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Articles by Adam Wildsmith
The Snus Solution
The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) has spent the summer grilling its biggest stars on their use of snus. This urgent investigation has followed the realisation several top-flight players – including Leicester striker Jamie Vardy and Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles – are busy stuffing the little packets of tobacco under their top lip before games and on the subs bench. Quick have been both the PFA and major clubs to demonise this product.
Housing: An alternative history - Part 5
…continued from part 4 In the 1930s, it was a building boom which dragged Britain out of the Great Depression. In the second iteration of the 2010s, Cameron intends to repeat that exercise on a much bigger scale. He wants to drag Britain out of the slump which followed the Great Recession by unleashing an unprecedented boom in housing, transport and infrastructure. Cameron starts his second term with a “big bang”.
Housing: An alternative history - Part 3
…continued from Part 2 Britain’s housing revolution starts with an extremely unimaginative measure, which fails to address any of the deeper flaws in the planning system: a huge increase in mandatory housing targets, coupled with a tightening of the penalties associated with not meeting them.
Housing: An alternative history - Part 2
…continued from Part 1 The more Cameron thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Housing and planning are not just another policy area among many; they are thebottleneck of the British economy. Housing costs obviously have a huge, direct effect on people’s living standards, because it is the single biggest item of expenditure in most people’s household budget. But this direct effect is only the tip of the iceberg. If you inflate the cost of property, you actually inflate the cost of everything.
Housing: An alternative history - Part 1
David Cameron wakes up slowly – and then abruptly. He jumps up in bed and gasps as he realises that he is in the wrong place. He stares at the room in disbelief. The room is not unfamiliar to him, quite the opposite. He knows it all too well. It is just that he has not been here in over seven years. He is back at his old residence. He is at 10 Downing Street. -“Samantha…”, he says, his voice shaky and a touch too loud.
Banning disposables would be the first step towards total Vape Prohibition
During a growing media frenzy surrounding disposable vapes, prohibitionists are demanding a blanket ban on the products. Their arguments are riddled with many of the predictable nanny statist flaws that usually would not need exposing. However, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pledging to consider a ban, it’s time to challenge these misguided claims. A ban would severely undermine health, considering these products are saving thousands of lives each year.
Nigerian States Should Welcome Private Sector Investment in Electric and Railway
After decades of the federal government’s regressive monopoly, Nigeria’s electricity and railway sectors are finally set for a transformation, thanks to a recent constitutional amendment that opened up the industries to state governments. Now, it’s state governments that should avoid monopolising these crucial sectors. Without private sector participation and progressive policies like tax relief, the benefits of this historic reform may remain elusive for many of the country’s states.
Whose genitals are they, anyway?
If John Locke, the classical liberal philosopher of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, could, implausibly, be reincarnated right now it would be interesting to get his views on a high-profile trial taking place at the Old Bailey. A group of people have been charged with causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) to each other in relation to entirely consenting sexual activities. The 29 acts of mutilationhave included ‘genital nullification’, the surgical removal of genitalia.
The UK’s message to Africa about hunting: Do as we say, not as we do
This week in Zimbabwe: Elizabeth Ndlovu, 64, of Mpumelelo village gored by a buffalo; Elliot Sianyanga, 45, of Sonyathi village attacked by an elephant. Both incidents occurred around Hwange National Park, where “Cecil the lion” once roamed. These incidents are just a few examples of the cost of ‘wildness’ in Africa.
Adam Wildsmith: Only bold policies on housing and childcare can make reality of Sunak's pro-family rhetoric
Adam Wildsmith is deputy director of Blue Beyond. In his first party political broadcast as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s focus was firmly on his five pledges to Britain; what he called, “the foundations, on which to build a better future for our children and grandchildren”. The theme of family is central to the Government’s rhetoric; Sunak has said that “family runs right through our vision of a better future”. The trouble is that this pro-family rhetoric rarely translates into policy.
Take it from a Greek - Rishi’s plan won’t stop the boats.
One of Rishi Sunak’s five priorities for 2023 is to “stop the boats”—the “surge” of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Eastern Europe arriving in the UK by illegally crossing the British Channel from France. If Sunak wants to solve this crisis, he should take a lesson from the Greeks. At the peak of the Syrian refugee crisis, over 1 million refugees entered Greece by sea in just one year. In 2022, the UK’s “crisis-causing influx” was 40,000.
The Ultimate Guide to The Tribes of The Far-Left (Part 1) - 1828 - Championing Freedom
Tankies, Trots, Marxist-Leninists, Stalinists, Maoists, Anarcho-Communists… If you are a social media user, you will almost certainly have come across some of the far-left subcultures which flourish there, perhaps watching their theatrics with a mixture of bewilderment, morbid fascination, and bemused contempt. If you ever wondered what the differences between these various factions are, and how they relate to each other, you have come to the right place.
