Monthly Archives: February 2015

When I was a kid old people weren’t very well off. The words poor and pensioner often went together. I remember a poster (presumably by one of the age charities) which I used to pass on the way to my swimming … Continue reading →

The FT’s article on the changing balance of incomes between the young and old was one of its most-read this week. Trawling through half a century’s income statistics, they found a reversal in the fortunes of the young and old. … Continue reading →

Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s Chief Economist, gave a fascinating speech to the University of East Anglia last week on the subject of economic growth and whether or not the recent slowdown is a blip or a longer term trend. … Continue reading →

After he wisely cautioned the government against further trade union legislation a few years ago, Norman Tebbit changed his tune in the Telegraph earlier this week. In a piece which summoned up the ghost of militancy past, he backed proposed new laws … Continue reading →

Age International published a wide-ranging report on global ageing earlier this month. It emphasises something I’ve been banging on about for a while. Population ageing isn’t just a western phenomenon. It’s happening throughout the world. Contrary to popular belief, the rise … Continue reading →

There’s an interesting discussion about pay in the IFS Green Budget and the increase in highly skilled employment at the same time as a decrease in real wages. (See previous posts here, here and here.) The IFS believes that the fall in wages has … Continue reading →

As promised before Christmas, I will be having a celebration to mark this blog’s 8th anniversary. Yes folks, I’ve been punting this stuff out for almost 8 years now. It will be an informal do, just a few drinks and … Continue reading →

David Cameron keeps promising to maintain the ring-fence on NHS spending. Not a penny of the NHS budget will be cut, he said again last month. The trouble is, even that doesn’t look like it will be enough. According to studies … Continue reading →

Some useful data on self-employed incomes appeared while I was out of the country. HMRC published its annual personal income statistics. Because of the time-lag in processing tax returns, this data is always nearly two years out of date, so it … Continue reading →