Peter Saunders personal website

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April 2013:

Friday 19 April
Maggie's funeral - impressions from street level (Ideas@TheCentre) - read

Wednesday 10 April
CIS publishes my tribute to Margaret Thatcher - read

Monday 8 April
Tom Palmer's 'After the welfare state' published in Australia by the Centre for Independent Studies, with an Australian introduction by me and Andrew Baker - purchase copy or watch video of launch seminar and video of Q&A

March 2013:

Friday 15 March
Postcript to my CIS Occasional Paper, 'Remoralising the welfare state' - Britain's most feckless father found guilty of murder (Ideas@TheCentre) - read

Wednesday 13 March
CIS publishes my new Occasional Paper, 'Remoralising the Welfare State', outlining 3 basic rules for a fair welfare state - read

Wednesday 6 March
CIS launches Target 30 - its new strategic program aimed at reducing government spending to 30% of GDP (co-author) - read

January 2013:

Friday 18 January
The UK's legitimation crisis (Ideas@TheCentre) - read

Wednesday 16 January
Extended interview on Sydney's 2GB Radio about being more discriminatory when offering welfare support to people in need - listen

November 2012:

Friday 23 November
Latest DWP stats show it's not true that the vast majority of welfare claimants really want to work (Ideas@TheCentre) - read

Tuesday 20 November
Interviewed for Voice of Russia news report on UK social mobility - listen

Friday 16 November
Talk to St Albans School VI Form on social mobility - view slides

Monday 5 November
Now even their socialist friends are telling Wilkinson and Pickett The Spirit Level is badly flawed (article by Oxford sociologist Colin Mills) - read

Sunday 4 November
I have a letter in The Sunday Times taking issue with the Sutton Trust's social mobility claims. Read

October 2012:

Monday 29 October
Increasing welfare benefits is the wrong solution to poverty - joint article with Andrew Baker of the CIS is published in Australia's The Punch
Read

Thursday 25 October
Cambridge Union debate: 'This house believes that class runs Britain'. Proposed by Danny Dorling, Ken Livingstone, and Martha Morey; opposed by me, Peter Hamilton and Sairif Ahmed. View video (my contribution starts at 35 mins)

Sunday 21 October
Dominic Lawson again uses my work in his Sunday Times column to attack government's false claims about social mobility - read

Friday 19 October
Sometimes we need to fudge rules and seek out the grey areas. Otherwise, we’ll end up with soldiers too scared to fight, teachers too timorous to teach, and police officers too cowed to tackle disorder (Ideas @ The Centre, 19 October) - read

Tuesday 2 October
Head Masters' Conference annual conference, Europa Hotel Belfast, talk on social mobility - view slides

September 2012:

Saturday 1 September
Quarantine laws, good coffee and the belief that artists should be given welfare payments - my reflections on a week down under in the diary page for The Australian Spectator - read (paywall) or see copy here

August 2012:

Monday 27 August
CIS Big Ideas Forum 'Welfare without the state'. Public debate in Sydney with John Hirst, Gary Johns, Manny Jules & Jeremy Sammut - view my presentation or the Q&A session

Friday 24 August
Presentation on welfare to CIS Consilium conference, Coolum, Queensland. The presentation is summarised in my Ideas@TheCentre piece on 'a fair welfare system' - read

Wednesday 22 August
Interviewed about drawing a distinction between deserving and undeserving cases in welfare on ABC-TV's 'The Drum' - view

Tuesday 21 August
'Shaken and Stirred' public debate on welfare, morality and politics with Rebecca Weisser and David Hatherington, Sydney - details

Monday 20 August:
Talk on welfare at an invitation-only lunch hosted by Deutsche Bank in Sydney

Saturday 18 August
The Weekend Australian publishes my article on principles of a fair welfare system - read

Thursday 2 August
The NHS celebration in the Olympic opening ceremony showed how little Brits know about far superior health care systems overseas - Ideas@TheCentre - read

