On this day 1799: Britain’s first income tax January 9, 2026 On this day, 9 January 1799, Britain introduced its first 'temporary' income tax. Workers have been vexed ever since, writes Eliot Wilson.
London arts sector must learn to speak corporate to save itself January 9, 2026 To protect the vital arts sector, London's creatives must learn the corporate walk and talk, writes Austin Casey.
Make this the year Britain stops punishing wealth creators January 9, 2026 Britain is now a £1 trillion tax state with the biggest differential between high and low earners in the OECD. Our top 10 per cent face rates comparable to Denmark while middle earners pay less than Americans, except we don’t deliver Scandinavian public services or American entrepreneurship. We’ve stumbled into the worst of all worlds, [...]
Rates row shows how little Labour understands business January 8, 2026 Whether it’s your after work favourite or your home local – whether you drink or not – everyone has a favourite pub. But the sector is facing a crisis – and we know whose fault it is. We also know the challenges facing British pubs reflect a bigger problem in the relationship between this government [...]
It’s time for Starmer to choose: is he a lawyer or a leader? January 8, 2026 The international, rules-and-rights-based order is crumbling in the face of Trump’s brute force. This leaves career human rights lawyer Keir Starmer in an interesting position… A Venezuelan friend once showed me a small purse made out of folded and woven 100,000 Bolivar notes. These would be sold to tourists for a few dollars as their [...]
Labour MP Callum Anderson: Securing Starmer’s visit to London Stock Exchange took months January 8, 2026 We dig into the memory bank of the City's great and good. Today, it's Labour MP and former London Stock Exchange adviser Callum Anderson.
Floreat Britannia in the era of AI January 8, 2026 The bottleneck to progress isn’t engineering, it’s an absurd inability to consider trade-offs that has led to decisions like spending £140m to save the life of a single salmon. AI is about to change all that, says Samuel Albanie May Britain flourish. I mean this unironically. To say this in early 2026, however, is to [...]
Got an oyster card? Then you’d better get used to paying more for less January 8, 2026 If freezing rail fares is vital for cutting the cost of living, why are transport costs in London rising sharply? Asks James Ford As part of his latest, desperate relaunch, beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to focus on cutting the cost of living for Britons this year. One of the key planks of [...]
Are we facing an AI jobs apocalypse? January 8, 2026 Police in Cornwall are on the hunt for a masked vandal seen on CCTV spraying “AI will take our jobs” across multiple sites in the villages of Polbathic, Widegates and Crafthole. Is this vigilante right to warn us all? Ask Chat GPT whether AI will lead to a jobs apocalypse and the answer is suspiciously [...]
US military won’t invade Greenland, but Wall Street Warriors might January 7, 2026 A US military invasion of Greenland would be self-defeating, but both sides have a great deal to gain from harmonious financial relations, writes James Gray.