Who can afford to build?
Plus: doom culture is a dangerous drug, and why are Bath's Greens fighting a bike lane?
Be careful out there: even prime ministers can get catfished.
The Government has confirmed it will give a default ‘yes’ to new housing developments within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations. That’s good news given the state of the housing shortage. But planning isn’t the only problem holding builders back – there’s also the way the cost of building homes keeps going up, not helped by all the policy costs we keep piling on.
In brighter news, we love to see the power of competition in action, delivering better quality and lower prices. Now the Channel Tunnel looks like it’s about to give a fresh demonstration of how that works, with Virgin Trains getting the green light from the regulator to run UK services to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030. Maybe the Wi-Fi will even work.
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
Britain doesn't need more prophets of doom
Mark Brolin
‘Doom culture has become the opium of our age. It comforts the adult herd, makes ever more control sound sensible and scares the young into buckling up in the back seat instead of taking the wheel.’
Andy Burnham understands that people are tired of being told to brace for the next disaster. Instead, he is following the playbook of the Danish prime minister by wrapping managed decline in warm, personal language. To counter his rhetoric, and actually address Britain’s economic problems, the Right needs to rediscover the language of agency and enterprise. Read More
Why are Bath's Greens fighting a bike lane?
James Ball
‘The British problem has become fussing at every single plan until it’s the best possible one, which makes every possible stakeholder happy, and that plan doesn’t exist.’
A proposal for a new cycle path in Bath is facing objections from the local Green Party. The route goes through a quiet park next to an existing road, and this would apparently be a ‘socially unsafe’ experience. The row is emblematic of Britain’s decline. If the Greens won’t back a cycle lane, what can you get support for? Read More
Stat of the day
Best of the Web
The hole in Reform’s welfare plan
Ross Clark, The Spectator
‘Try to reform welfare without touching the state pension and you are tying one arm behind your back.’
Reform UK have proposed £50 billion of welfare cuts – more than twice the Conservatives’ planned savings. But there is a rather large gap in their plan. The state pension accounts for £143.5bn of the £304bn welfare bill, yet the party have pledged to protect it. If Reform want to tackle welfare, they cannot keep the triple lock off the table. Read More
🎧Best of CapX: How to tame Britain’s debt
John Penrose
Where Russia went wrong
Friedrich Asschenfeldt, Engelsberg Ideas
‘The market economy which the liberals helped to build in the hope that it would “civilise Russia” has turned into a war economy characterised by high inflation, asset grabs and financial repression.’
Russian propaganda invokes the ‘Reckless Nineties’ to legitimise Putin’s rule. Economists on the academic left such as Isabella Weber and Joseph Stiglitz also see the period as an example of the cruelty of ‘neoliberal shock therapy’. A new history provides a much-needed corrective. Russia had too little shock therapy – not too much. Read More
The Capitalist: Richard Hanania on populism
And if you want more...
– The next economic crisis could be made in China (Foreign Affairs)
– America is still freedom’s forge (Civitas Outlook)
– How to solve murders in space (BBC Focus)
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