Wealth booms and electoral busts Top of the Charts 6 December 2019 Afternoon all, Boris Johnson has decided it’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield yes, Andrew Neil no. Apparently this is the punters’ fault for not liking tough interviews any more – so shame on all of us, and definitely not on the PM for running scared. In more positive news, the whole thing is nearly over. … Continued READ MORE
The Bad Wine Guide Top of the Charts 29 November 2019 Afternoon all, Brace, brace – we’re in the crash landing phase of this election campaign. I’m afraid to say none of us are likely to emerge unscathed. Jeremy Corbyn’s spending his time being mauled by Andrew Neil, while Boris Johnson’s gone into hiding. My admiration knows no bounds, and that’s before we get to the … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Pay· Wealth & assets· Political parties and elections Question Time’s £80K man was wrong about the top 5%. But the super-rich are on another planet Those in his earning bracket have far more in common with workers on average pay than they do with the 1% 28 November 2019 by Torsten Bell f you live in Bolton and earn more than £80,000, you’re rich compared with your neighbours. Really rich. The average pay for all workers is just £22,000 and one in four earns less than £15,000. And yes, you’re still rich among the country as a whole: only 5% of earners make more than £80,000 – … Continued READ MORE
Tackling inequalities – left, right and centre Top of the Charts 22 November 2019 Afternoon all, We’re in manifesto week (or fortnight if the Conservatives hold off until Monday). So far the parties are going LARGE. The Lib Dems, having warned about Labour’s big tax and spend plans back in 2017, decided to…. announce a slightly bigger increase in the size of the state than Labour proposed two years … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Jobs· Labour market· Low pay· Pay Feel poor, work more – the real reason behind Britain’s record employment 13 November 2019 by Torsten Bell Why are three million more of us working today than were back in 2008? How has our employment rate reached 76 per cent, when full employment before the crisis meant 73 per cent of us working? These are employment levels no-one thought possible a decade ago. There is almost no bigger change to our economy … Continued READ MORE
The economic backdrop to General Election 2019 Top of the Charts 8 November 2019 Afternoon all, One operation and a whole world of painkillers later… I may not be making it out of the house but TOTCs can make it to your inbox. As this is the week the election campaign officially kicks off we thought we’d focus on the economic context that it’s taking place within. People used … Continued READ MORE
Demographics· Political parties and elections The middle aged, not the middle class, are the new swing voters 2 November 2019 by Torsten Bell An election is coming. You may have noticed. The early phase of any campaign is the contest about what the election will actually be about – where the battle lines will lie. You want it to be all about Brexit if you’re gunning for the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, and everything but Brexit if you’re … Continued READ MORE
The unintended consequences of policies and pollution Top of the Charts 1 November 2019 Afternoon all, The election is off. In the horse-racing sense. And Corbs has definitely had the better first week. Donald Trump AND Mike Ashley slagging you off is what winning looks like in the “having the right enemies” school of politics. More worrying for Conservative MPs should be the fact that the campaign has knocked … Continued READ MORE
Join The New Protest Movement – Fiscal Rebellion Top of the Charts 25 October 2019 Afternoon all, The Budget’s off. This is very good news for the RF team’s workload. But it is very bad news for democracy, if the election’s still on. That’s because no Budget means no updated Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for our economy and public finances – forecasts that should provide crucial context for the … Continued READ MORE
A slowing, bickering, changing world Top of the Charts 18 October 2019 Afternoon all, So, Boris Johnson has chosen his Brexiteers over unionism. The EU have chosen getting it done versus hoping remainers get their act together. The DUP have chosen a rock, having been offered a hard place. Labour want to choose a referendum, but may get a general election. The slightly odd thing of course … Continued READ MORE
Tax For The Rich, Naps For The Poor Top of the Charts 11 October 2019 Afternoon all, The pressure has been building for years. Frustration has been mounting. But now it’s DECISION TIME, people. Which side are you on? Not on Brexit, or Extinction Rebellion vs the cops (which was all very friendly in the camp outside RF towers). No, on the real question facing 21st Century Britain: Coleen vs Rebekah. … Continued READ MORE
Efficiency vs happiness, talent vs practice – and military service vs crime? Top of the Charts 'Insights' round-up: September 2019 7 October 2019 The latest from Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Torsten Bell’s weekly Observer column, Insights. Read more of the latest economics and policy research in our weekly reading email, Top of the Charts (sign up here). Military service is not a magic bullet for reducing crime We’re in an era of “bring-backery” – blue passports are on the way … Continued READ MORE
