£15 billion for PPE? Really? Something feels very wrong here
Thursday, July 9th, 2020The government has claimed it has spent £15 billion on PPE as a result of coronavirus. Given that we know there shortages of PPE until
Read the full article…
The debt fetishists are back in town, asking all the wrong questions, but with massively dangerous consequences
Thursday, July 9th, 2020Chris Giles at the FT had a good coronavirus crisis: his work on estimating real deaths was widely noted. But now he’s back in familiar
Read the full article…
Sunak did nothing for the public sector yesterday and not a job will be created there. Which is why his plans will fail
Thursday, July 9th, 2020I’ve worked with Geoff Tily, the chief economist at the TUC, over many years, including in his role as an ad hoc members of the
Read the full article…
We need to tax income from wealth more, but massive wealth taxes would crash the economy to an extent Covid-19 has not managed
Tuesday, July 7th, 2020Polly Toynbee wrote this in The Guardian yesterday, referring to the need for funding to beat our economic crisis: But what if, with one bound, we
Read the full article…
The choice now is deaths or deficit, and the Treasury is choosing deaths
Sunday, July 5th, 2020I cannot be alone in being furious about the story in the Guardian this morning about funding for the NHS. As they report: NHS bosses
Read the full article…
Street cafes are not the answer to the UK's economic problems
Thursday, June 25th, 2020The surreal nature of this government’s thinking is evidenced by the fact that it plans to introduce legislation to the Commons today, that it wants
Read the full article…
People v balanced budgets: the ultimate question that hangs over the future of British politics
Monday, June 22nd, 2020According to the FT: Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for deferred tax rises and cuts to public spending in his Autumn Budget after he
Read the full article…
We can afford the increase in government spending
Friday, June 19th, 2020I suspect this one is for the geeks, and is a chart of how public spending has changed in the last year, issued by the
Read the full article…
Who will the Tories turn on this time?
Wednesday, June 17th, 2020I was going to write about the importance of Marcus Rashord’s work, and his success in overturning the government position on meals for vulnerable children
Read the full article…