Adam smith institute

Lord Frost’s free-market foray

Away from the shenanigans of Downing Street’s Christmas parties, another festive bash was being held last night just down the road in Westminster. Mr S was among those at One Birdcage Walk enjoying the hospitality of the Adam Smith Institute’s annual shindig, where Lord Frost enlivened the evening with a stalwart defence of free-market principles against the tide of interventionism. Britain’s Brexit supremo raised some eyebrows in No. 10 last week with his comments at the Thatcher Conference on the need to diverge quicker from the ‘European social model’ adding ‘I agree with the Chancellor – our goal must be to lower taxes.’ And it was that same message Frost returned to in his speech, as he told

Isolation stats delayed as statisticians forced to isolate

A spectre is haunting Britain: the spectre of the ‘pingdemic.’ With Covid cases on the uptick, it is no surprise that more than 500,000 people in England and Wales were ‘pinged’ by the NHS test and trace app in the week to 7 July, up 46 per cent on the previous week.  Iceland and Greene King are among the latest businesses forced to close sites as workers are told to self-isolate. The Metropolitan Line in London was forced to shut over the weekend due to enforced absences while the Nissan factory in Sunderland has sent home more than 900 staff – more than 10 per cent of its workforce. Now it seems not even the