OBR reviewing “the adequacy of the information and assurances provided to the OBR” by the Conservative government. In other words: was it deliberately misled on future spending commitments? obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploa…

On point review of Liz Truss's Ten Years to Save the West - and particularly good on the contradictions and delusions evident in her world view and on her confusion of ideology with dogma - by Karl Pike in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

The IfG's advocacy of 5 year budgets for gov spending takes us back to a lesson learned in 1961 - more certainty makes for more effective public spending and, crucially, it also gives businesses the confidence to invest more on.ft.com/3Aa2oiv via Financial Times

How could Rachel Reeves raise £22bn of tax, without breaking any of Labour's pre-election pledges? Some thoughts/speculations:

Call for papers: Governing the Global Economy in the Long Twentieth Century (7-8 April 2025, University of Oxford). Financial History Network Economic History Society Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics Economic History Podcast Economic History Review European Historical Economics Society IPEG Global Political Economy Journal @RIPEjournal HYPE @historypolicy Robert Yee

I think it does need to be emphasized that the numbers at these "demonstrations" are incredibly small - a Palestine solidarity organizer would delete their account in shame. You can't claim that a "protest" represents the legitimate views of a section of society if there's only >

Good news folks - your university is not "going bust" but is in fact merely “at material risk of market exit” - from which it can be rescued by an OfS “transformation plan” cobbled together by outside consultants unfamiliar with the system. Phew! on.ft.com/3Aa3ISp via Financial Times

Every year BBC News (UK) lets most of its best reporters depart on holiday in late-July and August on the assumption that "nothing happens during holiday season". Yet every year something *does* happen - and it gets reported by inexperienced and/or 2nd-3rd rate journos as a result

“Events, dear boy, events”

"economists"

As immigration lawyers brace themselves for right wing attacks tomorrow, with not just companies' premises but individual's homes being posted online, remember who put these lawyers on the front line - the previous government: ft.com/content/246232…

Have there been any serious quasi-rigorous attempts to quantify/estimate the approx numbers of people taking part in * violent disorder * related protests There have been over 400 arrests, but it would be good to know what anybody can say about scale of participation

It’s really striking how the Corbynite left has migrated to the Greens. The result is a curious coalition between the older and more Nimby environmentalist base, and the new hard left/progressive influx. These are quite different people with quite different politics!

Many will disagree with Augar's warning that UK universities must cut costs - but he is right that they entirely lost sight of cost control while the good times rolled, alongside a profoundly ill-advised run up in debt financing on.ft.com/3WL7ARl

The Victoria Room at the back of London Paddington's 1st class waiting room is a hidden gem. Thanks for the tip Paliparan - coffee on way!

🗓️This Wednesday! Join Dr Emma Barrett, Lorenzo LeNoir and Sir Adam Ridley for the launch of 'Survival Capitalism' and the Big Bang💥 The compelling human story behind Britain's 1980s financial revolution: bit.ly/4hFhKgf 🥂5pm 🏫Churchill College FREE and open to all!

A big day for researchers interested in UK economic policy! HM Treasury has published its first ever “Areas of Research Interest” document, setting out the research questions the Treasury would most like to see answered.

This made me laugh!