Marginally Productive

The strange death of Conservative England

The world's oldest and most successful political party is no longer in command of its own destiny

Sep 15 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

32

7

February 2025

Fighting crime is simple: jail criminals

Small numbers of prolific criminals account for a massively disproportionate share of all crime. Why not take them off the streets?

Feb 6 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

31

2

November 2023

Our immigration system is making Britain a worse country to live in

There's a reason people keep voting for numbers to come down

Nov 26, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

74

8

Aligning Sam Altman

If you can't align your CEO, you probably aren't going to align a superintelligence

Nov 22, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

6

October 2023

August 2023

Social housing in Central London makes everyone worse off, including the tenants

We can do much better

Aug 9, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

38

7

July 2023

Just Stop Oil's war on trust

It is a privilege to live in a country that trusts people to behave decently. A small minority is ruining this for everyone else

Jul 9, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

18

1

March 2023

Silicon Valley learns how to kill a bank

The demise of tech's favourite bank in simple economics

Mar 12, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

3

2

Britain's new blasphemy laws are a return to empire

The police response to Wakefield is easily explained. Empires do not tolerate disorder, and Britain is an empire in its own land

Mar 1, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

22

1

February 2023

Rishi's recession

Every other country in the G7 is growing. The UK is set to fall into recession.

Feb 1, 2023 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

8

September 2022

Don't Panic: Truss vs the Sensibles

The IMF, the £, and the mini-budget

Sep 28, 2022 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

10

10

God save the Monarchy

I wrote the first draft of this piece on Thursday, sitting in limbo.

Sep 12, 2022 • 

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

3