On This Day: Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations Opinion Today in 1776, 250 years ago, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published, discovering rather than inventing the principle that free trade and efficient division of labour create general prosperity making the world richer, writes Eliot Wilson Adam Smith was 52 and had spent most of the preceding [...]
On this day 1799: Britain’s first income tax Opinion On this day, 9 January 1799, Britain introduced its first 'temporary' income tax. Workers have been vexed ever since, writes Eliot Wilson.
On This Day: When Britain led the atomic age Opinion On this day in 1956, Calder Hall became the first nuclear power station to supply domestic electricity, so what went wrong? Asks Eliot Wilson Sixty-nine years ago today, on 27 August 1956, the United Kingdom reached an extraordinary scientific and industrial milestone. Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station near Seascale on the coast of Cumbria was [...]
