Democracy

Burnham’s first ten days: Andynomics is just managed decline with a smile

philmullan Creative destruction, Debt, Democracy, Economic growth, Politics, Welfarism

Prime minister Andy Burnham is planning a national tour this summer to meet the British people, dubbed ‘Burnham-on-Sea’.

If you see him, here are three questions you could ask him.

When are you going to start being honest with us about the painful disruption to our lives required if your government really wants to bring “growth to every postcode”?

When are you going to stop borrowing and taxing to pay for public services and welfare that the country cannot afford?

Why are you so unwilling to put the plan you call “the biggest change moment in 40 years” to the British public and try to win yourself a democratic mandate?

This article explains why these questions are so important.

The US has emboldened Iran and abandoned Israel

philmullan Changing world order, Democracy, Geopolitics, Rivalries, United States

The Islamic Republic of Iran kills its own people and sponsors terrorism in Israel, Lebanon, Britain and far beyond. The world will be a better place when this brutish regime is destroyed. Unfortunately, the reckless US assault on Iran has made this prospect even less likely than it was.

This war was doomed from the beginning. It is important now to absorb the lessons of this US-led calamity because it is very unlikely to be the last such rash military venture – especially as Washington struggles incoherently and haphazardly to manage the US’s decline from its hegemonic, superpower status.

Read the full article here.

This Budget debacle signifies much more than Rachel Reeves’ ineptness

philmullan Debt, Democracy, Economic policy, Politics, state, Welfarism

After this shambolic Budget, it is now beyond doubt: no one should believe a word uttered by the chancellor of the exchequer. Her Budget statement this week amounted to a litany of broken pledges – including some made only weeks ago.

In her spirited response to Reeves’s statement, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch urged the chancellor to stop blaming others and instead blame herself. While Reeves certainly has much to answer for, it is ultimately misleading to hold her alone responsible for this politically and economically alarming state of affairs.

The deeper issue is that the British political system itself now produces figures like Reeves: technocratic managers who lack both authority and genuine democratic accountability. Reeves, Keir Starmer, and their cabinet colleagues merely personify the impotence of this type of managerialist politician.

Read the full article here.

The economic case for mass migration has never looked so weak

philmullan Cultural renaissance, Democracy, Economics, Politics, Productivity

Earlier this month, Professor David Miles from Imperial College Business School intervened in the UK’s most contentious issue – immigration. In an essay published by the Common Good Foundation, Miles argued that ‘there are serious problems with the idea that [immigration-driven] faster population growth can consistently alleviate fiscal problems’. He urged the government to prioritise getting British people into work, rather than relying on migrants to solve the nation’s economic problems. 

For a long time, the conventional economic wisdom was the opposite – that immigration benefitted the economy. This argument would be routinely trotted out to justify denouncing anyone who questioned immigration levels as, at least, idiotic, probably ‘far right’ and certainly not worth debating.

Miles’s essay shows that the establishment is changing its views on immigration, thanks in large part to popular pressure. For far too long, successive governments have reduced what should be publicly debated political decisions – on the public finances, on infrastructure projects, on immigration and so much more – to technical economic questions. An honest public debate on immigration that breaks away from simplistic economic pros and cons is certainly long overdue. 

Read the full article here.

Scrap the fiscal rules, abolish the OBR

philmullan Democracy, Economic growth, Economic policy, Politics, State intervention , ,

The parlous state of the British economy and its public finances shows us what happens when you defer to the ‘experts’. Rachel Reeves is a middle manager posing as chancellor. She exemplifies the managerial politician. She doesn’t make political decisions about what the country and its people need, so much as follow rules and procedures authored by experts – by those who supposedly know best.

Read the full article here.