For all the talk of tax cuts in UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget last week, the most significant stealth tax imposed by his predecessor Rishi Sunak remains very much in place. In his spring budget of 2021, Sunak sought to offset the cost of the pandemic with a four-year freeze in income-tax thresholds. Ordinarily, these thresholds ...

  The new US Covid booster campaign needs a dose of clarity about its goals and limitations. The latest “bivalent” vaccine — retooled to protect against the currently circulating BA.5 variant — will benefit some more than others. The oldest and most vulnerable citizens are likely to benefit most. Public health officials should aim to protect them through a targeted ...

  A rush to dump UK government bonds following a botched budget announcement forced a dramatic intervention by the Bank of England on Wednesday. The central bank promised to buy long-term bonds “on whatever scale is necessary” to restore order in the market. It amounted to an official declaration of imminent financial crisis, apparently centered on pension funds facing insolvency ...