#4 Pause and Reflect
Plus: making Britain great again, policy agenda by TV and lessons from Bidenomics
Welcome to the fourth instalment of the Liberal Digest. And breathe – for 90 days at least. In the biggest news of the week, President Trump announced a pause to his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs after the stock market took a pounding. (Assuming, of course, that nothing changes between us hitting send and this landing in your inbox.)
In this week’s edition: capitalising on chaos across the Atlantic, nuclear appointments, Lords reform and more.
Did we miss something? Let us know.
Stop the Press!
Best op eds, interviews, news and analysis of the week in the old-school media
Robert Shrimsley on why the rule of law is democracy’s last line of defence:
“But focusing on a backlash engineered by her supporters is to view this through the wrong end of the telescope. The greater danger to society comes when it shrinks from upholding the law. Those seeking special consideration for Le Pen are essentially arguing that some people are above the rules. To abdicate responsibility for enforcing the law begins the slide into political chaos.”
Writing for CapX, Dalibor Rohac says that President Trump is embedding cronyism into the fabric of the American economy:
“It is not an exaggeration that Donald Trump’s draconian tariffs against the rest of the world, announced on April 2, seek to recreate Russian-style political economy in America. Their purpose is not to bring back manufacturing jobs or raise revenue – nor is it to extract trade and other concessions from US trading partners. Instead, their aim is to assert political control over the world’s largest, most dynamic market economy, ensuring that independent economic wealth does not pose a challenge to Trump’s hold on political power for the next four years, and potentially beyond.”
Rejoin the customs union, poach American academics and unashamedly champion democracy to make Britain great again, argues Lewis Liu in City A.M.:
“With the US increasingly seen as unstable, Britain should be the natural landing zone for global talent. The post-Brexit visa schemes for highly skilled individuals must be fully deployed and aggressively promoted. Every government official, every business leader, every Briton needs to help reverse the brain drain of the past few years. This is an economic and strategic imperative.”
The Economist: The philosopher changing free speech in Britain
Sky News: Starmer to name ex-regulator Fingleton to lead nuclear taskforce
BBC: Labour MPs call for digital IDs to tackle migration
The Telegraph: MPs call for Netflix tax to protect British TV
The Guardian: UK foreign secretary criticises Israel for denying two Labour MPs entry
Stacks of Freedom
Highlights from our fellow Substackers
John Kingman sets out six ways for Labour to get growth going over on Sam Freedman’s Comment is Freed:
Sam Dumitriu’s sizzling hot take that Britain does, in fact, have a housing shortage:
Ryan Bourne explains why protectionism can’t protect us:
Alex Chalmers outlines the case for nuclear power, and how we can build it faster and less expensively:
Matt Yglesias runs through 29 thoughts on the Liberation Day tariffs:
Kyla Scanlon has all you need to know about the state of the US economy:
[Ed: These last two were published prior to the latest twist in President Trump’s tariff saga, but still make for good reading.]
Wonk World
Ideas and analysis from the think tanks and academia
Professor Meg Russell breaks down the past, present and potential future of Lords reform:
“Debate about Lords reform has been near-constant for decades, but no other government bill on the subject has reached the chamber in the past 26 years. That makes this a rare opportunity to achieve long-awaited reform of the second chamber – certainly on the hereditary peers, but ideally also going further.”
What can Britain learn from ‘Bidenomics’? Ed Balls and co. have thoughts:
“A little over a year ago, “Bidenomics” was hailed as a policy success: overseeing the fastest growth in the developed world in the aftermath of the pandemic; delivering a “soft landing” despite fears of stagflation; and pioneering, according to advocates, a new paradigm in economic policymaking that the world could learn from. In the UK, then-Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she would “embrace the insights of an emergent economic consensus”.
After the Democratic Party lost the 2024 presidential election, by contrast, many commentators sought to pin the blame on the outgoing administration’s economic policy.”
Simon Pittaway of the Resolution Foundation looks at why Britain’s productivity growth has lagged so far behind America’s:
“The lessons for policy are clear: we need to raise business investment, boost innovation and reverse the long-run decline in business dynamism. Of course, none of these are not directly under policy makers’ control, but there are things we can do to shift the odds in our favour.”
Hear Hear
Podcasts for weekend listening
Planet Money discuss trade deficits and ask whether they matter at all:
Tom Clougherty interviewed Lord Moynihan on economic growth and British dynamism on the IEA Podcast:
Posting to Policy
Best of social media this week
Lawrence Newport: The cost of the triple lock just isn’t just
Joe Weisenthal: What non-tariff barriers really look like
Emma Revell: Tough on the causes of crime
Saloni Dattani: Reason to be cheerful
Alex Muresianu: Microcosms of disruption
Further Afield
Interesting stuff from around the world
The case for ‘freedom cities’, according to Tom W. Bell:
“The aim is not to have no rules, but to encourage the discovery of better rules. Just as states serve as laboratories for democracy, Freedom Cities will serve as laboratories trying to get the good effects of regulation without the bad effects of inefficiency, waste, and delay. These experiments in governance will happen within small, geographically contained areas and involve only willing participants, mitigating concerns about safety or ethics. By putting freedom into practice, Freedom Cities can help all of us figure out how to govern ourselves better.”
Marian Tupy explains how evolutionary psychology, cognitive biases and morality make us fear the means to a better future:
“Over generations, humans became attuned to social fixes as the primary way to navigate crises. We evolved to seek consensus, enforce norms, and reward conformity—traits that helped small groups function efficiently in an unpredictable environment. As a result, when confronted with modern challenges, we instinctively default to social regulation over technological adaptation.”
Graph of the Week
From Kalshi, as of 10:00am (BST) Friday 11 April