Enjoying your job is not a human right
Michelle Obama is right to remind the young of basic truths
Say what you like about Labour, but they certainly know how to spend your money. The Government borrowed a staggering £60 billion more than the £85 billion projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility’s recent forecasts, it has emerged. That’s on top of all the revenue brought in by Rachel Reeves’s tax rises. In fact, the extra borrowing is in part because of the damage to the economy caused by the Chancellor’s decision to hike employer National Insurance Contributions. Who could have predicted that?
Rather more promising was the release of plans for the expansion of Cambridge. (Though why not go further still?) But in a revelation that’s a little too on-the-nose, the Labour Growth Group announced it will be winding down – just as the Government needs fresh ideas. Perhaps Reeves should take a factfinding summer break to Denmark, where the new centre-left coalition government has promised to cut corporation tax and eliminate the highest bands of income tax.
In other news, the Bank of England wants to hear from you: are you more of an Atlantic puffin, or a European hedgehog?
Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.
Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX
Today’s Takes
Fresh thinking from CapX
Enjoying your job is not a human right
Joseph Dinnage
‘It’s one thing for my fellow young people to shout and stomp about what they believe an employer should provide for them, but it’s quite another when the state starts to listen.’
Michelle Obama clearly doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and this was on full display at this week’s SXSW festival in London. Among other topics, she discussed the tendency among young people to expect immediate career satisfaction, and argued that this is ill-advised, as workplace hardship early on can build character. She’s right, but our Government doesn’t recognise that, and has based its employment rights legislation on the demands of teenagers and unions over those of our business leaders. Read More
Should we have banned Cenk Uygur from the UK?
Freddie Attenborough
‘This appears to be the first high-profile instance in which the system has prevented a speaker from appearing before a university debating society.’
The Government has cancelled the Electronic Travel Authorisation of controversial left-wing US political commentator Cenk Uygur, meaning that he will not be able to address the Oxford Union. While his positions on the war in Gaza and Israel more generally would offend many, surely that should be up to the debating society, and not the state? Read More
Andy Burnham's prescription will make Britain sicker
Roger Partridge
‘If populism really were a revolt against inequality, Jean-Luc Mélenchon would be in the Élysée, Die Linke would be running Germany and Jeremy Corbyn would have led Labour to a thumping majority.’
Andy Burnham has one prescription, and he means to fill it, whatever the patient walks in with. The man with the broken arm, the woman with chest pains, the child with a fever: each leaves the surgery with the same pad of repeat scripts, which call for higher taxes on the rich, more generous benefits and the nationalisation of something. But Burnham has failed to recognise what is really wrong with Britain. Read More
The Capitalist
With Donald Trump back in the White House, tariffs have become front-page news, and advocates for free trade find themselves on the back foot. Is this a passing phase, or a permanent shift?
Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown argue that with great powers now using trade as a weapon, there can be no simple return to the settled order of rules-based global trade that dominated the late 20th century. Their new book, ‘How to Win a Trade War’, provides a tour through the toolkit of the trade warrior.
In this week’s episode of the CapX podcast they join Marc Sidwell to discuss the new world of economic conflict, why tariffs are like a party drug – and how trade wars can still spiral out of control.
The CapX Reading List
The best of the web today
Net Zero killed British industry, not Thatcherism
Kallum Pickering, The Daily Telegraph 🔒
‘Thatcherism, grounded in sound economics, represented the moment when policymakers decided to stop fighting the tide.’
Andy Burnham, like many on the Left, argues that Britain’s economic and social malaise started with deindustrialisation brought about by so-called ‘neo-liberal’ reforms undertaken by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in the 1980s. While memories of miners’ strikes, union reforms and the privatisation of failing nationalised industries reinforce this popular narrative, the facts tell a different story. Read More
Why did Henry Nowak's last words count for so little?
Ian Acheson, The Spectator
‘Police recruits are taught, explicitly and implicitly, that allegations of racism are uniquely charged.’
The chilling banality of the officers’ responses to Henry Nowak’s last words is utterly disturbing. ‘I’ve been stabbed.’ ‘I can’t breathe.’ He said this to them repeatedly before he lost consciousness. These were not vague or confusing claims. Yet they were met with flat procedural detachment: stock instructions, routine control, an obvious reluctance to let what Henry was saying disturb the version of events already taking shape in the officers’ minds. Read More
Against accelerationism
Kristian Niemietz, IEA Insider
Stat of the Day
And if you want more...
– What do Conservatives believe? (ConservativeHome)
– Iran’s new grand strategy (Foreign Affairs)
– Bad policies are picking the pockets of consumers (The Critic)
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