Irrational drugs policies incentivise experimenting with the unknown January 14, 2013 THE UK spends more than any other country in Europe on its drugs policy – 0.48 per cent of GDP according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction. Yet it has some of the continent’s highest rates of problem drug use. More recently, we’ve also become global leaders in so-called legal highs – [...]
Cameron and Clegg pledge to stay until 2015 January 7, 2013 DAVID Cameron and Nick Clegg yesterday insisted the coalition would last a full five-year parliamentary term and said a range of policy announcements on infrastructure investment, childcare costs and housebuilding would form the basis of the government’s work for the next two years. Despite this a leading business group responded by demanding the duo “go further, [...]
Directors want to see new Heathrow runway December 17, 2012 THE INSTITUTE of Directors said today most of its members support a bigger Heathrow Airport as a way to improve aviation capacity in the UK. More than 1,000 directors surveyed by the IoD plumped for expansion at Heathrow as the best way to expand capacity, with 27 per cent selecting this option. Around one in [...]
Vested interests will fight to block necessary spending cuts January 8, 2013 GIVEN the fury surrounding the welfare debate in Parliament yesterday, you would be forgiven for believing that this was about a major downsizing of the welfare state. In reality, the coalition will be capping the increase in most working age benefits to 1 per cent for the next three years, ensuring a real terms cut [...]
Rapid responses December 9, 2012 Austerity forever [Re: Careful chancellor: there is good austerity and bad austerity, Friday] George Osborne does appear to be slowly realising that his measures aren’t working, but my worry is that it’s now too late. All the international evidence shows that fiscal retrenchment only works if cuts happens quickly, take place across the board, and [...]
Give London back its stamp duty to reinvest in growth February 5, 2013 FIFTY years ago the average London house cost roughly the same as a month’s rent in some parts of North London today. Notwithstanding the effect of inflation, that cannot be sustainable, socially or economically. Among the range of housing challenges we face, the greatest by far is simply to build more homes. That’s why Boris [...]
The Prudential backs our appeal December 6, 2012 Why is Prudential supporting Opportunity International? Prudential is a leading player in a number of emerging markets and therefore we have first-hand experience of the importance of financial literacy. We like the way Opportunity International uses micro–credit, hand in hand with financial business training, to create opportunities that allow individuals to help themselves and maximise [...]
Obama’s race against time to save tax deal January 1, 2013 A LATE political truce over the US budget was thrown into doubt last night as Republican leaders threatened to quash President Obama’s plan to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. After warring politicians in the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a bill to avert a round of automatic tax rises and spending cuts, senior figures in the Republican-dominated [...]
Green energy subsidies are failing to deliver cheap low carbon power December 18, 2012 TODAY Parliament will debate the Energy Bill. With homes braced for a hike in bills – and nearly 5m in fuel poverty – the government wants to strike an affordable balance between the UK’s environmental credentials and its raw energy needs. If policy is to follow facts not fads, we need a decisive break with [...]
The Treasury will gain nothing from property tax hikes December 4, 2012 A S THEY consider a “back-door” mansion tax and another increase in stamp duty in today’s Autumn Statement, George Osborne and Vince Cable should take a quick look at a dramatic drop in tax receipts after the last Budget. In March, stamp duty was hiked to 7 per cent for people buying property over £2m [...]