Ed Miliband's New Labour economics

Written by | Tuesday 26 October 2010

Having told Andrew Marr that "the era of New Labour has passed", Ed Miliband was surprisingly kind to the project when he addressed business leaders today. New Labour recognised the importance of economic efficiency as well as social justice, of wealth creation as well as the distribution of wealth, he told the CBI.

"Enterprise and job creation are fundamental to the good economy and good society, and I will lead a party that understands that at its core," he said. It would be pro-business (the CBI loved that, naturally) – but "in a different way".

International aid should be abolished

Written by | Friday 22 October 2010

The Comprehensive Spending Review was a step in the right direction, but I agree with Philip Booth and others when they say that there should be far more cuts down the line. But the biggest mistake was the announcement that the Department for International Development’s (DfID) budget will be increased by 37 percent by 2015.

George Osborne has only tinkered with the welfare state

Written by | Thursday 21 October 2010

There’s no doubt that the Comprehensive Spending Review contains severe cuts. But it is misleading to focus too much on specific areas of spending, while neglecting the bigger picture. Overall spending is only going to fall by 2 or 3 per cent in real terms, returning us to 2008 levels of spending. It’s hardly the public sector apocalypse that some commentators would have you believe.

Science is better off without the government

Written by | Thursday 21 October 2010

Through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis), £3.79bn is currently spent on science funding. The Spending Review is expected to reduce this. But despite the outcry from many in the scientific community, this is good news for science as well as for taxpayers.

There's a simple way to clear the university logjam

Written by | Wednesday 1 September 2010

Today, more than 100,000 students with decent grades, will begin the scrabble for the smallest number of clearing places in decades. Droves of young people will be turned away proving what everyone already knows: university finances are in a mess.

What’s the solution? Some advocate uncapping fees, which is just a short-term sticking plaster. Others want to tax graduates, which would put funds into the Treasury, but not necessarily the lecture hall.

Let's not muddy the waters over the big society benefits

Written by | Wednesday 18 August 2010

A LOT of people, both on the Left and the Right, are suspicious of David Cameron's plans for the "big society". The Left think it's a way of making cuts sound cuddly, while the Right fears it will turn into just another way for Government to boss us around. I think both sides have got it wrong.

Crime: The false dilemma of Right versus Left still reigns

Written by | Thursday 22 July 2010

Libertarians believe that the real political issue is not whether a government is Left or Right but rather whether it is large or small. Freedom is indivisible; it is silly to want free speech without freedom of (peaceful) action. (If A and B meet in the street and agree under free speech that it would be good to swap A’s apples for B’s oranges in a certain ratio, it is silly to forbid them to go ahead with the swap).