The Capitalist

Extending an existing runway at Heathrow is a solution more economical and environmentally astute than constructing an entirely new third runway. It would result in lower carbon emissions, reduced noise pollution, and its implementation would be phased – a blueprint of pragmatic innovation. So why has the proposal been ensnared in a years-long labyrinth of bureaucratic complexity? Despatch is a fr...

Can Britain strike a deal with President Trump and avoid the looming tariff trap? Why are leaders in the UK and the US falling short of the so-called "Reagan test"? And, could the UK be on the cusp of creating its own billion-pound tech titan? Join Douglas Carswell from the Mississippi Centre for Public Policy and author of The Conservative Futurist, James Pethokoukis, as we delve into crucial que...

As rents climb ever higher, you’d think the Government would aim to make renting easier. Yet the new Renters' Rights Bill threatens to do just the opposite. Instead of delivering on its promises, the legislation risks making the rental market less accessible and less equitable. Despatch is a fresh addition to The Capitalist, delivering standout writing from the team behind CapX’s indispensable dai...

In this debut edition of The Capitalist: a bold new political movement takes aim at red tape to get Britain building, the Chancellor faces criticism over an economy teetering on the edge, and the Conservatives grapple with the path to reinvention. Insightful, sharp, and always forward-looking. Find out more about Looking for Growth by visiting their website. And make sure you're subscribed to CapX...

Despatch is a fresh addition to The Capitalist , delivering standout writing from the team behind CapX’s indispensable daily briefings. In this debut edition, Emma Revell, External Affairs Director at the Centre for Policy Studies, explores why the case for conservatism must be reimagined and communicated in a language that resonates with modern audiences.   And don’t miss the premiere of The Capi...

A preview of The Capitalist, a new podcast from the team behind CapX's unmissable daily briefings from the heart of Westminster. Join sharp minds from business, politics, and beyond for intelligent debate and optimistic conversations about building a brighter, market-driven future for Britain. Subscribe now so you don't miss the series premiere in January, 2025. Stay informed with CapX's unmissabl...

CapX Editor Alys Denby runs through the people and policies that made 2023 another peculiar year in politics, with Poppy Coburn, Assistant US Opinion Editor at the Telegraph, William Atkinson, Assistant Editor at Conservative Home and Joseph Dinnage, Deputy Editor of CapX. Stay informed with CapX's unmissable daily briefings from the heart of Westminster. Go to capx.co to subscribe. Hosted on Acas...

Aside from a windfall from higher inflation which the Chancellor used to make tax cuts, the underlying picture for the economy is essentially flat. That being said, some welcome pro-growth measures were announced, most notably the decision to make full expensing permanent. But is it too little too late? To analyse what this means for the future of the public finances, Robert Colvile was joined by...

The world has just witnessed the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. Yet amid the international condemnation of Hamas terrorists, there has also been equivocation – and even celebration in some quarters. No other conflict stirs emotions like that between Israel and Palestine - so why is it that the world’s only Jewish state appears to be held to completely different standards to oth...

It’s Party Conference season, and while the Lib Dems were kayaking and playing crazy golf in Bournemouth last week, this weekend it’s the Tories’ turn to troop up to Manchester. Attendees are anticipating drama, gossip and exciting policy announcements – the Prime Minister is promising 'long-term decisions for a brighter future'. But while Rishi Sunak will be rolling the pitch for an election mani...

CapX talks about housing a lot – most often to scream 'build more houses!' into a void – yet politicians appear stuck in a doom loop when it comes to this urgent topic. Conservative MPs talk a good game about the need for housing, as long as it's anywhere but in their constituency, while Labour talk up discredited socialist ideas like rent controls. But last week, drama returned to the housing dis...

In a world saturated with information, we have more choices than ever – but how freely do we make them? In their new book Free Your Mind – The new World of Manipulation and how to Avoid it , journalist Laura Dodsworth and behavioural scientist Patrick Fagan argue that there is a war on our minds as the media, advertisers, politicians and big tech vie to influence our decisions. They investigate th...

