Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, The ONS like to get us all up at 7am these days for new stats. Which is nice of them. Ironically for those of us forced to get up, this morning’s batch told us that January was a month for doing less. The … Continued

Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, The schools are mainly closed, but there is still an ‘end of term’ feel in the RF virtual office. Happy coincidence means the Budget, a big driver of our workload/sleep deprivation, is done exactly as water torture home schooling draws to a close. The … Continued

Think tanks are research organisations that develop ideas on a whole range of subjects affecting society. They make suggestions for action, using research, analysis and commentary to inform and influence politicians, policy makers and the public. Given the recent economic, social and political issues facing the UK, encouraging more diversity in the world of research … Continued

Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, Happy pre-Budget weekend. Good luck to the sub-set of you beavering away on finalising it – I hope you’ll be returning the kind thoughts when the Resolution Foundation is up all Wednesday night analysing whatever you’ve dreamt up. We basically know what … Continued

Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, Expectations matter it turns out. If you’d told anyone this time last year the economy would shrink by 10 per cent in 2020 they’d have predicted riots on the streets, but today’s stats confirming 2020 saw the worst annual performance in 300 years have … Continued

Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, Vaccinations have got the Governor all perky, while Jackie Weaver and Handforth Parish Council have done the same for the rest of the country. Which is nice, although in the former case slightly jarring with the Bank’s forecast for unemployment to rapidly rise … Continued

Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, Good to have some more vaccine-related good news for a Friday, via the Novavax effectiveness study. The only downside is that being told the jabs are 89 per cent effective is a recipe for making me feel bad about my own 8.9 … Continued

Afternoon all, This morning brought news that UK economic output shrank 2.6 per cent in November, leaving it still 8.5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. Output is almost certainly falling again now, but luckily as GDP goes down vaccinations are swiftly going up and indications are the government is doing a good job of further ramping … Continued

Afternoon all, Now I know this is going to be hard for some of you to accept, but there has been a full and fair process. None of the fraud allegations have been upheld. So it’s time to certify the winners of this year’s Resolution Foundation Christmas quiz. Almost 700 entries saw a mean score … Continued

Afternoon all, I’m a little confused. Lee Cain was definitely offered Boris’ Chief of Staff job, but resigned. Dominic Cumming has most definitely not resigned, but will be leaving Downing Street before Christmas. It’s almost like some people think that reality is shaped by the words you say, rather than what you actually do. That … Continued

Afternoon all, This is the week the music consensus died. It’s hardly surprising, with political fracturing between parties and places reflecting the tensions all of us feel confronting the reality that this pandemic is here to stay. But it’s a disaster if public faith in collective decision taking is undermined in the midst of a … Continued

Afternoon all, Today is impressively managing to combine the (inevitable) end of the V-shaped recovery, with the overdue catching-up of policy with local lockdown reality. At 7am we learnt that GDP grew by 2.1 per cent in August, down from 6.4 per cent in July and 9.1 per cent in June. Almost all that growth … Continued

Afternoon all, So we’re going from opening up to closing back down again. Local lockdowns, rules of six and (apparently) circuit breaks. All I’m saying is that the last remaining V-shapers out there must be smoking something very strong indeed. In fact, if rising cases and rising unemployment have one silver lining it’s to end … Continued

The latest from Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Torsten Bell’s weekly Observer column, Hidden gems from the world of research and academia. Read more of the latest economics and policy research in our weekly reading email, Top of the Charts.   Britain might look to Germany to heal the north-south divide Before the government was forced into locking … Continued

Afternoon all, Lawbreaking aside, the big news this week is that the rule of six is on, and Christmas is off. The kids are going to riot when someone tells them what’s going on, but the upside is a notably lower turkey-related divorce rate this year. That today’s GDP stats also followed the rule of … Continued

Afternoon all, Schools’ back. Well actually, ours isn’t – which I am totally, 100 per cent, relaxed about… But everyone other one seems to be, which is good news. I’ve always been in the “we should probably educate the kids” camp. It’s a rather basic civic duty. Like voting, which apparently Donald Trump is now … Continued

The latest from Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Torsten Bell’s weekly Observer column, Hidden gems from the world of research and academia. Read more of the latest economics and policy research in our weekly reading email, Top of the Charts. Proof that poverty is not failure but a trap Poverty matters and it lasts. It reduces wellbeing today … Continued

Afternoon all, Local lockdowns are all the rage – this time for the North West. We’d better get used to it. In a stroke of genius planning/solidarity we’re heading for a campsite in the North West tomorrow. On the plus side it’ll provide something more interesting to worry about than the (inevitable) rain. In some … Continued

Afternoon all, Masks at the ready team. Arms out for the flu jabs, but hands down for the junk food. A year on from entering Downing Street, Boris Johnson has not only become a daddy (again) but he’s ended up fully embracing the nanny daddy state. The latter at least is a surprise given the PM’s personal liberalism, but … Continued

Afternoon all, I’m afraid TOTCs is in rather gloomy mood today. I appreciate this isn’t what anyone wants to hear, but I really fear we’re only in the foothills of the economic bit of this crisis in so far as households are concerned. Even if the initial recovery phase is V-shaped for GDP, household incomes … Continued