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Budget 2025: financial tinkering, not economic transformation
No full textThe 2025 Budget has been characterised as a classic “tax and spend” Labour budget. However, Iain Begg points out that Labour’s supposedly flagship policy of “growth” was conspicuously absent from the Budget’s announcements. While the Budget’s financial tinkering and redistributive measures will appease parts of Labour’s constituency, they won’t ultimately aid the country’s economic transformation
Explainer what is economic productivity?
Get PDFProductivity powers economic growth and raises living standards. But the UK has witnessed a prolonged period of stagnation, marked by weak economic productivity growth. While the reasons behind this slowdown are often described as a “puzzle”, Aadya Bahl decodes the key factors that have led to this decline
UK Budget 2025: growth first, the rest will follow
Get PDFThe 2025 Budget isn’t going to be easy. The UK’s public finances are not in great health, and the Chancellor is being pulled in many different directions. Thomas Smith and James Browne make the case that, alongside some necessary tax raises, generating economic growth has to be the the main aim of the Government’s Budget
The missing link: cybersecurity and technology facilitated gender-based violence in the Women, Peace and Security agenda: how national action plans address (and overlook) digital threats
Get PDFOctober 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which launched the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. This milestone offers a critical opportunity for the international community to reflect on the profound changes in the peace and security landscape over the past two decades, including the rapid development and expansion of technology. When the WPS agenda was first adopted in 2000, the digital revolution was still in its early stages. Today, technology and digital spaces are deeply embedded in both our personal lives and in the practices of conflict and peace. Extensive research has explored how technology can advance the goals of the WPS agenda, creating unprecedented opportunities for the participation, empowerment and peacebuilding efforts, of women and gender-diverse people. Yet, alongside these opportunities, the rapid spread of digital tools has also created new avenues for violence and marginalisation, presenting new obstacles to the WPS agenda. Despite increasing calls from activists and an expanding body of research documenting the intersections of WPS, cybersecurity and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), these issues remain insufficiently integrated into mainstream WPS analysis and implementation. This gap is not merely an oversight, but a fundamental misalignment between the evolving nature of the security threats women and gender-diverse people face and the frameworks meant to address them. WPS national action plans (NAPs), in particular, have shown limited engagement with cybersecurity concerns. This report explores the intersections of WPS, cybersecurity and TFGBV through both analytical and practical lenses. It first reviews existing research, then assesses how WPS NAPs address, or fail to address, emerging digital challenges. From this analysis, it identifies opportunities to strengthen policy coherence and improve implementation. The report concludes with concrete recommendations for WPS actors, digital rights advocates and private sector stakeholders to bridge these gaps and advance a more inclusive, effective response to contemporary security challenges
Centripetal and centrifugal dynamics of religion and politics at the European Court of Human Rights
No full textThe European Court of Human Rights is both a critical site for expressions of the interplay between religion and politics in Europe and a significant actor impacting that interplay at the national and European levels. This dual role of the Court may be expressed in terms of centripetal and centrifugal dynamics. The centripetal dynamic is entailed by problem points at the intersection between religion and politics which come to the Court as a venue for their resolution, and the centrifugal dynamic is that of the Court as an actor impacting the interplay between religion and politics at the national and supranational levels through the ultimate judgments it issues and the broader messages that those judgments communicate about the relationship between religion and politics. This chapter demonstrates the dual role of the Court first through a brief historical overview of the many issues at the intersection between religion and politics that have been addressed by the Court through particular cases and second through attention to particular trends in its case law, trends which, however, are not at all linear in part because of the difficult interactions between religion and politics which result in fluctuations between judicial activism and judicial restraint
Leveraging central bank communication to foster sustainable finance
Get PDFThis policy brief explores the role of communication by central banks as they facilitate the operation of green bond markets. It analyses whether the integration of climate considerations into central banks’ communication strategies has had an effect on market behaviour. Summary An estimated US$4.5 trillion in annual investment is needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets and reduce the possibility of a significant drop in global GDP caused by unmitigated climate change. Central banks can play a crucial role in addressing this challenge by incorporating climate-related considerations into their frameworks, including strategic communication. Subject to legal requirements, central banks may also assume a catalytic role in promoting sustainable development. Cross-country evidence suggests that more active messaging from central banks about climate change considerations is positively associated with green bond issuance at the firm level. Green bonds and similar instruments can help channel funding to renewable energy, clean transport and other environmental projects. Overall, analysis of central bank speeches suggests that these communications can serve as a soft tool to bridge the financing gap for a low-carbon economy. By clearly communicating climate-related risks and policies, central banks could reduce uncertainty around their actions, foster confidence among investors and firms, and align market behaviour with long-term sustainability goals, ultimately supporting their objectives such as price and financial stability. Recommendations – central banks could: Regularly report on progress made on climate-related initiatives to strengthen credibility, address concerns about mandate overreach, and strengthen stakeholder trust. Integrate discussion of climate risks and policies into their regular communications wherever relevant, such as monetary policy statements, speeches and reports, to guide market behaviour and foster confidence in sustainable finance. Collaborate with international organisations to standardise taxonomies and verification mechanisms, ensuring credibility and addressing greenwashing