The NHS recently marked its 75th birthday with the kind of love-in most countries reserve for a passing monarch or truly iconic celebrity. So what is about our health service that has created such a fervent attachment amongst so many Brits, even when it underperforms compared to some of our continental peers?  To find out, we invited the journalist, author and broadcaster Isabel Hardman on to this...

Trash, garbage, litter or rubbish – whatever you call it the world is producing ever more of the stuff. But where does it all go once it's left our colour-coded bins? And what about all those clothes you leave at the charity shop thining you've done a good turn? The fascinating tapestry of grime that is the modern waste industry is documented in painstaking, illuminating detail in the new book Was...

He’s best known for coming up with the terms death tax and climate change, so it’s fair to say Frank Luntz knows a thing or two about political communication – making him an ideal guest for the CapX Podcast.  We sat down to discuss his latest project for the Centre for Policy Studies delving into how the British public really feel about that most American of values: Freedom. Few will be surprised...

How do we really live now? From a Romanian truck driver to an Amazon deliveryman and a factory production line worker, Ben Judah tried to answer that question by speaking to the people whose labour makes the freedom and prosperity the rest of us enjoy possible – for his latest book This is Europe. The author and Atlantic Council fellow crossed the continent conducting hours of painstaking intervie...

As with so much modern political theatre, the debate on artificial intelligence has become polarised to a point that is often profoundly unhelpful, with a false dichotomy between 'doomers' and utopians who see AI as a solution to the world's many problems, both technical and social. Between those positions is a world of nuance and wildly varying predictions on what this expanding new technology co...

There are few political questions as vexed as how to tax hard-pressed motorists. For many years, the Treasury has treated British drivers as a cash cow, levying high taxes while investing relatively little in the road network.  Now, however, things are changing rapidly. The take-up of electric vehicles and the upcoming ban on new petrol and diesel cars presents a big fiscal headache for the Govern...

What is National Conservatism? That's the question we're grappling with this week following the big National Conservatism Conference in London. While it certainly generated lots of media heat, it's still not particularly clear what this US-imported idea actually stands for. Indeed, the answer seemed to vary depending on which of the eclectic cast of speakers was on stage. CapX's deputy editor Alys...

Our guest this week played an instrumental role in the UK's departure from the European Union. As Boris Johnson's Europe adviser and then chief negotiator in the exit talks with the EU, Lord Frost drew on a lifetime of experience as a civil servant and foreign office diplomat to help get the Trade and Cooperation Agreement over the line. Since leaving government at the end of 2021, he has continue...

Here at CapX we love an unfashionable cause – and in a cost of living crisis, few demographics are less popular than those who seem to be struggling less. But we're also fans of basic economic concepts, and with the tax burden the highest it’s been since the era of state socialism under Attlee, the Laffer Curve inevitably comes to mind. Because while calls to ‘tax the rich’ may be popular, if it m...

Did you know that every time you fill up your car, you are paying for the UK’s biofuels mandate, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO)? In fact, some 6% of the price Brits pay at the pump goes on biofuel being blended into petrol and diesel. More concerning still at a time of soaring food prices, crops such as wheat and corn are still a central part of the industry. That's why a new repor...

Things can seem a bit gloomy at the moment, and no one is better suited to explaining why than our guest this week, the Tory writer and self-proclaimed doom-monger Ed West.  In an eclectic career that has spanned lad mags, religious publications and a very popular personal Substack, Ed has become one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking writers on the British right, and it was a pleasure to...

Breathless predictions of AI-induced doom are all around, with some experts in the field saying the technology has already advanced beyond the point of no return. The recent open letter signed by the likes of Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Andrew Yang was just the latest example of the unease that programmes such as Chat GPT-4 have provoked.  So how well-founded are the fears that a super-intelligen...

After years where prices barely seemed to rise and interest rates remained stubbornly low, the last two years have seen inflation come roaring back - combined with union strife and an energy crisis it has felt like we've been living through the 1970s all over again. What better time then, for an economist to publish a handy explainer on just what inflation is, where it comes from and why central b...