The demographic tide can’t be turned back, but its advance can be slowed – by the self-reinforcing triangle of stronger families, better schools, good jobs, and the stronger society that these help to build.
Couples are waiting later and later to have children due to the cost of living in many areas of the country – of which housing plays such a massive part. It is certainly encouraging to see action is being taken to reduce some barriers to building, but this should be done with more haste.
The Government is now trying to make T levels the main vocational alternative to A levels. It is not clear that they can take on such a big role.
There are many things that can be done to resist the tide. The first would be for ministers to make the philosophical case for where state responsibility ends, and personal responsibility starts.
The last of three articles this week as our project continues over the summer and autumn.
The concluding article of a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
The twenty-sixth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
The twenty-fifth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
The twenty-fourth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
At last night’s Onward event, Damian Green claimed David Cameron’s “tens of thousands” pledge had been a political success. What decade has he been living through?
The fifteenth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
And this is the fundamental problem: it allows us to dodge a broader long-term industrial strategy, precisely because the short-term labour fix is so easy.
I suspect that in creative industries, a four day week could have little impact on productivity. But it is simply doesn’t apply to process-driven jobs, such as housing benefit claims or planning applications,
In terms of fiscal policy, if the wider economic picture does not allow the debt to GDP ratio to fall, then the focus of the markets will be on the need to keep the public finances in shape.
Our Commission has begun to build consensus around what is needed, and we must now work together to extend that consensus and generate the coordinated action that is required.