Tag Archives: niesr

Stephen Tall

Are employment levels one of the “better stories” of the Coalition, as Fraser Nelson claims? Not really.

By Stephen Tall | Thu 6th June 2013 - 2:15 pm

The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson is — rightly — very hot on politicians being accurate in their use of stats. For instance, he’s — rightly — called out both Nick Clegg and David Cameron for confusing (whether accidentally or deliberately) the terms ‘debt’ and ‘deficit’, claiming the former is falling when they mean the latter.

However, Fraser is sometimes a bit casual with facts himself — for instance, wrongly claiming that an old report for the Department for Education ‘proved’ the pupil premium was flawed when it did no such thing.

And today he makes a point of highlighting …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

The double dip recession that never was?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 11th May 2013 - 12:35 pm

Did the double-dip recession ever happen? It looks increasingly possible that it didn’t — the BBC reports the latest revision to the data:

A revision by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has cast doubt on the UK’s double-dip recession last year. Revised growth estimates now suggest the construction industry shrank in the first quarter of 2012, but by less than previously thought. Analysts say the revision may be enough to mean the overall economy narrowly avoided falling into recession for a second time. The ONS is due to give official confirmation of this in June.

In fact there was a …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 17 Comments
Jonathan Portes

Jonathan Portes writes: If you want to get serious about growth, you need to be positive about migration

By Jonathan Portes | Tue 26th March 2013 - 1:45 pm

On Monday, I did seven interviews on David Cameron’s immigration speech. Each time I’ve tried to get across one simple fact: that all the available evidence suggests that immigrants – and immigrants from the new EU member states, in particular – more than pay their way. That is, that they pay more in taxes than they cost in benefits and services; overall, from being a burden, they make it easier to finance our welfare state not harder.

It is that basic fact that all three party leaders should be explaining to their constituents. Instead, they seem to be engaged …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 23 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Martin Gray
    @Peter Martin ... All the EU supporters that contribute to this site including those in the comments sections - need to read the attached article Peter has sup...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Joe, France did have its own currency in 1926 so there isn't really a parallel between now and then. However, France was in the process of going back on to...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thanks to Peter Martin and Joe Bourke! Might there be a difference between a « National Deficit » and a «  National Debt »?...
  • Peter Davies
    I would have thought the main reason they don't back the Greens is that they are not green and neither are many of their target demographic....
  • John Hills
    Very interesting Peter. It's busy on the left... I would love to know why activists are drawn towards the creation of new parties - Respect, Left Unity, Worker...