Matthew Brooker

Once more with feeling. Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street has brought to power a long-time advocate of a tax on the value of land, stirring speculation and alarmist headlines about the likely impact such a measure would have on house prices in London and the wealthy southeast of England. It’s more than a century since Liberal Party politician David Lloyd George unwound Britain’s last, failed experiment with a land levy. Burnham comes to office promising big and bold change; it wouldn’t ge

England bowed out in the 2026 World Cup semi-finals, disappointing a nation that has waited 60 years to appear in a second final. Never mind: Time may not heal all wounds, but money is a consolation. Another near miss on the sporting field shouldn’t overshadow the financial positives for the game back home. A side effect of the riches reaped by FIFA and its main host, the US, may be to push some more air into the Premier League’s gravity-defying balloon.

Matthew Brooker England bowed out in the 2026 World Cup semi-finals , disappointing a nation that has waited 60 years to appear in a second final.

Gianni Infantino clearly isn't a fan of Aesop. In the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs, the farmer grows impatient with waiting for one each day and cuts the bird open to get them all in one go, killing it and losing his source of wealth. The FIFA president's plan to set up a $20 billion commercial vehicle with money from external investors reflects a similar impulse to accelerate the financial rewards from football's popularity. The global howls of outrage it has provoked suggest hi

Matthew Brooker Gianni Infantino clearly isn't a fan of Aesop. In the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs, the farmer grows impatient

Gianni Infantino’s recent capitulation looks like a textbook case of overreach by a leader unaccustomed to restraints on their power. The FIFA president’s plan to sell a stake in a $20 billion commercial vehicle to private investors unraveled in four days as a global backlash mounted and even close colleagues disowned the project. His own position is now in question. Anyone hoping that replacing the head will bring an end to recurring scandals is likely to be disappointed: What world football’s

The Animal Farm syndrome thwarts attempts at putting an end to recurring scandals by replacing the head of world football's governing body.

The 2026 World Cup’s success in the North American market may provide a template for the Premier League’s future commercial management.

England bowed out in the 2026 World Cup semifinals, disappointing a nation that has waited 60 years to appear in a second final. Never mind: Time may not heal all wounds, but money is a consolation. Another near miss on the sporting field shouldn’t...

Andy Burnham has pledged to undertake Britain’s biggest social housebuilding program in generations. That’s giving some people uncomfortable flashbacks to the 1970s, a period of recurrent crises that ended with the country rejecting Labour’s statist economic policies in favor of Margaret Thatcher’s free-market agenda. The new prime minister’s plan is indeed a move toward greater government intervention in the economy. What is less appreciated is how higher levels of public housing construction m