Thursday 2 August
Australian Financial Review publishes my article responding to Treasurer Wayne Swan's romantic speech about his working class roots and blue collar rock band heroes - read

July 2012:

Thursday 26 July
Peter Hitchens discusses my Civitas report 'Rise of the Equalities Industry' in the Daily Mail: "So gripped was I that I was still studying it two days later" - read

Wednesday 25 July
My review of Jonathon Haidt's 'The Righteous Mind' appears in Policy magazine - read

Friday 20 July
The trial of footballer John Terry for racist abuse of an opponent shows how our laws have gone beyond regulating behaviour and now try to controlo how we think (Ideas@TheCentre) - read

Tuesday 17 July
Australia's 'Online Opinion' reproduces my 22 June article on the welfare lobby and human rights - read

Sunday 15 July
In The Sunday Times, Dominic Lawson gives my Civitas report, Social Mobility Delusions, an extended discussion - read

Tuesday 3 July
The 'Voice of Russia' airs a 30 minute debate on social mobility where I outline key arguments from my latest report - listen

Monday 2 July
Daily Telegraph reports the government is doubling the child support contribution deducted from absent fathers on benefits, and links this to my Father Figures report, published in March by Policy Exchange - read

June 2012:

Thursday 28 June:
John Rentoul in The Independent attacks the press for failing to report my work on mobility - read

Monday 25 June:
Australian Taxpayers' Alliance welcomes my article on human rights and the welfare lobby as 'a great piece' - read

Friday 22 June:
Welfare lobbyists' claims that Australia's welfare-to-work rules breach UN Human Rights laws are absurd, insulting and insufferably pompous - Ideas@TheCentre - read

Thursday 21 June:
I am interviewed about Social Mobility Delusions on LBC - listen - and on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme - listen

Thursday 21 June:
Civitas publishes Social Mobility Delusions, which refutes widespread claims that Britain is bottom of the international mobility rankings, mobility is falling, and bright poor kids fall behind dull rich kids at school - read

Monday 18 June:
Dail Telegraph reports the UK government wants father's name to be entered on birth certificates by law - something I proposed in my Policy Exchange report, Father Figures - read

Thursday 14 June:
UK government says child poverty targets are flawed and need changing ( The Guardian). I tried to tell them this 3 years ago when they voted in favour of them - read

Friday 8 June:
My article on reforming Australian disability and single parent payments is reprinted at Online Opinion, where it attracts a number of critical comments - read

Saturday 2 June:
My thoughts on gay marriage prompt spirited discussion on the Australian Catallaxy website and are picked up by the Melbourne Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt - read

Friday 1 June:
There are no good, principled arguments against gay marriage - but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Ideas@TheCentre - read

May 2012:

Friday 25 May:
If Mission Australia wants Canberra to adopt a UK-style welfare reform, how can it complain that it is 'harsh' to ask single parents to go back to work when their youngest child gets to 8? InCISe blog - read

Thursday 25 May:
Forcing universities to take poorer students on lower grades is creating the appearance of meritocracy by introducing anti-meritocratic selection procedures into a fair higher education selection system. Daily Telegraph letter - read

Monday 7 May:
The Australian government says it wants single parents claiming welfare to start looking for PT work when their children reach 8. It's a sensible policy - and one I advocated (and was villified for) 10 years ago. InCISEe - read

Friday 4 May:
My Ideas@TheCentre piece on how new research on evolved moral instincts explains why It feels right for welfare policy to distinguish the ‘deserving’ from the ‘undeserving’ poor - read

April 2012:

Wednesday 18 April:
My 30 point guide to why Britain is always odd-one-out in the EU, 'An Awkward European', is published in Policy magazine - read

Tuesday 10 April:
Kathy Gyngell in the Daily Mail describes my Policy Exchange paper, No Rights Without Responsibilities, as 'bold and brilliant' - read Mail report

