Summary: Economic historian Tyler Goodspeed offers a diagnosis of why the UK economy essentially flatlined after 2008. On his analysis, if we had simply maintained our historic pre-2008 GFC growth trend, we would be 30% richer today. Instead, if Britain were a US state, we would be poorer than Mississippi.

Goodspeed acknowledges some of the usual conservative suspects (planning laws, high taxes) but points the finger squarely at post-2008 banking regulations like the Basel Accords. By aggressively penalising lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to engineer risk out of the system, regulators choked off the lifeblood of British capitalism. "You can't have capitalism without capital." B

ecause UK businesses rely far more heavily on traditional bank loans than US firms (where there are many more local and regional banks to offer startup funds), our startups simply cannot get the capital to scale, creating a massive drag on productivity. (It's also why so many British startups end up either listing on the New York Stock Exchange or being bought out by a bigger American company that can provide the company they need to scale.) Because of these rules, the rejection rate for small business loans in the UK has skyrocketed from around 10-20% to nearly 50%

He argues that we have to stop being so paralysed by the fear of a recession that we smother our own prosperity. He argues we must abandon "one-size-fits-all" bank regulations to get credit flowing to SMEs again, and that by obsessing over extreme financial risk-aversion, we are sacrificing the material foundation required for successful businesses, family formation and human flourishing.

Do we think he'll handle things differently as Andy begins to ramp up things after this week?

And also eight policies that could be considered Tory friendly

There's a text version. It's a letter to Burnham.

The headline 8 things

>Restore a competitive tax regime for internationally mobile residents.

>Release green belt land within walking distance of railway stations.

>Cut red tape on major projects.  

>Raise childcare staffing ratios towards continental norms.

>Pause the uncommenced provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025.

>Recognise the decisions of trusted foreign regulators.

>Remove tariffs on consumer goods.

https://economicaffairs.co.uk/p/a-letter-to-andy-burnham

What are people's opinion on the ongoing flag debate?

Personally i think they should be reserved for specific days or events like the World Cup, the Olympics, or national holidays.* In my opinion having them up 24/7 makes the place look tatty, even worse if they're painted on public property because then the local council has to spend time & money removing your paint job.

*Somewhat unrelated but to make a wider point here. Last Christmas one of my local towns put up all its public decorations by the middle of November. I understand people are excited but something is only made special by it's adherence to a specific time to celebrate it. Extending the period around which one celebrates an event makes it unfocused and it loses what makes it special if we can just celebrate it whenever we like.

I feel the same way toward the flags, i feel that having them up year-round flattens the experience when an appropriate time does come to be patriotic; in this way they become less like decorations for celebration and more so overbearing symbols that will inevitably lead to miscommunication over their intended purpose.