The Spectator’s Reality Check newsletter
The Iran war hits inflation
The Iran war is being felt in Britain’s economy. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show inflation rose to 3.3 per cent in March – up from 3 per cent the month before. The rise was mainly driven by fuel prices, which jumped at their fastest rate in more than three
Unemployment has fallen – but not in a good way
On the face of it, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have just released great news on unemployment. The rate – against all expectations – has fallen from 5.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent. Radio 4’s Today programme welcomed the ‘surprising’ news. But this is no good news story. To be classed by statisticians
Britain’s economy is growing – but not for long
It must be bittersweet being Rachel Reeves. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the economy grew by 0.5 per cent in February. That is significantly better than economists had expected and, coupled with the fact that January growth has been revised up, it marks probably the first piece of seriously
The US currency is under attack like never before
It was, on the surface, a fairly routine proposal. Officials from the BRICS nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have decided to discuss, at a summit in New Delhi later this year, how to deepen trade and collaboration. No one was paying very much attention when the decision was made.
The SNP’s Holyrood campaign is thoroughly dishonest
Has there ever been a more dishonest Holyrood election campaign than the one John Swinney is currently running? I don’t believe there has been. Break away from Britain’s integrated electricity market and you smash the model that has led to Scotland being a ‘leader’ in wind energy in the first place A look at Swinney
How to solve the student debt crisis
England’s student debt is staggering. It comes to £270 billion – that’s larger than the budget for the NHS and two and a half times larger than the education budget. This arsenal of taxpayer-backed cash has seen the creation of 34 new universities just to feed an ever-hungrier mass of undergraduates. It’s forecast that by
Frugal chic, the movement changing the way women shop
It is, apparently, a novel concept in our age of overconsumption, that life can still be enjoyable even if you don’t have stupid money. ‘Frugal chic’ is the new lifestyle trend summed up by the 25-year-old influencer Mia McGrath, who coined and trademarked the term, as ‘living luxuriously while spending intentionally’. Frugal chic supposedly teaches
The rise of the pocket money app
I am standing in the village Co-op with my eight-year-old daughter when she asks, inevitably, to be bought a magazine. As most parents will know, magazine is a generous term for this iteration: a collection of sorry pages whose sole purpose is a vehicle for plastic toys. I say no, but then she blindsides me.
The taxman is coming for the self-employed
Spare a thought for Mrs McClafferty & Co. Like thousands of small business owners, she has spent years managing things the old-fashioned way: jotting down figures in a Silvine cash book, stuffing receipts into a shoebox and sorting it all out when the tax return comes around. But according to HMRC, taxpayers like her are
Inflation stalls before the energy shock hits
Prices rose by 3 per cent last month – the same rate as the month before. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that – ironically – falling petrol costs were one of the main things keeping the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) from climbing. This data was, of course, collected before