Our analyses thoroughly examine current events and complex issues, providing nuanced insights into politics, health, economics, and social trends. Supported by evidence-based perspectives from experts, these articles go beyond the headlines to explore underlying causes and impacts, fostering informed discussions on the forces shaping our world.
Analysis
— A Chinese high-altitude balloon recently entered U.S. airspace, causing a high-level diplomatic meeting in Beijing to be cancelled in response. The balloon was shot down afterwards, even though it is believed that it was just a political provocation by China.
Analysis
— Parliaments are already widely viewed as inaccessible, technocratic institutions that are several steps removed from public concerns and values. A lack of clarity as to what visitors can bring with them will only reinforce these perceptions.
Long-Read
— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on David Lammy’s speech that was maybe the first time since Brexit that a major politician challenged its central, flawed assumptions. A small but welcome first step to realism.
Freeports
— Customs provide crucial scrutiny of goods, processes and documentation. UK freeports will only succeed with similarly robust measures in place.
Analysis
— The prime minister’s pledge to bring integrity to public office could become a stick to beat him with – just like ‘back to basics’ became one for John Major.
UK Strikes
— Recent price rises are not due to higher wages but supply-side issues, including the war in Ukraine, the COVID pandemic, and Brexit. All in all, the current government’s intransigence on public sector pay is based on both bad economics and bad politics.
Long-Read
— Professor Chris Grey’s analysis on how the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Retained EU Law Bill processes rumble on undramatically but with potential for crisis and chaos, the idea that Brexit is dying, and thoughts on how Re-joiners will need to build and sustain a ‘big tent’.
NHS Crisis
— Even if many challenges remain, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the NHS crisis.
UK Politics
— The public still does not know what Keir Starmer and the Labour party stand for. Inspiration could come from a surprising source.
Royal Family
— The drama around the revelations in Harry’s book are just the latest episode in the royal soap. But he is unlikely to emerge from his biography as a heroic figure – particularly if people read coverage of the book instead of the memoir itself.
Long-Read
— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis on why it is not in the “remainers’” power to create a post-Brexit consensus, a discussion about the Retained EU Law Bill and Northern Ireland Protocol, plus some thoughts prompted by Frost’s hero-worship of Edmund Burke.
Austerity
— Public spending cuts and the soaring cost of living will not only affect people’s lives now but could trickle down through generations.
Analysis
— Since the 2008 financial crisis, politicians from a range of parties and countries have reported losing respect for experts.
Long-Read
— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis, looking at how and why even over Christmas the Brexit debate continued, and the case for caution as well as optimism in reading the most recent opinion polls.
Children's Rights
— Our assumptions about what it means to be young have left millions of people disenfranchised. What if children were allowed to vote?
COVID-19
— How will the coronavirus pandemic be in 2023? This question is in some ways impossible to answer, given a number of unknowns. One thing is for certain though – the pandemic is not over yet.
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