A few years ago I proposed Chadwick’s laws of Government: I was working for a DWP quango in 2010, and sitting on the commercial board of DWP. It was the age of austerity, and Osborne proposed huge cuts to Government to free up money for tax. I would be the first to admit that Government … Read more
Another week, another set of shop closures.Retailers and restaurant owners complain about rising costs, newspapers publish photographs of boarded-up shops, and inevitably somebody blames the Government. There is some justification for this. In April 2025 the National Living Wage increased by 6.7%, from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour. At the same time employers’ National Insurance … Read more
Clacton is back in the news. When I visited earlier this year, I didn’t realise it would briefly become the epicentre of British politics. Nigel Farage is fighting a by-election against Count Binface. If he wins, he has beaten a bin. If he loses, he’s been beaten by one. Farage himself has considerable form when … Read more
Two sets of photographs 24 hours apart. One was at the Durham Miners’ Gala. The other was in Horden, a former pit village a few miles from where I grew up. At first glance they seem to tell completely different stories. One is a celebration of brass bands, banners and working-class history. The other has … Read more
The UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) took place in Leeds last month. Reform were out in force, making policy announcements with the confidence of a party already in government. Although they hold no national power, many of their newly elected councillors are clearly behaving as though they do. Among the familiar themes … Read more
On 4 July 1776 the United States declared its independence from the greatest empire on earth. For 250 years Americans have celebrated that act of rebellion. The United States likes to think of itself as the country that threw off colonial rule, rejected empire and built something entirely new. The latest anniversary falls during the … Read more
Inside the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship I attended another far-right meeting this week. This one didn’t feature skinheads, St George’s flags or chants outside a hotel. Instead there were smart suits, venture capitalists, cabinet ministers, think tank directors and some of the most influential figures on the international conservative right. It was the Alliance for … Read more
We woke up 10 years ago to discover Britain had voted to leave the EU. For many a day of national humiliation. I started writing Industrial Estate of Mind shortly after the Brexit vote. At the time I was working just outside Durham in an area that had been solidly Labour for generations but had … Read more
I was in the Cambridge pub in Liverpool when the news showed Margaret Thatcher leaving Downing Street. She was being replaced by another Conservative, but we drank anyway. Not because the government had changed, but because an era had ended. If I’d gone out drinking every time a prime minister left Downing Street over the … Read more
