Liz Truss: The Only Conservative in the Room

Tomorrow the Conservative Party conference starts in Birmingham. To prepare for it I have been reading one of the most significant political texts of the last decade, a book which I think is essential to understanding the modern British right. It is Liz Truss’s autobiography, Ten Years to Save the West. Its subtitle is Lessons … Read more

Did the US Government just become insolvent?

No. One of the more eye-catching claims doing the rounds this week comes from a Fortune article arguing that the U.S. government is “insolvent”. The evidence? The Treasury’s own financial statements for 2025 show roughly $6 trillion in assets against nearly $48 trillion in liabilities. Add in long-term “unfunded” obligations for Social Security and Medicare … Read more

Shrinking The State | Trump vs Starmer

How easy is it to cut the size of Government? The original strapline for my blog right at the start was “small business is good, big government is bad”. Part of my dislike of big government comes from my own experiences as a Civil Servant. This gave rise to Chadwick’s laws of public finance and … Read more