The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is to offer 700,000 shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels and other businesses, grants of up to £18,000 each as part of a £5bn rescue scheme to prevent mass bankruptcies. News of the plan – to be announced in Wednesday’s budget – comes as Sunak faces increasing pressure to avoid or postpone significant … Read more
First, the good news. Britons see inequality as a major problem and divide broadly along traditional political lines in their attitudes towards it. Then, the bad news. Britons are also inclined to see inequalities as driven by individual behaviour as much as by social policy or structural factors. So suggests Unequal Britain, a new study … Read more
Young people who have been furloughed before being made redundant, or out of work for six months, would be guaranteed training, education or work placements geared to the needs of the post-pandemic economy, under ambitious plans unveiled on Sunday by Labour. The pledge to youngsters, whose progress in the jobs market has been blighted by … Read more
When old foes clash, things can turn nasty. But the goriest of all battles are those waged when former comrades go to war. This rule of politics has a vivid case study in the extraordinary duel being fought between Alex Salmond, who led the Scottish National party for 20 years, and Nicola Sturgeon, who was … Read more
It’s time we talked about “K”. Britain, it’s now commonly agreed, will be climbing out of our economic nadir in the months ahead even if the rate of recovery is unclear – but what worries thoughtful economists, notably but not only the new US treasury secretary Janet Yellen, is its Covid-dominated K character. Essentially winners … Read more