The dangers of stageism, The Spectator, 13 October 1990 One of the key reasons that many companies have waited on the sidelines of the... As Ken Clarke has told colleagues, the problem is that Labour — albeit right at the end of their time in office — stopped non-EU low-skilled immigration. So all there was left to cap was high-skilled immigration. But there is a potential solution that would enable the cap — a Conservative manifesto... That's why it's such a shame that today's magazine opens on an anti-scientific piece denouncing those who disagree with the climate consensus. My former colleague Ben Webster, now the paper's environment correspondent, is... Those six words are pure Tory Reform Group, pure Iain Macleod, pure One Nation. He evoked that traditional form of Torysim... A few months ago, I producedPopular topics within economy
Friday, 8th October 2010
From the archives: Entering the ERM
PETER HOSKIN 3:29pm
It's twenty years, to the day, since the UK joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism – a decision that would, of course, culminate in our withdrawal on Black Wednesday, 16 September, 1992. Subsequent years of strong growth placed those events in a fresh context, but here's The Spectator's take from 1990:
Give the European federalists and inch, and they will take a kilometre. Commenting on Britain's entry into the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the EMS, Sir Leon Brittan claimed that 'Britain has begun...Thursday, 7th October 2010
Hutton points the way forward on pensions
ANDREW HALDENBY 6:06pm
John Hutton's interim report on public sector pensions today will go down as one of the most important moments in the public service reform story. John Hutton doesn't just set out the principles for putting public services on a sustainable footing, although he does do that (by explaining the inadequate levels of contributions into these schemes). More importantly, he confronts head-on the problem that public sector pensions pose for the opening up of public services to competition.A solution to the immigration cap puzzle
JAMES FORSYTH 3:39pm
The coalition’s immigration cap is, as several Conservative Cabinet ministers have pointed out privately, flawed. It threatens to cap the kind of immigration that bothers almost nobody, high skilled foreign workers coming to this country to do a specific job.Hunt the heretic
FRASER NELSON 2:08pm
Eureka, the science magazine from The Times, is in many ways a brilliant accomplishment. Advertising is following readers in an online migration - but James Harding, the editor, personally persuaded advertisers that a new magazine, in a newspaper, devoted to science would work. And here it is: giving the New Scientist a run for its money every month.Wednesday, 6th October 2010
What to make of Cameron's rejection of laissez faire?
DAVID BLACKBURN 6:52pm
Pressure brings out the best in David Cameron and right now he’s coasting. He gave, as Pete andFraser have said, a subdued speech. The content was there but his delivery was calm, except on two occasions when he spoke rather than read the autocue. He attempted to sell the Big Society (third time and no luckier). Then he said, with conviction, ‘I don’t believe in laissez faire.’Cameron stumbles onto the stage
PETER HOSKIN 9:02am
Who'd have guessed that David Cameron would go into his conference speech on the backfoot? This was supposed to be a moment tinged, if anything, with jubilation: the first Tory PM for thirteen years addressing a party that seems to have fallen in love with him. But instead we've got the child benefit row, and with it apologies, rebuttals and hasty repositioning. It is to Cameron's credit that he can breath the two words that evade other, more culpable politicians: "I'm sorry". But on the eve of his big speech? Far...Sunday, 3rd October 2010
OBR Watch
PETER HOSKIN 8:19pm
When Sir Alan Budd was head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, there was an insistent argument in opposition circles that the independent body was biased in favour of the coalition. Much of this cented around the OBR's growth predictions. How on Earth, came the question, can growth hit 2.3 percent next year and 2.8 percent the year after? Isn't that a bit optimistic in view of all the warnings about a double dip? Won't the cuts stifle growth? And so on and so on.
Friday, 8 October 2010
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