Tuesday 3 April:
'Are equal societies better societies?' Chapter in Gary Johns, ed., Right Social Justice: Better Ways to Help the Poor (Connorcourt, ISBN: 9781921421624, $29.95) - order the book here

March 2012:

Friday 16 March:
Extraordinary evidence of social mobility among sons of men interviewed by Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier - except The Guardian and BBC see it differently. Ideas@TheCentre - read

Wednesday 14 March:
New report, Father Figures, outlines proposals that would enable absent fathers on benefits to pay more towards the child support costs of their children. Published by Policy Exchange - read

Wednesday 14 March:
Daily Mail reports on my proposals for getting absent fathers back into work so they can pay more child support - read

January 2012:

Monday 30 January:
Jeff Randall, writing in the Telegraph, quotes from my 'Rise of the Equalities Industry' in an article about 'jackboot egalitarians' - read

Tuesday 3 January:
In a short snippet on BBC-TV News, I suggest the MacPherson Inquiry following the Stephen Lawrence murder has undermined faith in the police through its fallacious charge of 'institutionalised racism' - view clip and read background

December 2011:

Friday 30 December:
My reflections on the latest DWP research showing that the government's desire to 'make work pay' will not encourage people off welfare and into work published in InCISe - read

Thursday 29 December:
Daily Telegraph reports on secret DWP research showing that the government's welfare reform to 'make work pay' will not get people off welfare - which is exactly what I said in my Policy Exchange report on conditional welfare - read the Telegraph article

Friday 23 December:
Discussion of UK Equalities laws with former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on London's LBC Radio - listen

Friday 23 December:
Daily Telegraph picks up my report on the cost to business of equalities laws - read

Friday 23 December:
Why the hollowing out of our town centres is a serious problem. CIS Ideas@TheCentre - read

Friday 2 December:
Absent fathers living on benefits pay only £7 pw to support the costs of their children. How might their financial responsibilities be reinforced? CIS Ideas@TheCentre - read

Thursday 1 December:
Prime Minister tells ITV: 'I think there is a real problem with the way we measure child poverty.' In my 2009 Policy Exchange paper I wrote: "The way the Government is defining and measuring poverty is badly flawed... the current child poverty targets should be replaced and the Child Poverty Bill withdrawn". Better late than never...

November 2011:

Monday 28 November:
Daily Telegraph reports on my new Civitas report on the equalities industry - read

Monday 28 November:
New book published by Civitas. The Rise of the Equalities Industry analyses the damage done by recent extensions to UK equalities law - buy a copy or read press release

Sunday 27 November:
Minette Marin devotes her column in The Sunday Times to a discussion of issues raised in my new book on the equality industry - read

October 2011:

Friday 14 October:
Half a million people get free cars from the government. All you need is a badly-behaved child. CIS Ideas@TheCentre - read

Friday 7 October:
Does free market capitalism only benefit the rich? Has popular capitalism run out of steam? CIS Ideas@TheCentre - read

September 2011:

Thursday 23 September:
Hate crimes and witch hunts. Post on CIS blog, InCISe, prompted by news that 20,000 schoolchildren were reported for 'hate incidents' by schools last year - read

Monday 19 September:
Extended interview on ABC National's Counterpoint programme on why Wilkinson and Pickett's claims in The Spirit Level about equality simply don't stand up - listen

Monday 19 September:
Prison does work, it's just that we haven't been using it. Post on new CIS Blog, InCISe - read

Tuesday 14 September:
Joint article with Luke Malpass outlines the case against The Spirit Level, published on Kiwiblog (New Zealand) - read

Monday 13 September:
Brief contribution to ABC Radio National Australia Talks discussion of whether the UK riots hold any lessons for how Australia should treat asylum seekers - listen

Sunday 11 September:
The Sunday Times publishes an article by Margarette Driscoll ('Spirit Level bubble bursts as critics expose flaws') which explains why I think Wilkinson and Pickett are wrong - read

