Ideas Lab
A refugee camp is supposed to be an intermission: a place of safety between flight and return, resettlement or a new home. Yet for millions, that intermission is extending into a lifetime. UNHCR estimates that 70 per cent of refugees now live in “protracted” situations, meaning displacement lasting five years
Beyond the West
Around half the countries around the world are democracies. It is hard to pin down a specific number; Freedom House places it at 44%, Polity at 57%, and The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index places it at 45% (DeSilver, 2019). These numbers show that democracy are commonplace, if not
The Forum
In 2022, the uprising surrounding the overturning of Roe vs Wade remains a cultural phenomenon which has defined legal and cultural shifts in American history. On June 24th, 2022, the Supreme Court dismantled a key law which was part of the fundamental basis of women’s safety, health and their
Explainers
What actually ended Liz Truss’ brief time in office? Why are bond markets having such an effect on UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's premiership? And what on earth are bond vigilantes - and why do they hold so much power? Government Expenditure When the government wants to spend money,
The Perspective
After nearly eight decades of dominating the racing scene and luxury car industry, Ferrari has finally made their first fully electric vehicle. The very first “tailor made” Luce was sold at a charity auction for a staggering $40 million, breaking records in the market of auctioned new cars, despite its
Explainers
100 million dollars. 200 million dollars. 45 million dollars. These are all purported figures on the sum of Elon Musk's extravagant financial investment to his America First super PAC, and the American political system as a whole. However, it is unlikely that newspapers will report of hearing Musk
The Perspective
A system of government in which it is the people that rule, democracy strikes a delicate balance with ochlocracy, more commonly referred to as mob rule. A successful democracy draws this distinction, but to do so it must meet the following criteria (Dahl, 1998): effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding,
The Market
The largest single-day percentage drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was not due to one particular historical event. It did not follow the announcement of either World War, the 1929 Wall Street Crash, or the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941. Nor did it occur at the trough
Ideas Lab
Somewhere in a factory in Dhaka, a woman is sewing a shirt she will never own. She might earn around 33 US cents an hour, while the shirt will hang in a shop in London or New York with a £30 price tag. Of that price, the wage of the
Female perspectives on economics, politics and global affairs
Walk into any of the major British museums and you will find thousands of years of history from across the world without leaving the building. Ancient Greek sculptures and Egyptian artefacts sit metres from each other but the stories behind some of these objects cause uncomfortable questions to come to
On the 2nd September 2020, under the Johnson Government, the merger of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) was taken into effect and became the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The Government claimed that this merger would be a new opportunity for the
“Put a price on emotion.” Harry Styles’ Fine Line lyric poses, perhaps unintentionally, a question that both economists and governments have spent decades trying to answer: can human wellbeing be reduced to a number? Too often the modern-day meaning of wealth is substituted for money, but empirical data suggests
Over the summer, I went to Canada for three weeks. It was amazing! I saw bears, ate delicious food and saw some fantastic scenic views and landscapes. I also went swimming in Eleanor Lake in Blue River, Summit Lake near Nakusp and in Steelhead Provincial Park. It reminded me of
An AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Recently, Sam Altman proposed allocating a 5% equity stake in OpenAI to the Trump administration; the initial step to distributing AI-generated wealth among the American public through a newly established US sovereign wealth fund. Under this proposal, other leading AI development labs would be
Rethinking our approach to development: the alternative path offered by microfinance, social bonds, and a search for innovative solutions. The roots of modern microfinance can be traced back to the 1970s, when Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus began experimenting with small-scale lending to poor households in rural Bangladesh. His
Is Britain's most valuable industry also one of its most damaging? In 2025, Britain's financial sector contributed £290 billion to the country's real GDP, marking roughly 11% of total output. It employs over a million people directly and in 2024 achieved a record trade
Currently, the UK is on the edge of one of the biggest democratic shifts in the UK since the 1969 Representation of the People Act. The government is now pushing forward the Representation of the People Bill to lower the national voting age to 16. For many years the idea
The economics behind the world’s largest sporting event, and what this tells us about who the winners and losers really are. Every four years, the World Cup casts its bright stadium lights across the globe once again. Sweepstake teams are drawn, brand-new shirts are bought, national flags reappear
In a world of polarised political views and the existential rise of populism, we are becoming a more divided society, with increasing risks of politically motivated violence. Recent cases have involved the murder of David Amess, Conservative MP, in 2021 and Jo Cox, Labour MP, in 2016, and their brutal
Somewhere right now, a 14-year-old girl is being pulled out of school. Maybe her family needs help at home. Maybe the nearest secondary school is too far, or too expensive, or her parents simply don’t see the point of educating a daughter who will “just get married
Front runner for the position of prime minister, Andy Burnham has made the headlines recently for his proposition of a “Number 10 North”, which would see a branch of the Prime Minister’s Office based in Manchester. He promises “a more streamlined state with a clearer purpose” and a “laser-
