Parliament is back and so are the Tory factions fighting over the Rwanda scheme. In the first CapX Podcast of 2024, Alys Denby is joined by Research Director at the Centre for Policy Studies Karl Williams to discuss how debates over immigration policy will play out over the next year, and what impact they will have on the upcoming general election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

CapX Editor Alys Denby runs through the people and policies that made 2023 another peculiar year in politics, with Poppy Coburn, Assistant US Opinion Editor at the Telegraph, William Atkinson, Assistant Editor at Conservative Home and Joseph Dinnage, Deputy Editor of CapX. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

Aside from a windfall from higher inflation which the Chancellor used to make tax cuts, the underlying picture for the economy is essentially flat. That being said, some welcome pro-growth measures were announced, most notably the decision to make full expensing permanent. But is it too little too late? To analyse what this means for the future of the public finances, Robert Colvile was joined by Chair of the OBR Richard Hughes and economist Vicky Pryce. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

The world has just witnessed the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. Yet amid the international condemnation of Hamas terrorists, there has also been equivocation – and even celebration in some quarters. No other conflict stirs emotions like that between Israel and Palestine - so why is it that the world’s only Jewish state appears to be held to completely different standards to other countries? Jake Wallis Simons, Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, has a word for it:: Israelophobia. His new book explains how the world's oldest hatred has evolved, co-opting identity politics and a ..read more

It’s Party Conference season, and while the Lib Dems were kayaking and playing crazy golf in Bournemouth last week, this weekend it’s the Tories’ turn to troop up to Manchester. Attendees are anticipating drama, gossip and exciting policy announcements – the Prime Minister is promising 'long-term decisions for a brighter future'. But while Rishi Sunak will be rolling the pitch for an election manifesto, on the fringes other grandees will be fighting for the soul of the Conservative Party. CapX welcomed our Editor-in-Chief and Director of our parent organisation the Centre for Policy Studies t ..read more

CapX talks about housing a lot – most often to scream 'build more houses!' into a void – yet politicians appear stuck in a doom loop when it comes to this urgent topic. Conservative MPs talk a good game about the need for housing, as long as it's anywhere but in their constituency, while Labour talk up discredited socialist ideas like rent controls. But last week, drama returned to the housing discourse, as Secretary of State Michael Gove announced plans for dramatic expansion in Cambridge, Leeds and London. So is the housing shortage, which is the source of so many of this country’s problem ..read more

In a world saturated with information, we have more choices than ever – but how freely do we make them? In their new book Free Your Mind – The new World of Manipulation and how to Avoid it, journalist Laura Dodsworth and behavioural scientist Patrick Fagan argue that there is a war on our minds as the media, advertisers, politicians and big tech vie to influence our decisions. They investigate the psychological techniques – from fear to flattery - that are used every day to manipulate us, and offer advice on how to recognise and resist them. We sat down for a fascinating conversation that ra ..read more

The NHS recently marked its 75th birthday with the kind of love-in most countries reserve for a passing monarch or truly iconic celebrity. So what is about our health service that has created such a fervent attachment amongst so many Brits, even when it underperforms compared to some of our continental peers?  To find out, we invited the journalist, author and broadcaster Isabel Hardman on to this week's episode of the CapX Podcast to discuss her brilliant new history of the NHS, Fighting for Life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

Trash, garbage, litter or rubbish – whatever you call it the world is producing ever more of the stuff. But where does it all go once it's left our colour-coded bins? And what about all those clothes you leave at the charity shop thining you've done a good turn? The fascinating tapestry of grime that is the modern waste industry is documented in painstaking, illuminating detail in the new book Wasteland, written by our guest this week, Oliver Franklin-Wallis.   He takes us on a journey from hulking mountains of waste on the outskirts of New Delhi to abandoned mining towns in Oklahoma and ..read more

He’s best known for coming up with the terms death tax and climate change, so it’s fair to say Frank Luntz knows a thing or two about political communication – making him an ideal guest for the CapX Podcast.  We sat down to discuss his latest project for the Centre for Policy Studies delving into how the British public really feel about that most American of values: Freedom. Few will be surprised to learn that it’s not an idea that animates our democracy in the same way it does for our gun-toting cousin across the Atlantic – but for those of us who care about choice and liberty, the det ..read more