Commentary & Podcasts

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has announced plans for increasing housing supply through changes to brownfield planning. Will these changes have an impact on Britain's chronic lack of housing? Senior Researcher Gideon Salutin digs into the details to find out.

Exposure to lead is likely harming our health and our economy. In this blog, Lee Crawfurd makes the case for greater screening, tracking and awareness to address the 'silent epidemic'.

Once the hot takes to last year's immigration figures cooled, SMF's migration expert Jonathan Thomas offered five more measured insights on what they mean.

The long-awaited ban on no-fault evictions continues to evade us, based on claims that it will harm the rental market and reduce supply. But what does the evidence say? Looking at Scotland and other jurisdictions suggests that claims of harm are entirely misplaced.

The United States is currently facing a devastating opioid crisis, with potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl driving increasing overdose deaths. While these drugs have not yet taken a firm hold in the UK, the domestic situation could get considerably worse. In this blog, Jake Shepherd discusses the potential impact of the evolving drug landscape, including measures that could be taken to avert crisis.

The answer lies not just in comparing the costs to parents, but also the societal costs of providing childcare - which are surprisingly difficult to work out, requiring bottom-up data gathering and calculations. In this blog, SMF's Hari Menon compares the cost of provision between UK and Sweden, to open up the discussion on childcare accessibility.