Many years ago I published a paper entitled ‘The Paratransit Light Vehicle.’ It examined ride-sharing schemes in several world cities. These included the Philippine jeepneys, the Argentine colectivos, the Turkey dolmus, the Israeli sheruts and others.

The UK government could encourage more firms to fund student fees in exchange for post-graduation employment commitments through a mix of financial incentives, regulatory support, and awareness campaigns.

The problem is that many young mothers want to return to work to boost the household income and living standards and to fulfil themselves.

The UK state pension is unfunded, a pay-as-you-go system funded out of general taxation and the National Insurance payroll tax. Today’s payers-in fund today’s drawers-out.

It is fashionable in some circles to stigmatize economic growth as ‘materialism,’ recklessly using up the planet’s allegedly scarce resources in a rat race to acquire ever more material goods.

Just as the quantity theory of money factors in the velocity as well as the supply of money, we might apply the same principle to the housing market. The velocity of housing transactions is notoriously slow.

Capitalism was not invented. It developed out of the ways in which people deal with each other, and is one of the most benign things that people have done

Critics of capitalism sometimes suggest that advertising is wasteful, diverting resources into promoting goods that might otherwise be used to lower the price.

In some circles profit is almost a dirty word. It conjures up fat capitalists sucking up the livelihood of poorer people in order to stuff their pockets and make themselves fabulously wealthy.

Everywhere the shout is for greater equality. Unequal societies, we are told by some, are less happy. More equal societies, we are told, are more stable and contented.

The modern idea seems to be that risk is a bad thing to be avoided, whereas the reverse is true.  Some people do indeed feel comfortable in a safe and stable environment, but this is not where progress and advances are made. 

The idea sounds superficially attractive. No more national wars or territorial grabs.