Robert Colvile
@rcolvile.bsky.social
Director of CPS, editor-in-chief of CapX, columnist for The Sunday Times, author of The Great Acceleration. Politics, policy and parenting.
'It is a childish fantasy to pretend that you can raise serious money only from the few rather than the many.' Me for @thetimes.com on the many reasons why a wealth tax won't work www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
August 17, 2025 at 10:51 AM
'It is a childish fantasy to pretend that you can raise serious money only from the few rather than the many.' Me for @thetimes.com on the many reasons why a wealth tax won't work www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Reposted by Robert Colvile
The London collapse in new housebuilding shown here is stark.
The reason is largely the disaster that is the building safety regulator - which has processed about 20% of the applications it's been given in the last year.
The reason is largely the disaster that is the building safety regulator - which has processed about 20% of the applications it's been given in the last year.
In the part of the country that most needs homes, we are building by far the least.
August 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The London collapse in new housebuilding shown here is stark.
The reason is largely the disaster that is the building safety regulator - which has processed about 20% of the applications it's been given in the last year.
The reason is largely the disaster that is the building safety regulator - which has processed about 20% of the applications it's been given in the last year.
Reposted by Robert Colvile
@rcolvile.bsky.social sums up the issue nicely here. He's definitely right about housing not coming forward at all - I regularly hear about housebuilders and housing associations moving activity away from London. Or keeping buildings below 6 storeys, even when there's potential to go much higher.
August 13, 2025 at 4:06 PM
@rcolvile.bsky.social sums up the issue nicely here. He's definitely right about housing not coming forward at all - I regularly hear about housebuilders and housing associations moving activity away from London. Or keeping buildings below 6 storeys, even when there's potential to go much higher.
In the part of the country that most needs homes, we are building by far the least.
August 13, 2025 at 8:59 AM
In the part of the country that most needs homes, we are building by far the least.
The big problem isn't that Reeves is raising taxes. It's that the fiscal crunch means we'll have to do it again and again and again - and the endless scrabbling around for cash is making things even worse. Me, depressingly, for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
August 10, 2025 at 8:27 AM
The big problem isn't that Reeves is raising taxes. It's that the fiscal crunch means we'll have to do it again and again and again - and the endless scrabbling around for cash is making things even worse. Me, depressingly, for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
'It is a lot easier to list the excitable articles about prime ministerial relaunches, revamps and resets than examples of such resets actually working.' Me for @thetimes.com on a year of Starmer - and why the real problem is never the advisers, and always the king.
August 3, 2025 at 8:03 AM
'It is a lot easier to list the excitable articles about prime ministerial relaunches, revamps and resets than examples of such resets actually working.' Me for @thetimes.com on a year of Starmer - and why the real problem is never the advisers, and always the king.
Bit late to this, but the @newstatesman.com cover story arguing for tax rises on the middle classes makes a pretty big error, which completely invalidates its argument that they are under-taxed - it ignores pension contributions.
July 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Bit late to this, but the @newstatesman.com cover story arguing for tax rises on the middle classes makes a pretty big error, which completely invalidates its argument that they are under-taxed - it ignores pension contributions.
Glad that I could draw more people's attention (via @jonnelledge.bsky.social) to the public information films of the Attlee government. Honestly, it's fascinating, esp if you're into housing policy www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta_n...
Halas & Batchelor: Charley in New Town (1948) | BFI National Archive
YouTube video by BFI
www.youtube.com
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Glad that I could draw more people's attention (via @jonnelledge.bsky.social) to the public information films of the Attlee government. Honestly, it's fascinating, esp if you're into housing policy www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta_n...
The Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in London www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
June 29, 2025 at 8:23 AM
The Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in London www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
The Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in the capital (1/?)
June 29, 2025 at 8:23 AM
The Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in the capital (1/?)
Fun fact: before becoming a well-known historian, Edward Gibbon was part of a successful double act with Griff Rhys Jones
June 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Fun fact: before becoming a well-known historian, Edward Gibbon was part of a successful double act with Griff Rhys Jones
Politicians treated HS2 as a symbol of their virility. No wonder it's been such a flop. Me for @thetimes.com on how high-speed rail went so wrong. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
June 22, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Politicians treated HS2 as a symbol of their virility. No wonder it's been such a flop. Me for @thetimes.com on how high-speed rail went so wrong. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Much as it pains me to admit it, @jdportes.bsky.social is right. I got it wrong. Posts deleted. Will amend article.
