Americans go to the polls next week in the midterm elections, with Donald Trump’s Republicans facing the prospect of losing control of Congress. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll puts the Democrats eleven points ahead among registered voters, 47% to 36%, with the Republicans struggling against rising prices and an increasingly toxic president. There is even the … Read more
Something bad is happening in the world’s bond markets. Governments are finding it increasingly expensive to borrow money, at precisely the time when they are borrowing enormous amounts of it. In Britain, yields on long-dated government bonds have climbed to levels not seen for decades, while in the United States the federal government faces a … Read more
Every few months, a familiar story appears in the newspapers and across social media. Public-sector workers are enjoying bigger pay rises than their private-sector counterparts. The implication is usually that those employed by the taxpayer are doing rather better than the people whose taxes pay their salaries. There is some evidence to support the claim. … Read more
Over the last few weeks, I have spent £20 entering online lotteries. I’ve tried to win a camper van, some camera equipment and a luxury home in London. So far, I’ve won nothing. What surprised me wasn’t my lack of success, but just how many of these competitions there are. Once you start looking, they’re … Read more
Andy Burnham has caused outrage among Brexit supporters by revealing that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 referendum. Nigel Farage called him a liar, Boris Johnson insisted that the allegations were untrue, and the Daily Mail accused the Prime Minister of trying to undermine the legitimacy of the referendum. I find all this a … Read more
A few weeks ago, I invited readers of this blog to take part in a little experiment. I wanted to find out whether people understood how popular their political opinions really were. Not whether they were right or wrong, but whether they had a realistic understanding of what other people thought. The survey consisted of … Read more
How the ONS rewrote Britain’s productivity statistics, and why the government’s economic strategy has a rather awkward problem. Nine years ago I accidentally lied to the Office for National Statistics. I was taking part in the Labour Force Survey. My working hours varied enormously, the questionnaire wasn’t very good at coping with this, and eventually … Read more
Three months after Durham High School closed its doors for the final time, the future of its 13.77-acre site on South Road may be about to become clearer. The administrators have announced that prospective purchasers for the land and buildings must submit their best and final offers by 29 October, following what the selling agents … Read more
America has just withdrawn its B-1 bombers from their base at RAF Fairford, retreating in the face of a threat that remains unclear. Nobody has shot the bombers down, nobody has attacked the base and Iran denies that it was planning to do so. But intelligence suggesting that the aircraft and the people operating them … Read more
