Samuel Hughes

Dec 19, 2024 | cityam.com | Samuel Hughes

|  For the £100m the government spent on a ‘bat tunnel’ for HS2 we could have stopped 76 children dying of malaria. The affair illustrates the state’s total inability to consider trade-offs, says Samuel HughesLast month saw much discussion of the £100m ‘bat tunnel’ built for HS2. There are several morals to this remarkable story. Perhaps the most important is the failure of British public policy to deal honestly with trade-offs.

Oct 15, 2024 | worksinprogress.news | Samuel Hughes

In a very interesting recent essay, Scott Alexander pondered why architecture and other arts in modern societies have moved from being richly ornamented to being visually more austere. He casts doubt on various standard explanations, like the claim that modernism was caused by Protestantism or by a newfound aversion to conspicuous consumption.

Jul 5, 2024 | bdonline.co.uk | Samuel Hughes

Samuel Hughes explores the key elements of successful new towns through history and how these lessons can inform modern housing strategies Debates about housing policy in Britain tend to go in predictable circles, with the participants repetitively invoking a small range of examples.

May 17, 2024 | worksinprogress.co | Anya Martin |Ben Adler |Samuel Hughes |Nick Cowen

Issue 15Spotlight Article37 Mins Deterrence alone might not stop crime. But, as the campaign against drunk driving shows, it could help create the norms that do. My grandfather, an Essex doctor in general practice, was a pillar of his local community. An anxious and conscientious man, he was the kind of doctor who would visit unwell patients late into the night just to check their cases had not deteriorated into emergencies. His wife, my grandmother, was a magistrate.

Sep 7, 2023 | worksinprogress.co | Samuel Hughes |Ed Conway |Robin Grier

22 Mins Building a state is not a matter of copying first world institutions. It is a tough process of deals and compromises. 19th century Mexico is a good example. We are impatient. We want quick results. We look to others who have made it to try to copy what they do, but often find out the hard way that it isn’t as easy as it seems. We have that same impatience when it comes to the development of economies and government as well.