Spin the wheel again! 25 more novel ideas

Another look at what new policies can be added to the national conversation

In An Era of High-Hanging Fruit, I addressed the dearth of original ideas in politics, and pitched 25 ideas that were new to the UK’s stale political conversation, like making it legal to sell your kidney to the NHS. These were also primarily low-cost, the vast majority costing under £1bn (just 0.08% of the UK’s £1,230 billion 2024 budget).

I’ve since had more ideas pop into my head, thinking ‘ah! why didn’t I include that?’, so let’s go again, with 25 more radical ideas to improve the country, that no one in Westminster is talking about.

A reminder that this is not to convince you to take up the cause of every single idea, but to consider new angles to attack these issues and come up with your own fresh thinking.

Let’s dive in!

A - Economic growth

1. The Companies Hub

Right now, British companies deal with a fragmented mess of systems. They register in one place, file taxes in another, look for funding elsewhere, and navigate employment, VAT, and compliance largely alone. The Companies Hub fixes that. Built on the trusted foundation of Companies House, it becomes the unified interface between the state and the real economy.

Registration remains at its core - but the Hub adds proactive support, funding access, and live economic data. If a company is approaching the VAT threshold, it can flag itself and become visible to accountants and advisors who specialise in supporting that transition. New employers can access onboarding tools for PAYE and workplace pensions. Fast-growing firms can see what funding or grants they’re eligible for - automatically, without hunting.

The Hub also offers open access to clean, real-time business data. Journalists, researchers, and developers can plug into the entire economic map of the UK, freely and without restriction. This is data infrastructure as public good.

The state gets a clearer view. Firms get support without bureaucracy. And the public gets a transparent economy that works closer to real time.

If you'd like to read about my flagship proposal in more detail, click here.

2. Open Public Contract Ledger and Postcode Dataset Release

The UK government spends over £300 billion per year on procurement - about a third of all public spending. But where that money goes is difficult to trace. Contract details are scattered, inconsistent, and often meaningless without deep manual digging. The Open Public Contract Ledger fixes this. It brings together all public sector contracts into a single, standardised, open-access database, covering every level of government.

Transparency at this scale isn’t just democratic - it’s economic. According to the Open Contracting Partnership, governments that adopt open contracting save 5 to 15% on procurement costs through reduced fraud, better competition, and improved supplier performance. Even a conservative 5% saving would mean £15 billion a year back into public budgets. And when suppliers know their performance will be directly compared, they deliver more for less.

I’d also release the Postcode Address File (PAF) - the master dataset of every address and postcode in the UK, currently locked behind high licensing fees from Royal Mail. As journalist James O’Malley has argued in his campaign to Free the PAF, this data underpins everything from e-commerce and navigation to emergency services and census planning. Making it open is expected to unlock at least £100 million per year in economic value by eliminating duplication, reducing errors, and enabling innovation in mapping, logistics, and digital infrastructure.

Two datasets. One rule: if the public paid for it, the public should be able to use it.

3. Hiring Reform Act

Far too many jobs in Britain are closed off to non-graduates, not because degrees are essential, but because HR departments use them as lazy filters. The Hiring Reform Act tackles this in two parts: first, by adjusting the incentives behind that behaviour; and second, by offering a better way to judge candidates.

The first change is a simple tax tweak. Companies that hire university graduates will pay 1% more in employer National Insurance on those individuals. This excludes small firms, and sectors where degrees are genuinely necessary - like medicine, teaching, and nursing. The amount is small enough that no single hiring decision will turn on it, but large enough that over time, it nudges companies to reconsider blanket degree requirements. This unlocks better options for the many young people stuck at the lower end of the university system, where the return on investment is often negative. Instead of taking on debt for a weak degree, they can access good jobs directly.

The second change is to radically simplify how we assess applicants. Right now, hiring is a patchwork of duplicated psychometric testing. An applicant for a junior accounting role might sit near-identical online tests for PwC, Deloitte, EY, and others - each requiring time, repetition, and admin. The government will offer three free, standardised online assessments: one for reasoning, one for general intelligence, and one for basic psychometrics, and store results on the Singapore-style hiring system proposed in High-hanging Fruits (idea 16). Big firms can still use their own tools. But for smaller employers, this removes a huge barrier to identifying quality candidates.

