The Spectator

Get it right, George!

Arthur Laffer Chairman, Laffer Associates Cut the 50p tax Reducing the burden which government places on the economy, through tax cuts, is the surest way to promote growth. I have never heard of a country that taxed itself into prosperity. Yet Britain last year raised the top rate of income tax from 40 per cent to

The week that was | 18 November 2011

Here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the past week: The winners of the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards are annouced. James Forsyth says Cameron has given the SpAds ‘a bit of a bollocking’ and sees Ed Miliband impress at a factory in Sunderland. Peter Hoskin can’t find much difference between Labour

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 14-20 November 2011

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no

Just in case you missed them… | 14 November 2011

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson calls Berlusconi the latest victim of Europe’s Gnirps Bara. Peter Hoskin says Cameron can’t ignore criticism from Patrick Mercer, and takes issue with Ed Balls’ claims. James Forsyth urges Nick Clegg to look again at cutting regulation, and says an EU treaty

Letters | 12 November 2011

• Democracy in Zambia Sir: There are undoubtedly dubious countries in Africa but Daniel Kalder (‘Mr Blair goes to Kazakhstan’, 5 November) is wide of the mark in including Zambia among them. It may not be perfect but its record in terms of human rights and relative freedom from corruption is one of the best

Barometer | 12 November 2011

Another world Six cosmonauts have completed an experiment in which they were isolated inside a container for 520 days to simulate a voyage to Mars. A similar experiment, the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project between 1995-97 isolated crews for 91 days at a time. These were some of the findings: — Without natural daylight, the