Alex Singleton

How can we make Britain’s railways work better? On Telegraph.co.uk, I suggest that competition between train operators is key, pointing out two very good examples - Hull Trains and Grand Central - neither of which is a franchise holder. But I argue that the government is not championing competition:
The tragedy is that this sort of […]

On Telegraph.co.uk, I cover a new proposal by the Conservatives:
The Conservative plan, reported by Andrew Pierce in today’s Daily Telegraph, to take failing schools out of the grips of local authorities would hugely benefit pupils stuck at England’s worst-performing schools. The model is similar to the charter schools system operating with success in parts of […]

One the Telegraph’s Brassneck blog, I take issue with new IPPR research and suggest that parents - not politicians - are key to protecting children online. Read it here.

On Telegraph.co.uk I suggest replacing council tax, arguing that the current tax is unfair:
Council tax is not just wrong because it is too high, however. It is wrong in principle, too. Those who spend their money on conspicuous consumption normally pay tax only once on their spending (in the form of VAT and duties at […]

On Saturday I had a piece on Telegraph.co.uk on ‘David Cameron and the forgotten man‘. I picked up on William Graham Sumner’s idea of ‘the forgotten man’, the middle-class person who falls between the affluent on the one hand and the welfare recipient on the other.
Incidentally, for a number of years I had Google as […]

On Telegraph.co.uk, I say no:
To use the licence fee to take sports rights against a purely commercial broadcaster like ITV is a horrendous waste of money. It is unfair because it uses taxpayer funding to force up prices and out-compete the private sector. Moreover, despite the BBC spending a reported £150 million for the five-year […]

On Telegraph.co.uk, I put the case for private sector management of poor country water systems, arguing that opponents:
…do not have the empirical evidence on their side. The main cause of water poverty in poor countries is state mismanagement, both of water systems and of resources. 97% of the water distribution in poor countries is run […]

Following criticism of the way MPs are expensing their shopping at John Lewis, some politicians are arguing for higher salaries. On Telegraph.co.uk, I take them to task:
“You’ll be hard-pressed to find a chief executive who’s on less than £100,000,” [Labour MP Martin Salter] says.The comparison shows the vanity and delusion of backbench MPs. The sort […]

On the Telegraph’s Brassneck blog, I talk about the way Ireland deals with household waste:
In Ireland, where the state has - in large parts of the country - fully liberalised refuse collection and recycling, huge innovation has been unleashed. Competing companies are able to offer cheaper prices because they are gaining profits from recycling materials. […]

On The Guardian’s coverage of tomorrow’s budget on its Comment is Free site, I have a piece critical of the proposed “showroom tax” on new cars:
…just as it took time for the colour laser printer to move from being a frustrating and ugly £10,000 beast to being a £99 sleek machine, it will take time […]