Because this system is just a piece of software and a database of results, the ongoing costs are minimal. Yet it could dramatically reduce bureaucracy and inefficiency across the private and public sector alike. According to Oxford Economics, the average cost of replacing a single employee in the UK is a staggering £30,614, once you account for recruitment, onboarding, and lost output. Even marginal improvements in matching and assessment would save billions.

Together, these reforms give companies the tools to spot high-potential non-graduates, and a reason to use them. Employers get better hires. Workers get fairer access. And the country gets a hiring system that actually values talent over paperwork.

4. Estonia-style Digital ID

Estonia introduced its national digital ID system in 2002. It now underpins 99% of public services and 70% of private sector services, including voting, healthcare, banking, tax filing, and prescriptions. Estonians spend five times less time dealing with the state than the EU average. The government estimates it saves 2% of GDP every year in administrative efficiency.

The UK has nothing close. We have dozens of siloed logins - from HMRC and DVLA to the NHS, Universal Credit, and the Passport Office. A unified digital ID system would let people manage everything through one login: taxes, benefits, NHS records, prescriptions, driving licences, council services, student loans, and more.

It also unlocks private sector benefits such as secure age verification, instant account setup, and verified employment records.

This is not a Blair-style physical ID card or a new number. It is a secure login and digital identity layer, controlled by the user, that connects to systems we already have.

We would begin with verified ID through banking and passport data, tied to a central open API. Services could plug in over time. Estimated build cost is £250m, mostly for design and integration. The expected savings are in the billions each year, with reduced fraud, faster services, and the end of clunky forms and mailed paperwork.

5. Outsourcing Reform (aka ‘Kill Crapita’)

Britain spends over £100 billion a year on outsourced public services, but the system is broken. A small group of firms – G4S, Serco, Capita, Mitie – win contract after contract regardless of performance. Failures in security, tagging, asylum housing, test and trace, and more have shown the same pattern: inflated prices, minimal accountability, and no real competition.

Dominic Cummings described these firms as “low-grade quasi-monopolies” and “parasites on a dysfunctional state.” He was right.

We fix this by restructuring how government contracts are issued. Large, bundled tenders – like Serco's five-region asylum housing contract for over 50,000 people – will be broken into smaller, discrete pieces with their own accountability. Second, we simplify the bidding process so smaller firms and start-ups can compete without needing an entire procurement team to decode the paperwork.

This is not anti-private sector. It is pro-competition, pro-value, and pro-accountability. The goal is simple: more bidders, smaller contracts, better outcomes.

B - Infrastructure & housing

6. Student Housing for All

In France, publicly supported student housing is open to all young people, not just university students. Britain should adopt and expand that model. We would build simple, low-cost housing blocks in every major city, available to anyone aged 18 to 25, whether they are in university, on an apprenticeship, in their first job, or doing nothing at all.

This solves a quiet but serious problem. Every year, young people who do poorly in their A-levels face a stark choice: stay in their hometown to pursue a trade, or take on debt for a weak degree just to move to a new city and have a social life. Many choose the latter, not for education but for the lifestyle. This housing model breaks that trap. You can move out, meet new people, build a life in a new place, and learn a trade or take a job instead of racking up debt for a low-return degree.

It also mixes university students with apprentices, jobseekers, and workers, helping break down social barriers. In England, just 6% of young people in the bottom income quintile attend a high-tariff university. Mixed housing is one way to start levelling the playing field.

7. Infrastructure Acceleration Law

Germany passed a law in 2023 to fast-track infrastructure. It set strict deadlines, streamlined consultation, and limited judicial review. Britain should follow.

HS2 was approved in 2012 and is not expected to reach Manchester before 2041. By contrast, South Korea completed its 400 km high-speed rail line from Seoul to Busan in just 8 years. The UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear plant is running 15 years behind schedule and £20 billion over budget. France built 56 nuclear reactors in 15 years. We have not completed one since 1995.

