My new piece looks at: -Why Inheritance Tax is a bad tax, -Why the number of families paying it will double under Labour -Why so many other countries have abolished it, -Why it's right to cut it, -and why critics are wrong about the costs: neilobrien.co.uk/p/cutting-i…

Presumably under this regime no pensioner would be so foolish as to downsize their home. In fact, they would be well advised to use any spare money they have to buy the priciest home possible.

George Clarke: My radical plan to get the young on the housing ladder thetimes.com/life-style/prop…

Many saying "why don't they just make State Pension tax free?" Well it's always been taxable, so high earners pay tax on it (think someone with £1m earnings and investment income age 70). The change is that from April someone with ONLY full new state pension income will need to pay tax. And regardless of the triple lock or not, that would’ve happened at some point if you continue to freeze the personal allowance – that’s the prime cause of this for me.

New from us: Anthropic just published scenarios for AI’s possible economic impacts, which range from minimal, to explosive GDP growth of 15% by 2030 as knowledge-worker unemployment hits 18%. I sat down with their co-founder Jack Clark to pick his brains on how they’re thinking about all of this.

To our Prime Minister @andyburnham I have another idea I would like to share with you! So after what the Bank of England came out with yesterday that they’re gonna hold interest rates agen and inflation is gonna start creeping up. It’s gonna be familys and small buisnesses that end up feeling it the most. So ive got another idea… Why dont we create the “Back Britain BoshCard.” Every working family gets £25 a month but it can ONLY be spent in a small independant British buisnesses. Not at a big multinational company or national supermarket chain. Only at proper independant buisnesses. Like ya local butcher, baker, market trader, cafe or furniture shop, toy shop, florist, pub, fishmonger……The people that I love to support and are the back bone of this beautiful country. These people are have been getting absolutely smashed to pieces, especially since Covid. I know because I am one of them. Having to face more costs every single year. Yet these are the ones who is employing local people, sponsoring local kids football teams and keeping our high streets alive. But ya probably thinking……How do we pay for it? Instead of wasting millions on schemes that nobody seems to know about or can get, put some of that money into this. And start to clamp down harder on the massive companys avoiding tax by sending it off shore and use that money to back the people that actually keep Britain going. Plus the good things is that if people who have never been there local butchers before, they will probably start going all the time. If the food’s good you’ll go back. Same with the local cafe, toy shop or market stall. That £25 don’t just help a family for one month… it creates new customers for independant buisnesses for years to come. More customers means more jobs. More jobs means more tax coming back in. More people on our high streets instead of sat ordering everything online. It’s helping familys and helping the backbone of Great Britain at the same time. This is how you get ya growth for Britain… from the high street up. What do you lovely lot think? Bosh❤️

.@Miatsf 's first visit as Secretary of State: the Port of Aberdeen. The North Sea remains a vital national asset, supporting jobs growth & the local community. The skills & expertise built here over generations will continue to play an important role in our energy future.

We're too heavily taxed now for stealth taxes to work well (when the average voter understands fiscal drag, that option is done). So stealth inflation - taking costs that directly affect CPI data and redistributing where it won't show up as fast - seems to be the new go-to.