In his party conference speech, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt painted a rosy picture of our future leadership in technology sectors. His words didn’t match the scale of the economic challenge. In the Labour conference, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves avoided the trap of major economic policy commitments, and her vision may be too pedestrian. Rod Dowler writes...Read More

This New Year the UK is entering into an unfamiliar, post-Brexit, hopefully post-pandemic, world, and is facing many challenges. To succeed we need a flourishing economy, and a business sector working closely with the government to strengthen the domestic economy, and international trade. The current Conservative government, however, is disunited and unclear about its recovery...Read More

Sigmund Freud, the public affairs industry, and the internet may all have played a part, write Isabelle Stanley and Rod Dowler. We all depend in our social, business, financial, and political affairs, on a shared currency of trust. But we have somehow devalued this currency and breaches of public trust have recently grown to epidemic...Read More

This report starts from the assumption that in a highly competitive and rapidly changing world, European states will be better able to maintain their high living standards and remain internationally competitive, if they act with regional cooperation and coordination in their economic and industrial policies. In all the areas considered, the report identifies barriers to...Read More

Current mainstream economic thinking says that industrial policy is ineffective, and that market forces should determine the fortunes of companies and industries. In the credit crisis, however, the UK government and most other governments felt compelled to intervene. They established a de facto industrial policy strongly favouring the financial sector, at the expense of the rest of...Read More