CapX

From individual rights to identity politics – has the Left turned liberalism on its head? In the latest episode of The Capitalist Podcast, @adwooldridge argues defining people by race, gender, or sexuality revives a group-based worldview that looks less like progress and more like a modern echo of feudalism.

The Renters’ Rights Act starts today – it will mean fewer landlords, fewer homes and higher rents ✍️@TimBr1ggs on why Labour’s reforms will make the rental crisis worse Read more: capx.co/bad-law-is-dri…

ICYMI: Sweden learnt the hard way that death taxes don’t pay – and Madrid shows how cutting IHT can help wealth and talent grow ✍️@TimDier Read more: capx.co/its-time-to-sa…

Time for a staycation?

Beauty is the latest target of ban-happy egalitarians. Campaigners believe that societal perceptions of which breasts are considered beautiful and which are not can be shaped through propaganda campaigns. In schools, in advertising, and increasingly in all areas of life, they want the government to actively combat the ideal of beauty. It is a shared characteristic of all egalitarian ideologies to strive to ultimately create a ‘new human’ through the establishment of new norms and the indoctrination of individuals by the state. However, history has shown time and time again that this vision never works, as evidenced by the numerous failed socialist experiments. ✍️@zitelmann_en has written a dystopian novel set in 2075, in which beauty is banned. Here he discusses the authoritarian policies of today that inspired him Read more: capx.co/the-war-on-bea…

After nearly two decades of weak growth, stagnant wages and stubbornly high inequality – alongside one of the worst productivity records in the developed world since the financial crisis – Britain’s central problem is how to get the economy growing again. We don’t build enough homes. We don’t generate enough cheap energy. We don’t invest enough capital. And we make it far too difficult for new firms to challenge the comfortable incumbents. Take planning. Britain has developed a system that makes construction slow, uncertain and political. Infrastructure is constantly delayed and over budget. Energy networks cannot expand quickly enough. The result is not only higher costs. It is lower productivity. Prosperity is not delivered by government tinkering. Britain needs more builders, more entrepreneurs, more competition – and a government prepared, at last, to step back and let them get on with it. ✍️@DamianPudner Read more: capx.co/britain-needs-…

The Community of Madrid offers a 99% reduction in inheritance tax for close family heirs. So a daughter who inherits €600,000 from her father will pay, after the ‘bonificación’ rebate, just over €1,500. It turns out that there’s a long list of countries that don’t levy what is widely acknowledged to be our most hated tax. No prizes for correctly guessing that you won’t find IHT in Singapore or Hong Kong, but to the surprise of many, they are joined by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and – wait for it – our Scandinavian neighbours Norway and Sweden. The time has come for the Conservatives to join our Anglosphere cousins and Scandinavian neighbours – and the proud Thatcherite now leading the Community of Madrid – in abolishing inheritance tax once and for all. ✍️@TimDier Read more: capx.co/its-time-to-sa…

La guerra de clases es enemiga de la buena economía, por @ManiBasharzad La política de lucha de clases se siente incómoda con los mercados. Los mercados no necesitan héroes. Los héroes de los mercados libres es la gente común. Gracias a @CapX Léalo acá: mexicolibertario.org/la-guerra-de-c…

Do ads for beauty products need health warnings? ✍️@zitelmann_en Read more: capx.co/the-war-on-bea…

Madrid shows that cutting IHT can help wealth and talent grow ✍️@TimDier Read more: capx.co/its-time-to-sa…

The state is strangling innovation ✍️@DamianPudner says Britain needs more rivalry and less red tape Read more: capx.co/britain-needs-…

Although it is welcome that the Government has U-turned on rent controls, it is ultimately a hollow victory. The very fact it was considering this at all is scary enough, and exposes an uncomfortable truth at the heart of Starmer’s Labour Party. One of the great indignities of this administration has been its attempt to be all things to a Because it stands for nothing, all the Government can do is hope to become a convincing vessel for the most popular rhetoric and policies being promoted by rivals who actually have a distinct vision for Britain. This is a reckless strategy, and one which can only lead to even more embarrassing U-turns – as well as more worrying dalliances with catastrophic ideas. ✍️@jcdinnage capx.co/this-governmen…

Britain stands at a rare strategic inflection point, embrace AI or continue on a path of sluggish economic growth for the foreseeable future. But moments like this do not last. They are seized – or they are lost. Britain has won races like this before. We led in financial services because we combined talent, capital and credible regulation. We built a thriving life sciences sector because we aligned research strength with commercialisation pathways. The same must now happen in AI. Yet Labour are not operating at the scale or speed required to seize this historic opportunity. Britain cannot afford to miss the biggest growth opportunity in history. If Labour continue to move at half-speed, Britain risks becoming a country that invents but doesn’t scale. ✍️@AlanMakMP Read more: capx.co/labour-are-squ…

One of the great indignities of this Government is its attempt to be all things to all men ✍️@jcdinnage capx.co/this-governmen…

AI could transform Britain’s economy – this is no time for dither and delay ✍️@AlanMakMP Read more: capx.co/labour-are-squ…

ICYMI: Lord Wolfson calls for Britain's planning system to be replaced, and says good economic policy requires the courage to be unpopular Read more: capx.co/britain-cannot…

The House of Lords is trying to help the Government recognise the dangers of the mandation powers it wishes to include in the wide-ranging Pension Schemes Bill. It has asked the Commons to reconsider three times. How did we reach this impasse? Ministers believe investing in private assets will enhance workers’ long-term returns. Most large auto-enrolment pension providers signed the Mansion House Accord under which they voluntarily agree to invest 10% of their main default funds in such assets by 2030, with at least half in the UK. Soon after this agreement, the Government introduced previously unannounced legislation, without consultation, that would force pension funds to invest unlimited proportions of their funds in yet-to-be specified assets. The legislation could still coerce trustees into investments against their better judgment. This – and ruling out use of appropriate portfolios if held by investment trusts – are the major sticking points. Surely fiduciary duty must remain the ultimate test of investment choice, and pension funds should decide their favoured investment structure. ✍️@rosaltmann Read more: capx.co/the-pension-po…

The UK’s planning system is the single greatest drag on British prosperity. It does not merely prevent us from building enough houses – though it does that spectacularly. It prevents us from building roads, laboratories, reservoirs, power stations, schools, railways and the rest. It succeeds in driving up costs, and restricting competition – a recipe for scarcity and poor quality. Planned economies do not work. They never have. The idea that government, local or national, can decide how many homes we need, where they should be, and what they should look like – is profoundly misconceived. It leaves government with a task far beyond its ability. Do not panic, I am not mad, and not proposing a free-for-all – far from it. I am suggesting that we replace a planned economy with a regulated one. Let the market decide what is built, where, and how much, BUT subject to clear principles and rules, enforced by government, acting as referee not shadow developer. In short, the way we regulate all other markets. ✍️Lord Wolfson Read more: capx.co/britain-cannot…

Ministers say they will not use these powers. So why do they need them? ✍️@rosaltmann Read more: capx.co/the-pension-po…

It's time to replace the UK's planning system ✍️Lord Wolfson Read more: capx.co/britain-cannot…

There's a bittersweet irony in the Prime Minister being brought down by procedure ✍️@DanielJHannan capx.co/theres-one-rul…