Everywhere had slavery. A few places got rich. Slavery cannot be the cause of getting rich.

Who do you think should decide whether an under-16 is allowed a smartphone? 🤔📵

This addendum to a column by Owen Jones is quite something.

The hysterical reaction by the Guardian-reading left to my speech on how smart regulation creates growth is fascinating 😀

I quote one of my favourite books “Why Nations Fail”. It explains how property rights & rule of law created certainty for the industrial revolution. (1/3)

Important point on #retail sales (also flagged up by Kien Tan)... 👇

The data are reported after large seasonal adjustments, which are obviously necessary (think Xmas) but also inevitably imprecise (esp. with variable timing of Easter).

Bear this in mind when you see

An ultra-low-status opinion.
Which also happens to be 100% correct. theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

More evidence that the UK economy returned to growth in Q1... 👇

#Retail sales were flat in March, but the rebound in January and small upward revision to February mean that sales volumes rose by 1.9% in Q1 compared to Q4 2023.

(My guess: #GDP rose by at least 0.4% q/q)

Another tweak in the gradual rollout of post- #Brexit border checks, which should minimise any remaining risks of disruption 👇

(Still frustrating though: repeated delays are adding to business uncertainty, which is not good for trade or investment 🙄)

Meanwhile, in the US...

'Drug shortages reach all-time high'

axios.com/2024/04/11/dru…

An interesting interpretation of the data in the chart (even if you can't read German, the sodding great big arrow pointing upwards is a clue 😉)...

#badbrexittakes

'Birmingham doctor could be struck off after Just Stop Oil protest'

This is a non-story, surely?

Of course the regulator will take an interest when a doctor is sent to prison. But it seems extremely unlikely she would be 'struck off' in this case.

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

ICYM, this is a decent (and worrying) report from the Nuffield Trust. It covers a lot of ground, but here are four observations on the headlines about medicine shortages…

1. There is no hard evidence that these shortages are worse in the UK than in the EU. Indeed, the report

📢 'chart of the day' 🤓

UK #food prices are still rising at an annual rate of 4% in the latest CPI, but producer input price #inflation in this sector has now been negative for five successive months.

This should continue to feed through to the shops, with the usual lags 👇