The Infrastructure Acceleration Law would impose time caps on planning reviews, narrow legal challenge windows, and allow ministers to fast-track key projects after scrutiny.

8. Tent Centres for the Homeless

Each night, over 3,000 people sleep rough in England - a figure that undercounts those drifting between pavements, bus stations, and temporary shelters. Government spending on homelessness now exceeds £2.4bn annually once you include knock-on costs: A&E visits, police time, temporary accommodation, and lost economic activity. Yet most rough sleepers receive little sustained help. Many suffer from addiction, trauma, or mental illness, which disqualifies them from housing first programmes or leads to repeated loss of housing.

Tent Centres are a practical, humane step forward - a middle ground between permanent housing and unmanaged street life. Rather than allowing informal tent clusters in Hyde Park, canal paths, or retail districts, we propose converting disused industrial buildings into large, indoor encampments for 500–1000 people. Each would have a marked grid of spaces where individuals can set up a tent (brought or provided), with walkways, lighting, ventilation, and heating.

Facilities would include portable showers and toilets, lockers, laundry access, and a basic kitchen. Crucially, residents would receive a fixed postal address tied to the site, unlocking access to GPs, benefits, ID replacement, and job applications. This one administrative change often determines whether someone re-enters the system or remains invisible to it.

The centres would also provide industrial-scale heating, especially critical in winter. Every year, rough sleepers die of cold exposure or respiratory illness. These hubs could reduce winter deaths to zero.

Costs are modest - around £5–10 million per site, or under £10,000 per person per year. That is far cheaper than the churn of ambulances, shelters, police custody, and night-by-night housing.

They also reduce antisocial behaviour, free up public spaces, and ease the burden on overstretched emergency services.

Perfect is not coming. But this could save a life tomorrow, and offer a path back next month.

C - Health

9. The Pharmaceutical Plutocrat Proposal

Each year, thousands of potentially life-saving drugs are abandoned after early-stage trials because they are too expensive to develop and lack commercial viability. As of 2022, over 7,000 rare diseases were known, but fewer than 5% had an approved treatment. The economics are punishing: it can cost over £1 billion to bring a new drug to market, and few companies are willing to gamble on small patient groups.

In a 2025 article in The Guardian, writer and campaigner Alexander Masters suggested an alternative route, his ‘Plutocrat Proposal’. If a billionaire - or someone close to them, such as a partner, parent, or child - is diagnosed with a rare or terminal illness, they could be permitted to fund clinical trials of promising but stalled treatments. Rather than commissioning a private cure, the result would be a publicly available drug. As Masters put it, “desperate rich people” could help solve a problem that neither markets nor governments currently address.

This approach could be enabled through a national platform to identify high-potential preclinical drugs, paired with fast-track regulatory pathways to approve and supervise trials. Emergency-use protocols, adaptive trial models, and special ethics frameworks could be adopted to move quickly, safely, and transparently.

In doing so, private desperation could be harnessed for public benefit.

10. Abandoned Preclinical Drug Database

The Plutocrat Proposal depends on one crucial piece of infrastructure: a national register of stalled drug candidates. At present, there is no central database of treatments that showed early promise but were shelved due to cost, small patient populations, or a lack of commercial incentives. In 2020, an estimated 14,000 drug candidates had been abandoned after early-stage development worldwide, with around 1,000 more added each year. Without visibility, even billionaires willing to fund trials - whether for themselves or a loved one - cannot identify viable compounds to pursue.

An Abandoned Preclinical Drug Database could be established to address this. It would compile data from pharmaceutical companies, universities, biotech firms, and research bodies, cataloguing drugs that passed preclinical or Phase I safety trials but were never developed further. Each entry would include the therapeutic area, trial stage, reasons for abandonment, and intellectual property status.

Developing a drug to the end of the preclinical stage typically costs between £3 million and £15 million. By the time a compound reaches early human testing, significant investment has already been made - and could be leveraged at a steep discount. Rescuing these drugs would avoid duplicating sunk costs and make future trials cheaper and faster.

