Have you ever stopped and questioned whether the output of BBC news and current affairs is as balanced as it could be? Have you found yourself screaming at the Today programme, switching off Question Time, or getting angry listening to Any Questions? Do you ever find yourself questioning its impartiality and how the BBC measures that? Now… [Read More]
Not a day seems to pass in this Conservative leadership contest without promises of tax cuts. Today The Times brings news that Boris Johnson is contingency planning an emergency No Deal budget to ensure the economy is ‘going gangbusters’ by October 31. Central to that is said to be an idea to abolish stamp duty… [Read More]
In the early transformation of Hong Kong from a “barren rock” to a trading outpost of the British empire, the Crown representatives took one decision in particular that would be pivotal to its future. Rather than selling the land to the traders who relocated there from mainland China, it was auctioned on a leasehold basis,… [Read More]
On Monday May 20th, The Rt Rev Bashar Warda, Archbishop of Erbil, addressed a seminar at Civitas on the plight facing Christians in Iraq and the wider Middle East. This is the full text of his address. Thank you David Green, and thank you Civitas, for organising this discussion. I came to London to… [Read More]
For all of the criticism regularly levelled at Help to Buy, the flagship equity loan scheme contains the kernel of a good idea. The equity loan concept – in which the value of the amount owed back is linked to movements in the property value – has been promoted by academics for years as a… [Read More]
A coalition of experts and multi-faith leaders have written to the Home Secretary counselling against the definition of Islamophobia which serves as a ‘backdoor blasphemy law’. The definition has so far been adopted by the Labour Party, the Mayor of London and a growing list of local authorities. The signatories to the letter hail from… [Read More]
Ever since Adam Smith warned that the managers of the joint-stock company could not be expected to ‘watch over it with the same anxious vigilance’ as an owner, the accountability of directors to shareholders has taxed the minds of economists and investors. The corporation has evolved somewhat since the 18th century but concerns about the… [Read More]
Labour is said to be considering whether the Bank of England should be mandated to limit house price growth. According to The Guardian, this would be done not via interest rates but via mortgage regulation as overseen by the financial policy committee (FPC). The FPC already curbs some mortgage lending, principally by capping loan-to-income ratios… [Read More]
If it’s free, and you want it, is it necessarily a good deal? It’s a question that is central to the digital economy and especially those online platforms like Facebook and Google that provide services used constantly by billions of people across the world – all for ‘free’. But only free in the sense that… [Read More]
The housing minister describes being stopped in the street by people wanting to thank him for Help to Buy. ‘Several people have stopped me and thanked me for it, because it gives young people access to homes that otherwise they would not obtain,’ Kit Malthouse told the Commons last week. It’s easy to see why, despite… [Read More]
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