Tim Worstall

It really would help if those telling us all what we should be doing about climate change actually knew what the fuck they were talking about before they did so. Today’s example is "The Low Carbon Kid". The U.K. Government’s 2007 Nuclear Power Consultation accepts estimates that, across its whole life-cycle, nuclear power emits between [...]

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They’re always hacks, Brad. Always. Yes even Milton Friedman. The more independent-minded ones will occasionally come up with a liberalish or fair-minded idea or two, but this is purely for display, not for ever doing anything about if to do so would run the risk of a higher rate of capital gains tax. The ideological [...]

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* An intriguing headline and photo combo on today’s Telegraph front page. "Hunt for the ‘real donor’" sits on top of a photo of David Abrahams and the former Israeli Ambassador Zvi Hefeitz, who was cleared of money laundering. They make no allegations. If they ever get enough evidence to do so, the story would [...]

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* Being a newspaper columnist is like being married to a nymphomaniac. Every time you think you’re through, you have to start all over again.

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More importantly, does your IP address identify you as being from Wyoming? If so, please click here and make a sad, sad, geek of an economist happy.

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Looks like an excellent one to support: TreeHouse, founded ten years ago to help children with severe autism, is a magnificent example of the determination of some parents to do more for those afflicted, and of how intensive and dedicated specialist therapy can bring extraordinary results, even for those thought to be untreatable. The school [...]

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An interesting little point, one that I’m sure most are not aware of: The biggest is being propagated by politicians themselves. They repeat, ad infinitum, that the conviction rate for rape is scandalously low, at 5.7 per cent. They conclude from this that juries cannot be trusted. But 5.7 per cent is only the proportion [...]

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Zoe Margolis goes to the Erotica Show: And yet, everywhere one looked there were women. One could hardly avoid the tits and arses on display: on almost every stall were women dressed in little more than underwear, handing out leaflets, T-shirts or DVDs. But it was not the flesh on display that I found objectionable: [...]

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Good Lord, has the man learnt nothing in his life? It sells a limited range of basic foodstuffs but would hardly justify the title of supermarket. Today, as everywhere throughout Caracas, powdered milk is in short supply, although no one knows for certain if this is the result of opposition manoeuvre and malice, or of [...]

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Two questions about this: Pyjamas that have been designed to protect hospital patients from the MRSA superbug have gone on sale in Marks & Spencer. The £45 garment has silver thread woven into it, which tests show can reduce the spread of infections. …Silver-laced nightwear has been tested in a handful of hospitals, but M&S [...]

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Excellent work boys! The taxman could face another investigation after it emerged that the confidential details of parents, included on letters to apologise for the lost discs fiasco, have been sent to old addresses. HM Revenue and Customs sent out letters with national insurance and child benefit numbers printed on the top and many have [...]

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So Jack Straw is in the firing line for this one: Hundreds of criminals, including those accused of sexual offences, have avoided prosecution after a "cover-up" in magistrates’ courts, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is to admit that over a period of "many years" hundreds of cases never came to [...]

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Most, most amusing: The MoD has admitted that FRES will have to meet rules that cut emissions from cars, vans and lorries. That is, that the new generation of tanks and armoured vehicles will have to have fuel sipping engines. Perhaps we’ll stick a Polo engine (90 odd grammes CO2 per km) into a 40 [...]

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Can’t say that I’m surprised at these numbers: There were 9.1 million hospital stays in England in 2005/6 if day case, maternity and mental health patients are not included and Prof Sheldon’s figures mean 910,303 of these patients suffered harm as a result of a blunder. In 91,030 cases it contributed to their death. It’s [...]

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Via: The Greenpeace whale naming competition. I’m not sure whether this is a result of a lack of knowledge or a very dark sense of humour indeed: Aiko – means ‘little love’ in Japanese "Little" love is, of course, what the Japanese tend to show to cetaceans of all kinds. But it looks like the [...]

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Yes, all in favour of this one. "The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said." A YouTube competitor should post these videos and then run advertisements saying that unlike YouTube it [...]

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At The Business. Let capitalism rip and I explain one of the great mysteries of our time: This is why, for example, Lord Malloch Brown’s social housing is in Admiralty Arch, not some rat infested slum in Tower Hamlets.

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Perhaps this whole Abrahams and party funding thing has been cooked up? British party politics is not corrupt. Yet our parties are being forced to sail ever closer to the wind in order to pay for their campaigns. The case for new, fair and copper-bottomed party funding arrangements – which the Queen’s speech pledged to [...]

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Madonna has incurred the wrath of animal rights activists this week after dyeing the fleeces of a flock of sheep from her estate blue, pink, yellow and green for a Vogue photoshoot. Though Madonna is not alone – dyed sheep may be seen at the Latitude festival in Suffolk, for example – the RSPCA fears [...]

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The culture minister, Margaret Hodge, has said she will consider a redesign of the union flag to incorporate the Welsh dragon. Her surprising commitment was made in the Commons during a debate on the frequency with which the union flag flies above public buildings. The discussions on a new flag design bring a new dimension [...]

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