Karl Williams
CapX
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Karl:
A new energy department is very welcome – but we need a whole lot more to secure Britain's future supply
Whatever the political pros and cons, Rishi Sunak’s decision to break up the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is good for all sorts of policy reasons. The business element, which was overshadowed by energy in the old department, is a much better fit with international trade, not least because the new department […] → Read More
Why Sunak shouldn't follow Joe Biden's example on immigration
Most developed western countries, except steadfast Australia, have been confronted with the problem of surging irregular immigration over the last year. And while it’s easy to get caught up in our own problems, we should spare a thought for our American cousins. In the year to September 2021, 1.7 million migrants were detained for trying […] → Read More
How Australia took back control
After all the hard-line rhetoric, the deployment of the Royal Navy and a series of costly deals with France, still the small boats come. Over 44,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel this year, bringing the total since 2018 to 83,000. And with costs spiralling and asylum backlogs mounting, the Government has looked ever more […] → Read More
Energy abundance is the only route to future prosperity – and Truss understands that
Millions of households are at risk of sliding into debt and poverty. Tens of thousands of businesses – potentially including seven out of ten pubs and six out of ten manufacturers – could go to the wall. Soaring inflation and a massive recession could squeeze living standards back down to 2003 levels. Civil servants have […] → Read More
The fractal blob: how EDI has crept into every level of the public sector
As part of his welcome war on waste in the NHS, Health Secretary Sajid Javid reportedly intends to take on the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) blob, abolishing a swathe of ‘equality and diversity’ positions within the health service bureaucracy. Each EDI job ended will liberate between £25,000 and £100,000 a year for the diagnosis, […] → Read More
From energy to childcare, there's plenty the Government can do now to cut the cost of living
British households are facing the steepest fall in their living standards in generations. The Bank of England expects inflation to peak at 10% in Q4 2022 – the highest level in 40 years – with a recession in 2023 a very real possibility. Even before the Bank updated its forecasts, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility […] → Read More
Conservatives must reforge the contract between generations
The unravelling of the social compact continues apace, with a Labour peer the latest figure to take an axe to the ties that bind the generations together. The industry and regulators committee of the House of Lords recently published a report relating to net zero. Its main recommendation – that the upfront costs should be […] → Read More
Is there any money left? The UK economy after Covid
With Covid restrictions finally lifted, the country’s attention is turning from public health back to the economy. Cost of living pressures, the balance between tax, spending and debt, and the pressing need to raise Britain’s mediocre long-term growth rates are once more at the forefront of the policy debate – and rightly so. Britain faces […] → Read More
Could fracking really rescue Britain from high gas prices?
Soaring natural gas prices are doing more than anything else – even the Government’s impending tax hike – to take money out of people’s pockets. Inflation is set to hit 7.25% in April as Ofgem ratchets up the energy price cap, adding an extra £693 to the average household energy bill. Global gas market fundamentals, […] → Read More
What will Europe do if Russia turns off the taps?
Gas is at the heart of the equivocation currently on show in the chancelleries of continental Europe. As Russian forces mass on the border with Ukraine, European politicians are faced with a stark choice: support Ukraine and potentially have to deal with a very cold and rather angry electorate at home, or prevaricate. The latter […] → Read More
If the Government is serious about growth, it's time to take on the 'EDI blob'
Robert Conquest’s second law of politics states that any organisation ‘not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing’. There can be few finer examples of his axiom than UK Research and Innovation’s recently published ‘equality, diversity and inclusion strategy’ – a 19-page document accompanied by a four-page glossary of key concepts such […] → Read More
With a gas supply crisis looming, UK energy policy needs a wholesale rethink
UK energy policy has been a mess for decades, not least in its undue – indeed, almost inexplicable – neglect of natural gas. Cans have been kicked down the road again and again. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to be reaching the end of that road this winter, with soaring wholesale gas prices already […] → Read More
The latest top-down NHS reform is based on faith, not evidence
It’s taken a long time for the public to come round to the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Tories aren’t out to get the NHS. Persuading people of that fact is arguably one of Boris Johnson’s great personal achievements as Conservative leader. True, the Tories are never likely to be seen as ‘the party […] → Read More
Net Zero by 2050 may be the law, but we still have no idea how much it will cost
Not since Churchill promised victory over Germany in his ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’ speech of May 1940 has the UK set itself a more expensive or ambitious policy goal. The initial, official cost estimates for getting to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 range from £1.5 to £2.1 trillion. That equates to […] → Read More