June 17, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Much as it pains me to admit it, @jdportes.bsky.social is right. I got it wrong. Posts deleted. Will amend article.
A tax on people's work is a tax on working people.
June 12, 2025 at 12:19 PM
A tax on people's work is a tax on working people.
Main conclusion from Spending Review: an absolutely massive squeeze on spending (both capital and day-to-day) pencilled in for second half of Parliament. Absolutely no way those numbers don’t go higher (and take taxes with them).
June 11, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Main conclusion from Spending Review: an absolutely massive squeeze on spending (both capital and day-to-day) pencilled in for second half of Parliament. Absolutely no way those numbers don’t go higher (and take taxes with them).
Depressing and disgraceful that the Tory Party voted en masse for Amendment 69 to the Planning Bill, which handed Natural England a pre-emptive veto on housing and infra development. Thankfully it was killed, but Opposition does not mean mindlessly supporting awful ideas.
June 9, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Depressing and disgraceful that the Tory Party voted en masse for Amendment 69 to the Planning Bill, which handed Natural England a pre-emptive veto on housing and infra development. Thankfully it was killed, but Opposition does not mean mindlessly supporting awful ideas.
Reposted by Robert Colvile
So 31% of 2024 Lib Dem voters and 29% of Greens now trust Farage more than Starmer to run the economy 😳 H/T Caroline Wheeler and @moreincommonuk.bsky.social
June 8, 2025 at 9:18 AM
So 31% of 2024 Lib Dem voters and 29% of Greens now trust Farage more than Starmer to run the economy 😳 H/T Caroline Wheeler and @moreincommonuk.bsky.social
Labour thinks votes at 16 will help it clean up. But the politics of young people is much more interesting - and much alarming - than its strategists think. Me for @thetimes.com on the polarisation within our youth, and the 'relationship recession' www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
June 8, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Labour thinks votes at 16 will help it clean up. But the politics of young people is much more interesting - and much alarming - than its strategists think. Me for @thetimes.com on the polarisation within our youth, and the 'relationship recession' www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Line of the day from @zonal-marking.bsky.social
June 7, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Line of the day from @zonal-marking.bsky.social
Reposted by Robert Colvile
Well if it’s a *progressive* ID card, then I’m sold. Maybe we could have progressive parking wardens next?
June 6, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Well if it’s a *progressive* ID card, then I’m sold. Maybe we could have progressive parking wardens next?
This is such a perfect illustration of my database state theory - database management is both the most important task of modern govt and its most intractable limitation...
June 5, 2025 at 2:37 PM
This is such a perfect illustration of my database state theory - database management is both the most important task of modern govt and its most intractable limitation...
This is an extraordinary chart via @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev - US healthcare costs have basically stopped growing as a % of GDP. Obviously it helps when you actually grow the economy, but is it just possible that making people pay for their own health care means better cost control?
June 5, 2025 at 11:32 AM
This is an extraordinary chart via @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev - US healthcare costs have basically stopped growing as a % of GDP. Obviously it helps when you actually grow the economy, but is it just possible that making people pay for their own health care means better cost control?
To whoever decided to rebrand the Victoria area as ‘London Heritage Quarter’: eff off.
Yours sincerely,
Robert
Yours sincerely,
Robert
June 2, 2025 at 7:39 PM
To whoever decided to rebrand the Victoria area as ‘London Heritage Quarter’: eff off.
Yours sincerely,
Robert
Yours sincerely,
Robert
Not sure people on this site will need much convincing that Trump's tariffs are bad, but @benchu.bsky.social does a very good job of it. My review of his new book here www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
May 25, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Not sure people on this site will need much convincing that Trump's tariffs are bad, but @benchu.bsky.social does a very good job of it. My review of his new book here www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
This on the Bidens is worth reading in full. Damnatio memoriae... www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Opinion | All the President's Enablers
Three books on Joe Biden’s presidency jointly paint a devastating portrait of an ailing, geriatric leader surrounded by mendacious aides and grasping family members.
www.politico.com
May 23, 2025 at 8:43 PM
This on the Bidens is worth reading in full. Damnatio memoriae... www.politico.com/news/magazin...