What is a nation?
In the modern political tradition, patriotism has always been revered. Not only is pride in and devotion to country seen as a positive, but its absence is also often taken as a sign of moral deficiency. Nationalism, on the other hand, is more suspect. The nationalist identifies with the nation and nationalism can manifest as a political ideology, as it did [...]
Politicians wanted, no relevant experience required
A political career in the gilded halls of Westminster comes with no educational requirements. It requires no previous experience or field of expertise, yet it comes with great [...]
We have forgotten the meaning of property rights
The outrage accompanying the release of the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’, detailing efforts to avoid tax by wealthy individuals and global corporations, is a sad testament [...]
Should it be criminal to make mistakes? Gordon Brown thinks so
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Britain during the financial crash of 2008, has spent his time since leaving Parliament after the 2015 general election pursuing a career path [...]
The Paradise Papers and the morality of tax avoidance
The so-called Paradise Papers published this week have spurned predictable outrage at the apparent extend of tax avoidance by the ‘rich and powerful’. Several high-profile [...]
A politically correct Halloween: things you didn’t know were racist
Halloween is over for another year, but it is not quite as it used to be. This year, Disney’s Moana, an animated film about the adventures of a Polynesian girl, has been [...]
The BoE hike: caught in a trap of its own making
On Thursday, the Bank of England raised the benchmark base rate for the first time in a decade. The modest 25bp increase takes the base rate back to where it was before the [...]
Could Brexit give us a free market in farming products?
Brexit is an opportunity. The European Union is rife with waste, bureaucracy and subsidies, but Britain now has a clean slate and a chance to re-write policy and pursue a [...]
How inflation wrecked the middle class
Inequality is the defining political issue of our time. In fact, it has been at the core of policy making at most times for more than a century, but today, the policy [...]
Once a Marxist…
Jeremy Corbyn enjoyed a volatile beginning to his tenure as leader of the Labour party. After his victory in the 2015 Labour leadership election, he faced ridicule, criticism, [...]
The National Living Wage experiment
The National Living Wage (NLW) was introduced in April 2016, hiking the minimum wage for those aged 25 and over from £6.70 to £7.20 an hour. At the time, many warnings were [...]