Rutger Bregman’s book, Moral Ambition tells us to aim higher. Why not have an ambition to improve the world? People have achieved amazing things in the past and there is no reason why we can’t make stunning progress again. Ambition Isn’t Bad In making the world better it helps to have ambition. That ambition needs…
Leapfrogging Towards A Better World
One concern that people who care about the environment typically have is that developed nations tend to create massive harm to the planet and life on it. That concern is often hard to argue with. A valid concern has led some — let us call them the shitty wing of environmentalism represented by Paul Ehrlich…
Being Part Of A Big Team
I have a confession to make. I think it is a bit odd when people click their fingers in appreciation of a comment. In some ways I get the basic notion — you don’t want to disrupt the speaker making the point. Still, making a meaningful show of support is what we have clapping for….
Strong States Help Markets To Thrive
Rebecca Henderson, a Harvard business professor, writes about the need for business to become better than it is currently. She has a great book from 2020 on this. (The book is well worth a read, apart from a strange metaphysical bit at the end which was badly in need of an editor to say, “no…
Cliches About Disruption Aren’t Public Policy Advice
In my last post I noted that I worked at the Labour Party during Tony Blair’s time. He is easily the best UK prime minister of my lifetime, so I really wanted to be positive about his institute’s report on climate change. The approaches outlined are quite sensible, but the overall report is just plain…
What To Do About Climate?
I was Finance Director of the Labour Party when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, it was a more optimistic time. There were notable problems of course; but at the least the mood music was positive. The Labour Party was proudly European, it wasn’t trying to…
It Isn’t Good Enough To Be Just Against Things
Ezra Klein‘s and Derek Thompson‘s Abundance tackles how those who believe that the world can be better have to achieve more. It isn’t good enough to be just against things, i.e., stopping things getting worse. To make the world better, you need to be for positive progress. What you want also needs to be deliverable on a…
Recognizing Trade-offs Is Critical To Progress
Progress isn’t always without costs. It is great when it is, but sometimes it won’t be. You can’t be paralyzed by the presence of a downside when you see a much bigger upside. One of the major public policy books of 2025 has been Ezra Klein‘s and Derek Thompson‘s Abundance. This argues that liberals need to embrace…
IRS Agents Deserve Our Thanks
The USA has a history of not liking taxation much. There are plenty of reasons not to like the way the US does its taxation. US taxes appear complex, unnecessarily time consuming, and occasionally a bit random. And that is without considering the more controversial issue of whether they are ‘fair’. The US government, and…
Unexpected Friends to Innovation
Businesspeople like to complain about things, a lot. To be fair they are people, and that is something we people like to do. As such, it is always interesting to see when things that may seem like complaints to some turn out to be boons to innovation. What then are a few unexpected friends to…
