Faith, economics, philosophy and sport in unequal measure. Personal account.
Joined May 2010
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Philip Krinks retweeted
I know. That’s why I prefer the Dilnot solution which means people pay the first £X,000 and the state picks up the sort of catastrophic costs that can lead people to lose everything. Burnham’s solution is both very expensive and fails to provide that protection.
Philip Krinks retweeted
Suicidal bureaucracy
A wonderful moment. Am I the only one who's surprised and elated when we win... everytime I rewatch it!
Philip Krinks retweeted
The Conservatives cannot be an anti-housing party. Too many lives are being ruined by a lack of affordable homes. Politically, it is also salting the earth of future support. People don’t vote Conservative if they can’t build capital in their lives.
Perhaps Kemi’s single best policy change as Leader has been her commitment to abolish SDLT - an idea championed by James Cleverly. And James’s response to our recent @ukonward and @CPSThinkTank report on how to deliver hundreds of thousands more homes in London was fantastic.
But there are further challenges ahead. How the Party responds to the new National Planning Policy Framework is a big one. This is a wise article from Charlie Banner KC and @aireyj.
conservativehome.com/2026/08…
Philip Krinks retweeted
Margaret Thatcher, 1984 conference speech: “I confess I am very glad we have got the railways, but if we were trying to build those same railways today, I wonder if we would ever get planning permission—it sometimes takes so long. And that is one thing that can sometimes delay the coming into existence of jobs.”
Philip Krinks retweeted
My work as academic and chaplain puts me in a unique position to comment on today’s news.
I’ve seen university culture change over three decades so that critical thinking and robust feedback has diminished when paying students call the shots. The unwillingness to give and take robust criticism has been shocking to witness and catastrophic on the culture and resilience of individuals. Each day I am insisting on standards in an evermore gently gently culture. It’s not healthy.
As a chaplain, I speak with the suicidal every week. Suicide kills. It is never a good idea to talk about the “they” and “the system” and the “isms” and “phobias” that would make the suicidal believe that such things have a power over their own actions.
“If I kill myself then that will teach them” but No actually it won’t because your actions are your own responsibility and we want to keep you safe as you pass this period of crisis.
Jason Arday, like all those facing suicide ideation today, deserved better help and protection but I expect his family are distraught that nothing they could do or say prevented this.
What I know is that there are fundamental cultural issues at play in our universities which also set up this man to fail. I’m sure the public pressure recently has been awful for him and it is still not the case that one single event causes a suicide. Samaritans guidance is very clear on this. Please be careful about how you speak about suicide if you have no experience around it.
Building resilience is the key here. In schools, universities and wider society. Keep it real. Take responsibility, listen closely to your detractors and examine your own conscience and ego. Also be humble enough to seek and accept help and support. You do not need to be perfect. We are all flawed human beings.
As I share daily with despairing men in prison- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Rest in peace Jason Arday.
Very good from the Economic Affairs blog of @iealondon @WTMAtkinson: "The invisible hand does not patrol sea lanes or clear naval mines. Advocates of free trade should abandon the myth that commerce protects itself."
Philip Krinks retweeted
Brilliant and excoriating. What a total mess.
“We seem to be moving ever closer to a system in which the government gives every business a score out of ten each year according to how much it likes the business that year, and sets its tax rate that year accordingly.”
NEW: Business rates have gone from being one of the most stable and simple taxes in the system to one of the least.
📗 @StuartAdam_IFS and @isaacdelestre explain why a coherent view of business rates and how they should be designed is sorely needed, in our response to today's announcement:
ALT Quote from IFS Senior Economist Stuart Adam: "Business rates have gone from being one of the most stable and simple taxes in the system to one of the least. We seem to be moving ever closer to a system in which the government gives every business a score out of ten each year according to how much it likes the business that year, and sets its tax rate that year accordingly."
Philip Krinks retweeted
Britain's free-market community has won the intellectual argument on the causes of the country's slow growth. Almost all serious analysts now say supply-side constraints in housing, energy, labour etc are a big drag on it.
Remarkable really, given many economists spent the 2010s deluding themselves that more spending by the Department for Communities and Local Government and higher public sector pay was the route to growth.
I guess when the country ran huge demand-side stimulus post-pandemic, it became obvious that it was the supply-side all along. But it took a long time to get there!
An article on integrity and its costs, based on my talk yesterday at Christ's College Cambridge: linkedin.com/pulse/projectin… via @LinkedIn
I'm sorry to announce that the PM has been officially Lettuced by The @dailystar
