Tim Worstall

Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found. The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its [...]

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Steven Levitt has done an excellent paper about the economics of prostitution. It’s included in the upcoming SuperFreakonomics. One conclusion is: ….having a pimp in Chicago actually boosts a prostitute’s earnings. And we’re just passing a law to make it illegal to have sex with a prostitute who has a pimp. Why?

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For low-carbon alternatives to compete with the mainstream, the companies that are pioneering them need the support of a stable regulatory framework and a package of pricing and tax-relief incentives to give them confidence to invest. Take biofuels…. Erm, but biofuels are not green. The emit more than the equivalent fossil fuels. So whatever we’re [...]

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The document shows that Italian banker Riccardo Banchetti, the former joint chief executive of Lehman in Europe and the Middle East, is claiming $26,040,000 (£16.4m), despite having held the job for only a few weeks before Lehman went into bankruptcy last year. Mr Banchetti, who did not move to Nomura following Lehman’s collapse, is claiming [...]

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He is, after all, paid to talk and think about moral and ethical matters: “Consumerism treats each person as essentially a hole that you have to keep stuffing things into. But what’s it like to have a life that is balanced, that is at home with its material and human environment? That’s a question that [...]

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This really is shameless: However, despite agreeing that Miss Smith had broken the rules, the committee on standards and privileges — to which Mr Lyon reports — simply asked her to apologise. She will not have to repay any money. She was also not required to apologise to Parliament over the adult films, but chose [...]

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…the fundamental insight of classical liberalism–the idea that government best serves its citizens by limiting itself to enforcing neutral rules. Virginia Postrel

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It goes without saying that wherever you are in the world, you should have access to productive employment and decent work for decent pay. But for many people, especially those living in poorer countries, this simply isn’t a reality. Because poor people in poor countries are poor! And our definition of someone who is poor is that they don’t get [...]

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Or, is it time to get into dog farming in Taiwan? City officials in Taichung, which has a population of one million, said on Wednesday the environmental protection bureau would give vouchers worth 100 Taiwan dollars ($3) for every kilo of dog poo collected. In areas of the city especially affected, the reward will be [...]

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At the ASI. In which I admit to being blinkered.

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Yet another report not noting the obvious: Britain is the worst place in Europe to live despite offering the biggest salaries, a study reveals today. High incomes in the UK are cancelled out by long working hours, poor annual leave, rising food and fuel bills and a lack of sunshine. Note firstly that this is [...]

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English district councils spend £1 in every £3 of council tax revenue on gathering and disposing of household rubbish, figures obtained by the Guardian show. So, first be deliberately obtuse about the money. Council tax revenue is about 25% of total council revenue. So we’re really saying that about 8% of council revenue is spent [...]

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The recession is threatening the vast investment needed in green housing, power and transport and could seriously undermine Britain’s efforts to meet its targets for tackling global warming, the government’s climate change advisers warn today. Well, yes, of course it does. I think we’re all pretty much aware (well, I’d hope we’re all aware) that [...]

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But Sir Stuart Bell, who sits on the Members Estimates Committee which the Legg committee will report to, said that asking for repayment for items which had been approved amounted to a change of “criteria”. He suggested that if Sir Thomas strayed outside his “remit,” then MPs would be justified in refusing to pay money [...]

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Labour is threatening to impose a £40,000 ‘fine’ on former Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt in revenge for defecting to the Conservatives. Former Cabinet Minister Frank Dobson yesterday called on the Government to stop paying Sir Richard who, in line with Army custom, continues to be paid for three months after retiring in the [...]

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AN 80-year-old grandmother who doctors identified as terminally ill and left to starve to death has recovered after her outraged daughter intervened. Hazel Fenton, from East Sussex, is alive nine months after medics ruled she had only days to live, withdrew her antibiotics and denied her artificial feeding. The former school matron had been placed [...]

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No doubt there is some EU nonsense behind this: People will be asked to pick through their rubbish to set aside every piece that can be recycled, re-used, rotted or incinerated under government plans to move Britain towards a zero waste nation. Houses that already have up to four bins and boxes may get even [...]

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Neither is John Veals, the odious hedge-fund manager created by Sebastian Faulks, who masterminds a cynical short-selling scheme that will make him millions but hasten the ruin of the Allied Royal Bank, a thinly disguised Royal Bank of Scotland. OK, but could those artists try and find out about the crisis before they start writing? [...]

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In my view smokers who currently stand outside a pub or restaurant having a fag should have to stand at least several yards away from the front door, to save the 79% of us who don’t smoke from breathing in their smoke when we go in or out. We should curtail the rights of the [...]

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Stick a fork in it, it’s over. Red Tories are coming up with some interesting ideas for how to restructure government. Will Hutton’s in favour so it’s obviously nonsense.

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