Friday 9 September:
When Prophecy Fails, new, revised edition of my critique of Wilkinson and Pickett's arguments about equality in their book The Spirit Level, published in Australia by the Centre for Independent Studies. Order a copy

Friday 9 September:
My article in The Australian explains why Wilkinson and Pickett's claims about equality in their book, The Spirit Level, are so misleading
Read

Thursday 1st and 8th September:
Contributor to The Class Ceiling, a two-part Radio 4 programme about class and social mobility in contemporary Britain, hosted by Polly Toynbee Listen to extracts

August 2011:

Wednesday 31 August:
A left-feminist ideology drives sociology in Britain and Australia. 'Academic Sociology and Social Policy Think Tanks in Britain and Australia: A Personal Reflection', Sociological Research Online, vol.16, no.3 Read

Tuesday 30 August:
Neil O'Brien's Daily Telegraph blog cites my social mobility research to query Polly Toynbee's assertion that mobility is declining. Read

Monday 29 August:
New Zealand Centre for Political Research republishes my article from The Australian analysing the causes of the London riots - Read

Wednesday 24 August (repeated 27 August):
I try to convince a studio of equalities activists that hate crime laws are a bad idea. Radio 4 Black Roses Debate, prompted by the murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007. Listen to extracts

Thursday 18 August:
My current work for Policy Exchange on absentee fathers on welfare gets a mention in the Daily Telegraph - read article

Thursday 18 August:
In-depth interview on the UK riots on Australian radio station 4BC. Listen

Monday 15 August:
The question is not why some people rioted and looted; it is why we didn't all join in. Article in The Australian about the causes of the London riots. Read

July 2011:

Friday 29 July
Is free trade really such a good idea? Heretical thoughts prompted by the loss of jobs at railway carriage builder Bombardier, published in the CIS weekly digest, Ideas@TheCentre - read

Wednesday 27 July
The DWP reports that 39% of applicants for new-style Incapacity Benefit were fit for work and 36% withdrew before their claim could be assessed. This supports my 2004 paper suggesting that half of disability claimants are 'hidden unemployed' who should be looking for work.

Friday 15 July
Crooked coppers, repulsive reporters ... and hypocritical readers - thoughts on the News Corp scandal, published in the CIS weekly digest, Ideas@TheCentre - read

Friday 1 July
Article published in The Australian outlining the case for Australia's Work For The Dole programme and proposing use of personal savings accounts to cover short periods out of work - read article

June 2011:

Monday 13 June
The Guardian notes that Labour Party Policy Review chief, Liam Byrne, is suggesting changes to welfare and national insurance that reflect proposals in No Rights Without Responsibility, my latest paper for Policy Exchange - read article

Tuesday 7 June
Presentation on social mobility to the Forum of Independent Day Schools annual conference at Hampton School - view slides

Monday 6 June
Presentation based on my updated critique of 'The Spirit Level' via video link to the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney - view video

Monday 6 June
Reading of 'Enough Edge' (short story) on Hastings Local Radio - listen

May 2011:

Thursday 26 May
Lecture on family tax and benefits reform to Iona Institute conference on 'Women, Home and Work', Davenport Hotel, Dublin - listen to the talk and/or view slides from presentation

Friday 20 May
Daily Express reports on my latest Policy Exchange paper on conditional welfare and welcomes the proposed changes in an editorial

Friday 20 May
Policy Exchange publishes my new paper making the case for conditional welfare (written jointly with Matthew Oakley) - download copy

Wednesday 11 May
Debate on BBC Radio 4 Today programme with Matthew Syed, discussing whether hard work and determination are more important than talent and ability in influencing success in school and in life - listen

April 2011:

Tuesday 26 April
Guardian Podcast discussing inequality with Polly Toynbee, Danny Dorling, Max Wind-Cowie and Aditya Chakrabortty (this discussion has been edited by The Guardian)

