Analysis and action on living standards
Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts emails here Afternoon all, Today is the one year anniversary of the 2017 general election. Now no-one’s paying it much attention – but that’s mainly because they’ve spent the week distracted by the idea that David Davis’s resignation threat might be sending us back to the … Continued
Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts emails here It’s June. Or as we optimistically call it in Britain: the start of summer. And things are definitely heating up political economy-wise. Southern Europe has decided stable governments with parliamentary majorities are so 2017 – as Spain gets jealous of Italy hogging the headlines. Not … Continued
Good afternoon, The good news: this is not a GDPR email. Phew. The bad news: they’re getting free rides over in Estonia (see below), while we’re all going to be spending half of the Bank Holiday weekend stuck on the A303 around Stonehenge… Of course, if you’re stuck in traffic you probably shouldn’t be reading … Continued
Incomes and Inequality
Much has changed in Britain since the EU referendum, but in many ways the divide that opened up around the vote feels as cavernous today as it was on the morning after the night before. That owes much to the inevitably divisive nature of a binary in/out referendum of course, but many commentators point also … Continued
Incomes and Inequality
Late last year in a PMQs exchange about tax, the Prime Minister said that “the top 1 per cent of earners in this country are paying 28 per cent of the tax burden” – “the highest percentage ever”. She’s not alone in saying this. As statistics go, this one is remarkably popular in newspapers, parliament … Continued
Jobs, Skills and Pay
Bad policies get the most attention. Whole books have been written on government interventions that achieved the exact opposite of what they intended, or eventually delivered at miles over budget. That’s why the UK’s minimum wage – effective, popular and cheap – is such a rare thing. The latest evidence confirms the minimum wage’s continued … Continued