Cultivated meat demonstrates the market’s ability to solve moral problems
The life of the libertarian vegetarian is often a lonely one. Vegetarianism is, for now, ‘left-coded’, inextricably linked to climate activism and nanny statist policies to manipulate diets. The fictional libertarian archetype from Parks and Recreation, Ron Swanson, is as committed to his carnivore diet as he is to individual liberty. Nevertheless, free markets and individual liberty are perfectly compatible with moral opposition to animal slaughter.
Oxfam inequality report full of diagnoses, but lacks policy detail
Each year, Oxfam releases its report on world inequality, always timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum jamboree in Davos. It always shows massive inequality amongst the planet’s eight billion people and demands radical redistribution of global wealth. This year’s report is no different, calling for wealth taxation on an unprecedented scale. The practicalities of this are, however, glossed over. We have no official record of wealth holdings, and Oxfam’s quoted figures are guesstimates.
Universal healthcare without the NHS: an alternative history - Part 2
Continues from Part 1 The transition Nothing was different on the day after. The basic idea of the transition was a fairly simple one. The term “insurance-based system” used to sound extremely scary to a British audience, but in a sense, every healthcare system where patients do not pay healthcare providers directly is “insurance-based”. It is just that in the UK, the government was the insurer.
Universal healthcare without the NHS: an alternative history - Part 1
Introduction: an alternative pre-history In late 2009, the polls consistently pointed towards a Conservative victory in the General Election which was expected to be held in the coming year. Opposition leader David Cameron had good reason to be hopeful, and up to a point – he was. But one thing kept bugging him and his team: the endless insinuations by some of his political opponents that he was harbouring some kind of secret plan to privatise the National Health Service.
Rishi Sunak’s pro-family rhetoric masks his failure to deliver
In last week’s speech outlining the government’s priorities for 2023 and beyond, Rishi Sunak stressed the importance of family. He said: “family is something politicians struggle to talk about because you can all too readily be pilloried for being out of touch or worse, hostile to those who don’t conform to some idealised form. We live in a world today where family can and does take many forms. But whatever your family looks like, it doesn’t matter as long as the common bond is love.
DEBATE: As the government cracks down on pro-life speech, does the UK need a First Amendment?
Institute of Economic Affairs Communications Officer Harrison Griffiths argues YES It is difficult to look at the state of free speech in Britain and continue to argue that the right is safe in Parliament’s hands. Just yesterday, reports emerged that a woman in Birmingham was arrested and charged for silently praying outside of an abortion clinic – removing any doubt that freedom of expression in Britain is under serious threat.
DEBATE: Should the government be funding an energy saving advice campaign?
Andy Mayer, Chief Operating Officer and Energy Analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs argues YES When the Government is spending £80-100bn on subsidising energy bills, spending a further £15m on promoting ways to reduce energy use is not a terrible idea. It need only have a 0.02% impact, beyond what people would do regardless, to reduce overall spending. This does not seem a high bar, even for a Government information campaign. All the criticisms of such campaigns are also correct.
Britain needs constitutional reform, but Gordon Brown is not the man for the job.
Outside of those groups which pang for a return to Blairism, Gordon Brown’s proposals for constitutional reform have, for the most part, been greeted by derision and ridicule. This is for a good reason: of all the people Sir Keir Starmer could have chosen to review the British constitution, he put his faith a man who was integral to implementing the misguided constitutional reforms of the late 1990s. The worst of these reforms was devolution.
Censorship zones around abortion clinics represent another nail in the coffin of liberal democracy
The above depicted scenario is now on the cusp of being enacted, in reality, but in relation to those who wish to demonstrate peacefully outside clinics against the practice of abortion. The Labour MP, Stella Creasy, a classic representative of the illiberal Culture Control Left, is presenting an amendment to the government’s Public Order Act designed to bring this about. It would create a criminal ‘offence of interference with access to or provision of abortion services’.
Classical liberals and libertarians should admit that Brexit has been a catastrophe
With few exceptions, classical liberals and libertarians were strongly in favour of Brexit. Some among our number had been on the front line of battles against European integration since the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and for them, Brexit represented the culmination of an uphill struggle against centralisation, bureaucratic supremacy, and Brussels’ regulatory overreach.
More immigration is a no-brainer for the UK’s labour market - 1828 - Championing Freedom
Proposals from the Truss government to increase immigration have been met with scorn from the typical crowds. “The Brexiteers had one job”, said conservative writer Ed West, “miserable immigration policy”, said the communitarian bore Nick Timothy. Their view revolves around the classic anti-immigration talking points, such as vague predictions of doom for ‘the social fabric’ or anxieties around ‘the culture’.