Friday 15 April
John Stuart Mill thought people would strive to improve themselves once they were given education, but the crudity of much public behaviour suggests he was wrong - CIS e-newsletter, Ideas@TheCentre

Friday 8 April
In the Financial Times, Max Hastings cites my work on social mobility in an attack on the government's latest policy - read

Wednesday 6 April
The Daily Telegraph editorial cites my research: 'It is intelligence and hard work that count. If you want to predict where someone will end up, it is three times more useful to know their IQ than the class they were born into' - read

Tuesday 5 April
As the government launches its 'social mobility strategy', I give TV interviews to BBC News ( view) and Sky News ( view ), as well as radio interviews on BBC World Service, BBC Radio Five Live 'Breakfast', and BBC Bristol.

March 2011:

Thursday 31 March
Guest on Julia Hartley-Brewer programme on London's LBC Radio discussing social mobility rates and why we don't need the Government's latest 'strategy' for boosting them - listen to extract

Wednesday 16 March
Guest on ABC Radio National 'Australia Talks', discussing the decline of civility - listen to extract or to the whole programme

Wednesday 16 March
'Clumsy, clunky and unfair': The Daily Mail reports my criticisms of Oxford University's plan to subsidise poorer students' fees by charging more to those whose parents earn £25K or more per year

February 2011:

Thursday 10 February
The Daily Telegraph editorial endorses my 'persuasive argument' that quotas and positive discrimination will prove disastrous for Britain's universities.

Thursday 10 February
Featured Guest on The Economist online debate on 'the global elite' (it's not the bankers we should be worrying about; it's the cultural elite)

Wednesday 9 February
100! Article published in The Daily Telegraph criticising government proposals to force universities to admit students from poorer backgrounds with lower A-level grades. This marks my one-hundredth published newspaper article.

Tuesday 8 February
Spoke for Policy Exchange at the 'Think Tank Clash' at London's South Bank, arguing against the proposition: 'The solution to the broken society is a radically more equal Britain' - read Spectator report

Wednesday 2 February
Interviewed about social mobility on BBC-2 documentary, 'Who gets the best jobs?' ( view clip on YouTube and read my commentary)

January 2011:

Friday 21 January
Sympathy for the Devil? The Mayor of London has said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards should be knighted, published in CIS e-newsletter, Ideas@TheCentre

Thursday 20 January
The Economist ('The rise and rise of the cognitive elite') discusses my critique of The Spirit Level and concludes 'this debate will probably never be resolved'.

December 2010:

Friday 17 December
High student tuition fees reflect the full-year salaries paid to their lecturers for half a year's teaching, published in CIS e-newsletter, Ideas@TheCentre

Tuesday 14 December
Article on why the UK government needs to strengthen conditional welfare as part of its reform plans, published in The Australian

Wednesday 1 December
Article on class divisions and social mobility in Britain, published in The Australian

November 2010:

Friday 5 November
Reflections on the Battle of Ideas debate on class in Britain, published in the CIS newsletter, Ideas@TheCentre

Thursday 4 November:
Lunchtime talk on social mobility at Civitas - download handout here

October 2010:

Sunday 31 October:
Discussing 'class' at the London Battle of Ideas festival with Daily Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire (who claimed "your parent's occupation almost decides your occupation"), sociologist Neil Davenport (who dismissed upward social mobility as "a total myth"), and journalist Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal. View the debate here.

