Tim Worstall

Socialism is an ideology founded on optimism – the hope that the world could be a better place if its relations are rooted in co-operation rather than competition, and solidarity rather than insularity. If you really believe (as I do) that co-operation should be the basis of relations then you should be supporting a market [...]

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There is another, even more fundamental, reason why the present rental system is untenable. There is no justification in charging tenants to pay off historic debt when they have no financial interest in the value of the asset in the first place. They are tenants, they do not own the property. The historic debt should [...]

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Despite the government’s commitment to eliminating it, the pay gap rose slightly last year and women working part-time are now paid on average 36.5% less than men. The truth is that women who work part time are paid, on average, 36.5% less per hour than men who work full time. It is also true that [...]

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Who is more valuable to society – a classroom assistant or a gravedigger? This is not an idle philosophical question, but one being considered by lawyers examining one of 62,000 equal pay claims making their way through the employment tribunals system. It is an idle philosophical question….for there is no independent value of "worth" that [...]

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America’s recession will end this year, claims Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke   Britain showing signs of heading towards 1930s-style depression, says Bank

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SASKATOON, Saskatchewan (Reuters) – Six high-risk prisoners escaped a Canadian jail last summer after spending four months chipping a path to freedom with nail clippers and other makeshift tools, according to a government report released on Thursday.

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They do say that Irish Republicanism is on the rise again, don’t they?

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Jeebus. And thus the golden thread. City bonuses have propelled income inequality which in turn has delivered more social dysfunctionality and increased social workers’ case loads. The statistical causation is unarguable. What is harder is to explain why. Here Wilkinson and Pickett become more speculative. "Causation" is the "why". If the "why" is speculative then [...]

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Well, yes…. "The Vikings weren’t these big, hairy delinquents, they mostly came from the upper classes," says Ingmar Jansson of Stockholm University. "They were sophisticated and at the cutting edge of civilisation." But isn’t that rather what was being complained about? The cutting edges on those very civilised double bladed axes?

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Well, yes, ok, a diet rich in game meats, cloudberries, salmon and trout is indeed nutritious. But I think we can get a better view of what this "Nordic Diet" stuff means by considering this: "In Britain you have a lot of kale, but almost no one realises that you can eat it raw like [...]

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This is how politics works….instead of actually testing things out to see what works in pilots and then going and doing these things on a larger scale, things get done and paid for on the basis that just doing something, anything, makes politicians look good. It concludes that ministers have "spent large sums of money [...]

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At the ASI. From the Department of Excessively Stupid Ideas.

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see more Lolcats and funny pictures

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Stories like this are from the school of thought that assumes all politicians are on the make or easy to influence in a malign way. What is your problem with this position? It is the correct, default, position to take.

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No one who was there will forget, because what came next was so unexpected – not least by Blair’s own cabinet. "Our historic aim will be for ours to be the first generation to end child poverty. It will take a generation. It is a 20-year mission, but I believe it can be done." Hmm, [...]

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At the ASI. Are we sure that more regulation is the answer, given the quality of the regulators themselves?

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… what a fucking shithole! It was like the set of Little Britain, stuffed with mongs, chavs, mobility scooters, bad drivers and fucking suicidal pedestrians. Plus the road layout was designed by someone who expected that people would all be travelling on Vespas or something. I thought I lived in an utter toilet, but fuck [...]

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If I were Treasury Secretary, I would do nothing. Luckily, Geithner has such low gravitas that’s all he can get away with, going through the motions, generate reports, testify in front of Congress 3 times a week, that in the end does not amount to much. Thus, I am pleasantly pleased with Geitner because if [...]

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An officer in the U.S. Naval reserve was attending a conference of officers from the U.S. navy and the French navy. At a cocktail reception, he found himself in a small group that included personnel from both navies. A French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans learned only English. He then [...]

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