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We investigate the real-world impact of the UK tax and legal system, expose avoidance and abuse, and propose practical reforms.

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England’s new tourist tax: what it raises, who pays, and what it costs
The impact of the proposed tourist tax across England
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Universities UK’s £6bn National Insurance proposal Universities UK’s £6bn National Insurance proposal Post Office silenced its own victims. The Post Office silenced its own victims. The SRA did nothing. Who benefits from a £12bn VAT cut for hospitality? Who benefits from a £12bn VAT cut for hospitality? How social care costs work in England How social care costs work in England – and why it’s mad UK, France and Germany UK, France and Germany: why do some countries have so many taxes?
Future Jobs roadmap
Sep 10, 2026 Policy

Universities UK: a £6bn lesson in bad tax policy

We’re getting into Budget lobbying season. The latest is from Universities UK, who want a tax cut for employers – a new National Insurance exemption for graduates and others under 25. But their only research involved asking employers if they wanted a tax cut. They didn’t bother to calculate the cost, which turns out to […]
A village sub-post office in Mundesley, Norfolk, with Post Office signage, red awnings and a customer at the door
Sep 5, 2026 Investigations

The SRA was going to prosecute the Post Office’s lawyers. Then it stopped.

The Post Office told wrongly-accused postmasters their compensation offers were secret, and couldn’t be shown to anyone but a lawyer. That wasn’t true. They could have shown the offers to friends, other postmasters and the media – but the Post Office gagged them. The Solicitors Regulation Authority spent three years investigating, and was going to […]
A terrace of brick houses covered in letting agents' To Let boards
Aug 5, 2026 Analysis

Property118’s tribunal win – it doesn’t help their clients; it looks vulnerable to appeal

We wrote in 2023 about a complex landlord tax avoidance scheme sold by an unregulated firm called Property118. HMRC subsequently opened enquiries into Property118’s clients, and determined that the firm should have disclosed the scheme. The First-tier Tribunal has just published a ruling on the narrow question of whether the scheme should have been disclosed […]
A tax to fund social care
Jul 27, 2026 Analysis

A modest proposal for a new tax

I have a brilliant idea for a new tax. The rules are simple: This is, obviously, insane. Except it’s real The above description is, near enough, how catastrophic adult social care costs work in England today. The deck of cards is the DHSC’s own estimate that “one in seven individuals over 65 will face care […]
First Minister John Swinney speaking at a Scottish Government podium
Jul 25, 2026 Analysis • Policy

New data suggests Scotland’s 48p tax rate may be losing money

People often talk about the Laffer curve: the idea that if you raise a tax beyond a certain point, you may in fact reduce revenues. Laffer curve effects are rather more common in newspaper headlines than in actual tax data. But that may be about to change – we’ve a new analysis showing that Scotland’s […]
New Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey
Jul 21, 2026 Analysis

John Healey should cut National Insurance, not raise the personal allowance

We have a new Chancellor – and it looks like a tax cut may be surprisingly high on his agenda. Andy Burnham has said the freezing of income tax thresholds was “the thing I heard the most on the doorsteps”, and that it was “lodged in my mind”. The personal allowance – the amount you […]
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