WeWork wobbles as Warren woos workers Top of the Charts 4 October 2019 Afternoon all, Tory/Labour conferences* are done. Brexit is not. But you have to take what closure you can get. Labour had a lot of policy, but not a lot of unity, while the Tories managed unity on Brexit and not a lot of policy (a higher minimum wage was the big exception). Just like journalists and … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Pay· Minimum wage A rare political consensus has broken out over a higher minimum wage – but achieving it is far from straightforward 1 October 2019 by Torsten Bell The politics of the minimum wage don’t exactly fit our lazy stereotypes. Back in the pre-crisis days of supposed consensus, debates raged about whether the policy was right or wrong. Today, when political divides are huge, everyone is falling over themselves to agree that a higher minimum wage is the way to go. The Chancellor … Continued READ MORE
Political parties and elections Healing the Nation vs Divide and Conquer Top of the Charts 27 September 2019 Afternoon all, It’s not been a good week for anyone that cares about constitutional – or indeed personal – niceties. It’s both horrendous to watch and painfully inevitable when politics has become about (unachievable) total victory. Once we’re shrugging shoulders at collateral damage (to the economy or political decency) we’re in big trouble. And in … Continued READ MORE
Political parties and elections Examining the Labour Party’s economic radicalism Top of the Charts 20 September 2019 Afternoon all, I’m packing my bucket and spade for some seaside fun at Labour Party conference this weekend in Brighton. Obviously, the conference will be overshadowed by a massive row about Brexit (again). But we like to do things differently at RF so we’ll be hosting a massive row civilised discussion about its economic policy … Continued READ MORE
Robo-Taxes, Expensive Tweets And Equations For Art-Lovers Top of the Charts 13 September 2019 Afternoon all, So Parliament’s off. The Speaker is too (rather more permanently). This is clearly a crisis. With millions of Brits addicted to the nightly Commons meltdowns, dark times are ahead. Where we once had soaps, all that’s left these days is psephology. Now the addicts out there may get some relief from prorogation cold-turkey … Continued READ MORE
Macroeconomic policy Is the UK recession ready? 9 September 2019 by Torsten Bell The good news is we’ve now managed a recession free decade since the financial crisis. The bad news is that history teaches us this is quite unusual – booms and bust haven’t been abolished. This matters – downturns have very high costs, even when they’re not of the global financial crisis earth-shattering sort. On average … Continued READ MORE
Battling inequality, one tattoo and traffic jam at a time Top of the Charts 6 September 2019 Afternoon all, I’m slightly lost for words after the vote-losing, whip-stripping, police-fainting, brother-resigning week we’ve had. But beneath all the madness has anyone else noticed a strange pattern emerging from British politics? In the olden days one lot wanted X (eg tax cuts) and the other lot wanted Y (eg tax rises). They had a … Continued READ MORE
Flush Geordies and flustered bankers Top of the Charts 27 August 2019 Afternoon all, All quiet on the Westminster front. Or at least it will go quiet in the very near future – hence the current outrage being very loud as the week comes to a close. Which is a shame because the week started so well with (part of) the country pulling off a million to … Continued READ MORE
Tackling discrimination, crisis explanation – and bringing Britain together (with euthanasia) Top of the Charts 23 August 2019 Afternoon all, Having been a little snarky last week about the progress on Brexit answers, we thought it was only right that TOTCs goes all solution-focused this week. We can’t stretch to a clever wheeze about how to leave the customs union yet keep an open border on the island of Ireland I’m afraid, but read … Continued READ MORE
Loaded Americans, smart Russians and dying Brits Top of the Charts 16 August 2019 Afternoon all, We’re back. I know this will be a big relief to you all – it’s equally good news for my bank balance. Turns out it’s not a good idea to combine the family preference for too many croissants with our national preference for devaluing the pound. Obviously the real lesson here is to … Continued READ MORE
Economic growth Is there any economics behind Johnson’s ‘perk up and carry on’ strategy? 15 August 2019 by Torsten Bell It’s time to get with the perk… I mean programme. Boris Johnson’s government might not even have a Budget under its belt, but its economic strategy is taking shape. It’s time to abolish the gloomsters. And the doomsters. As he said on entering Downing Street, “after three years of unfounded self-doubt it is time to … Continued READ MORE
Weekend reading for the new Cabinet Top of the Charts 26 July 2019 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts email here Afternoon all, It’s been a brutal week in Britain – whether you’re trying to commute in near 40 degree heat, or trying to keep your job at the Cabinet table. But I’ve got zero sympathy for the whinging – you want to try spending … Continued READ MORE
Leading Britain through Brexit: Five lessons for Boris Johnson 24 July 2019 by Torsten Bell When the history books of our era are written they will say that Britain had a huge financial crisis, then it left the EU. In those books Boris Johnson’s legacy as Prime Minister will be Brexit – and the politics and economics of Brexit are hard. Hard substantively, because they involve unravelling 40 years of … Continued READ MORE
