Tim Worstall

So, anyone else been spammed overnight by The Sun telling us all about their front page? It’s possibly the least surprising political move ever. The Sun now backs the Tories. Really?

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Mr Guttenberg does not need a job. He gets more than he needs from his family estate in Bavaria. If duty impels him, German politics will be all the richer. I’m just wondering how The Guardian would take my using a similar argument for a British politician that I’ve worked with, Lord Willoughby de Broke. [...]

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How can we help the NHS to nurture social solidarity while retaining the essentials of our cherished free society? Yes, I know, this is some sub-editor, not (Sir) Michael White. But it’s an idiot question all the same. The function of the NHS, as with any other health care system, is to aid in preventing [...]

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Best plan was a National Care Service, free homecare for the elderly with no more means testing, paid for by cutting NHS research Eh? This is a good idea? In the middle of a technological revolution (for that is indeed what is happening in health care) we’re going to cut the research budget? How friggin’ [...]

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The Prime Minister also pledged the creation of a £1bn “national investment corporation” to provide finance for businesses… Seriously, does anyone at all think that some bunch of vote stealers (whatever coloured rosette they wear at election time) is going to be able to allocate capital either efficiently or equitably? That the ability to kiss [...]

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A Cheshire brewery has started making alcopops without the alcohol. So, err, lemonade then?

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Sexual satisfaction keeps women in good health Having a shag makes you feel better. Ah: according to a study that suggests improving the quality of sex could be key to wellbeing. Having a good shag makes you feel better. Absolutely amazing what scientists can find out these days, eh? So, anyone need cheering up then?

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One in 20 hospital admissions in England is due to smoking and treating illnesses related to the habit costs the NHS £5.2 billion a year, official statistics suggest. Given that baccy taxes bring in around £8 billion a year the NHS is still in profit then. Good, people are paying the external, societal, costs of [...]

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No, no, that’s not the point at all: Government and its regulations exist to defend us from incompetent or bad strangers, not from our mates. Government is about the exercise of power over others. The expression of the desire to make sure that everyone does as you think they should, not as they would wish. [...]

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The first time I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards, I thought I’d bump in to people who mattered, such as Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. Chris Rea. (And no, it doesn’t happen that way.)

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The population explosion in poor countries will contribute little to climate change and is a dangerous distraction from the main problem of over-consumption in rich nations, a study has found. It challenges claims by leading environmentalists, including Sir David Attenborough and Jonathon Porritt, that strict birth control is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The [...]

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I don’t share any of Philip Blond’s views, regarding them as much to close to Franco’s sort of fascism to be honest, but this isn’t one of the great critiques of our time: Red Toryism can’t hack it because it promotes civil society at the expense of the state. Hmm, well, it’s a view I [...]

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His pro-manufacturing, pro-R&D, pro-skills and low-carbon investment began to look like a “white heat of technology” winning theme. One or two slight apologies – “less financial engineering, more real engineering” – were not quite the banker-bashing the public yearns for, but it’s a start. After all these painful years of Gordon Brown’s insistence that the [...]

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There’s been all sorts of spluttering about the question Andy Marr asked Gordon Brown about whether he was using drugs or whatever. Sunny H has got very hoity toity about it for example. However, here’s something I’ve not seen mentioned as yet. Marr asked, something along the lines of “many people use prescription drugs or [...]

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Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, has backed Gordon Brown ahead of his final conference speech before the General Election, hailing him as a ”definite winner”. Might as well pack up and go home now then, eh, Gordo?

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A spankingly good idea.

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The clubs say: “What we need in this is clarification,” said the Premier Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty. “It is about establishing ground rules, such the percentage of salary that can be paid into an image rights company.” The Professional Rugby Players’ Association are not perturbed by the investigation. “The only issue we would have [...]

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John Bercow yesterday pledged to halt the £5,000-a-day hunt for the mole who leaked details of MPs’ expenses. The Speaker said the investigation was a waste of time and money. Well, yes, given that The Telegraph has just published a book revealing all……

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….jibes about the Portuguese (“few vices except lice and sodomy”) Can’t say I’ve noticed either myself…..

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Although no formal offer has been made by Kraft, the US giant best known for cheese slices and Oreo cookies, its chief executive Irene Rosenfeld has applied a classic hostile bear squeeze on the company she covets. Eh? In what way is launching a takeover offer a bear squeeze? That phrase usually refers to driving [...]

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