Tim Worstall

Just to clarify, when I said Obama’s announcement was a “fairly transparent political stunt,” I wasn’t criticizing the Obama administration. We live in a political world, and political stunts are often useful. If I were Rahm Emanuel, I’d be a dick have done the same thing. That’s the way to make sure you don’t get [...]

[Read more →]

A LEG of lamb, aerosol cans and kitchen implements — are just some of the bizarre objects one veteran medic has pulled out of his patients’ BUMS. Welsh and dim that is? Cue Daffyd jokes of course but really, that’s not the way to do it, is it?

[Read more →]

Burglary victims attacked in their own home once every 30 minutes So how does this work then? Is there a queue outside? A rota system? You sign in on a clipboard? “‘Ere, Darren, can I swap my 10:30 slot wiv’ you for the 9:30? Only it’s me Jobcentre time see an’ I ca’n miss out [...]

[Read more →]

Ooooh, oooh, here’s a nice little scandal I hadn’t known about. The £100 million owed to creditors by the collapsed credit card company E-Clear has disappeared, according to administrators. Sources close to the investigation into the company, which was put into administration by court order this week, have confirmed to The Times that no trace [...]

[Read more →]

It is Mr. E who tells up about the doings of Councillor Terry Kelly isn’t it? Yes, I think so. On one of CiF’s regular columns about how Cuba isn’t really badly off you know, it’s just a different set of priorities, the distinguished Councillor has made a number of comments. All of which have [...]

[Read more →]

It is to snigger. Hurrah! says Polly, Obama’s going to do something about the banks! And then goes on to list a whole series of things which will change: absolutely not one single one of them has Obama even hinted at changing. There’s also a few lovely misunderstandings: But check their taxes and something else [...]

[Read more →]

Now don’t let this go to anyone’s head….I’m still of the opinion that most over there are ill- or mal- informed twits but priase should be given where praise is due. I have a feeling that this: British companies have been banned from exporting defective bomb detectors to Iraq and Afghanistan over fears they have [...]

[Read more →]

They really mean death tax: Twenty-three Britons have died at Dignitas, a suicide clinic in Zurich, in the past year alone, while several hundred more are believed to be on its waiting list. Under the plans groups such as Dignitas face large fines for assisting anyone who has not lived in Zurich for at least [...]

[Read more →]

Some of the West’s biggest, and richest, nations – the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Belgian and Holland – are rushing through adoption applications in order to airlift children out the death and destruction in Haiti. However, Save The Children, World Vision and the British Red Cross have called for an immediate moratorium on [...]

[Read more →]

Obama’s plans for changing the way Wall Street works. I’m still pondering myself but think that there’s good value in there. However, here’s our favourite retired accountant: Those of us who have been calling for massive reform for a long time are entitled to say better late than never……There’s no doubt Wall Street did not [...]

[Read more →]

see more funny facebook stuff! see more funny facebook stuff!

[Read more →]

From the Tin Drummer who was having a bad time of it. It seems odd, and overtly narcisstic, to announce one’s own continued existence: I still am. It wasn’t an easy 2009, and I had to seek help to carry on. I don’t pretend to be free of the tendency to darkness and soil, but [...]

[Read more →]

So they’re flogging off the carcass of that plane that went into the Hudson. It is difficult to speculate how much the A320 could pull at auction. It has a legendary status but the lack of engines means that not only can it not fly again, but it also removes a possible source of valuable [...]

[Read more →]

Motorists and air passengers face higher “green taxes” under Conservative plans to fund tax breaks for married couples OK, so they’ve at least got part of it right. That if you raise green taxes you should reduce other taxes elsewhere. But the green taxes they’re talking about, fuel duty and Air Passenger Duty, already more [...]

[Read more →]

The figures obtained by the Conservatives showed that 185,446 people were discharged from hospital in England in 2008/9 with a diagnosis of malnourishment, compared with 175,003 who were admitted malnourished. It is true that some illnesses and treatments reduce appetite. Me personally (on the grounds of little more than innate prejudice I’ll agree) I would [...]

[Read more →]

“They can’t attack the science so they attack the chairman. But they won’t sink me. I am the unsinkable Molly Brown. In fact, I will float much higher.” – Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC,

[Read more →]

Hmm. Not sure whether this is most likely to cause problems to lawyers persuing workers compensation claims or whether it’s simply a desperate attempt to get newspaper inches by proposing an outrageous theory: WRIST pain is often blamed on excessive computer use or working with heavy machinery. But a controversial new report has suggested a [...]

[Read more →]

Only a handful of countries have the expertise and technology for nuclear reprocessing, in which spent nuclear fuel rods from power stations are chopped up and boiled in acid to extract uranium and plutonium for reuse in a reactor. The by-product is a concentrated form of vitrified nuclear waste that is as nasty as it [...]

[Read more →]

If prices are falling then we’ve a sign that there’s over-production relative to demand. The pay premium earned by postgraduates and those who take masters degrees is in decline as the market becomes flooded, research suggests today. The study, commissioned by the British Library and the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), found that the benefit [...]

[Read more →]

Foreign footballers and international businessmen are to be offered a £15,000 personalised visa renewal service to avoid them having to queue, as part of an increase in immigration fees announced yesterday. Officials from the UK Border Agency will offer to visit highly skilled migrants at their office or home to sort out their immigration documents. [...]

[Read more →]