Truss must pick up where Thatcher left off by overturning the failed Anglo-Welsh leasehold orthodoxy
Prime minister Liz Truss is in a dash for growth. In the mini-budget, we heard from her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on daring plans for low-tax, planning restricted zones to energise and densify our cities. Particularly in and around London soaring rents, rampant property speculation and a lack of housing supply are holding back the economy, preventing my generation from putting down our roots. Left unchecked this will spread to other regions, too.
The NHS is the enemy of the working class
It always surprises me when my friends who have grown up with private healthcare are so quick to phone up a doctor over any little thing. In my northern working-class family, phoning up the GP was always the last option. A few months ago, I started to experience vertigo whenever I stood up. It lasted a few days. My friend insisted I at least phone 111. When I called the man on the phone did an assessment and said they’d get back to me in an hour.
Truss has a radical vison - but will she deliver?
As Johnson resigns from office, it’s hard to deny that our country has been left in a quite damning economic situation. Many will be hoping that the new Prime Minister represents a change in direction. But with inflation soaring, energy bills rising, and growth stagnating, will ‘Trussonomics’ be enough to turn things around? Truss’ liberal free market outlook could well be the answer.
Is it hypocritical to preach X while doing Y?
“Hypocrisy-policing” is a popular genre of tabloid journalism. When a public figure flaunts their political opinions, tabloids will often gleefully report on (actual or perceived) inconsistencies between those opinions, and the lifestyle of the person expressing them. So you’re an environmentalist? How come you’re constantly jetting around the globe, then? So you oppose private schools? How come you’re sending your own children to one, then? So you’re a socialist?
The government is failing to act quick enough on Monkeypox
Monkeypox infections are on the rise in the UK. There have already been more than 2,600 reported cases in the country and the number looks set to increase. As the country is still recovering from the devastating impact of Covid, it is essential that the government steps up its efforts to prevent the outbreak from becoming endemic and spreading yet more misery and hardship.
Tory MPs have committed an alarming act of self-harm
And then there were two. This last week has accommodated one of the most fast-paced and unpredictable party leadership elections in modern history. In exceptional time the candidates have been whittled from eleven to two: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. There were two televised debates (though, there were supposed to be three), countless public and private hustings and no doubt excessive amounts of political bargaining.
The Online Safety Bill reveals the establishment's insidious disregard for free speech
Kemi Badenoch is right to argue that the Conservatives need to look again at the Online Safety Bill. This is a highly dangerous piece of legislation that threatens freedom of speech and massively extends the power of the state to regulate our lives. This is precisely why the contemporary, ‘Culture-Control Left’ (CCL) are so in favour of it, with the only proviso that it be made even more draconian than currently proposed.
The next conservative leader must return the party to first principles
As the Chris Pincher scandal began to unfold, Boris Johnson remained defiant. Addressing the House of Commons in the first week of July he said he was “going to get on and deliver our mandate and win another general election”. Two days later he announced he’d resign. Plagued by scandals of his own creation, the Brexit messiah had fallen and triggered a leadership election to anoint his successor. At the time of writing the race to replace him is on, with 11 candidates currently in the running.
Let's insulate Britain from the idiocy of eco-terrorists
Today’s High Court injunction allowing police to remove protesters blocking Britain’s motorways was long overdue. Insulate Britain gluing themselves to the M25 for a week has already produced a four-car collision, with victims airlifted to hospital, and delayed a mother’s treatment, leaving her paralysed by a stroke. Despite these events, activists claim they “don’t accept that we put lives at risk”.
How to remodel British democracy
The onus of proof should always be on the would-be innovator. This is because there is nothing inherently good about change. In fact, particularly because of unforeseen circumstances, change can sometimes be bad and downright dangerous. The dusty old subject of parliamentary reform is no different. If we want to remodel the House of Commons and House of Lords, we better have a damn good reason to do so, otherwise it’s best to let these old cornerstones of British democracy be.
Nationalisation: the popular idea that never wins?
The British left continues to be torn between continuity socialism and a return to a broad church approach, under which left-liberals, social democrats and centrists would be welcomed back into the tent. We can see this play out most obviously in the current Labour leadership contest, but it is an ideological clash which reverberates far beyond any political party.
The government should get on with reforming the Gender Recognition Act
The government has a lot on its plate at the moment. Trying to get the Brexit deal through a defiant parliament and gearing up for a general election mean that some policies have been put on the back burner. Perhaps this explains the government’s decision to delay reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).
Electoral reform should be on the agenda – starting with votes at 16 - 1828 - Championing Freedom
The extension of the franchise is one of the most contentious issues in the field of constitutional reform – or at least it was before all the other ones cropped up. The Scottish experience, where 16- and 17-year-olds participated enthusiastically and maturely in the 2014 independence referendum, lent credibility to those calling for a drop in the age threshold. Yet many remain unconvinced, insistent that voting is a privilege that should not be exercised before adulthood.
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