The database could also enable smaller universities, hospitals, or public research institutes to pick up development where funding previously ran out. Many promising projects stall not because they fail, but because the institution behind them lacks the capital to continue. By surfacing viable candidates, the database could empower new actors to re-enter the field with lower barriers to entry.

11. Elderly Care Credits

In a national time-credit scheme for elderly care, inspired by Japan’s Fureai Kippu, volunteers could earn transferrable hours by supporting older people, reducing pressure on services and making informal care a formal, bankable asset.

The Fureai Kippu system allows individuals to earn credits by helping elderly people in their community. Each hour of service earns one credit, which can be redeemed later for care or transferred to a family member elsewhere. The system operates through cooperatives and non-profits, separate from Japan’s formal care system. Over 370 institutions across Japan currently participate.

In Japan, the scheme has reduced reliance on institutional care by helping elderly people remain in their homes longer. This has led to measurable cost savings for the health and social care system. Surveys also show that older individuals often prefer receiving help through this model over paid services, due to stronger social bonds.

A UK version could be created through local authorities. For example, a student in Bristol could assist with errands for an elderly neighbour, earning credits for their own future care or to support a parent elsewhere. A healthy retiree in Sheffield could volunteer in a care home and bank hours for later use.

The UK spends over £23 billion annually on adult social care, with the over-85 population expected to double by 2045. Over 4 million people already provide unpaid care. A credit system could mobilise informal carers, reduce pressure on services, and reward voluntary effort with future security.

12. AI GP Transcriptions Live Network

General practitioners in the UK spend up to 11 hours a week on clinical documentation, with many citing note-taking and record entry as a major contributor to burnout. With around 36,000 GPs in England, this amounts to over 390,000 hours lost each week - more than 20 million hours annually, equivalent to 10,000 full-time GP years. Automating this process through AI transcription software - where consultations are transcribed, structured, and summarised in real time, with the GP simply reviewing and confirming - could release vast clinical capacity and ease pressure across the system.

Now for the mad part. First, all privacy campaigners are gently locked in the basement. Then, with appropriate consent and safeguards, anonymised consultation transcripts could be uploaded into a live AI tracking system. This would allow the detection of national health trends in real time - from flu outbreaks to spikes in asthma symptoms, prescription shifts, or novel symptoms associated with emerging pathogens. If used during Covid, it could have identified regional outbreaks days before hospital data confirmed them.

This would not only improve GP productivity. It would create a national health radar.

13. Mandatory Biannual STI Week

Sexually transmitted infections are rising sharply in the UK. In 2022, there were over 400,000 new diagnoses in England - up 24% from the previous year. Gonorrhoea cases have increased 50% year-on-year, syphilis is at its highest level since 1948, and chlamydia remains widespread, especially among the under-25s. Many infections are symptomless, and testing is often sporadic or avoided entirely.

A national STI Week could be introduced once every two years, with mandatory testing for all 18 to 20-year-olds. Free tests would be made available through schools, universities, workplaces, and community centres, with postal kits provided where needed. A version of Japan’s Metabo Law - which fines companies if their employees fail to undergo obesity screenings - could be adapted for the UK, applying penalties to firms that do not achieve minimum staff participation rates in STI testing.

This would not be a punitive system but a practical sweep. After five testing cycles, back-of-the envelope maths suggests the national prevalence of STIs could be permanently halved. Most STIs are easy to treat if caught early, but cause infertility, neonatal complications, and long-term illness if left undiagnosed.

A routine, depersonalised approach would reduce stigma and normalise proactive sexual health. A single week every two years could reshape how a generation approaches testing - and radically reduce the national burden of infection.

14. World-leading GLP-1 Trials for Addiction

GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide and liraglutide, developed for diabetes and weight loss, are now being explored for addiction treatment. Early studies suggest they may reduce cravings for alcohol, nicotine, opioids, and cocaine.

In the UK, over 310,000 adults were in contact with drug and alcohol treatment services between April 2023 and March 2024. Alcohol-related harm alone costs England around £27 billion a year, including NHS use, policing, and lost productivity.

