Richard Exell
One of the quiet success stories of this election has been the way some academics have contributed their expertise to the debates. My favourite has been the series of analyses of key policy battlegrounds published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. CEP has now published the full set and if the subjects where I know something are anything to go by, they are fair, authoritative and expert.
Owen Tudor
Omnipresent poster boy for thoughtful and iconoclastic Conservatives Philip Blond has backed the Robin Hood Tax. He did so at a debate tonight hosted by Unicef UK and Tory progressives Bright Blue. He argued that it would be a small pro-free market levy for social purposes, and would build “the externality of the real economy” into short-term damaging speculation.
John Monks
Today is May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a commemoration of the struggle for decent working hours in the 19th Century, when American trades unionists gained rights to an eight hour day in many industries – a key victory for secure and decent work worldwide.
121 years on from the first May Day celebrations, we find we’re standing at a crossroads for the world of work in Europe, one where there is a real risk of taking the path back toward 1889.
