Category
Teaching activity
At the end of May, the £ reached its strongest level against a basket of currencies since the Brexit referendum.
In the News Teaching Activity – the UK economic trends 2010-24, success or failure? (June 2024)
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) have put together their report on the key economic trends since 2010 – have things gone as well as they could have done, given the difficult economic headwinds?
In the News Teaching Activity – as the General Elections looms, what are the key economic arguments likely to be? (June 2024)
It would be hard to miss the news that the UK’s next General Election is on 4th July. Politicians are already rolling out all sorts of economic policy ideas to try to win the electorate’s votes....
Mariana Mazzucato argues that the ‘cloud’ data centres are huge consumers of non-renewable resources and that, despite big tech helping to enable moves towards net zero, it has its own huge...
In the News Teaching Activity – with inflation back in its target range, is the cost-of-living crisis over? (May 2024)
According to the ONS Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation has fallen to 2.3% in the 12 months to April 2024. However, according to Ed Conway consumers are still feeling the pain of the...
In the News Teaching Activity – does the water industry need stronger regulation? (May 2024)
The water industry is under ever-closer scrutiny after a parasite in the water supply was found to have caused a wave of illness amongst the residents of Brixham. This is not the only problem that...
In the News Teaching Activity – are the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer in the UK? (May 2024)
Last week the Sunday Times published its ‘rich list’ showing the UK’s 350 wealthiest people have wealth greater than £795bn. Meanwhile there has been an increase in child poverty.
In the News Teaching Activity – Why is the USA putting tariffs on Chinese EVs? (May 2024)
Ed Conway, Economics correspondent at Sky News, takes a closer look at the US decision to put an 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles (EV). He argues that there is a political reason for the...
In the News Teaching Activity – Will the Bank of England cut base rates this summer? (May 2024)
The Bank of England kept the base rate on hold at 5.25% at its meeting on 9th May, but indicated the next move may be downwards. Hot on the heels of the Bank’s Governor saying the UK was not...
The latest house price data shows a stagnation in house prices as the housing market responds to higher mortgage interest rates, but there are some regional differences.
In the News Teaching Activity – will Venice’s access fee have its desired effect? (May 2024)
This summer the City of Venice is trialling a new access fee of 5 euros to try and prevent over-tourism. Critics argue it won’t deter day trippers from visiting and is just a way of revenue-raising...
In the News Teaching Activity – why has the OECD downgraded its UK growth forecasts? (May 2024)
The OECD has just published its latest economic outlook and its forecasts for UK economic growth for 2024 have been reduced from 0.7% to 0.4%.
In the News Teaching Activity – is climate change a consequence of information failure? (May 2024)
Last month the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) published a report that found that the costs of not reaching net zero could be $38 trillion by 2050, far higher than the costs of...
In the News Teaching Activity – what’s been happening to public finances? (Apr 2024)
Continuing the ‘update’ before exams, the ONS data for government borrowing and debt for the 2023-24 fiscal year has been published and the news is not that good for a government that may be...
The national museums in Wales have a significant shortfall in funding and may have to shed workers or, in the worst-case scenario, shut altogether.
In the News Teaching Activity – what does the latest data tell us about the state of the UK macroeconomy? (Apr 2024)
For students heading into exams, it is always good to know the latest information about growth, unemployment and inflation. All three indicators were updated by the ONS last week.
In the News Teaching Activity – what is happening to the UK’s international trade? (Apr 2024)
As this year’s exam session approaches, the news often covers growth, unemployment and inflation, but neglects to tell us much about international trade. Post-Brexit, the Government has promoted an...
In the News Teaching Activity – is the price of getting your nails done going to rise? (Apr 2024)
Nail technicians earn a measly £7 an hour for their work, well below the minimum wage, so they have tried to unite to push their prices up last week.
In the News Teaching Activity – Unilever are planning to sell off Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (Mar 2024)
Unilever, the global leader in consumer goods, producing brands, such as Dove, Hellman’s, PG Tips and Domestos, has announced job cuts and an ice-cream sell-off in its strategic restructuring plan.
A heatwave in Western Africa, where many of the world’s cocoa beans are produced, is pushing up the prices of chocolate Easter eggs this year.
Daily Email Updates
Subscribe to our daily digest and get the day’s content delivered fresh to your inbox every morning at 7am.
Signup for emails