According to British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, the United Kingdom will put into place “a radical new welfare state where it always pays to work.” Newly elected British Prime Minister David Cameron has set forth plans that, according to analysts, will result in the nation’s most dramatic welfare reform since World War II. Wracked with debt, the U.K. is attempting to whittle down their government’s largest expense—welfare—which today stands at approximately $350 billion, or 15 percent of the nation’s GDP. Currently, 5 million British citizens receive welfare, and …
Last week, George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, unveiled the results of a wide-ranging review of spending, designed to bring the government’s share of the economy down from today’s 47.5 percent to 41 percent by 2014–15. In the main, the review’s results are welcome, though they do not go far enough. Unwisely, though, the government included defense spending—which had already taken a beating from the previous Labour government—in its review. The result, as defined by the government, is that after inflation, defense spending in Britain will shrink by …
FIFE, Scotland—The White House, the U.S. mainstream press and other assorted Obama defenders are giving the impression that the President salvaged a good outcome at Copenhagen, or so I’ve heard while spending Christmas in Scotland (the holidays being what the locals call vacation, something they spend in Europe, which is a place not here but across the Channel). The narrative of Obama sweeping in and eking out good outcomes is not at all the reading here in Great Britain, where papers on both the left and the right have denounced …
Yesterday, the UK National Defence Association released the latest in a series of reports on Britain’s armed forces. Titled “A Compelling Necessity,” it makes the case for an increase in British defense spending, in spite of the economic downturn, in order to restore and preserve Britain’s defenses. Of particular importance is the statement by economist Irwin Stelzer, who correctly notes in the report’s foreword that, while the U.S. and Britain face the same threats – international terrorism and a nuclear-armed North Korea and Iran, among others – Britain needs to …
The British newspapers continue to be full of analysis of Barack Obama’s election victory on Tuesday. As the scale of his victory becomes clear, the coverage has become even more fulsome in its praise of President-elect Obama’s incredible personal story in reaching The White House. The British Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition, David Cameron clashed in the House of Commons, rushing to associate themselves with Obama’s victory. Even a shocking 1.5% slash in interest rates has failed to ignite public attention in quite such a way, despite British …
Robin Harris, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has written a very important piece for National Review Online highlighting the plight of Christians in Iraq. Harris presents a compelling case for the United States, Great Britain and the West to do more to protect Iraq’s embattled Christian minority: The situation can thus correctly and without exaggeration be described as desperate. The best long-term hope for the Christians is the success of America’s and the Iraqi government’s war against al-Qaeda. Stability is what all Iraqis need — and …
The protectionist promises from the remaining liberal presidential candidates continues to strain American leadership on free trade even before they take office. Today British foreign secretary David Miliband, who is in the US meeting with aides from both presidential campaigns this week, told the Financial Times: American internationalism has been a feature of all periods of global progress . . . It’s absolutely clear that the world needs an America that’s engaged with the global trading system in a very fundamental, very committed way . . . The problem is …
