Tim Worstall

Well, and newspapers too. In my opinion this is just Dr. Pachauri being a tad sensitive about all of his business links. I mean, really, how could anyone even think, let alone accuse him of, an international bureaucrat feathering his own nest? No, no, all these fees and payments from people with an interest in [...]

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I had a fantasy in which the Fed and the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) switched roles. If a bank failed at 9 a.m. one morning and shut its doors, the TSA would announce that all banks henceforth begin their business day at 10 a.m. And, if a terrorist managed to get on board a plane [...]

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Both Ritchie and the TUC are excited by this new IMF paper. Those financial institutions which spent more on lobbying in the US issued more dodgy mortgages and required more help after the crash. Woo! Now that is a surprise: when a sector is regulated then those being regulated will spend money on politicians to [...]

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At the ASI. Why we don’t want the government choosing technologies for us.

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A very catty yet interesting line: As I’ve said before, what always struck me about Obama’s appointment of Duncan to run the nation’s schools — and he is actually moving to do just that, more so than any previous federal administration — is that Arne Duncan ran the Chicago schools for seven years, and in that [...]

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Talking of the Whole Foods CEO: On the other, his naive belief in individual responsibility Oh no, please Br’er Fox, don’t make me have to make a choice! No, seriously, the bloke is complaining because Whole Foods sells regular ketchup as well as organic.

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The Taxpayers’ Alliance is the latest in a series of right-leaning campaign groups to come under the scrutiny of charity regulators. Civitas, Policy Exchange and the Reform Research Trust were all the subject of inquiries last year. Can’t see anything political in this targetting at all. Can you?

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At the ASI. Taxation of the City and Bastiat.

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Here.

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A USian friend has emailed in perplexity about my use earlier of the phrase “whippet flange mills“. Bless. He tried to look it up on Google. Along with Ecky Bah Thump as a comestible and flat cap emporiums. I told him to think Jeff Foxworthy on rednecks to get an idea of the meanings. Anyone [...]

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The WaPo reports: But preliminary conclusions indicate that he allegedly used 80 grams of PETN — almost twice as much of the highly explosive material as used by convicted shoe bomber Richard C. Reid. I’ve no idea….is that an amount large enough to do serious damage or not?

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At the ASI. Finally, a good use for Will Hutton.

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HOUSE-hunting millionaires should head North for more than four times better value, according to the Halifax. A prestige property on the dearest street in the South costs more than £5million but a similar deal in the North is just over £1million. This is of course to ignore the point continually made by the (us?) land [...]

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An interesting headline. CHINA DEFIANT AFTER BRITISH HEROINE SMUGGLER IS EXECUTED Wonder if the subs spotted that before it went into the print version?

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Britain’s leading companies are devising pay schemes that enable top executives to escape the new 50p rate of income tax for high earners that takes effect in April, the Guardian has learned. Really, who would have thought it? The details look rather interesting though: A number of pay plans are currently on the drawing board [...]

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About this Flight 253 thing: Abdulmutallab, the privately-educated son of one of Nigeria’s most prominent bankers, managed to smuggle his bomb aboard the aircraft by strapping a condom filled with the high explosive PETN to the inside of his leg and then attempting to detonate it using a syringe filled with a liquid chemical. The [...]

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At the ASI. Honestly, some people….

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These astonishing images from Sir David Attenborough’s long awaited Frozen Planet series could be the last time many species are filmed in their natural habitats because of the devastating effects of global warming, the show’s producer has claimed. The Telegraph illustrates this with a picture of a dog. Very threatened is the dog’s habitat.

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David Cameron meets some radicals! It says a hugely slimmed down NHS should remain only as a “last resort” provider for those who cannot afford private health care. The vast majority of people would get care through insurance schemes or simply pay themselves. It also calls for controversial “top-up” care to be brought in now, [...]

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