Saturday 30 October:
In a discussion of housing benefit changes, Max Hastings in The Daily Mail quotes from Social Mobility Myths ("an excellent recent pamphlet... by that rare beast, a sensible sociologist")

Tuesday 19 October:
Presentation to Policy Exchange round table on poverty and work targets - details

Sunday 17 October:
Civitas released my critical evaluation of the recent Equality and Human Rights Commission report, 'How Fair is Britain?' Read my critique or view press release

Monday 11 October:
Discussed 'The Spirit Level' on BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme - listen

Saturday 9 October:
Launch of Visions of Hastings, edited by Kay Green and published by Earlyworks Press, which includes my short story, 'Enough Edge'

Friday 8 October:
Article evaluating the British government's plans for conditional welfare and 'making work pay', published in The Australian newspaper

September 2010:

Friday 24 September:
Short piece on why some of us get angry when people put their feet on the seat in a train, published in the CIS e-newsletter Ideas@TheCentre

Tuesday 14 September:
Appearance on 'Jeff Randall Live' on Sky News discussing Ian Duncan Smith's plans for reforming welfare - view clip

Tuesday 7 September:
Presentation on poverty measurement at Institute for Fiscal Studies workshop on reducing child poverty - details

Wednesday 1 September:
The Economist blog considers my critique of The Spirit Level and agrees with me that 'culture must play a significant part' in explaining international variations.

August 2010:

Thursday 26 August:
I give evidence at Frank Field's Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances (Cabinet Office, London). There is resistance to my suggestion that sole parenthood is a risk factor for children, and to my claim that intelligence is a key factor in social mobility.

Thursday 26 August:
The Guardian publishes a short (500 word) response from Christopher Snowdon and me to its full-page article accusing us being ideas wreckers

Wednesday 25 August:
For the second time in a fortnight, I agree to appear on Channel 4 News to debate The Spirit Level, only for Wilkinson and Pickett to withdraw, leading to cancellation of the item.

Sunday 22 August:
Julia Hartley-Brewer discusses 'Social Mobility Myths' in her column in The Sunday Express

Saturday 21 August:
After Wilkinson tells the Times Higher Education Supplement that he will no longer debate with his critics, Nigel Hawkes in The Independent attacks the Spirit Level authors' stance as 'a disgrace'

Friday 20 August:
Jeff Randall quotes Social Mobility Myths in a Daily Telegraph article on dumbed-down A-levels and degraded universities.

Wednesday 18 August:
Press briefing for Civitas responding to Nick Clegg's speech on promoting social mobility

Tuesday 17 August:
I participate in a BBC Radio 4 Today programme discussion on social mobility - listen

Saturday 14 August:
The Guardian has another go at discrediting critics of The Spirit Level, dismissing Snowdon and me as 'right-wing wreckers'. No attempt is made to explore our methodological concerns.

Friday 13 August:
Presentation on social mobility at Dept of Work & Pensions Strategy Group seminar, London. A lively and well-informed discussion ensues.

Friday 13 August:
I review the weaknesses in The Spirit Level in the CIS weekly newsletter Ideas@TheCentre. Toby Young reviews the arguments in The Spectator, concluding The Spirit Level is 'bunkum'.

July 2010:

Wednesday 28 July:
The Guardian publishes a short response to its editorial from Chris Snowdon and me on its letters page.

Monday 26 July:
The Guardian devotes an Editorial to defending the authors of The Spirit Level against the 'polemical attack' by myself and Chris Snowdon. Claims we want to deflect people's attention from the Tory Budget.

Thursday 22 July:
Debate on 'The Spirit Level' at the Royal Society of Arts, London in front of sell-out audience of 200 people. Partnered by Chris Snowdon (author of 'The Spirit Level Delusion') and opposed by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. watch video

Wednesday 21 July:
Matthew Sinclair, writing in Prospect, endorses my critique of 'The Spirit Level', refers to 'Social Mobility Myths' as a "devastating book", and attacks the 'liberal elite' for its misleading views on meritocracy

Thursday 9 July:
On The Guardian web site, the authors of 'The Spirit Level' attack my critique of their findings as 'racist' because I control for ethnicity. See my response to their comments here.

Wednesday 8 July:
Policy Exchange publishes Beware False Prophets, my critique of 'The Spirit Level', a book which claims that everybody's lives would be improved if income inequalities were reduced. In The Times, David Aaronovitch calls it a 'thorough debunking' of the 'Koran of the centre-left'.

