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IN THIS ASI E-BULLETIN
From Dr Eamonn Butler & the ASI team
If you like it, tell your friends. If not, tell us!
£5000 Student Essay Prize. Details below.
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations—in cartoons!
Our two-part TV documentary on communism—latest news.
But first…
Though the knives are out for PM Keir Starmer, he’s quite safe. (The Labour Party have so many less-bad candidates to choose from, they can’t make up their mind who it should be.) Energy experts say we can have Ed Miliband’s Net Zero policy or blackouts, but not both. (Better dig out the paraffin lamps, then.) And the government has U-turned on cancelling local elections. (Their 15th. Can we hope they’ll soon U-turn on U-turns?)
More later...
NEW PUBLICATIONS

Knock, Knock: The Effects of the New Union Access Regime on SMEs: The new Employment Rights Act gives trade unions access to workplaces. That could cost SMEs up to £680m, say Mitchell Palmer and Jasper Ostle. Sure, the smallest firms are exempted, but that still leaves 112,00 small-to-medium enterprises facing this huge cost. Our authors recommend solutions to keep these costs under control.
The Optimistic Outlook: Is humanity headed for decline, as popular wisdom has it? Madsen Pirie takes a hard look at the facts. Across energy, medicine, biology, agriculture and environment, improvement is accelerating. That’s not down to wishful thinking, but science, human ingenuity and collaboration on an unprecedented scale. Let’s unleash these forces and improve even more!
Adam Smith reimagined: To mark the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations, Eamonn Butler is turning the book into a graphic novel that will bring Smith’s insights to a new, younger and wider audience. This amusing cartoon version is perfect for students and it’s even simple enough to be understood by politicians! We still need funding to make the book as widely available in as many countries as we can. You should support it! Simply email [email protected] or click our donation button below.
Couldn’t make it up department…
China is introducing visa-free travel for UK nationals. (Meanwhile, travel experts predict four-hour passport queues for Brits at EU airports and dual nationals are renouncing their UK citizenship rather than pay £600 to prove they have it!)
But I digress...
GETTING THE WORD OUT
Our research into the Employment Rights Act dominated the headlines. We exposed a potential £680 million hit to SMEs due to new union access rules, catching the attention of The Telegraph [ [link removed] ] and a host of other outlets. And, Seb Charleton appeared in The Critic [ [link removed] ] to set out why reforming ERA is so important.
Countering the “doom and gloom” narrative, Dr. Madsen Pirie’s new book launched with a splash in City AM [ [link removed] ], making a data-driven case for an upcoming “Age of Abundance” driven by fusion and AI.
Joanna Marchong, Maxwell Marlow and James Price have been staples on GB News, Talk TV, and BBC Radio, keeping the Institute’s voice central to debates on the state pension, benefits reform and the “Growth Agenda.” Maxwell also penned an article in The Spectator [ [link removed] ] explaining why we should abolish the minimum wage.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Growth Agenda
Our radical blueprint to unlock British abundance identifies 14 barriers—from planning restrictions to energy prices—that are strangling UK wealth creation and putting a £428bn drag on the economy. You need to hear about it!
The Next Generation with Will Lloyd
In March, we’re thrilled to be joined by the Deputy Editor of the New Statesman, Will Lloyd. Will has carved out a reputation as one of the most distinctive voices in British journalism.
1776 Lecture with Rory Sutherland
To mark the 250th of The Wealth of Nations, top talker and VC of Ogilvy UK Rory Sutherland reflects on how seismic events of 1776 (including a steam engine breakthrough and a revolution in America) shaped our modern world. (The event is currently sold out, but ask to be wait-listed.)
Crude Calculations Book Launch
Join us for a Book Launch assessing, economic liberalisation and low-carbon energy sources with Dr McPherson-Smith on Wednesday, 11th March. Why do some autocrats embrace the free market while others retreat into protectionism? Do regimes liberalise only when they are desperate for cash? In his new book, Crude Calculations, ASI Senior Fellow Dr Oliver McPherson-Smith challenges that idea.
And another thing…
Why don’t politicians understand technology? The government plans to ban social media access for all under-16s (i.e. for those who don’t know how to access a VPN. So that’s none.) Robotic cops could be on patrolling our streets within three years. (I bet they still won’t turn up to burglaries.) And the DoJ aims to use AI to save children from entering a life of crime. (If it could save them from a life in politics, that might be more useful.)
But I digress again…
ASI ON THE SILVER SCREEN
The Real History of Communism
Narrated by Hugh Bonneville
In our two-part TV documentary, historians and survivors explain how an ideology that started in hope and optimism descended into deprivation, oppression and slaughter under 20th-century dictatorships.
The films have been shown on TV around the world and are now becoming available for free streaming, and our website will soon be hosting educational materials from the films for teachers to use in lessons.
Don’t miss our upcoming screening!
Don’t miss our semi-private documentary screening on April 15th! The film will be followed by a live Q&A with The Rt Hon Steve Baker FRSA. Prepare for a challenging and insightful discussion—we look forward to seeing you there.
Keep your eyes peeled for further updates.
EDUCATION
Adam Smith & America Essay Prize
To mark The Wealth of Nations anniversary, we invite students under 24 to submit an essay appraising the intellectual history of Adam Smith and American democracy, and their application to the Middle East and Islamic world.
Prizes: £5,000 (1st), £3,000 (2nd), and £2,000 (3rd).
Gap Year at the ASI! We are looking for one or two students to spend their gap year working with us. Candidates should be 18–20, inquisitive, and hold a broadly free-market perspective. It is an immersive experience in the world of policy.
Internships We offer short, two-week unpaid internships to university students and recent graduates—an excellent opportunity to learn about the policymaking process and the wider UK free-market movement.
ASI ONLINE
Read our super-blogs
ASI VIDEOS
The Optimistic Outlook
Madsen on Attention Spans (Does he make it to the end?—Ed.)
The Employment Rights Act
ASI SHOP
To mark the 250th, we have new lines:
Pure Silk Neckties: Yes, 100% silk in navy, pink, and red, produced by Colour Wovens.
Adam Smith Bust: A hand-finished resin likeness with a bronze patina—perfect for offices and libraries.

AND I QUOTE
On this 250th anniversary, it seems appropriate to quote from The Wealth of Nations. This one tickled me:
“The bounty [subsidy] to the white-herring fishery is a tonnage bounty; and is proportioned to the burden of the ship, not to her diligence or success in the fishery; and it has, I am afraid, been too common for vessels to fit out for the sole purpose of catching, not the fish, but the bounty.”
Sounds like a familiar story, doesn’t it?
Bye,
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