Government and ‘independent expertise’: think tanks represent a blind spot for critical analysis

Drawing on recent research about UK think tanks, austerity and social policy, Hartwig Pautz and Elke Heins examine the relationship between government and the world of ‘independent expertise’. Focusing on one example, the Centre for Social Justice’s influence over Conservative ministers’ social policies, they …

The FT’s take-down of Thomas Piketty is no Thomas Herndon moment (video)

Almost exactly a year ago, the core argument used by right-wingers around the world to justify accelerated budget deficit reduction, Reinhart and Rogoff’s “Growth in a Time of Debt”, was fatally undermined by Thomas Herndon, an economics graduate student, when he …

Do you want the truth from your government? (Part 2): The evidence free Beecroft Report (video)

In May 2012, the government asked British workers to give up their employment protections in exchange for cash or shares in the company that employed them. “Employees will be given between £2,000 and £50,000 of shares that are exempt from …

McDonald’s expect their staff to work two jobs because they won’t pay a living wage (video)

Billionaire Charles Koch, sage to the Tory right in the UK and provider of support to just about every tea party-esque group (including, obviously, the Tea Party) in the US,  wants to eliminate the minimum wage because it creates a “culture of dependency” and he …