Afternoon all, Good news Britain – we’ve had a little ‘the economy did better than thought’ pick me up from the ONS this morning (the UK managed growth of 0.3 per cent in Q1 2023 up from the previous estimate of 0.1 per cent). Combine that with the earlier upgrade to the size of the … Continued

Afternoon all, Well if last week was quiet, this one was anything but. The Bank are done on rate rises* and Rishi Sunak is done with rushing on net zero**. Obviously everyone should have been done with Russell Brand years ago. I’ll be honest, the PM’s net zero speech was problematic. Forget the content (see … Continued

Afternoon all, A moderately quiet week politics/economics wise. Which is nice. Unless you’re a renter hoping we’d actually stop the ‘landlord evicting you for fun’ thing, given we’ve got yet another delay to the Renters Reform Bill. There has been the ‘how much should pensions go up next April’ row, but even that was half … Continued

Afternoon all, The G20 in India will get all the weekend headlines, but without sounding too parochial we shouldn’t be moving off the story of Birmingham quite so quickly. Way too many people in Westminster sounded surprised the city council’s declared bankruptcy. And there’s been no discussion of the city’s even more important deficits on … Continued

Afternoon all, Tempting as it was to stay put in the Alps, we’re back. Don’t all groan at once. Anyway, it’s not like you’ve all done a great job while I was away. Since we rolled off the Eurotunnel the news has run: “our planes can’t fly, our schools’ roofs can’t stay up, and our … Continued

Afternoon all, I’m all for some routine in life. It helps contain the existential angst. So at least the Bank of England is helping with their now traditional monthly interest rate rise. Obviously that’s less useful on the financial angst front, but you can’t have it all. I’m down in Dorset today and didn’t see … Continued

Afternoon all, Last weekend I wrote a short article on Britain’s dangerous habit of getting distracted public policy wise. Luckily (for the article’s accuracy, not for Britain) the last week has rather proved the point. The response to the ULEZ/Uxbridge row? Government playing footsie with the idea of scrapping plans to phase out new petrol/diesel … Continued

Afternoon all, Turns out by-elections are just like sports days at ‘woke’ primary schools – everyone gets to win something. Uxbridge was clearly a bit of a surprise, but Conservative politicos of an optimistic bent should probably take more heart from this week’s inflation news than the west London result. I’m no soothsayer, but it’s … Continued

Afternoon all, So… I’m all for yesterday’s public sector pay announcements for bringing to an end teacher strikes traumatic home-schooling flashbacks. But it’s worth pondering two rather less self-centred implications. First, the price of public sector workers is up but with little extra funding for these pay rises the quantity is likely heading down. Today is probably … Continued

Afternoon all, The cost of living crisis got real this week: Nigel Farage hasn’t even got the £3 million minimum savings needed to stop Coutts taking back control his debit card. Forget foodbank usage being up 50 per cent vs pre-pandemic levels, this is what real hardship looks like (you’d think from the huge media attention). … Continued

Afternoon all, I’m on the way to a big cliff. Hopefully to climb up, not jump off, but that was yet another terrible week for the British economy. Starring out at a never ending and choppy Atlantic from the top of jagged Cornish granite seems an appropriate response to the latest dollop of doom. Rishi’s … Continued

Afternoon all, Quite a week. Mortgages are up, Boris is out. Basically Britain’s having a full on protestant work ethic/puritan phase – no-one with a mortgage can holiday/eat out/savour the small joys of life, but at least we can tell the kids that crime = punishment. Cromwell would be proud. Until he found out that … Continued

Afternoon all, First up – strong recommend for Pembrokeshire. Forget the sun I was pre-boasting about – it’s all about the puffins. There’s thousands of the cuties on Skomer. Staycation advice done, now back to the economics. The big news is Labour backing off the idea of spending £28 billion on green stuff in every year … Continued

Afternoon all, Migrants are checking in and MPs are checking out. The two aren’t directly related. I think. I’m more certain that Labour and the Tories both want migration numbers down, because they keep saying so. Which must leave the punters confused about why the numbers are so high (for the answer see our second … Continued

Afternoon all, You know what I was feeling reading the ONS latest GDP release at 7am this morning (usual doubts about my lifestyle choices aside)? Emotionally conflicted. Stepping back, it’s staggering that Britain (and Europe generally) has avoided a chunky recession given the scale of the energy price shock (a trebling of wholesale prices) we’ve … Continued

Afternoon all, The bunting’s out, the quiches are in the oven (see COTW) and I’ve had to fight my way into Resolution towers all week amid ever growing tourist/police numbers in Westminster. The coronation is very much on. I know there’s a bit of scoffing at genuine enthusiasm levels, but I was down in Kent … Continued

Afternoon all, It’s a sharp exit for Sharp dominating the news today. Having interactions with Boris Johnson was not good for his reputation or career. Shockingly. Labour will point to this as the latest evidence of chaotic government, but really this week reinforces the sense of the Government feeling stronger relative to its MPs and pivoting … Continued

I was wrong. Obviously on lots of things, but I mean specifically on precipitation on last week’s ‘holiday’. It was more hail than rain throughout Cumbrian walks. I tried the Dominic Raab approach of telling the kids to toughen up and enjoy the “direct critical feedback” from the British weather, but unsurprisingly this led to … Continued

Afternoon all, Happy Trump indictment day everyone. The ‘innocent until proven guilty’ crowd will have to make do with celebrating ‘happy CPTPP accession day’ instead – which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. You might argue the biggest post-Brexit trade deal is a bigger deal for the UK but I’m not so sure. … Continued

Afternoon all, It’s been a week of shocks. Boris Johnson can’t handle the truth (or at least gets irritated talking about it) and those making their money via capital gains can very much handle paying lower tax rates than the rest of us. To be fair to the Prime Minister making those very large capital gains, … Continued

Afternoon all, I’m generally anti banks going bust. Doubly so when the rude things do it in Budget week – there’s quite enough going on already. And trebly when it ended up being a bigger Budget that most expected. But we are where we are. For our comprehensive take on the Budget – the forecasts, … Continued

Afternoon all, I for one did not see the Government moving quite so quickly from stopping the boats to stopping the trains. But then again maybe it’s fitting the week managed to squeeze in immigration and HS2 given they have something in common: I’ve lost track of how often I’m told that scrapping (or for that … Continued

Afternoon all, Have I got this right? The same people that did the Brexit deal, the fundamental choice of which was to sell out Unionism, have now decided it was terrible because of what it did to Unionists? AND they’re attacking Rishi Sunak for trying to fix it? Britain might not have any tomatoes but … Continued