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...
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.
This via @taxfoundation.bsky.social shows the tax wedge across OECD countries. But crucially, it includes only compulsory social security contributions, not those which are opt-in/opt-out. taxfoundation.org/data/all/glo...
July 5, 2025 at 9:55 PM
This via @taxfoundation.bsky.social shows the tax wedge across OECD countries. But crucially, it includes only compulsory social security contributions, not those which are opt-in/opt-out. taxfoundation.org/data/all/glo...
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.
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...
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.
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
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?
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...
So much of running a modern state is just database management in disguise. Dictates pretty much all your options and limitations.
May 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
So much of running a modern state is just database management in disguise. Dictates pretty much all your options and limitations.
Under the post-Grenfell safety regime, the new Building Safety Regulator has to approve EVERY building above seven storeys, or containing more than one residential unit. So it covers a huge proportion of new London housing - which tends to be tall buildings on brownfield sites.
May 20, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Under the post-Grenfell safety regime, the new Building Safety Regulator has to approve EVERY building above seven storeys, or containing more than one residential unit. So it covers a huge proportion of new London housing - which tends to be tall buildings on brownfield sites.
Something deeply alarming is happening in London: it's the only region of the country that's building less, not more. And while I'd love to blame Sadiq, there's another culprit that urgently needs addressing. (1/?)
May 20, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Something deeply alarming is happening in London: it's the only region of the country that's building less, not more. And while I'd love to blame Sadiq, there's another culprit that urgently needs addressing. (1/?)
Another triumph for Skynet
May 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Another triumph for Skynet
The only certainty on assisted dying is that this is an awful way to introduce it. Me for @thetimes.com on last week's debate www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
May 18, 2025 at 7:50 AM
The only certainty on assisted dying is that this is an awful way to introduce it. Me for @thetimes.com on last week's debate www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
As the clock ticks towards 2030, Miliband is going to have to make a simple choice: drop his clean power target, or pay through the nose. Me for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
May 11, 2025 at 8:19 AM
As the clock ticks towards 2030, Miliband is going to have to make a simple choice: drop his clean power target, or pay through the nose. Me for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
(For those that don't remember...)
May 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM
(For those that don't remember...)
Life comes at you fast, eh Keir?
May 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Life comes at you fast, eh Keir?