Ross Clark is a leader writer and columnist who has written for The Spectator for three decades. His books include Not Zero, The Road to Southend Pier, and Far From EUtopia: Why Europe is failing and Britain could do better
The ‘rabbit out of the hat’ in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget this Friday is likely to be a cut in stamp duty on property purchases. If so, it will be a popular and wise decision. Not only might it help generate extra activity in a housing market which looks like flagging as interest rates bite
Should we despair that the pound has slumped again today, falling below $1.14 for the first time since 1985? Or should we rejoice? It was, after all, a collapse in the pound following Black Wednesday in 1992 – along with dramatically lowered interest rates — which precipitated a lasting economic recovery. It is all too
In this week of mourning, much of the news which would normally get covered has sunk without trace. Even so, this morning’s news of a drop in unemployment has managed to catch the eye. The unemployment rate has fallen by 0.2 to 3.6 per cent – below where it was at the beginning of the
Liz Truss’s ministers had not even got their feet beneath the cabinet table before they were treated to a barrage of objections to their appointments. Talk about playing the man rather than the ball. No sooner had Jacob Rees-Mogg been appointed business secretary than Caroline Lucas was declaring him unfit for the position because he
It is not unusual for promises made during an election campaign to fail to survive a headlong impact with reality, but if, as expected Liz Truss, announces an energy price freeze tomorrow, it will leave many Conservative party members who voted for her feeling somewhat cheated. For most of the leadership campaign Truss denounced the
Just what do you do with the rest of your life if, aged 58, you have been prised out of the biggest job in Britain? It is a question that Boris Johnson, having delivered his valedictory speech outside No. 10, is now having to answer. The possibility of him returning to Downing Street, as has been mooted
Look at the chart for interest rate expectations in isolation, and you might come to the conclusion that Rishi Sunak is right about Liz Truss’s fiscal policies. In June, markets were expecting rates to peak at around 3.5 per cent next year; now they are expecting them to reach close to 4.5 per cent. Moreover,
Few will be minded to believe Russia’s explanation for cutting off Nord Stream 1 pipeline – that it is a maintenance issue – and I don’t suspect we are expected to believe it, either – any more than we were expected to believe that the would-be Salisbury assassins had an interest in cathedral spires. It
When the next prime minister is installed in Downing Street on Monday, we can expect a package of initiatives to help households with their heating bills. But will Rishi Sunak’s existing scheme – which promised £400 worth of handouts to every household – survive if, as expected, Liz Truss walks into No. 10? The scheme
It is reported this morning that one of Liz Truss’s first acts as prime minister, assuming she wins the Conservative party leadership election, will be to grant new licences for North Sea oil and gas extraction. But will it be enough – and quick enough – to alleviate the energy crisis? There are still substantial known
The challenger bank sector has been such a graveyard in recent years that I don’t hold out much hope that Durham-based Atom Bank will ever quite displace the likes of Lloyds and Barclays. Nevertheless, I wish it well. It is just that its claim to have increased productivity by changing to a four-day week does
‘We are living the end of an era of abundance,’ according to Emmanuel Macron, ‘the end of the abundance of products and technologies, the end of the abundance of land and materials, including water.’ It is hard to see how water has become less abundant, being the ultimate renewable resource, which evaporates before falling back
In Europe it is handouts to help pay our energy bills – even for people who could easily afford to pay them. In the US, it is student debts being written off. With remarkable speed the West is emerging into a new age of big – no, make that huge – paternalistic government. Today, Joe
Soaring gas and electricity prices are giving us an idea of the cost of imposing sanctions on Russia – a cost which may be worth bearing if it helps to defeat Russian aggression, but a cost nonetheless. But how complete and effective are the sanctions? Trade figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Since June 2016 we have settled into a pattern. Whenever the pound plunges, it is followed by cries of ‘I told you so’. It is all the fault of Brexit and a result of international investors fleeing Britain and taking their money elsewhere. And when the euro plunges? We hardly hear a thing. Yet today,
From the beginning, the debate over lockdowns was skewed by the fact that Covid deaths were imminent – and any other effects from lockdown would become apparent over a longer period. But are we beginning to see that now? Over the past few months the Office for National Statistics has been recording ‘excess’ non-covid deaths
There are so many house indices that they can create confusion. Last week, the Halifax house price index showed a small monthly fall. This week the government’s own index, the HPI, shows that prices rose by 7.8 per cent in the year to June, down from 12.8 per cent in the year to May. That
We are all supposed to remember where we were when we heard that Mrs Thatcher had resigned (my mother rang me while I was having a late breakfast). But I will always have a much more vivid memory of where I was when I heard Boris Johnson had called it a day. I was at
Have we yet seen the end of Covid restrictions? It is tempting to think so. For many people, Covid and the lockdowns have receded into history, replaced by Ukraine and the energy crisis. It would be easy, but foolish, to dismiss Tony Blair’s proposals as the ramblings of a bored ex-PM But perhaps we have
That today’s inflation figures would come as an immense shock to anyone who has returned from a year in the wilderness goes without saying. A little over a year ago, in May 2021, the Bank of England was predicting that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) would peak at no higher than its two percent target.