This is a really important piece from @PhilAldrick. Basically, it turns out much of our picture of what was happening in the British economy in recent decades was wrong. Which has one huge implication (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/if-it-…
The new consensus is that growth depends on government. That the state making investment decisions and carrying out microsurgery on the economy is not only desirable but essential.
I’ve always been a naysayer on this. I do not trust the British government (in particular) to allocate capital wisely - to choose the sectors or industries or technologies to support according to some far sighted vision. (See utter disasters passim ad nausea.)
But the message of this piece is that it doesn’t matter - because even if the wise men in government are indeed all wise, they are often (usually?) working with data which is incomplete or inaccurate.
There’s nothing new in this. Hayek pointed out the impossibility of effective dirigisme decades ago. But it’s good to get a reminder.

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More from @rcolvile

27 Jun
This is one of those days when there's only one story in town. But I still think, as I would, that my column on borders/immigration is flagging up something important. Quick thread follows. thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit…
Brexit reduced the saliency of immigration. But it's still a major public concern. See this @YouGov issues tracker - it's the pink line.
And the public - probably driven by Covid border rows - don't think the govt are handling it very well. (This also via @yougov)
Read 12 tweets
26 Jun
This @thetimes story about Eton setting up new free schools is fantastic news. But it also shows the poverty of the Government's own ambition on this. Mini thread follows. thetimes.co.uk/article/eton-t…
Since the free schools programme got started, it has provided galvanising energy to the education sector. Not all schools have succeeded - but many of those that have, have been downright extraordinary.
London Academy of Excellence, the similar school started by Eton and others in Newham, has now sent 150 kids to Oxbridge in eight years, a third of them on free school meals and 92% of the latest cohort BAME. lae.ac.uk/183/news/post/…
Read 11 tweets
21 Jun
A good day to plug @CPSThinkTank's work with @DamianGreen on social care, which is still for my money the most convincing option on the table cps.org.uk/media/media-co…
Our view is that Dilnot or variants of it fall down on the house price issue. 'Vanilla' Dilnot doesn't protect people's homes. Trying to fix that results in a policy which protects the massive housing wealth of the south at the expense of the north.
And the idea of incorporating it within the NHS falls down because a) the NHS really doesn't want the headache and b) you're taking stuff people are already paying for privately and substituting state funding.
Read 7 tweets
20 Jun
What caused the Chesham/Amersham earthquake? My answer - it's a symptom of a new kind of two-party politics (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/this-w…
In a sense it's classic Lib Dem opportunism - push hard on housing and HS2, even though they actually support both at a national level. But the scale of the swing suggests two other things.
First, Brexit has weakened the ties that bind (in this case Tories to their trad voters). Second, it's not that Labour are going to be displaced by the Greens (as many southern Tories have been saying privately) or Lib Dems. It's that the electoral battle is Tories v anti-Tories.
Read 8 tweets
19 Jun
A quick point on planning reform (apart from 'it's a good thing and we really need to do it')... (1/?)
The planning reforms that are coming forward are actually built around giving local communities more say! The design codes and local plans, which are set locally, are meant to ensure that only nice stuff gets built and only in the areas you want it.
This obviously cuts against the need to actually build more homes, and the fact that these homes do actually need to be in the areas where there is greatest shortage, ie London and South-East.
Read 7 tweets
13 Jun
Have written my column today on Britain's new foreign policy strategy, which is much more developed (and convincing) then many realise. But there's a big 'but'. (1/?) thetimes.co.uk/article/4fd9b7…
Our new approach is exactly the opposite of the EU's. It's to create and support the coalitions that are going to do the most on any issue. It's to be practical, flexible, fast and fluid.
In doing so, it's a philosophical - even theological - rebuke to the EU, both in terms of diplomacy and economics/regulation.
Read 7 tweets

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