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Now, who could do this?

I mean, I would, but what’s the point?

One of the biggest cash prizes in world economics has been launched to find “radical ideas” to reinvigorate the British economy.

Launched against a backdrop of deep public distrust in politicians to revitalise the UK economy, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank has lined up an £150,000 prize fund to uncover fresh ideas.

Ritchie just needs to submit the manuscript of The Curajus State, doesn’t he?

32 thoughts on “Now, who could do this?”

  1. “Ritchie just needs to submit the manuscript of The Curajus State, doesn’t he?”
    As an example of how not to do it?

  2. We laugh but there are clearly plenty of left wing organisations out there capable of getting their hands on cash and handing it out to any nut job who comes up with any old crap that fits their agenda.

    How else do you explain Murphy’s continued financial existence? He hasn’t done any productive work for himself for a couple of decades. He’s relied on hand-outs and they keep coming.

  3. In the current environment less government interference is radical.

    Where do I go to pick up the cash prize?

  4. So if they hand out the cash to the bright spark who wants to end ‘supply and demand’, then what? Do we all ignore it? Or does life muddle along regardless.

    Frankly, if MMT is true, then happy days. No more arguments about paying taxes to meet your social obligations.

  5. Talk leftist shite and they will come–and come again . And pay you handsomely for giving them, via long-worded fantasy, the good time that the real world has steadfastly denied them.

    Save for the murdering, thieving few at the very top of socialism of course. They nearly always show themselves a VERY good time.

  6. Bloke in North Dorset

    Interesting idea, using a proven market mechanism to find ways of subverting that very market.

    Only the left could be that blind.

  7. Launched against a backdrop of deep public distrust in thinktanks wouldn’t be far from the mark, either.

  8. aaa

    I liked this comment of his:

    “I have, as yet, to find the link on the IPPR page for the competition: no doubt it will turn up in due course.”

    One wonders how much time the Prof has been spending desperately searching around for the competition details

  9. ‘Wanted: radical economist to boost UK economy.’

    Strong, autocratic central control of the economy stifles it. They want an idea for MORE control of the economy. They screwed it, now think the solution is to screw it – differently. Radically.

    ‘It comes after the IPPR’s commission on economic justice, which included Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, called for a far-reaching and radical revamp of the UK economy to raise the standard of living of millions of workers.’

    So it’s really not about the economy. It’s about ‘economic justice’ (whatever that means) and living conditions of ‘millions of workers.’

    If it were about the economy, just leaving the people alone would grow it. Radically. Like isp001 says. The prize is for growing the economy by controlling it.

  10. Giving someone a prize over three times the average yearly salary in return for what might be a few weeks work (or in Spud’s case a few hours cutting and pasting old stuff).

    To solve inequality.

  11. i) Scrap the minimum wage and ii) simultaneously increase the income ignored for JSA payment by twice the difference between JSA and ESA and abolish testing for ability to work for ESA applicants.
    iii) Treat all dividend payments by personal companies to employees or relatives of employees as employment income for NI and income tax purposes.
    iv) Make lawyers personally responsible for defence costs when pursuing vexatiousand/or spurious claims.
    v) Exempt all small businesses from “Equalities” legislation as the cost of recording compliance exceeds the value and any stupid enough to unfairly discriminate will go bust anyway.
    vi) Revoke the directive to purchase generic drugs when the patented drug is produced as part of a VPRS agreement
    vii) All “second homes” should pay full rate council tax
    viii) All universities to publish data on what percentage of graduates for each course got jobs in the field for which the course was alleged to prepare them and the total starting income of those who got jobs divided by the number of graduates compared to UK median full-time employment income.
    That’s for starters before I tackle unfair trade relations with EU and USA

  12. A bunch of jerkoffs asking other jerkoffs for ideas that will never see the light of day.

    Another day in England.

  13. john77 for PM

    civil service pension – first 25k of salary can have the current defined benefit treatment, anything above that is direct contribution and civil servants have to – as with everyone else – choose what to invest in.

  14. @ isp001
    Thanks (but, like spreadsheet Phil, I should prefer First Secretary to the Treasury)
    My earlier suggestion was that the inflation-adjustment did not apply to Treasury ministers or civil servants. Some civil servants are just doing their job and re not to blame for inflation.

  15. “v) Exempt all small businesses from “Equalities” legislation as the cost of recording compliance exceeds the value and any stupid enough to unfairly discriminate will go bust anyway.”

    Why just small? Tell the governments to mind their own business; leave companies alone. Or they’ll move. Or hire aliens, who will work hard, show up on time, keep their mouths shut, and keep their drama outside the workplace.

    As a response to the original request for a radical idea, get rid of 50% of all government regulation of business.

  16. @john77 and @gamecock

    The late Jerry Pournelle’s idea to boost the economy was to double the level that any regulation kicked in; i.e. if a regulation kicks in at 10 employees, then it now takes effect at 20.

  17. Of course, they could just give £150,000 to the needy. As might those entering the competition, since they apparently can afford the leisure time to enter this competition.

    But nah.

  18. @ gunker
    Good start, but abolishing most regulations altogether would help. Separate toilets for women are only necessary if you actually employ women. Publishing gender pay data breaches privacy rules if the firm only employs one man, but are total nonsense if many women are job-sharers working part-time while the men are working full-time and unpaid extra hours to coer for the part-time women (sure, it can work the other way – my wife’s colleague’s wife earns more than he does so he has a contract with shorter hours to do a larger share of child-care and never works beyond 5 o’clock so she has to work unpaid overtime to cover for his failures)..

  19. £100k would permit an upgrade of the unimpressive end terrace in Ely!

    The Guardian rants about the Koch brothers and others funding right wing think tanks but in the UK it seems that the left have all the money!

  20. @ Edward Lud
    I do give to the needy but I don’t have £150k because I am not a lawyer.
    I might have expected that a barrister might understand that my excess of leisure time is not wholly of my own choice – my principal client put in some “succession planning” when I got to NPA and the second designated successor has taken over all new contracts.

  21. Tim W
    Submit a spoof but plausible entry under a pseudonym…Then expose them when you win or are commended. If anyone could pull that off, you could!

  22. Brilliant suggestion by Theo:
    I shall submit a policy designed to increase inequality, as all government policy fails, it would be counterproductive, and therefore it will need more money spending on it.

  23. “Edward Lud

    Of course, they could just give £150,000 to the needy. As might those entering the competition, since they apparently can afford the leisure time to enter this competition.

    But nah.”

    And the cunty de cunty of that game has to be Murphy. So concerned about the poor that he took tens of thousands of pounds from the Joseph Rowntree charity which could have gone to help the poor.

    Maybe burning remaindered copies of “The Joy of being a Fat Useless Hypocritical Cunt” kept the poor warm?

  24. Surely if someone had a working idea to transform the UK economy that actually worked they would be actually doing it, and making far more money than a £150k, which seems like the economic equivalent to a Blue Peter badge for something so fundamental?

  25. “@ Edward Lud
    I do give to the needy but I don’t have £150k because I am not a lawyer.
    I might have expected that a barrister might understand that my excess of leisure time is not wholly of my own choice – my principal client put in some “succession planning” when I got to NPA and the second designated successor has taken over all new contracts.”

    John77, I was not talking about you.

  26. @samuelbuca

    There are lots of ideas for making the country richer where it is difficult for any one individual to capture the benefits.

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