Britain is poorer than people think

Matthew Lesh has a useful CAPX piece on an old British problem, the sluggish nature of economic growth. Worth reading, although voting for political charlatans and loons who don't believe in economic growth is also an old British problem. They don't believe in education either. 


Britain is poorer than people think

• New polling shows that growth still matters to the British public
• Britons know something has gone badly wrong – they just need to see how far we’ve fallen
• The public want prosperity, not excuses

Not too long ago Keir Starmer was banging on about how growth is his ‘number one mission’. Now, with the economy once again faltering – real GDP grew by an anaemic 0.1% in the last quarter of 2025, following an equally disappointing 0.1% in the previous quarter – we are hearing a bit less on this topic.

But have no doubt: the British public still dreams of a more prosperous society.

An expansive new public opinion research project, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs and undertaken by Freshwater Strategy, highlights that despite widespread pessimism, few have given up. When asked whether the UK should focus more on growth, an overwhelming 87% agree, compared to just 9% who say the country is already wealthy enough. This view cuts across the usual political divides, with strong support across genders, age groups, educational levels and regions. We may have a more divided politics than at any time in modern history, but there’s at least one thing pretty much everyone agrees on: growth.

Monday to Friday

Monday

Labour put on united front as Starmer, Rayner and Burnham reunite at breakfast club

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner joined Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham at a visit to a school's breakfast club.


Friday

No invite for Starmer? Rayner and Burnham spotted holding late-night meeting in Manchester fuelling talk of a leadership challenge days after pair were all smiles with PM

Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham have fuelled speculation about a challenge to Keir Starmer after being spotted holding secret late-night talks.

Greater Manchester mayor Mr Burnham was seen leaving Ms Rayner's constituency home in the city late on Friday, days after they played happy families with the PM on the campaign trail.

Ms Rayner is seen as a leading candidate to run for the leadership if Sir Keir is challenged in the wake of a poor showing in the May 7 local elections.

No way Lammy wasn’t told

No way Lammy wasn’t told Mandelson failed vetting, says former foreign secretary

Exclusive: In an interview with The Independent, former foreign secretary James Cleverly sets out the reasons why ministers must have known Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting

It is “inconceivable” that Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy were not told about Peter Mandelson failing the security vetting process for the role of US ambassador, a former foreign secretary has claimed, amid growing accusations that the prime minister scapegoated the head of the Foreign Office in order to save himself.

Describing his own recent experience, Sir James Cleverly, who was foreign secretary from 2022 to 2023, said: “I cannot envisage a universe where someone senior in the Foreign Office wouldn’t have sat down with the foreign secretary and said something to warn about this.”

Hmm, so the highest Ministers in the land are not entirely truthful. 

Queen Anne is dead too apparently.

The colour of intolerance

German survey finds Greens voters least tolerant of differing opinions

Supporters of Germany’s Alliance 90/The Greens are the most likely among the country’s main political groups to say they become annoyed when confronted with opinions that differ from their own.

The poll, conducted by the Allensbach Institute for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, asked respondents whether they are often annoyed by people who hold completely different political views or whether they usually have no problem with it.

According to the results published on April 17, 28 per cent of Greens voters said they are often annoyed by differing opinions, the highest figure recorded among the main party electorates.


Probably not a surprise, but given the survey uncertainties there are no dramatic differences overall. This finding is interesting though -


A majority of respondents — 57 per cent — said there was at least one person in their family or circle of friends with whom they believed it made no sense to discuss political topics because opinions were simply too far apart.

The boiling frog effect

AI use causing ‘boiling frog’ effect on human brain, study warns

Turning to AI to complete tasks may be eroding people's ability to make an effort to think for themselves and makes them more likely to give up, new research has found.

This could leave us in a "boiling frog" scenario, in which the capabilities of our brains are progressively compromised as we lean on AI more heavily, the study warns.

An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford, MIT, UCLA and Carnegie Mellon said their research provides evidence for two alarming consequences of using AI to help complete tasks: "Reduced persistence and impairment of unassisted performance.”


It is worth suggesting an alternative view here - that AI and the wider internet may possibly reduce the boiling frog effect for those paying attention. 

Taking it further - it is almost possible to divide people politically into those who notice the boiling frog effect affecting their lives and those who don't. Governments and politicians have always known about it. As the AI explanation says -

Explanation of the Concept

The boiling frog effect is based on an anecdote in which a frog is placed in a pot of water that is slowly heated. The story suggests that if the temperature increases gradually, the frog does not perceive the danger and is eventually boiled alive. While this story is not literally accurate in biology, it serves as a powerful metaphor for human perception and behavior. The key idea is that gradual changes are often overlooked, whereas sudden changes would trigger an immediate response.

We are so doomed

 

Investing in Indulgences

Paraguay expects over US$1 billion in Singapore carbon credit investments

Paraguay's government expects investments from Singapore in carbon credit projects to exceed $1 billion, Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Rolando De Barros said on Wednesday, as a delegation from the Asian nation visited Asunción led by Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu Hai Yen, accompanied by 20 business executives.

De Barros said President Santiago Peña received the delegation and expressed confidence that if “all processes of interest with Singapore are completed, more than $1 billion can be generated between both governments,” without specifying a timeline for the investments, EFE reported.

A chap is bound to wonder if Ed Miliband has looked into this. Would it be cheaper and less destructive to replace the entire UK Net Zero policy with bits of paper purchased from Paraguay?