Tim Worstall

What I don’t understand is why they are wriggling so hard? Immigration rules introduced in 2004 allowed serving Gurkhas with at least four years’ service to settle in the UK but they did not apply to Gurkhas discharged from the British Army before July 1 1997. The Government announcement followed a High Court ruling last [...]

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Labour MPs fear the Prime Minister’s fate may be sealed by the European and county council elections on June 4 amid polling evidence that Labour is facing disaster and could trail in fourth behind the Lib Dems and the United Kingdom Independence Party. Wouldn’t be enough to get me elected (I’m fourth on the list [...]

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On the horrors of alcohol consumption: It’s never been cheaper in real terms than it currently is That’s the definition of getting richer you God awful prodnosed cretin. Goods and services go down in price when measured against incomes. That’s the whole damn point of having an economy in the first place. Jeebus.

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Recent research from the commission found that city bonuses paid to women were 79 per cent lower than those paid to men. Is this evidence of discrimination? Or of occupational segregation? It’s a long time since I did my (mercifully short) stint in The City but way back when dealing rooms were male dominated and [...]

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Throwing terms like "social justice" around does not make a stupid Bronze Age idea sound economics. No more to say on that one.

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I’m not all that sure that I follow the logic here. Many businessmen chose to take their pay package in two parts, with a relatively modest slice as income and the bulk going into their pension pot. This has been a popular, and legitimate way for people to reduce their tax liabilities, as well as [...]

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Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme yesterday, Mr Darling admitted: "At this stage it is very difficult to be absolutely certain as to what will happen. The Prime Minister weighed in: The Prime Minister also launched a robust defence of the tax increases which were widely condemned yesterday. "This is not taxation for its [...]

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"Communism was a terrible, murderous system that claimed millions of lives," said Professor Wojciech Roszkowski, a leading Polish historian and member of the European parliament. "It was very similar to National Socialism, and there is no reason to treat those two systems, and their symbols, differently. Their glorification should be prohibited." I don’t think that [...]

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Can someone explain this to me please? There’s something in the budget about firm and legally enforceable targets for CO2 emissions. And that fines could be levied if they were not met. Who is to pay these fines to whom? I simply cannot get my head around this (or I’m missing information). Do taxpayers end [...]

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Very disturbing to my worldview: After half a century of almost continuously declining fish stocks, especially of iconic species such as North Sea cod, the symptoms and diagnosis of this crisis are familiar. Too many boats are chasing too few fish. What is new about the Green Paper launched yesterday by Joe Borg, the EU [...]

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Response: Cubans have the right to reject western consumerism Sure, I agree wholeheartedly. Just as Cubans have the right to embrace western consumerism if they so wish. Or at least, they would have, in a free society, have such right at an individual level. To embrace consumerism or asceticism, as they wished. Unfortunately they live [...]

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I wonder if Joanne and Darren Jones, found guilty this week of snaffling over £60,000 from a faulty cash machine, ever played Monopoly when they were young? For all the modern angst about violent computer games, this innocent-looking board game has probably had a more corrosive influence on western morals. For starters, Monopoly brazenly encourages [...]

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The UK is the most eeeevilest place ever in the whole wide universe to be a child. The research carried out at the University of York for the Child Poverty Action Group, echoed a report two years ago from UNICEF that put British children at the wrong end of a list of the 21 most [...]

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About right: New Labour can win a fourth historic term, if we all just close our eyes tightly, hold hands and click our heels together three times and wish upon a star. They can, they can, they can! Now, if we can just persuade Judy Garland and Micky Rooney to put on a show, the [...]

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Obesity is a threat not only to an individual’s health but is also a bad influence on the ecology of the planet, according to environmental experts. Well, they do say that the aim is to walk lightly upon this precious Earth, don’t they?

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One for all those who insist that the rich should pay more in taxes: Imposing a new 45p rate of income tax on the rich will not work and will actually cost the Treasury money, an influential independent think-tank has warned. The existence of the Laffer Curve is simply a mathematical certainty. The question is [...]

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Here.

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Is all over the news today. He’s going to donate his brain to science. Just wondering, but when will this happy occasion be? Soon?

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At the ASI. If people were actually serious about climate change, wouldn’t they be investigating space based solar?

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The obvious priority is affordable housing. He seems to have missed the fact that housing is becoming ever more affordable every day. Don’t think we need to let his maunderings detain us any further.

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