Oil prices still haven’t hit rock bottom, says International Energy Agency, even after Brent crude falls below $60 per barrel July 10, 2015 Global oil demand will slow in 2016, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted in its latest monthly report. The world’s leading energy forecaster warned rebalancing of supply and demand in oil market has “yet to run its course”. Oil prices have fallen 60 per cent in the past year, with US benchmark WTI trading [...]
Sixty years on: Why the battle for a free society is still yet to be won June 17, 2015 Sixty years ago, Sir Antony Fisher founded the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), realising an idea given to him by the economist Friedrich Hayek seven years earlier. The IEA is one of the oldest think tanks, and one of the most successful, something even its opponents freely concede. But what does success mean in this [...]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg should use his fortune to promote freedom – not do-gooder causes December 7, 2015 Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s decision to give away 99 per cent of their $45bn Facebook wealth has received a mixed reaction. One would have thought that, among right-on opinion, the decision to dispense with a fortune through lifetime philanthropy would be cause for celebration. After all, the Zuckerbergs’ daughter, Max, will now no longer [...]
Oil prices: US benchmark WTI crude tumbles to six-year low at $41.92 August 13, 2015 Oil prices continue to tumble as US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is trading at a six-year low today. WTI crude fell 3.2 per cent over the day to trade at $41.92 a barrel. The global benchmark Brent crude has also slipped further, trading down to $49.18 a barrel. Oil prices have slumped 60 per [...]
Paris attacks: It’s natural to care more about those close to us – and that has implications for government too November 16, 2015 Many people have taken to social media to ask why the terrorist massacres in Paris have been given so much Western media attention, while similar atrocities in Beirut received scant coverage. One important reason is that France is closer to us – in location, culture and worldview. While we may pay lip service to [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s latest wheeze: Labour leadership front-runner calls for a national maximum wage August 19, 2015 Labour leadership front-runner Jeremy Corbyn has made a radical call for a national maximum wage. “There ought to be a level of a maximum,” Corbyn told The Herald newspaper in Scotland. “Why is it that bankers on massive salaries require bonuses to work while street-cleaners require threats to make them work? “It’s a kind of [...]
Oil prices drop as nuclear deal with Iran looms July 13, 2015 Oil prices were stuck below $60 yesterday and with an Iranian nuclear deal in the offing could fall further again in the near future. Talks between Iran and Western powers were due to end last night, and officials said yesterday that a deal aimed at ending sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for [...]
Opec’s monthly oil output at its highest in nearly three years June 11, 2015 Oil supply from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) continued to edge upwards in May, hitting its highest rate since August 2012. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report that Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates pumped at record monthly rates, keeping output at more than 1m barrels per [...]
Britain isn’t a free market: It’s time to imagine life beyond the state October 28, 2015 One of the most dangerous myths that pervades the political debate today is the idea that “neo-liberalism”, as the left describe it, has a stranglehold over economic policy. Certainly, if we compare the influence of government on our lives today with the early twentieth century, it is very clear that we live in a social [...]
How the Eurozone could survive without building a European super state July 20, 2015 When the euro was adopted, British sceptics argued that it was impossible to have a single currency without a single country. They suggested that you need central control of fiscal policy to stop governments from borrowing too much. It was also argued that you would need huge fiscal transfers to depressed countries given that they [...]