Drug-related deaths have reached record levels. Among the threats are nitazenes, a class of synthetic opioids up to 500 times more potent than heroin that is increasingly linked to fatal overdoses. In this blog, Jake Shepherd examines the urgent need for proactive measures to curb this escalating crisis and argues that the government has a crucial opportunity to rethink the UK’s approach to drug policy.

Targets work. They set priorities, provide focus and raise ambition.

Black Friday is being dubbed as 'Black Fraud-ay' for good reason. While the government focuses on consumer awareness-raising, SMF fraud lead Richard Hyde explores the need to consider digital ID - a useful extra weapon in the anti-fraud armoury.

In this blog, Baroness Susan Kramer calls for a revival of community banking in the UK, noting that that compared to most rival economies we are missing a fundamental stratum of banking and that lack undermines our capacity for both local and national growth.

The Labour government is proposing to increase Britain’s employment rate to 80% – the highest in the G7. This is a monumental feat, and it will have to attract not only the unemployed, but also 'the lost workforce' - and reintegrating them into the economy is far from simple.

The UK's built environment is responsible for 25% of UK emissions. To achieve the new COP29 emission target, argues SMF Trustee Melville Rodrigues, government will have to legislate for better energy consumption data-sharing.

In this blog, Senior Researcher (and Canadian) Gideon Salutin argues that those worried about a slippery slope should recognise that many other jurisdictions have well-functioning regulations on assisted dying.

In this essay by Richard Baker MP, he explores the erosion of public trust in UK institutions, fueled by scandals and nationalist strategies that capitalize on distrust. Leaders like Salmond, Sturgeon, and Farage have used anti-establishment narratives to reshape political loyalties—and there's an urgent need for UK leaders to rebuild confidence in the system itself.

This is not the first government to attempt a modern supply side strategy to get growth. Both Truss-Kwarteng and Sunak-Hunt tried it, the latter more successfully than the former. For success to materialise before the decade is up, Labour will have to dissuade the fiscal watchdog against caution, or better yet – simply prove them wrong.