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When the UK voted to leave the European Union in last year’s referendum, it was widely interpreted as a victory of the political right. That was not incorrect. Read more

On television early yesterday evening I saw a well-known presenter give Budget 2017 an 8 out of 10 for massaging the electorate. A subtitle read “something for everyone”. Read more

While Budget days bring focus to the Government’s spending priorities, there is no budget day for regulation. Regulation never gets the same attention as spending, but it is at least as important. Read more

I thought the point of the Budget lock-up was to give everyone adequate time to process and digest complex information, and ensure no media organisation had an exclusive. Now I’m not so sure. Read more

There are a lot of dumb cases for tax cuts. I’ll try not to make one of those here, but let’s cover those dumb ones off first Today’s dumb case for tax cuts was once a smart case for them – in the 1970s. Read more

A good mythbusting takes on the things we know that aren't so. There's plenty of popular misperception out there in need of it. Read more

When economist Paul Samuelson was challenged to come up with an economic principle that was both true and non-obvious, he cited comparative advantage. That two people, or countries, can be made better off by trading, even if one of them is better at producing everything that they might trade, is hardly intuitive. Read more

You should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Nor should you publicly bag the gift horse and accuse it of causing misery across the country. Read more

What will Britain look like after Brexit? This is the dominant question in British politics right now. Read more

The past fortnight has seen more local news stories about scary sea-level rise and earthquake building risks. It seems these days the public is being constantly urged by scientists, engineers and others to take costly action to reduce the potential for loss from natural disasters. Read more