Ben's blog and articles

The temperance movement hasn’t had a boost like this since prohibition. A major new international study on the health risks of alcohol, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, in Seattle, was published last week in The Lancet. “The safest level of drinking is none,” the authors concluded. “Our results point to a need to revisit alcohol control policies and health programmes, and to consider recommendations for abstention.” But if nonsense was graded like alcohol,

If visions from ministers were effective in boosting UK exports we would long ago have surpassed the £1 trillion target set by George Osborne when he was chancellor. Last year we managed total overseas sales of £616bn, according to the latest official data. With just three years to go before we were supposed to hit the magic £1 trillion figure, we need exports to grow at an average annual rate of 17 per cent. So only triple the average rate of 5 per cent achieved since the tu

One of the salient features of Boris Johnson’s career is just how many second chances he’s been given over the years. He fabricated a quote when he worked at The Times, a mortal sin for a journalist. He was fired, but rapidly popped up at The Telegraph as if nothing had happened. As an MP, he later brazenly lied to his party leader over an affair, got fired as a shadow minister, but was later selected as the Conservative candidate for London mayor. As foreign secretary he end

“I don’t understand why you keep going on about the need for more social housing – it just creates Labour voters.” Nick Clegg doesn’t recall whether it was David Cameron or George Osborne who uttered these words. But he knows it was one of them. Why? Because he was sitting across the table from them in one of the coalition’s “guad” meetings when this nugget of unguarded Tory honesty slipped out. The former deputy prime minister is in no doubt that this represented the cynicis

The charismatic president wins elections, but he’s also an unabashed authoritarian. He fires up his predominantly rural and religiously conservative base with populist and divisive rants. He trashes multilateral institutions and insults nations that displease him. He puts his relatives in positions of power. He propagates idiotic economic theories. He complains about interest rate hikes by the independent central bank. Donald Trump? No, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of

A policeman’s lot is not a happy one. If Gilbert and Sullivan were writing today would they cite not only the “enterprising burglar” and his “felonious little plans” but also the misery of payday loans and the need to take a second job as a driving instructor? According to a new survey by the Police Federation, almost half its members worry about their finances and 12 per cent feel they don’t get paid enough to cover essentials. Eight per cent of respondents say they have tak