A national trial programme could be launched to test GLP-1 drugs across a range of addictions. Universities, prisons, rehab centres, and GP networks could be included, with research concentrated in a single hub to speed up results and simplify regulation. The UK could become the global leader in pharmaceutical addiction treatment.

To support this, incentives could be offered for Novo Nordisk to build a new manufacturing site in the UK, especially in regions with strong life sciences sectors like the North West or East Midlands. As global demand for GLP-1 drugs rises, local production would secure supply chains and strengthen biotech capacity.

A breakthrough in addiction treatment could save thousands of lives and dramatically reduce the long-term costs of substance misuse.

E - Education

15. Three Pillars of UK Childcare Reform

The UK has some of the highest childcare costs in the developed world. Full-time nursery care for a child under two averages over £14,000 per year, taking up to 65% of a median parent’s take-home pay. This cost burden limits workforce participation, especially among women.

1. Deregulate nursery staffing ratios and qualifications

   UK nurseries are subject to stricter staff-to-child ratios and qualification rules than many OECD countries. Easing these rules - especially for older children and part-time care - could lower operating costs and reduce fees. Households could save between £620 and £6,175 a year.

2. Deregulate childminders, following the French model

   French childminders operate under a more flexible system that supports a wide network of affordable, home-based care. In France, a dual-income family pays around 14% of average wages for childcare, compared to 29% in the UK - showing the potential savings from liberalising UK rules.

3. Introduce Japanese-style employer childcare incentives

   Japan offers tax breaks and subsidies to firms that provide on-site childcare or work with local nurseries. In Tsukuba City, businesses receive £500 to £2,000 if male staff take paternity leave. Similar UK incentives could expand provision without relying solely on public delivery.

These three reforms could lower costs, increase supply, and ease pressure on families. Boosting childcare access could raise UK GDP by up to £11.3 billion a year.

16. University Competitions

A national competition could be introduced to measure how much value universities add. Every three years, students would sit standardised assessments at entry and graduation, with mid-point sampling in longer courses. Tests would measure subject knowledge, reasoning, and applied skills. Scores would track improvement over time.

This would allow comparisons between universities based on outcomes, not reputation. Oxford and Cambridge would have to prove their impact. Challenger institutions could rise by showing stronger student growth.

Results could be published in a national league table, alongside employment data and student satisfaction. Top performers could gain prestige, funding, or priority in research partnerships. Low performers would face pressure to improve.

No system is perfect, but transparency raises standards. A university that lifts average students to exceptional outcomes deserves recognition. This would reward progress, not pedigree.

F - Governance

17. Monthly Rotating Cabinet Town Halls

Each month, one cabinet minister - such as the Home Secretary or Health Secretary - could hold a live, two-hour town hall. Half the time would be reserved for questions from the public, the other half for detailed policy interrogation by journalists. These sessions would be broadcast nationally and archived online. Ministers would rotate, ensuring every major department faces regular, direct scrutiny.

Trust in UK government remains low. According to the OECD, only 35% of Britons say they trust their national government - below the OECD average. Transparency builds accountability. Regular, unscripted engagement would force ministers to explain decisions, defend policies, and engage with real concerns - not just media soundbites or staged select committees.

This would not be theatre. It would be routine scrutiny - a habit of government. Over time, it could raise the standard of political communication and reconnect ministers with the people they serve.

18. Full Devolution into 12 Regions

The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world. Whitehall controls 95% of tax revenue, compared to 69% in Germany. Local governments here spend just 1% of GDP on economic affairs - half the level in France or Germany.

Despite two decades of devolution, many areas still lack real power. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have legislatures, but England has no equivalent. Metro mayors now cover nearly half of England’s population, but powers are limited and uneven. Polling shows over 80% of city-region residents support more local control.

This proposal would complete the map. England would be divided into 9 devolved regions, joining the 3 nations to form 12 fully empowered administrations. Each would control transport, housing, health integration, and local taxation - closer to the German Länder model.

