Sunak & Co show no sign of setting their sights on getting it down.
Why is the Party so mistrustful of Tory intellectuals? We mourn the passing of our former contributor.
A host of conservative and libertarian thinkers and campaigners will be arrayed for your inspiration.
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Follow Eamonn on Twitter. The reason that Moody’s gave for downgrading the UK’s AAA status is that, although the Chancellor remains committed to sound public finances, there is precious little economic growth around to help him. Quite simply, when you, or I or a government are deeply […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Follow Eamonn on Twitter. “Curse this wind,” said Spike Milligan on The Goon Show. “I should never have eaten those balloons.” Today it is the wind farmers who are cursing the wind. It just won’t blow consistently enough to make their kit run efficiently. Which is why there […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute and author of the forthcoming book "Friedrich Hayek: The Ideas And Influence Of The Libertarian Economist" (Harriman House). Follow Eamonn on Twitter. The government of a free people must be a limited government. Freedom means we minimize coercion. Only the state is allowed to use […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Follow Eamonn on Twitter. Do we need an inquiry on the Libor scandal? No. The boom phase of every boom-bust cycle breeds this sort of excess and dishonesty. It is to be expected. All another banking investigation will conclude is that we need more curbs […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Follow Eamonn on Twitter. Congratulations! Today is Tax Freedom Day. It’s that point in the year when you finally stop working for the Treasury and start working for yourself. Yes, it’s amazing but true – you work nearly five months of the year solely to […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute. His new book Public Choice – A Primer is published by the Institute of Economic Affairs and can be downloaded for free here. For most people, politics is an utter turn-off. We are all exhorted to take more interest in our community and how our […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is director of the Adam Smith Institute. The briefing paper BankReform: Getting the Policy Right and the full report Bank Reform: Can we Trust theVickers Commission are available here. A short while ago, George Osborne set up the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), telling it to look for ways to improve the strength of the […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is director of the Adam Smith Institute. Much of today’s parliamentary debate on the EU referendum proposal will focus on the constitutional argument that Maastricht, Lisbon and other major changes to the way the UK is governed were enacted without anyone asking electors what they thought; and that before the election, the politicians agreed […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is director of the Adam Smith Institute. Relax. The Free Schools idea is so right, so in tune with human nature and so powerful, that Britain’s new Free Schools will succeed. Despite Nick Clegg’s insistence that they can’t be profit-making, despite demands that they should face a quota system so they can’t select and […]
Dr Eamonn Butler is director of the Adam Smith Institute and author of the new book Austrian Economics – A Primer, which is available for purchase from today via the ASI Online Shop. Modern economists had consigned them to history, but with the recent crisis of capitalism, they’re suddenly back. No, not the Marxists, but […]
Free market competition has delivered a huge boost in incomes – including to the poorest on the planet. Championing it must be a core Conservative value.