Tim Worstall

Unmarried couples who live together for just two years will be automatically entitled to half their partner’s estate if they die without a will, under proposals from the Government’s law advisers. There have been a number of attempts at doing something like this is recent years. Change the rules so that those who cohabit have [...]

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Those of us who are freedom and liberty denying enough to object to assisted suicide have often tried to point out that there’s something of a slippery slope here. Yes, of course, upping the morphine dose to the point of respiratory failure for someone who will die in agony in a couple of days is [...]

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Fifth, Lincoln never wrote a book.

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Friends of the Earth report: ….could leave UK consumers forking out almost £6.50 for a loaf of bread and more than £18 for a pint of beer by 2030, Apparently they seem to think that Labour are going to win the next few elections. That’s the only way we’d get that much inflation isn’t it? [...]

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Bloke I met in the pub last night says that his brother is something to do with this band, the Brisboys. Given that I know absolutely nothing about this type of music I’ll leave others to judge the quality. But I do very much admire the name of the band.

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European taxpayers shelled out nearly £250,000 for a made-to-measure shower for France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy – but he didn’t use it. The luxury unit was built to exact specifications for the 5ft 5in leader and came complete with ‘power’ and ‘massage’ jet settings. The astonishing cost of the shower, which was later ripped out and [...]

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Pedal power: Business Secretary Lord Mandelson hits the road on his bendy bike

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Australia’s fabled beachside life of sea, surf and sundowners overlooking the ocean is under threat from rising sea levels. I’m not sure that the shore moving a few feet inland is really all that much of a problem. Sure, bit of a pisser if it’s your house that now gets wet but there will still [...]

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Always thought it would happen but was hoping that it wouldn’t be in my lifetime. Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt. The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate [...]

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The astonishing efforts to lure away Anglican priests show that Pope Benedict is set on restoring the Roman imperium. That’s Hans Kung that is. And he seems just a tad dim here. For the Pope and the Catholic Church rather claim to be the one true apostolic church. It is therefore, by their own lights, [...]

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To get a kilo of beef, the animal typically eats about eight kilos of grain. I’m pretty sure this is true of intensively reared beef. US style feedlots. But how much of the beef in hte UK is raised in that manner? And how much is simply pasture fed?

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Yet he has defended the indefensible by saying that sanctions will remain in place until the communist government in Cuba frees political prisoners and improves human rights, just like his predecessor. Yes, I think the embargo is a very stupid policy and one which props up the Castros. However, I don’t see the above as [...]

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What seventh circle of lunacy is this? Simon Jenkins seems to think that the car scrappage scheme was a good idea. No, it was a destruction of wealth. To give you an idea of his level of economic analysis: America’s “cash for clunkers” consumed $3bn and is reckoned to have rescued Ford, Chrysler and General [...]

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Just a few lines that pop up in pieces about the mooted changes to credit cards terms. A large chunk of the British population has proved itself to be untrustworthy when it comes to credit, and credit card companies have encouraged us to borrow more than we can afford. If we can’t be disciplined about [...]

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I’m sure there are arguments on both sides of this, the idea that instead of flogging off the good part of Northern Rock for the benefit of us taxpayers that it should be mutualised and owned by its account holders. There must be an argument or two in favour of it for our rulers wouldn’t [...]

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Decline in US house prices slows, Case-Schiller report The Telegraph subs are all over the place today. The S&P/Case-Schiller home price indices Really. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed Good grief. The S&P/Case-Schiller home price indices Including the title of the chart, they’ve used “Case-Shiller” 5 times in a short article and managed to spell [...]

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Interesting, no? Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once [...]

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It’s not all bad news for Britain. There is good reason – not least the end of the VAT holiday – to expect growth to resume in the final three months of 2009 The end of the VAT holiday isn’t going to raise growth: given that it was cut in order to raise growth that [...]

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Any link between skin colour and brain power was long ago disproved by science. Hesitant though I am to argue with a scientist of Steve Jones’ standing, this isn’t actually true. We can see links between average brain power of this group as against that group very easily. And yes, many of those groups are [...]

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UK forensic accountant Richard Murphy says: “The fundamental question is how accountants got away with changing rules of accountancy, which state they don’t have to assess the valuation of assets underlying the assets on a balance sheet. How did they get away with changing the audit rules?” I can see two possible statements here. 1) [...]

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