In 2020, we opened our end-of-year review by saying that “Not even Dr. Pangloss could put a positive spin on… a historic dumpster fire of a year.” The next year, we described 2021 as “not quite the best of times, not quite the worst of times”, which seemed like progress. But if we take one lesson fr...

Mitchell faces a very difficult task. It will help him enormously that he has a clear-eyed sense of the problems he faces and the scale of the challenge. But to reverse them will take decisive action, with support from elsewhere in Whitehall, too. Our note suggests one way to do so.

Preventing deaths through health interventions is only one part of what the aid budget does—but our review finds that £750m can plausibly prevent 180,000 deaths per year.

UK Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is preparing a “medium-term fiscal plan”. Might there be a solution that enables the Chancellor to respond to immediate pressures, avoids further cuts to the UK’s aid programmes, and actually improves the UK’s medium-term fiscal position?

The UK is being asked for £1.8 billion, making this one of the biggest decisions facing James Cleverly, the new Secretary of State, within his first two weeks of the job. We will review what is known about the FCDO’s likely commitment, and recommend four key questions that the new Secretary of State...

With all eyes on the UK, new Prime Minister Liz Truss faces a decision which will have a significant bearing on the UK’s standing in the world: Will her government provide additional funding to support Ukrainian refugees so that other development support is not reduced?