Professor Len Shackleton, Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, has told iNews that, “given the hit … Continue reading “Modifying state pension triple lock “won’t do any great harm””

As with many contemporary policy debates, the furore over the state pension triple-lock has its roots with Gordon Brown. Back … Continue reading “Ros Altmann is right: It’s time to scrap the state pension triple-lock”

It’s all about fairness, that slippery, subjective term which dominates so much of our political discourse. Following his resignation from … Continue reading “IDS is right to attack protection of pensioner benefits”

I have nothing to say either in support of or in opposition to the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith. There … Continue reading “The higher rate of income tax and fiscal drag”

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”

Politicians spend much of their time worrying about repeating the political mistakes of their predecessors. In recent weeks, Conservative MPs … Continue reading “Why the UK pensions triple-lock is a costly economic – and political – mistake”

We should have called 2010 ‘The Phoney Election’. Right up until polling day, our wannabe political leaders were debating the … Continue reading “The second urgent election issue on which the parties are silent. Where will they make most of their cuts?”

One of the insights of the Public Choice School of economics is that voting groups with more homogenous interests will … Continue reading “Granny bonds: Politicians must stop buying votes with subsidies for the old and rich”

Yesterday’s inflation figures – with CPI inflation down to 1.2 per cent – are, on the face of it, good … Continue reading “The triple-lock: unjustified and unaffordable?”