John Kay

The salient fact is that London could never have become a great business and financial capital if its residents felt an urge to vomit every time they went outdoors.

Prevarication and political posturing, the persistent incrementalism when bold actions are required and the readiness to oppose policies simply because they have been espoused by somebody else, are as characteristic of policy today as they have been for the past 50 years.

The argument that we need the best and latest is powerful in political decision making, even among people who would never behave that way in their everyday lives.

On the 27th March, John spoke at an event hosted by Policy Exchange on the issues of obliquity, long-term decision making and the limitations of knowledge in relation to energy and transport policy. Watch it here.

This month’s budget in Britain will provoke yet another round of debate on austerity versus stimulus. But the issue of how we spend what we have is more important than the issue of what we spend.

Trams were phased out because they were inferior to buses as a means of public transport. They still are.

At a time when public expenditure cuts are focused excessively on capital expenditure, we are in danger of directing too much investment to vanity projects – like the Olympics, high-speed broadband, high-speed rail – whose returns are political excitement rather than tangible.