Britain's Decline and Regional Inequalities

This week, the lads have latched onto a report in the Financial Times which claims to show that outside of London, Britain is often poorer than the poorest US state - and equally, that it has fallen way behind its European peers like Germany. Our duo argue the toss: is this just bad accounting? Or is there something more fundamental here, to do with how a different kind of bad accounting has allowed the UK to obscure its long-term decline for far too long?

On a related point, Philip Pilkington has been dodging brickbats all week, after he told UnHerd readers that the problem of housing expense may not be all a question of bad planning laws limiting supply. Why, he asks, is this also the case in territories with such different planning and demographics situations as New Zealand, Hungary and Japan? Patiently, he re-explains his argument to Andrew Collingwood.

Finally, one Chinese province has repealed its Houkoo Laws. These are the communist diktats that forbid citizens from moving beyond their home province. If this internal Berlin Wall crumbles, as Andrew Collingwood points out, it may well lead to a huge economic boon in the East.