The historic judgement of North Norfolk on the sacking/defection of Robert Jenrick from Conservative to Reform
Published on 16th January 2026
My letter published in the Daily Telegraph of today’s date.
UPDATED: Is there a common understanding of the OBR statement in 2021 that Brexit would cause a ‘long-run’ 4% loss of GDP?
Revised calculations over 15 years from 2016
Published on 2 December 2025 and updated on 7 December 2025
It now turns out that the OBR’s ‘long-run’ was 15 years, rather than 20, and that their time series began in 2016, and not in 2021 when they made the statement.
The statement thus included the presumption that GDP growth […]
Main numbers in IREF report ‘The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment’
Cover page of the report
Published on 12th November 2025
We have put together a summary of the numbers contained in our report published in October 2025 by IREF – the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues – entitled ‘The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment: major increase in ‘shadow debt’, and in […]
The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment – with a major increase in ‘shadow debt’, and in the ‘shadow taxation’ required to service that debt
Cover of our IREF report
Published on 26th October 2025
We have had a major report published by the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues.
It is about the plans of the UK government to launch a decade-long programme of ‘investment’ in industry, infrastructure and Net Zero, greatly expanding the state’s role in the economy.
You can […]
Richard Tice of Reform UK is wrong: the Bank of England should not stop paying interest on financial institutions’ reserves
Headline of Daily Telegraph article on 25 September 2025
Published on 10th October 2025
Richard Tice of Reform UK recently argued, in a Daily Telegraph article entitled ‘I know a way to avoid tax rises at the next Budget’, that the Bank of England (BoE) should stop paying interest on its funding for its Quantitative Easing (QE) […]
Andy Burnham’s hopes dealt a body blow
Published on 26th September 2025
My letter published in the Daily Telegraph on 25th September 2025
That’s it: Andy Burnham’s chances of becoming Prime Minister are dead-in-the-water, thanks to this devastating verdict passed by a leading economic and political commentator.
One could also have mentioned that Burnham is as keen as most other Labour politicians to tax the […]
France’s woes are attributable to its lack of economic and monetary sovereignty
The ECB, which holds the monetary policy tools over the euro
Published on 13th September 2025
Introduction
France had its credit rating cut from AA- to A+ by the Fitch credit rating agency on 12th September 2025. This is not the disaster it may appear to be at first sight, because all the other four agencies approved by […]
Brexit will have saved us £100 billion towards the EU Budget for the period 2028-35
Headline in the Daily Express version
Published on 20 July 2025
Introduction
The European Commission has started the ball rolling on the setting of the EU Budget for its next seven-year period 2028-35, the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF. A big increase is proposed in the Commission’s first draft, and this has been met with the ritual […]
Conservative Party does not know what being in opposition means
Email recieved from Conservative Party on 26th June 2025
Published on 26th June 2025
The Conservative Party does not know what being in opposition means.
This is the conclusion to be drawn from the above email, sent by the Conservatives today to their members under the name of Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The subject is […]
‘Borrowing for investment’ – all the signs point to a debt-funded disaster
Picture from Global Britain blog
Published on 28th May 2025
This is the full version of the fourth paper in my Global Britain series on the UK’s public finances, entitled ‘Borrowing for investment’ – what signs we have of how this will manifest itself under the current Labour regime’.
You can download it through this link.
All indicators point […]