All in all, 2022 was a pretty normal year for ASI, with tons of front-pages, umpteen reports, a slew of lectures, oodles of school and college visits, zillions of kids learning about the joys of free societies and free economies, piles of hits on our website, one Tax Freedom Day (June, if you can bear it), scads of social media posts, Madsen alone doing 7 articles, 32 blogs, 4 newspaper articles, 4 lectures and 10 TV interviews (only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise — the rest of us have lost count), masses of evening lectures and loads of online videos. Plus of course three Prime Ministers, Four Chancellors, countless Ministers. (Well, maybe that is not quite so normal.) All great fun, but thank goodness a year like that comes only once every six blue moons.

And now we’re planning an even more bumper 2023 — the 300th anniversary of the great man Adam Smith himself! But here’s some of the highlights on the year just (mercifully) on the way out.

JANUARY

🎵 January brings the snow, makes your feet and fingers glow 🎵

FEBRUARY

🎵 February’s ice and sleet, freeze the toes right off your feet 🎵

Brr! The Winter Olympics began in Beijing (and as the Russkies got bogged down in Ukraine, the Putin-Xi relationship got frostier too).

At ASI we were on the front pages with Space Invaders, saying that a better property rights system could turbocharge space discovery. It was retweeted by Bernie Sanders (of all people) and was the subject of an FT Lex column. Our Morgan Schondelmeier also made an appearance on BBC News to talk about why Windfall Taxes are a terrible idea. 

MARCH

🎵 Welcome March with wintry wind, would thou wert not so unkind 🎵

Equally unwelcome was the UK’s Budget, delivered by Rishi Sunak — one of four Chancellors this year. (Mind you, Rome had four emperors in AD69, so there’s precedent.)

At ASI, we were rushed off our little tootsies, with our Next Generation meeting with Steve Baker MP, lectures with Cuban rights activist Rosa Maria Payá and ‘Superabundance’ expert Prof Gale Pooley, plus a reception at the Austrian Embassy to mark the life and legacy of the Nobel economist F A Hayek. We also published reports on why we should let in Ukrainians, how the government can boost growth and tackle the cost of living, and why we shouldn’t be shy in promoting safer smoking alternatives. Gasp!

APRIL

🎵 April brings the sweet Spring showers, on and on for hours & hours🎵

Less sweetly, Tory MP Neil Parish was caught watching you-know-what in the House of Commons, saying he was really looking for tractors. (As in, “Cor, look at the chassis on that one!”?—Ed.)

MAY

 🎵 Farmers fear unkindly May, frost by night and hail by day 🎵

But, just to confirm that the nation had not entirely lost its sense of humour, Bradford was named the 2025 UK City of Culture.

At ASI, we hosted Prof David Friedman on getting Adam Smith Right, Craig Biddle on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, and economic superstar Deirdre McCloskey on How Liberty Made the Modern World. 

JUNE

🎵 June just rains and never stops, thirty days and spoils the crops 🎵

Boris, however, enjoyed the sunshine of a 211-148 victory in Parliament’s no-confidence motion. (I think we need a vote of no confidence in Parliament—Ed.)

INTERMISSION

FOLLOW US FOR MORE

KNOW SOMEONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN OUR E-BULLETIN? 
SEND THEM THE LINK BELOW!

JULY

🎵 In July the sun is hot, is it shining? No, it’s not! 🎵

Less sunny for Boris this month as ministers quit right, left and centre. (Ministers? You must mean, centre, left of centre and far left of centre?—Ed.)

AUGUST

🎵 August cold and dank and wet, brings more rain than any yet 🎵

Rishi Sunak claims that he came up with the idea of freeports (er, no, sunbeam, we came up with that in 1981, when you weren’t yet on solid foods). 

At ASI, my colleague Daniel debated the four-day week idea on ITV News and decamped to Cambridge for our annual Freedom Week boot camp for promising student activists.

SEPTEMBER

🎵 Bleak September’s mist and mud, is enough to chill the blood 🎵

The nation’s mood chilled progressively too as the Queen died, Kwasi Kwarteng delivered his Budget, the Bank of England put the boot in and markets spiralled downwards.

At ASI, as GB News star reporter Tom Harwood spoke to our Next Generation and Morgan was taking budgets on BBC Newsnight, we anticipated future chills with a report on the most effective policies to free up the electricity market and keep down people’s energy costs. Other reports on protecting energy supply, ‘full fat freeports’ and the daft Online Safety Bill followed.

OCTOBER

🎵 Then October adds a gale, wind and slush and rain and hail 🎵

October's hurricane of u-turns, resignations, and new leadership votes saw Rishi Sunak elected Prime Minister. Who’s next?

At ASI, US tax expert Dan Mitchell told us how to cut taxes, boost growth and learn to love the market. We published on why the Home Office should be broken up (And salt scattered on the foundations that nothing might grow there again?—Ed.). Plus, Emily was in the Scottish Sun on why rent freezes are a terrible idea. And we did several events at the Tory Party Conference (though everyone was too busy plotting to listen, I reckon).

NOVEMBER

🎵 Dark November brings the fog, should not do it to a dog 🎵

The nation’s cheer recovered as ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock appears in I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Having survived the Westminster jungle, a few more snakes and creepy-crawlies obviously held no terror for him—Ed.)

At ASI, our highlight was probably James Heale, talking to the New Generation about his new book on the rise and fall of Liz Truss. (Yep, it was that quick. Gone before the book could appear.) And Madsen Pirie made headlines with his piece on Broken Britain. (We know it’s broken, but I hear from Dr P that his next missive is on how to fix it!—Ed).

DECEMBER

🎵 Freezing wet December then, b***** January again! 🎵
 

And as Tory re-election hopes went into deep freeze, the Party’s MPs started finding other jobs. (Talk about ships leaving the sinking rats!—Ed.)

At ASI, I did a podcast for Freakonomics Radio on ‘Was Adam Smith Really a Right-Winger?’ here, or download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Nadhim Zahawi was awarded an Adam Smith pin for his performance at the Next Generation year-end bash.

Plus, we finished the year strong trying to tackle one of the biggest problems of them all - intergenerational inequality. Our report on boosting growth by focusing on fixing the mixed incentives of young and old made quite the splash. You can catch it in The Telegraph, Daily Express, ConHome, CapX, Politico, GB News. Plus, our gap year intern Eddie Bolland wrote for 1828 and the IEA even did a podcast on the topic with our report author James Dixon.