The concept of paying people to sit around has an upside, writes Tim Harford ‘Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult.” Reuters, 4 October 2013 How much is that? It’s about £1,700 a month – over £20,000 a year. Payable to whom? Everybody, or at...
Teachers forecast the right results nearly half the time. Few professions can boast such a record “Half of A-level grade predictions prove to be wrong, figures show, raising questions about the use of predicted grades in university applications. Just 48.29 per cent of...
Stockpickers who persevere with their ‘pets’ are rewarded when they perform impressive profits “Neil Woodford, one of the colossi of British fund management, is leaving Invesco Perpetual after a quarter of a century to pursue his conviction that modern investment has...
The chancellor’s claim that Britain’s slow recovery vindicates his policies is drivel ‘The International Monetary Fund has dropped its criticism of George Osborne’s austerity drive after revising up the UK’s growth forecast by more than any other leading economy.’...
Cameron’s critics chose a singularly useless indicator, writes Tim Harford “Clueless David Cameron doesn’t know the price of a value loaf of bread showing just how out of touch he is with the British public. And the PM risked alienating himself from voters further...
Miliband has promised to pull the plug on a very bad thing ‘Ed Miliband defended his proposal to freeze energy prices ... His vow to stand up to “powerful vested interests that hold our economy back” was accompanied by a promise to freeze bills for 20 months if he...
We know that cost-free hot food boosts attainment but we have no idea why, says Tim Harford “Nick Clegg will attempt to distance himself from his Conservative coalition partners with a highly political £600m plan to give free school meals to children in their first...
Durable and functional, the plastic stuff will be popular, writes Tim Harford ‘The Bank of England looks set to part company with paper banknotes after more than 300 years, becoming one of a growing number of central banks around the world to switch to plastic...
Labour could organise a Luddite revolution against technology ‘4.6 million Britons (20 per cent of all employees) earn below the Living Wage – a leap from 3.4 million (14 per cent) in 2009’ The Resolution Foundation – 4 September 2013 4.6m Britons don’t earn a living...