerance? | Sam Bowman argues YES in City AM

Deputy Director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, argued in City AM that in the wake of the recent Paris attacks, Western societies should do more to stand up to terrorism:

Western civilisation is built on the principle of adversarial debate, and the more political correctness stops us from mocking the unmockable and saying the unsayable, the less strong that civilisation will become.

Like bullies, terrorists can only win when they can frighten people into submission.

Read the full article here.

Ben Southwood's comments on the tax credit cuts feature in The Week

Head of Research at the ASI, Ben Southwood, has had his comments on the tax credit cuts featured in The Week:

Some are even calling for this to be catalyst for more radical change. Writing in City AM, the Adam Smith Institute's Ben Southwood called for tax credits to be replaced by a "negative income tax"

To read the full article, click here.

ASI features in the New Statesman for our opposition to the tax credit cuts

The Adam Smith Institute has featured in the New Statesman for our opposition to the Conservative's tax credit cuts:

A grand alliance has condemned George Osborne's planned cuts to tax credits: Labour, the Sun, the work and pensions select committee, Tory backbenchers, Boris Johnson and the Adam Smith Institute. Today, it was the turn of their creator: Gordon Brown.

Read the full article here. 

Dr. Eamonn Butler's joint letter on a new runway at Heathrow is featured in the Sunday Telegraph

Dr. Eamonn Butler's joint letter regarding the expansion of Heathrow airport was featured in the Sunday Telegraph.

SIR – As business leaders, we welcome the news (report, November 8) that the Prime Minister is preparing to back a new runway at Heathrow. However, despite this decision, it seems the Government may be drawn into yet another lengthy consultation on aviation capacity, resulting in further delays and uncertainty.

Read the full letter here. 

Kate Andrews writes for City AM on Hillary Clinton’s gender problem

Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, writes a fortnightly column for City AM on events and issues surrounding the US presidential primaries. This week her focus is on Hillary Clinton's tendency to play the 'woman card' to try and advance her campaign.

She has deluded herself into thinking that the woman card alone can win her the Oval Office. Clinton has been using feminine and feminist rhetoric for years to propel her campaigns. She has never shied away from using pay gap stats (both legitimate and debunked) to promote feminist policies and, most recently, her “grandmother glow” became one of her most repeated catchphrases for book tour talks and stump speeches.

But since the launch of her presidential bid, Clinton has been playing up the woman card outrageously, emphasising gender over policy and claiming victimhood status to demote her opponents.

Read the full article here.

ASI comments on tax credit cuts feature in The Mirror

The Adam Smith Institute has featured in The Mirror for our position against the tax credit cuts.

For example the right-wing Adam Smith Institute states: “Working tax credits are the best form of welfare we have and cutting them would be a huge mistake.”

Read the full article here.