It would be expensive. Restructuring, staffing, and lost central efficiencies could cost billions, making this the most expensive policy on this list. But it could unlock innovation, reduce London dependency, and raise trust in government. Regional governors could also create a new path for political talent - tested locally before rising nationally.

19. Local Policy Sandboxes

Local governments in the UK have little freedom to experiment. Legal and regulatory barriers often block councils from trying even modest reforms in housing, taxation, or licensing. A local policy sandbox system would change that - offering structured exemptions for councils to trial reforms in designated zones, with central approval.

Each year, a limited number of sandbox proposals could be greenlit across policy areas. Councils might pilot looser planning codes to fast-track housing, scrap stamp duty (SDLT) for local first-time buyers, adjust minimum wage levels, or liberalise alcohol licensing hours in defined districts. The goal is controlled experimentation - with time limits, metrics, and public monitoring.

Many countries already use similar systems. Singapore has led the way with regulatory sandboxes in finance, healthcare, and urban tech - allowing innovators to operate temporarily outside standard rules under close government supervision. The UK could extend this logic to local government, giving councils room to experiment just as start-ups can.

G - Justice and immigration

20. National Drone Security Grid

A rapid-response drone surveillance network could be deployed across central London in under three months. The system would use 10 rooftop hives, each housing around 20 lightweight, racing-style drones fitted with high-definition cameras and GPS. Drones would be dispatched when eyewitness footage is urgently needed - for example, in robberies, knife sightings, or fast-moving disturbances - and would track suspects while police units are en route.

With hives placed across Zones 1 and 2, every location would be within roughly 2 kilometres of a launch site. Racing drones can exceed 100 km/h and reach any point in the grid in under 30 seconds. By contrast, average Met Police response times exceed 10 minutes for serious incidents. The drones would not intervene, but provide live video to control rooms, buying time and evidence.

The entire three-year pilot could be delivered for around £1 million a year - less than the salary cost of 20 additional beat officers. The Met’s annual budget is over £1.1 billion. This would account for less than 0.1%. The economic and social costs of violent crime in London alone cost the capital £3 billion in 2019 .

If successful, the system could be expanded to other cities. A separate drone grid could also monitor the busiest stretch of the English Channel, offering low-cost, high-frequency tracking to support small boats enforcement.

Keir Starmer recently proposed drones to catch fly-tippers. Maybe, we begin with the muggings?

21. Immigration Integration Pathway

Immigration levels are a significant concern in British politics, and decisions about numbers should be addressed through separate policies. This proposal focuses on integration, ensuring that those who do settle here can participate fully in society, contribute economically, and uphold shared civic norms.

Under current rules, those on spousal or family visas, the post-study graduate route, or long-term dependant visas are eligible to work, but often not eligible for Jobcentre support. Yet these groups represent a substantial portion of arrivals: in 2023, there were 81,203 family-related visas issued, and 457,673 sponsored study visas granted to main applicants .

The English language requirements for settlement are minimal. Applicants need only pass a basic A1 or B1 test, depending on the visa type - levels far below the functional fluency expected in countries like Germany or Canada. Moreover, immigrants over 65 are exempt from any language requirement, despite being among the heaviest users of the NHS and other public services.

The costs of translation and interpretation services are substantial. Estimates suggest that the UK public sector spends around £140 million annually on these services . Beyond the financial burden, reliance on translation can slow down emergency responses and complicate service delivery.

To address these challenges, the "Immigration Integration Pathway" would offer:

1. Job Access: All immigrants, regardless of visa category, should have access to Jobcentre services and employment support.

2. Language Proficiency: English language requirements should be raised to a functional level, with mandatory classes provided to help immigrants meet this standard.

3. Civic Education: A compulsory course on British cultural norms and civic values should be introduced. If an individual is found to advocate for practices that contradict fundamental British values - such as criminalising homosexuality - either during the course or subsequently, their visa should be revoked.

Public opinion supports stronger integration measures. A 2024 Ipsos/British Future survey found that 56% of Britons believe immigration has undermined British society and culture, while 41% say it enriches communities . This policy aims to bridge that divide by fostering integration and shared values.

