Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Italy is not alone in experiencing a massive fall in its birth rate over recent years: so has the United Kingdom. Lowering the voting age to 16 is all very well, but it needs to be accompanied by a raft of co-ordinated policies to help young adults towards family formation and independent living. Rural villages, where house prices are so often well out of reach for young people, provide a clear litmus test of whether these policies are working. Do you remember mortgage interest rate tax relief, or when university life didn't end in heavyweight student debt? We need a coordinated policy framework to improve conditions for young adults. Background music: 'Folk Tap Harp' by Unicorn Heads
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
The debate over Cash ISA limits and the need to re-invigorate public interest in UK stock market investing has re-awoken people's ongoing approach to risk and reward, as if it's an 'either/or' question for your finances. However the Child Trust Fund scheme has shown the real benefit of long-term stock market investment — the challenge for this huge initiative taken by the previous Labour Government is to ensure that it gets delivered in cash at the right time for low-income young adults. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
A comment article in The Times last Friday was headed, 'Starmer and Reeves must change to survive' — but which way? The backbench Labour MP uprising called for even more State spending, but the bond market and the July 22nd ‘Cost of Government Day’ say no — the public sector is already much too big. Of more concern is their preference to go for the 'stick' of welfare reduction rather than the 'carrot' of empowerment through individual ownership and freedom for all, drawing a sharp contrast between this Labour Government and that of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown two decades ago. Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero Image: happier days, from Wikimedia
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Original Broadcast: The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors
With Simon Rose enjoying a well-earned break this week, we bring you CNBC's Squawk Box Europe comment on the challenges for long-dated UK bond yields following the Government's climbdown on its welfare bill, courtesy of Capital Economics.
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
The Chancellor was like a person sitting on the cliff-edge of colossal public debt last week, convinced that her massive 'investment' commitments can overlook the void below. It appears that economic stimulation is the only game in town for the British economy, and even that seems to avoid joined-up thinking in some key areas. Background music: 'Ether Oar' by The Whole Other
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Original Broadcast: The Bigger Picture
The unabridged recording of Rachel Reeves’ speech in the House of Commons on 11th June 2025.
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On 11th June UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves presents her Spending Review against the backdrop of a gargantuan public debt liability which is costing the UK taxpayer £111 billion a year in interest. Further tax rises have been ruled out, so she needs to identify achievable, structural reductions in spending. Elon Musk thought he'd done just that as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but only a small fraction of his planned reductions were achieved. In the UK at least we can break away from welfare universality — but will she do it? She's tried taxation and now she has to tackle spending, but the real elephant in the room is debt: all £2.7 trillion of it. Background music: 'Dark Alley Deals' by Aaron Kenny
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Nigel Farage's stunning electoral success last Thursday exposed the chronic failure of state-centred socialism and the policy vacuum at the heart of the discredited Conservative party, following a decade of errors of judgement. Thomas Jefferson set out his 'self-evident truths' in 1776, that all are equal in deserving life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: these, combined with constitutional acceptance of the need for inter-generational rebalancing, provide the real alternative to the narrow populism of the far right. Background music: 'The New Order' by Aaron Kenny
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Original Broadcast: Thought for the Week
Outcome assessment is vital for all new initiatives, particularly political, but traditional academic research, which is sequential in character, is not good at responding to the speed of change in our modern world. This is particularly the case in tackling Child Poverty, for which a UK-Government Task Force is due to report later this Spring. If we are to break the cycle of deprivation with inter-generational rebalancing, we need a new sense of dynamism and responsiveness. Background music: 'Peony Morning' by TrackTribe
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her March '25 Spring Statement — this is an unabridged audio record of her speech to the House of Commons
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