George Eaton
@georgeeaton
Editor-in-Chief and co-founder, @ArguablyMag.bsky.social Subscribe on Substack:
Also known as being a low-growth, high-debt, ageing country that refuses to raise headline taxes on middle-earners.
It’s the opposite – a tax on unearned wealth has an obvious moral justification. And UK couples can already pass on £1m tax-free.
This is a remarkable distillation of 2020s life, and very moving - best new novel I’ve read this year.
Wrote this back in Feb – Burnham was still blocked but Reform’s vulnerabilities were clear.
London gets to keep less tax revenue than almost any other leading G7 city. Greater fiscal devolution will be good for growth, housing and infrastructure – the Bakerloo extension blocked by Reeves can be self-financed. www.arguably.uk/p/set-london...
Good to see @benjudah.bsky.social’s piece on anti-kleptocracy picked up in Playbook. Subscribe to Arguably to read it now: www.arguably.uk/p/dirty-mone...
On austerity, it’s not complicated: you just have to separate protected/unprotected areas. Spending power for English councils is still *9% lower* than in 2010/11.
Austerity “never happened” and Truss is “much misunderstood” in the same paragraph is some achievement (Matthew Syed today).
Why Britain’s privatisation experiment is so extraordinary by international standards. www.arguably.uk/p/can-andy-b...
Why it’s time to replace Stamp Duty with a proportional property tax. www.arguably.uk/p/a-growth-m...
The case for a tax on self-driving cars, which could eventually raise up to £100bn. www.arguably.uk/p/a-growth-m...
2. The young are *most likely* to say that the triple lock should be more generous. So only reform based on generational solidarity rather than warfare is politically viable. Using triple lock savings to fund greater support for NEETs is one option. www.arguably.uk/p/how-burnha...
Burnham right to warn local government is “threadbare”. Spending power for English councils is still 9% lower than in *2010/11*.
One of the Brexiteers’ favourite boasts is that the UK has outgrown Europe over the last decade – here’s the reality. www.arguably.uk/p/we-cant-af...
Just 25% of Brits now have a favourable view of Farage - his greatest trick has been convincing the world that he’s the voice of the people when polling has long shown the reverse.
The Starmer government was one of the most left-leaning we’ve had that was almost never identified as such.
Why David Miliband would be a smart choice as Andy Burnham’s foreign secretary – from @benjudah.bsky.social’s piece today. www.arguably.uk/p/andy-burnh...
Good to see Wes Streeting back Danish-style “flexicurity” in his speech today – an idea that featured in the launch essay of @arguablymag.bsky.social. www.arguably.uk/p/reclaiming...
Makerfield would now vote to rejoin the EU – more evidence of why viewing British politics as frozen in 2016 is such an error.
Getting more people into work is a long-term project – it won’t suddenly fund higher defence spending (as Burnham suggests). Real choices are: raise taxes on most people/raise borrowing/cut spending.
Definitely a rational way to determine how much we spend on defence.
Starmer’s post-election speech gets worse with age. He said “incremental change won’t cut it” on defence, growth and Europe and has offered… exactly that.
Persuasive from @zoegrunewald.bsky.social on how a Secretary of State for the Young would help avoid outrages such as the student loan threshold freeze. www.arguably.uk/p/we-need-a-...
Britain isn’t a high-tax country and middle-earners should pay more. New post on the alternative to cutting infrastructure spending yet again. www.arguably.uk/p/the-tax-tr...
JD Vance is fantastically unpopular in the UK, a sane British right would be keeping its distance.
There are now more Tory supporters who backed Remain than Leave (47-43). Badenoch really needs an offer beyond ‘we can make a success of Brexit’.
We shouldn’t get trapped in a false choice between higher growth and lower inequality. Most major western states are richer *and* more equal than the UK.
This is sharp from James Meadway in his interview with Arguably on the “hard truths” that any left project must face. www.arguably.uk/p/what-do-th...