Alex Singleton

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. […]

I popped into the London Stock Exchange building this afternoon, where there’s an ISDN-connected radio studio, to appear on BBC Radio 5’s Drivetime programme. We were discussing Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti’s claims about new mortal sins which the Daily Telegraph has described as reading “like a sixth-form essay”. I think the debate made good radio.

In the Social Affairs Unit’s Web Review, I examine the phenomenon of Che Guevara and a recent book that is critical of this hero to many students:
At universities across Britain and in the United States, students can be found wearing t-shirts emblazened with the image of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. While Britain’s National Union of Students […]

On Telegraph.co.uk, I point out that attempts to force private schools to offer more bursaries will mean higher school fees. Given that many parents already stuggle to pay fees, this will be an unwelcome burden.

On the Telegraph site, I argue that if the Archbishop of Canterbury is to resign, it should for a different failure:
In the private sector, CEOs routinely get pushed out because of falling customer numbers caused by their failure to market services that appeal to the public.
Looking at results might seem vulgar in the leisurely world […]

On the Telegraph site, I suggest that greater use of encrypted email might not be a bad thing, given the remarkable level of domestic spying being used by government:
Here we have a classic case of a law - the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - that was designed to fight terrorism, now being subverted […]

On the Telegraph’s Brassneck Blog, I argue that X-Factor winner Leon Jackson has been more effective at promoting a vision than the PM:
[Leon’s] Christmas number one, When You Believe, does something that Gordon Brown has never managed: it inspires people. It talks about daring to dare, of overcoming fear, believing in yourself and achieving your […]

My colleague Tom Clougherty and I were guests on Monday night at the Policy Exchange Christmas Party at Westminster’s City Inn. David Cameron was there to deliver a five-minute speech, introduced by Charles Moore, and other guests included journalists such as John Bryant (Editor in Chief of the Telegraph), Gabriel Rozenberg (economics guru at The […]

The Financial Times has an article on the economics of Nicolas Sarkozy. It says:
Interestingly, many “Sarko watchers” note his almost uncompromising free market approach on domestic issues such as taxation and the labour market, while areas where he must bow to Brussels – such as competition – attract the most protectionist outbursts.
For Alex Singleton, head […]

The European Parliament has today thrown out unnecessary proposals encouraging cigarette-style warnings of bottles of alcohol. This is a victory for common sense. Puritanical anti-alcohol lobbyists are outraged, but could it not just be that, frankly, the last thing we want is to be hectored by a demonising label on a bottle of Bordeaux?
Inevitably, there […]