Meet Ted Cruz: The dark horse who could pip Trump | Kate Andrews' election column in City AM

Kate Andrew's latest City AM column on the US elections, 2016:

Senator Ted Cruz is the most interesting candidate in the US presidential race right now. As a darling of the Tea Party, in 2012, he swept into the Senate, representing Texas, having campaigned on deeply conservative principles and policies. At the time, many dismissed him as a rabble-rouser who would wind up as a less successful version of George W Bush. Now, not only is he leading in the polls in Iowa, but he has also beat out senator Marco Rubio as the dark horse of the race thus far.

Cruz has been criticised for having some of the most conservative views in the contest. Though his conservatism is rooted in a strict interpretation of the US constitution – not the modern populism that has propelled candidates like former senator Rick Santorum and former governor Mike Huckabee to call for heavy defence spending and further government interference – his extreme views on abortion and the death penalty have many questioning if he can appeal to moderate Republicans, let alone independents.

Read the full article here.

Forget Barack Obama's tears, his gun clampdown is pure politics | Kate Andrews writes for the Telegraph

The ASI's Head of Communications, Kate Andrews, wrote an analysis of President Obama's executive action on gun control for the Telegraph, arguing he is playing politics more than anything else:

President Obama has not met a speech he didn’t like; or, let’s be more generous, speeches tend to treat him well. The President has always had a knack for presentation, and his comparative advantage has been to come across likable and relatable in front of crowds, when it’s on his terms, and his topic of choice.

Yesterday, the President was in his element, and the world seemed to pause for his emotional 45-minute speech, detailing his new gun control provisions, which will be carried out through executive order. And his emotional bluntness seems to have come out as the top line of the news story – the clip of the President shedding tears for the victims of gun violence has gone viral.

The President once claimed he wakes up and learns about domestic and foreign happenings on TV news channels like everyone else. At the time, this seemed like the weakest excuse one could come up with for failing to address a scandal that led to hundreds of deaths in veteran’s hospitals. But after watching the President’s address yesterday, I’ve started to believe this is really the case.

Read the full article here.

Banning Trump from UK endores illberal immigration system|Kate Andrews for The Times Red Box

Head of Communications at the ASI, Kate Andrews, wrote for The Times Red Box on why calling for Trump to be banned from the UK is just as bad as him calling for muslims to be banned from America.

Who could have guessed that after Trump called for an illiberal immigration system that keeps people out of a country based on their beliefs, over half a million people in the UK would sign a petition to show their support for such a policy.

Those who signed the Ban Trump campaign must think his exile would be a punishment to fit his crime. Unlike Trump’s view on Muslim immigrants, their views on Trump are undoubtedly correct, which makes revoking his freedom of movement morally permissible from their perspective.

Read the full article here.

Ben Southwood discusses high pay on BBC 5 Live

Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, was interviewed by BBC 5 Live on the issue of high pay and Fat Cat Tuesday. Read the full interview here. (Starts o2:39:49)

Sam Bowman's comments on Fat Cat Tuesday feature on ITV News Online

Executive director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, has had his comments on Fat Cat Tuesday and high pay featured on ITV News Online.

The Adam Smith Institute dismissed the High Pay Centre calculations as "pub economics, not serious analysis" and said the group had failed to grasp the true value of CEOs.

"Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired," the think tank's executive director Sam Bowman said.

Read the full article here.

Kate Andrews discusses high pay on BBC Breakfast

Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, took part in a debate for BBC News on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of Fat Cat Tuesday.

Sam Bowman's comments on high pay feature in the IBTimes and City AM

Executive Director Sam Bowman’s comments on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’ have featured in the IBTimes and City AM. From the IBTimes:

However, the findings have been dismissed as "pub economics" by the Adam Smith Institute.

"None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves," said Sam Bowman, the think tank's executive director.

"The High Pay Commission's complaints only make sense if you assume firms don't actually care about making money – which is to say, they don't make sense at all."

Read the full article here.

From City AM:

However, some have warned that the figures are oversimplified. The research from the High Pay Centre think tank has been criticised by the Adam Smith Institute as “pub economics, not serious analysis”

“None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves. Can the High Pay Centre tell us how much chief executives are worth? If not, how can they say that they are overpaid?” said the think tank’s executive director Sam Bowman.

Read the full article here.

Sam Bowman discusses Fat Cat Tuesday on Sky News

Executive director at the ASI, Sam Bowman, took part in a debate for Sky News about Fat Cat Tuesday and why CEOs are worth their pay.  

Sam Bowman discusses CEO pay on the BBC's Today programme

Executive Director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, was interviewed for the Today Programme on BBC4 on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’. Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 02:52:45)

ASI comments on high pay feature in the Financial Times and Forbes

Executive Director Sam Bowman’s comments on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’ have featured in the Financial Times and Forbes. From the Financial Times:

Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, dismissed Fat Cat day as “the hand-waving of pub economics, not serious analysis”. He said: “Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm.”

Read the full article here.

From Forbes (written by ASI Senior Fellow Tim Worstall):

There’s a number of problems with this manufactured outrage, as my colleague at the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, points out:

Top bosses will have earned more money by the end of Tuesday than the average worker will do in a year, campaign group the High Pay Centre has claimed. The group has declared the day Fat Cat Tuesday, based on chief executives earning £5m a year, compared with the median UK salary of £27,645. The think tank says its aim is to highlight the “unfair pay gap”.

Read the full article here.