Brexit

7 February 2020

Climate change is to Australia what Brexit is to Britain. That’s because, just like on Brexit, perspectives on climate policy are as much about one’s views on the future of the economy and society as they are on with the merits of the issue itself. Because most of the inhabitants of the Canberra press gallery bubble can’t see past the

19 December 2019

Boris Johnson’s landslide election victory provides Australia with a unique opportunity to strengthen ties with our oldest and one of our closest allies. To take full advantage of this once in a generation opportunity, the Morrison government must aim for much more than a bare-bones FTA. It should use the existing Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (CER) as

13 December 2019

Britain’s General Election- the results of which will, hopefully, be seen by the end of today (Sydney time)- is the most consequential in a generation. It pits avid socialist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn against Brexit-backing Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Corbyn would cripple Britain’s economy, associate with terrorist organisations like Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA, and wants to have

29 March 2019

The famous American author Mark Twain is rumoured to have once said ‘If voting made a difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.’ The year 2016, though, was supposed to be the year where voting did make a difference. But the twin political disruptions of 2016 – Brexit in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump as President

14 December 2018

These days much is made of the so-called “crisis of democracy” in the West. At one level it’s hard to disagree with the view that even if democracy is not in crisis, at a minimum it is facing some not-insubstantial challenges. That yesterday in London 200 Tory MPs could vote to keep in power Theresa May, a Prime Minister who is

16 November 2018

Theresa May has finally united the Leave and Remain camps…against her. The government announces Robert French will lead an inquiry into freedom of speech at universities and we’re hoping it ends in a better place than the Israel embassy move. the Journal of Controversial Ideas makes us lose faith in the state of academic freedom but Dan Crenshaw gives us

8 March 2018

It’s been almost a year since the United Kingdom formally notified the European Union of its intention to leave the EU. Since then, the UK and EU have been engaged in intense negotiations about the mechanics of Brexit, all with a view to the UK’s formal departure on 29 March 2019. In the meantime, British Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap general election in

1 February 2018

When British MP Michael Gove said “The people of this country have had enough of experts” he electrified the pro-Brexit voters and sent ripples of horror through the global club of those who advise decision-makers and opine on matters of fact and of policy. One type of reaction to Gove’s incendiary comment I saw at the Mercatus Centre at George

7 October 2017

Britain is at a political fork in the road. Brexit provides an extraordinary opportunity to chart a new course in trade, regulation and immigration policy. One place Britain can learn from is an old friend and partner, a country that has achieved over 25 years of economic growth, and has higher incomes and where people have longer lives. A beacon

17 August 2017

This week the government released a new paper calling for the “freest and most frictionless trade possible” with the EU. Ideally, Britain wants no customs border, which, the paper admits, would be “unprecedented” and “could be challenging to implement”. In just hours, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt dismissively labelled “invisible borders” a “fantasy”. The good news is that