British politics

Why Heathrow is a basket case

While airports such as Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester can hardly claim to be exemplary, the problems are worst at the UK’s most important airport, Heathrow. Travelling to, from and through Heathrow has become air passengers’ purgatory - unavoidable at times but an altogether ghastly experience. [...]

Merkels Vorbild: Britisch, bürokratisch, falsch

Bekanntlich wurde England in grauer Vorzeit von den Angeln und den Sachsen besiedelt. Nach neuesten Erkenntnissen müssen sich unter den Einwanderern allerdings auch Schildbürger befunden haben, denn im Laufe seiner Geschichte – und vom Rest der Welt beinahe unbemerkt – hat sich Großbritannien zu einer Hochburg der Bürokratie entwickelt. [...]

Zweite Kammer, erstklassig

Kann es das überhaupt geben? Ein Parlament, in dem die Abgeordneten gleichermaßen hoch qualifiziert wie erfahren sind? In dem sich die Mitglieder weniger darum kümmern, der Linie ihrer Partei zu folgen, sondern im Zweifelsfall ihrem Gewissen? In dem die Umgangsformen von so viel Höflichkeit geprägt sind, dass es keine Sitzungsleitung braucht? Was nach einem reichlich naiven Wunschbild eines Parlaments klingt, das gibt es wirklich. [...]

The rising tax burden for first-time buyers

Apart from rising house prices, first-time buyers have also been hit hard by the burden of taxation and regulation that is associated with moving house. Buying a property has become more expensive in recent years thanks to increases in stamp duty rates and the fact that stamp duty varies with house prices. [...]

Konservative Mimese

Die britischen Konservativen machen es Kommentatoren nicht gerade leicht. Kaum eine andere große europäische Volkspartei wird derzeit so widersprüchlich beurteilt wie die Tories unter ihrem Parteichef David Cameron. Für die einen steht Cameron für die Erneuerung und Verjüngung seiner Partei. Andere sehen genau darin den Ausverkauf konservativer Grundüberzeugungen. Wieder andere halten all dies nur für eine modernere Verpackung traditioneller politischer Konzepte. [...]

Planning against growth

The planning system has repercussions that are felt far beyond the housing market. Higher land prices affect every area of life which requires land or has a factor of production which is linked to land, whether it is residential housing, industry, commerce or services. Wherever land is needed, high land prices matter. [...]

Time to rethink the national green belt policy

What kind of country is England? If you ask the people living here, the answer you are likely to get goes something like this: England is a country on an overcrowded island with ever-further sprawling cities and a countryside that is under constant threat of becoming covered in concrete by rampant development. According to a recent survey, 54 per cent of the respondents believed that at least half of England was developed with one in ten even estimating the development degree to be above 75 per cent. The reality, however, is far away from this perception. [...]

A plea to the next Chancellor

We, therefore, believe that any future Chancellor should learn from Mr Brown’s experience and begin his stewardship of the economy with a step that matches Gordon Brown’s courage in giving independence to the Bank of England. This is why we suggest sourcing out both the stewardship of the fiscal rules and the Treasury’s economic forecasting activities to an independent Fiscal Policy Committee (FPC), to be modelled on the MPC. In fact, we think that this is the first policy decision that Gordon Brown’s successor should make. [...]

Die grünen Geister, die Frau Thatcher mit ihrer Klimadebatte rief

In gewisser Weise ist es nur konsequent, dass die Briten versuchen, beim Klimaschutz eine globale Vorreiterrolle zu übernehmen. Sie haben damit angefangen - unter Margaret Thatcher. [...]

Wasteland

Planning was introduced in 1947 as an attempt to co-ordinate, but also to promote development. Over time, however, its focus shifted to urban containment and it has become a brake on economic growth. It is high time to radically simplify the planning system to unleash the true development potential of the British economy. [...]