John Oxley

London

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Consultant, writer and broadcaster, seen @spectator | @unherd | @NewStatesman | @cityam | @Telegraph and elsewhere. Newsletter link below. DM for anything else.

Articles

John Oxley: Generous mortgages are a symptom of the housing crisis, not a solution to it

1 week ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. There are now more mortgages available with required deposits of five per cent or 1tenper cent than at any time since the financial crisis of 2008, according to industry reports. That in itself feels like an alarming statistic – a return perhaps to the trends which saw our banks overleveraged and thrown into the crisis when the market changed.
Another recession could push Millennial resentment to tipping point

2 weeks ago | cityam.com | John Oxley |Anna Moloney

Thursday 10 April 2025 5:52 am | Updated: Wednesday 09 April 2025 8:06 pm Another recession could push Millennial resentment to tipping point Any goodwill left in avocado-munching Millennials towards their far wealthier elders will likely be gone with another recession, writes John Oxley For those of us who came of age in the late 2000s, the sight of despairing traders and stock tickers flashing red is a familiar scene. The sort of stock turmoil of the last week has marked our adult life,...
John Oxley: We keep making things that are already illegal even more illegal

3 weeks ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. Among some of the more esoteric online political movements in the UK, the idea of a “Meji Restoration” has become popular. The concept echoes 19th-century Japan, where Emperor Meji embarked on a plan of radical reforms which restored the political system and set the groundwork for industrialisation and Westernisation. Those who discuss it now feel that a similarly radical approach might shake Britain from her stupor.
John Oxley: In Labour's uncomfortable search for benefit cuts there are opportunities for the Tories

1 month ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. There are few comforts in opposition, but watching the government steer into a political row is one of them. It serves as a reminder that governing is hard, that politics is changeable, and that there is a route, however long and hard, back to electoral success. The Labour fight over disability benefits is a delectable example, with Starmer’s authority now clashing with backbenchers.
John Oxley: Labour seem determined to drive up unemployment, again

1 month ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. It is a fact ingrained in every Tory activist’s memory: every Labour government has left unemployment worse than they found it. The observance serves as an easy shorthand for the threat of Labour economic mismanagement and the second-order effects of tax rises and interventions in the Labour market.
The elderly don’t need more political representation

2 months ago | spectator.com.au | John Oxley

Young people feel economically adrift. Homeownership has become increasingly unaffordable, and rents have escalated exorbitantly. Younger workers have borne the brunt of wage stagnation, with real pay largely frozen for the last decade and a half. Politicians, however, think the way to fix this rift is to focus more on the feelings of the ageing.
The elderly don’t need more political representation

2 months ago | spectator.co.uk | John Oxley

Young people feel economically adrift. Homeownership has become increasingly unaffordable, and rents have escalated exorbitantly. Younger workers have borne the brunt of wage stagnation, with real pay largely frozen for the last decade and a half. Politicians, however, think the way to fix this rift is to focus more on the feelings of the ageing. The Women and Equalities Select Committee has waded in on the side of the greying.
John Oxley: Government efficiency must mean improved customer service, not just cutting waste

2 months ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. Government efficiency is now all the rage. Elon Musk has ridden into the White House on Donald Trump’s coattails and appears to be slashing spending left and right. Over here, at least four different campaigns have set themselves up to monitor wasteful spending and keep an eye on where government money goes (the irony of this duplication has been noticed).
How do you solve a problem like Gen Z?

2 months ago | cityam.com | John Oxley

Thursday 13 February 2025 5:45 am | Updated: Wednesday 12 February 2025 3:09 pm How do you solve a problem like Gen Z? Gen Z icons Tom Holland and Zendaya (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images) Gen Z have wildly different, often contradictory views compared with older cohorts.
John Oxley: Thirty years ago, two children murdering another was society-shocking. It should be again.

2 months ago | conservativehome.com | John Oxley

John Oxley is a consultant, writer, and broadcaster. His SubStack is Joxley Writes. It will be 32 years this month since Sir John Major dropped one of his few memorable lines:“‘Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less” when it came to young criminals. It was partly a response to Blair’s “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” position – but also to the shocking murder of James Bulger, a crime marked by both the cruelty and youth of its perpetrators.