Twitter has been getting very excited lately about the protests in France. In case you missed it, President Macron is … Continue reading “What’s “progressive” about absurdly generous pension systems?”

On Conservative Home, Paul Goodman defended Theresa May’s defence of the state as the entity that does good. When the … Continue reading “You want ‘the good that government can do’? You’ll get the bad as well”

This article is based on a presentation Prof Booth gave at the Autumn University of the Alliance of European Conservatives … Continue reading “Europe’s demographic timebomb”

Words like “fairness” and “justice” are regularly thrown around with little thought to what they mean. Strangely, though, the politicians … Continue reading “There’s nothing fair about burdening future generations with unfunded spending on pensioners”

Most developed countries have set up systems of welfare that depend on population growth to sustain them. Unfortunately, we are … Continue reading “Double trouble – how the population crisis will bring about an economic crisis”

Do you remember the time when healthcare professionals used to argue that the NHS was adequately funded, and that further … Continue reading “Why the NHS needs old-age reserves: The case for a prefunded healthcare system”

Individual healthcare costs are generally unpredictable. We cannot know whether we will need healthcare treatment next year, what kind of … Continue reading “Prefunded healthcare: sensible, but rare”

In the aftermath of the Cold War, we were told that capitalism had won. Communism had been defeated, and we … Continue reading “Welfare of Nations: Our debate about the future of the state is worryingly parochial”

Governments do not always support mobility. The Duke of Wellington objected to railways because they would “only encourage the lower … Continue reading “Privatising roads would benefit drivers and taxpayers”