The first few days of the Olympics have been accompanied by a clutch of articles about how British patriotism has been rehabilitated, the Union flag reclaimed and so forth. Really? Reclaimed from whom? Other than in the imagination of a tiny metropolitan elite, when was it ever ceded? I mean, if the flag became associated [...]
1. Make taxes lower, simpler and flatter. Every minute spent wrestling with a tax return is a minute taken off work. Every penny spent on accountants' fees is a penny passed on to customers. The current system suits the super-rich, whose experts are adept at finding its folds and pockets; but it’s a disaster for [...]
Measure it how you will, the UK is now selling less to the EU than to the rest of the world. On the raw data, sales to the EU now account for 49.6 per cent of our total exports: the first time this has happened since our trade was artificially redirected by the phased imposition [...]
It started with the cuts. In January, Romania became the fourth EU country (after Greece, Italy and the Netherlands) to see its government fall over Brussels-imposed austerity measures. Romania has a largely parliamentary system. The president, however, does have important non-ceremonial powers, especially when it comes to the formation of new administrations. President Traian Băsescu, [...]
Comment on the census data has tended to focus on sheer numbers, and you can see why. Few Britons, least of all my Home Counties constituents, need official data to tell them that they are overcrowded. They have to get up earlier and earlier to drive to work; if they take the train, they pay higher [...]
I'll be discussing the question on Friday evening in Woking with (according to Tatler) 'the most powerful man in British politics': Times columnist, founder of ConservativeHome and all-round superstar Tim Montgomerie. Readers will be familiar with the principled case for an In/Out referendum. For what it's worth, though, there's also a tactical one. Whichever of [...]