The Falklands are small fry compared to Antarctica. Antarctica hides vast mineral deposits under its icy carpet and its continental shelf. Emotional and human interest keeps the Falklands in the news, while far more important Antarctica is quietly forgotten in the UK. This is strange, as we have the oldest claim on its territory. At […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Government should stop overruling its peoples’ choices. That is what the current assault on capitalism is about. After all, what is capitalism, but the millions of decisions people make every day? We are all capitalists: when we buy a pint of milk; when we earn a […]
J P Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Based on empirical evidence, abandoning inequality policies could be desirable for both the left and the right. Doing nothing about inequality could become mainstream and middle-of-the-road ; precisely where all parties want to be. Why the left should abandon inequality policies The attraction for […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Free marketeers are deluding themselves if they believe that their cause will be helped by attacking bankers or the City. This morning, Radio 4 had another shamelessly biased item on “bankers’ bonuses”. This time, the assault was led by John Humphrys. It was […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. When money is short reality kicks in. A few years ago people were flush with cash and didn’t mind spending more on health and education. They duly elected Tony Blair. Labour came, spent, and departed in ignominy. Nothing improved, but the cash is gone. Strapped-for-cash […]
J P Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. In the Pantheon of Socialist Fallacies, income inequality features at par with outraged mutterings about so-called health inequality; the idea that Capitalism is “a system that was invented”; or the belief that “The Rich are always becoming Richer”. In a study published on Monday, […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. The age of irresponsibility is here to stay, it appears. One person makes a mistake, and another person is supposed to foot the bill. Or bail out, as the new terminology goes. The Greek government lives above its means? European politicians want the German taxpayers […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Diageo, the world’s largest spirit maker, has announced that it will stop basing staff in the UK because of the 50p tax rate. CEO Paul Walsh explained that Diageo can pay its staff less in (for example) Singapore, where they only face 10% income […]
By JP Floru Residents in my ward (Hyde Park, City of Westminster) are fleeing abroad to escape from the 50p tax rate. I have heard similar stories from fellow councillors for areas such as Kensington, Knightsbridge, Pimlico and Mayfair. The people who are fleeing tend to be British citizens, therefore, people who pay their UK […]
By JP Floru. In the last two days, I twice heard anecdotal evidence of how the 50p tax rate reduces the number of jobs at the bottom scale of the ladder, and increases welfare payments. A person I met last night, a trendy West Londoner who at one time supported New Labour, explained how she […]
By JP Floru When the state starts doling out money on a vast scale, you have to limit the number of recipients. A welfare state is therefore inherently tribal – its survival depends upon a ‘to us, but not to them’ – attitude. People are herded into groups to exclude others – and merit is […]
A majority of the members of the NHS Future Forum, the body which recommended scaling back NHS health reform, are NHS-affiliates. They are either directly or indirectly employed by it, or have another financial interest in it. Not a single Forum member represents the private for profit sector. The Government says it will largely follow the […]
By JP Floru When there is a shortage of supply, rising prices and rising demand, you don’t need a GCSE in Economics to detect the atoms for an infallible business project. Step forward the New College of the Humanities, a brand new private university in Bloomsbury, London. The tuition fee will be £18,000; but up […]
By JP Floru Socialists want you to be terrified when you think of forests. In the absence of a policy of their own (I searched for three hours but couldn’t find any on the web) the best the Labour Party and their acolytes have come up with to attack the Government’s plans on forests is … […]
By JP Floru At a dinner in London two weeks ago, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang unwittingly rubbed the Coalition Government’s inadequate tax policies in fellow attendant Vince Cable’s face (or, more precisely, he would have done so, if Vince hadn’t been late). Tsang happily elaborated on the HK $6,000 cheque the Hong Kong government […]