Tim Worstall

The average female board director took home £178,246 in salary, bonuses, benefits and pension contributions in the 2008-09 financial year, while the average male director received £357,358. So they’re getting 66% of men’s pay, or 50% less than men. I think we can all draw up the list of the usual suspects who will blare [...]

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Final farewell to worst deal in history – AOL-Time Warner That’s arguable. For AOL it was the best deal in history, swapping hugely overvalued stock in an internet bubble company for real business assets.

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Europe is as democratic as it can be for now. Translation: shut the fuck up and do what we tell you. Europe can never again have a political system imposed on it from above. Which is why we are imposing one upon you so shut the fuck up and do what we tell you. The [...]

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Slightly odd to see somewhere you used to live pictured in The Times of a morning. After lying dormant for 4,000 years, one of Europe’s most powerful volcanoes, Campi Flegrei near Naples, is showing signs of life. Instinct would tell you to stay away, but an international team of scientists are doing exactly the opposite. [...]

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Nice try lads: The chief of the Opec oil cartel said that oil-producing countries should be compensated for lost revenues if UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month reach a deal that cuts the use of oil. And the copper miners need compensation for the use of fibre optics, the buggy whip manufacturers for cars [...]

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“The EU is losing influence rapidly and these appointments make that worse,” said Simon Hix, professor of European politics at the London School of Economics. “The rest of the world was expecting big figures. But Europe has shown it would rather be a super-sized Switzerland.” This is the gentleman who composed figures for voting support [...]

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Tesco has moved a step closer to becoming a full-service bank by signing up software developer Fiserv to provide the technology for its fledgling financial services business. Everybody is saying we need more compeition in retail banking and here it comes. But why do I have this nagging suspicion that those insisting that we need [...]

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They have all come under fire for helping promote “throw-away fashion”. Because of their very low prices, many consumers are happy to throw away their garments after just one season. MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee found the proportion of textile waste at council tips has risen from 7 per cent to [...]

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India has urged the West to give up eating beef to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming. A couple of minor points: firstly, where will all the organic fertiliser come from if there’s no livestock and secondly, the figures used are for intensive feedlot operations: not for the pasture grazing which 60% [...]

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The Shadow Defence Secretary told The Daily Telegraph that ending Britain’s 25,000 strong military presence on the Rhine would be part of a fundamental reorganisation of Nato forces designed to free troops for military operations outside Europe. I thought we’d already left. Sounds sensible that we should leave though.

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I think you can probably guess where I found this little delight. Christian Aid today launches its latest Alternative Tax Award – Tax Superhero of the Year – and invites nominations of suitably qualified firms and individuals. The award has been introduced to highlight the  tremendous potential accountants have to change the world for the [...]

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Be afraid, be very afraid: Catherine Ashton, who will be the EU’s new foreign minister, has a full-size Dalek — a gift from her husband — in her sitting room.

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You know, enabling Europe to punch above its weight, be taken seriously in the councils of power across the world? The surprise combination emerged after Gordon Brown ended Tony Blair’s hopes of becoming president, abandoning his support for his successor and proposing Baroness Ashton for the foreign job instead. The Prime Minister’s switch surprised European [...]

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David Curry, the MP who heads the committee responsible for policing Commons expenses, has claimed almost £30,000 for a second home that his wife has banned him from staying in, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. And he only stands down when The Telegraph lets him know that they know? Mr Curry now rarely stays in [...]

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The requirement is clear: that we dedicate our work as Christians to Christ – not the making of money. Thsi puts all Christian teaching at odds with neo-liberalism, per se And those who have skills must use them in pursuit of the creation of Chsritian ideals – including relief of poverty WTF? Let’s agree, for [...]

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Is electro smog causing your headache? No. Next question? The computer industry airily dismisses any concerns, claiming that Wi-Fi uses only a few watts of energy – ‘less than a lightbulb’. But this ignores the fact that light and microwaves are different kinds of electromagnetic radiation, so the analogy with the lightbulb is meaningless. Erm, [...]

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That’s the only conclusion that can be drawn from this: Bank assets have to shrink and the economy has to grow, and gradually the size of the banking sector in relation to the rest of the economy will become more manageable and less risky. If the banking sector was solely focussed upon the domestic economy [...]

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Ambrose E-P: (ie pretending to command an exact science, when economics is merely a descriptive branch of anthropology) An element of truth to it as well, even if it’s not strictly true. As I don’t know much anthropology I can’t say but economics has moved along so that the sum of predictions can be used [...]

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Yesterday, the Queen announced that the next government will be forced, under a new Fiscal Responsibility Bill, to halve the budget deficit in four years. We shall do such things, though we know not what they will be, that will be the terror of the world* *No, you’re right, I don’t know the quote.

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Matthew Moore at The Telegraph really needs to go and have a little chat with someone over on the City Desk. This is sad rubbish. The basic allegation is that speculators are holding oil in tankers off the coast thus pushing up petrol prices. Holding drivers to ransom as it were. This slightly misses a [...]

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