Robert Skidelsky is emeritus professor of political economy at Warwick University. His numerous, award-winning books include Keynes: The Return of the Master (2010), a discussion of John Maynard Keynes and the urgent relevance of his ideas in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and How Much is Enough? The Love of Money and the Case for the … Continue reading Macro Economics, End of Work Climate Change

PS:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dqtUg_vmdl&t=4s

Work is the ultimate escape from poverty. But the futile sort demanded by the United Kingdom’s income-support scheme puts many of society’s weakest members on a path to nowhere, because it reflects a welfare ideology that fails to distinguish fantasy from reality. LONDON – Mahatma Gandhi probably never said, “The greatness of a nation can be … Continue reading Britain’s Benefit Madness

As countries emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, John Maynard Keynes’s emphasis on the need to implement post-crisis economic policies in the right order is highly relevant. But sustainability considerations mean that the distinction between recovery and reform is less clear cut than it seemed in the 1930s. LONDON – John Maynard Keynes was a staunch … Continue reading Sequencing the Post-COVID Recovery

The promise of a “final” end to lockdowns in the spring of 2021 is the kind of hyperbole we have come to expect about new products and policies. The Oxford University vaccine may work; it may even be delivered effectively. Meanwhile, Covid-19 is still around, the UK government is extending lockdown for large parts of the … Continue reading Why the West failed to contain COVID-19

The furlough and the business support schemes, started in March, would end in October to coincide with the reopening of the economy. This meant that the UK economy would be much the same -give and take some minor “scarring”- in 2021 as it was in 2019: a year’s growth lost, but that was the limit … Continue reading Spending Review: Beyond Accountancy

November 13 2020Even if a successful rollout of a new COVID-19 vaccine causes the current health crisis to recede by next spring, the unemployment crisis will remain. That is especially true in the United Kingdom, where fiscal stimulus is urgently needed to avert a lost decade – if not a lost generation – of growth. … Continue reading Job Creation is the New Game in Town

I will confine my remarks to Part 5 of this Bill. I find myself swayed by two completely opposite accusations of bad faith. The government accuses    EU negotiators of bad faith in seeking to erect  ‘unreasonable’ customs barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK . Opponents of the Bill  say the bad … Continue reading Robert Skidelsky Speech on Internal Withdrawal Bill

Social-media companies’ only incentive to tackle the problem of fake news is to minimize the bad press that disseminating it has generated for them. But unless and until telling the truth serves the bottom line, it is futile to expect them to change course. LONDON – On October 6, US President Donald Trump posted a … Continue reading Policing Truth in the Trump Era

The UK government’s proposed “breach” of its Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union is purely a negotiating ploy. Critics of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's tactics must argue their case on pragmatic rather than legal grounds. LONDON – Whenever the great and the good unite in approval or condemnation of something, my impulse is to break … Continue reading International Law and Political Necessity