This blog is not usually a home for 45-minute lectures. But David Willetts gave a compelling presentation to the RSA last week that deserves a wider audience (well, a slightly bigger academic seminar room).
Watch out for the implications of the argument in his book — which looks at generational divide and how baby boomers stitched up generation X and Y — for David Cameron’s policy platform.
The most “deterministic” thesis Willetts puts forward is that a demographic bulge helped Thatcher cut deficits and taxes. A fascinating argument. But it does mean that if current demographics are anything to go by, a Cameron government will find it incredibly hard — if not impossible — to do the same. Willetts was not quite as forthcoming on this last point.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey