Director of CPS, editor-in-chief of CapX, columnist for The Sunday Times, author of The Great Acceleration. Politics, policy and parenting.https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lwlpn6oeu224'It is a childish fantasy to pretend that you can raise serious money only from the few rather than the many.' Me for @thetimes.com on the many reasons why a wealth tax won't work https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/tax-rich-labour-magic-money-tree-98qbb6fdp17 Aug 2025 10:51 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwlpn6oeu224https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lwbhizs5tc2zIn the part of the country that most needs homes, we are building by far the least.13 Aug 2025 08:58 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwbhizs5tc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lvzuej7hek2sThe big problem isn't that Reeves is raising taxes. It's that the fiscal crunch means we'll have to do it again and again and again - and the endless scrabbling around for cash is making things even worse. Me, depressingly, for @thetimes.com https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/politicians-wont-admit-that-slashing-spending-is-the-only-way-out-njp8zsw7s10 Aug 2025 08:27 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvzuej7hek2shttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lvi7resz6c2o'It is a lot easier to list the excitable articles about prime ministerial relaunches, revamps and resets than examples of such resets actually working.' Me for @thetimes.com on a year of Starmer - and why the real problem is never the advisers, and always the king.03 Aug 2025 08:03 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvi7resz6c2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3ltaqnfbjas25Bit late to this, but the @newstatesman.com cover story arguing for tax rises on the middle classes makes a pretty big error, which completely invalidates its argument that they are under-taxed - it ignores pension contributions.05 Jul 2025 21:54 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltaqnfbjas25https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lsyzh2hrvc26Glad that I could draw more people's attention (via @jonnelledge.bsky.social) to the public information films of the Attlee government. Honestly, it's fascinating, esp if you're into housing policy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta_n1wLARKM02 Jul 2025 20:10 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsyzh2hrvc26https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lsqaixj6ac2uThe Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in London https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/we-havent-only-made-it-too-difficult-to-build-but-too-risky-x2mkhj0cw29 Jun 2025 08:22 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsqaixj6ac2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lsqah6aolk2uThe Government says London needs to build 88,000 homes a year. Last year, it started 3,990. My column today is on the urgent national crisis no one is talking about - the collapse of housebuilding in the capital (1/?)29 Jun 2025 08:21 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsqah6aolk2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lshlsryews27Fun fact: before becoming a well-known historian, Edward Gibbon was part of a successful double act with Griff Rhys Jones25 Jun 2025 21:51 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lshlsryews27https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3ls6mgy3jqc25Politicians treated HS2 as a symbol of their virility. No wonder it's been such a flop. Me for @thetimes.com on how high-speed rail went so wrong. https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/mps-treated-hs2-as-a-test-of-virility-no-wonder-its-been-a-flop-5w9qkf8v722 Jun 2025 08:08 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ls6mgy3jqc25https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lrsemal3zc2aMuch as it pains me to admit it, @jdportes.bsky.social is right. I got it wrong. Posts deleted. Will amend article.17 Jun 2025 11:16 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrsemal3zc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lrfvrquuvs2uA tax on people's work is a tax on working people.12 Jun 2025 12:19 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrfvrquuvs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lrdg5y3uas2dMain conclusion from Spending Review: an absolutely massive squeeze on spending (both capital and day-to-day) pencilled in for second half of Parliament. Absolutely no way those numbers don’t go higher (and take taxes with them).11 Jun 2025 12:34 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrdg5y3uas2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lr7h2x5w6s2pDepressing and disgraceful that the Tory Party voted en masse for Amendment 69 to the Planning Bill, which handed Natural England a pre-emptive veto on housing and infra development. Thankfully it was killed, but Opposition does not mean mindlessly supporting awful ideas.09 Jun 2025 22:39 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lr7h2x5w6s2phttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lr3r5m2nxk25Labour thinks votes at 16 will help it clean up. But the politics of young people is much more interesting - and much alarming - than its strategists think. Me for @thetimes.com on the polarisation within our youth, and the 'relationship recession' https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/the-divide-in-tomorrows-britain-power-women-and-powerless-men-358zd5lnd08 Jun 2025 11:29 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lr3r5m2nxk25https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lqytvhjkik2jLine of the day from @zonal-marking.bsky.social07 Jun 2025 07:40 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqytvhjkik2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lquk7ytdlc2uThis is such a perfect illustration of my database state theory - database management is both the most important task of modern govt and its most intractable limitation...05 Jun 2025 14:37 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lquk7ytdlc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lqu7vr3nek2uThis is an extraordinary chart via @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev - US healthcare costs have basically stopped growing as a % of GDP. Obviously it helps when you actually grow the economy, but is it just possible that making people pay for their own health care means better cost control?05 Jun 2025 11:32 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqu7vr3nek2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lqnjpac72k2uTo whoever decided to rebrand the Victoria area as ‘London Heritage Quarter’: eff off. Yours sincerely, Robert02 Jun 2025 19:39 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqnjpac72k2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpyp4vxljk2dNot sure people on this site will need much convincing that Trump's tariffs are bad, but @benchu.bsky.social does a very good job of it. My review of his new book here https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/exile-economics-what-happens-globalisation-fails-ben-chu-review-slwjm2sfj25 May 2025 12:50 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpyp4vxljk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpuimt3xa22pThis on the Bidens is worth reading in full. Damnatio memoriae... https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/20/biden-book-reviews-mental-acuity-00357152 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/20/biden-book-reviews-mental-acuity-00357152?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email23 May 2025 20:43 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpuimt3xa22phttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpnygdl6q226So much of running a modern state is just database management in disguise. Dictates pretty much all your options and limitations.21 May 2025 06:37 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpnygdl6q226https://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpm2hjunns2nSomething deeply alarming is happening in London: it's the only region of the country that's building less, not more. And while I'd love to blame Sadiq, there's another culprit that urgently needs addressing. (1/?)20 May 2025 12:08 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpm2hjunns2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpglkqm25c2qAnother triumph for Skynet18 May 2025 07:58 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpglkqm25c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpgl4p2gcc2nThe only certainty on assisted dying is that this is an awful way to introduce it. Me for @thetimes.com on last week's debate https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/one-certainty-on-assisted-dying-this-is-an-awful-way-to-introduce-it-2ks7csxr618 May 2025 07:50 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpgl4p2gcc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/rcolvile.bsky.social/post/3lpglkqm25c2qAnother triumph for Skynet18 May 2025 07:58 +0000at://did:plc:7cxdcyimpj7fqda4ylsmtgm2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpglkqm25c2q