Summary The UK has lost 21,000 pubs since 1980. Half of these closures have taken place since 2006. This paper … Continue reading “Closing Time: Who’s killing the British pub?”

Taxation, regulation and declining real wages as a result of the recession have been responsible for the closure of more … Continue reading “Taxation and red tape have killed more than 6,000 pubs since 2006”

Britain’s transport system seems to be grinding to a halt. Yet Britain could soon be on the move again – … Continue reading “Going Nowhere – fast”

Britain has just celebrated ‘Small Business Saturday’. Perhaps yesterday should have been declared ‘Multinational Monday’. Multinationals are often the engine … Continue reading “Britain needs Multinational Monday – not yet more arbitrary tax hikes”

Interventions by Christian clergy in welfare debates are commonplace. Indeed Cardinal Nichols argued this year in an interview for The … Continue reading “Welfare reform as a moral imperative”

Rail fares per passenger-kilometre are on average around 30 per cent higher in Britain than in comparable Western European countries. … Continue reading “Is privatisation to blame for high rail fares?”

When Chancellor George Osborne spoke about ‘aggressive tax planning’ in his Autumn Statement speech, I couldn’t help the image of … Continue reading “Osborne’s Autumn Statement announcements will lead to an even more complex tax code”

Commenting on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Professor Philip Booth, Editorial and Programme Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: … Continue reading “Not much to cheer in the Autumn Statement”

It is often suggested that the House of Commons is rather like a football ground and, if I had been … Continue reading “The Autumn Statement: ‘Sit down, shut up! Sit down, shut up!…’”