Friday 2 July:
Reflections on England's World Cup debacle, published in the CIS weekly e-newsletter, Ideas@TheCentre

June 2010:

Monday 21 June:
Debating Ken Henry's Australian tax and welfare reform proposals on ABC National 'Australia Talks'

Friday 18 June:
I am honoured to accept the offer to become a Professorial Research Fellow at Civitas, the London-based think tank.

Thursday 17 June:
Live video link to Centre for Independent Studies (Sydney) debating the Ken Henry review of Australian welfare benefits system. Details here

Sunday 13 June:
Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times reports on my critique of the last government's Child Poverty Bill; Alasdair Palmer in The Sunday Telegraph discusses my latest report on social mobility.

Wednesday 9 June:
New Zealand Welfare Working Group discusses welfare reform. Read my submission or watch my video presentation

Sunday 6 June:
'Busting the myth of our rigid classes' - article on social mobility published in The Sunday Times

Thursday 3 June:
Interview on 'Sussex Breakfast' programme on BBC Radio Sussex about Social Mobility Myths

Tuesday 1 June:
Reports in Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail on Social Mobility Myths

Tuesday 1 June:
Social Mobility Myths published by Civitas. Order from Amazon

May 2010:

Thursday May 27:
Chair debate at Civitas on industrial policy between David Green of Civitas and John Willman of Policy Exchange. Visit Civitas here

Monday May 10:
Article on the economic implications of the UK general election result, published in The Australian newspaper. Read it here

Wednesday May 5:
In New Zealand, some politicians continue to attack what they call my 'extreme view' that 'low average intelligence and low class are linked'. Do they believe that ability plays no part in occupational recruitment? Read my response here

April 2010:

Thursday April 29:
In New Zealand Parliament, Labour attacks my involvement in the welfare reform group, claiming I argue that "low-income people are innately more stupid and more often end up on welfare." You can read the comment here. To see what I actually say about class and intelligence, read my new book, Social Mobility Myths

Thursday April 29:
Article on the UK election campaign published in The Australian newspaper. Read it here

Wednesday April 14:
I am writing one article per week for the Centre for Independent Studies e-newsletter in Sydney, discussing aspects of the UK general election campaign. You can read them here.

Tuesday April 13:
New Zealand Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett, has announced that I have been appointed as an 'international expert' helping the new working group on welfare reform. More details here.

Saturday April 10:
Daily Telegraph quotes my view that a tax break for married couples would be both 'practical and equitable'. View article here

February 2010:

Tuesday February 23:
In the House of Lords debate on the Child Poverty Bill, Opposition spokesperson, David Freud, cites my Policy Exchange paper in support of his proposed amendment. Read the debate in Hansard

Thursday February 4:
Debate: Should the state support marriage through the tax/benefit system? Sponsored by Policy Exchange. Other speakers were Stephen Brien (Centre for Social Justice), Andrew Haldenby (Reform) and Richard Reeves (DEMOS). View short clip

Wednesday February 3:
Why there should be a married couple's tax allowance. Published on politics.co.uk, the UK's leading political news website. Click here to read

November 2009:

Friday November 27:
Are the Government's Proposed Measures the Right Ones? Paper on the government's Child Poverty Bill presented at the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion conference in Birmingham, 'Tackling child poverty in hard times'. Click here to download Powerpoint slides from the presentation.

October 2009:

Thursday October 29:
Poverty of Ambition, a critique of the Government's Child Poverty Bill and its statutory poverty targets, published by Policy Exchange. Download a copy here.

Tuesday October 27:
New novel, The Versailles Memorandum goes on sale. Go to website .

Saturday October 10:
'Visions of Hastings' runner-up prize awarded at Hastings Town Hall for short story, Enough Edge. The story will be published next year by Earlyworks Press in a collection edited by Kay Green. More information