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The enduring curse of easy answers


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Political radicals are in the news, especially in Greece and now Spain. In the midst of tragic suffering, people are being seduced by the curse of easy answers. State socialism has always aimed at a spectacular improvement in the average person’s standard of living. It is a noble intention which I share. The problem is that the methods chosen by state socialists to achieve their aim cannot succeed. And, tragically, in the course of trying, state socialists have all but […]

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Arbitrary and capricious power anyone?


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Successive governments have incentivised people to buy ‘greener’ cars which use less fuel. Apart from outrageously high fuel duty with 20% VAT on top, the other tool has been Vehicle Excise Duty graded to promote low CO2 cars. Having herded people down this road, apparently the Government now finds it cannot afford to lose the tax revenue. The Telegraph reports Drivers punished for going green: The Daily Telegraph has learnt that government officials have begun private discussions with the motoring industry […]

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The average family pays £656,000 in tax over their lifetime


The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) shows that the average family pays £656,000 in tax over their lifetime. After years of the state overspending and misusing our money we now have a greater idea of how far this legacy cripples the finances of British families. The TPA’s latest research shows the total amount of direct and indirect tax that households will pay over their working lifetimes and in retirement. Based on the current level of taxes applying over a working lifetime of 40 years […]

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Three political economies debated in Parliament


Last week, I chaired what turned out to be a passionate, courageous and grounded debate between three intellectuals from each point of the political triangle: conservative, classical liberal and social democrat. Dr Mark Pennington set out the inescapable reality of imperfect knowledge and incomplete rationality in human actors in defence of markets. Richard Murphy argued for a “cappucino” of state and market, flat rejecting neoliberalism. Jesse Norman MP critiqued the flaws in the theories of neo classical economics and completely […]

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