This blog reflects on our recent SMF Ask the Expert event, held in partnership with UK Research and Innovation, exploring the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable children.

In other countries, points-based systems which govern immigration for work have encouraged a culture of greater empiricism, a willingness to review outcomes, learn from them and adapt immigration policies accordingly. Will the UK have a similar experience?

By Professor Linda Yueh, Fellow in Economics, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford; Adjunct Professor of Economics, London Business School; Visiting Professor, LSE Ideas

Increasing police numbers can reduce crime rates, and yet - as Richard Hyde points out - it is an aspect of policing that isn’t as prominent as it should be. As crime will likely become more complex, Hyde calls on police and policymakers to invest in increasing police numbers, so that we can not only to stay on top of the current high levels of crime, but also reduce them substantially.

People on low incomes are pawning household goods to pay for food and rent as the cost of living rises, new research shows today.

The Government should pay public money into the personal pensions of women who take time out of work to care for children or elderly relatives, a think-tank says today.

In the Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt re-introduced a plan for investment zones, claiming that they will create "mini Canary Wharves' across the UK. In this blog, Gideon Salutin argues that without additional funding and bold action on fiscal devolution, the Chancellor's claim is unrealistic.

Protests against this year's Grand National have drawn sharp attention to the horse racing industry. That the government subsidises the industry by taxing betting profits raises questions about why such a levy isn't in place to use to treat problem gambling.