22. UK Free Speech Charter

Britain’s laws on free speech are vague, patchy, and politically vulnerable. While offensive views are often legal in theory, they are increasingly subject to investigation, or even arrest. A clear legal standard is needed.

The UK Free Speech Charter would create a statutory right to free expression, modelled closely on the US First Amendment. That means near-total protection for speech - regardless of content - with the same well-established exceptions: libel, incitement to violence, direct threats, and harassment.

No one would be prosecuted for causing offence, expressing controversial political views, or criticising religion, government, or ideology.

A Savanta ComRes poll conducted for the Free to Disagree campaign found that 64% of Scottish adults support a classical approach to free speech, where only words that incite violence are criminalised. In contrast, just 29% believe that the law should criminalise 'offensive' words

This law would give citizens confidence that the state will not police their opinions. A country cannot debate its future if the boundaries of debate are undefined.

23. Ban homeopathy and scientology

In general, the government should not ban things it merely dislikes, but sometimes we can have a wee bit of authoritarianism, as a treat.

Homeopathy is not harmless. It is the sale of water, sugar pills, and ritual to the desperate and sick - sometimes at the exact moment when real treatment could still save them. The NHS still reimburses some homeopathic remedies. In 2019 alone, UK consumers spent £60 million on homeopathic products - all of which are medically useless. This is nothing more than legalised scamming of the vulnerable.

France, a country hardly known for scepticism of alternative medicine, ended homeopathy reimbursements in 2021. Use dropped by 85% in a year.

While we’re banning scamming the vulnerable, let’s ban Scientology too. France recognises it as a cult. Germany keeps it under constitutional surveillance. Britain treats it like a quirky tax-exempt religion. It’s not. It is a coercive pyramid scheme built around fake therapy, invented theology, and commercial exploitation.

If we're serious about protecting the vulnerable, then protecting them from organised deception is a good place to start.

24. Security Guard Immunity Zones

Everyone’s seen the videos: shoplifters strolling past helpless security guards, who do nothing. They’re not lazy: they’re untrained, underpaid, and legally neutered. In most cases, they can’t lay a hand on a thief without risking prosecution.

Sweden took a different path. Their väktare (private guards) receive formal training, wear body cameras, and operate under clear legal authority to intervene in theft, disturbance, and violence. It works, and Britain should copy it.

Security Guard Immunity Zones would grant trained guards limited legal protection when detaining shoplifters, provided bodycam footage and use-of-force protocols are followed. This restores deterrence without turning guards into police.

Or, if not, we could just make shoplifting legal and head to Tesco now for a discounted cream egg. At least then the policy would be honest.

and finally….

25. Let’s ditch the penny and the 2p coin!

No, this won’t revolutionise Britain. But it’s still worth doing.

The UK scrapped the halfpenny in 1984, when its value had eroded beyond usefulness. Since then, inflation has done its job: a 1p coin now has less than a quarter of that buying power. The 2p isn’t far behind. Together, these coins are worth so little that many people won’t bend down to pick one up — but the Royal Mint still strikes tens of millions each year.

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have all phased out low-denomination coins without triggering inflation. Prices are simply rounded sensibly at point of sale. The UK could follow suit immediately.

It costs more than 1p to produce a penny — meaning we’re literally minting money at a loss. That’s not quirky, that’s absurd.

Sorry, Dad — the 99p ice cream is finally going to be £1. You’ll survive.

Conclusion

There we have it: 25 more radical, fresh ideas. Added to the 25 in High-Hanging Fruit, that’s 50 policy proposals drafted in under three weeks, by one person, in their spare time.

What on earth are our political parties doing?

Thousands of researchers, advisors, and MPs have churned through a decade of crises, and yet almost nothing has changed. If one person can sketch this much, imagine what a serious, focused government could do.

Please share these ideas. More importantly, use them as a springboard. Not every policy here will be right for you, but the point is to reopen the window. We need bold thinking, real priorities, and an end to the zombified conversation that passes for UK politics.

Let’s get to work.