Stephen Reid at NEF blog contrasts what leading politicians say about welfare recipients with reality. The ‘strivers versus skivers‘ myth ‘helps to justify what might otherwise be unpopular economic policies, like spending cuts and punitive welfare-to-work policies’. 

The NIESR does not know how many Bulgarians and Romanians to expect in the UK once their countries officially join the EU, but it does expect migration to have only a modest impact on public services. Meanwhile, the LSE’s CEP highlights research on the impact of immigration on the UK Labour market in the wake of UKIP’s rise and the Queen’s Speech.

Lenka Petrášová from Press Europ looks at the British tabloids’ penchant for inventing myths about excessive EU regulation.  

Mark Thoma debunks seven myths about Keynesian Economics following Niall Ferguson’s insulting remarks about the famed economist.

Declan Gaffney of L’Art Social crunches the numbers. Looking at press mentions using ‘scrounger’ vocabulary and the context in which it was used, he comments on the ease with which anyone can (mis)use available data.