Tim Worstall

I was skimming through this and wondered where I’d seen that writing style before. Ah, yes, that’s it. Vintage NME, late 70s, early 80s. Hasn’t anyone bought Mr. Morley a box of full stops yet?

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At the ASI. On why we should be forcing the middle aged on incapacity benefit into looking for a job.

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Why is China so terrified of dissent? The last year has seen an escalation in the harassment of dissidents by the Chinese authorities, leading some to claim that there is less freedom than before the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 Because China was a totalitarian state and is now a highly authoritarian one. And in [...]

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Labour is investigating legal action to block Tory peer Lord Ashcroft from funding the Conservative election ­campaign in a dramatic, last-ditch attempt to wreck David Cameron’s push for Downing Street. The party’s high command, worried about being outspent by the Conservatives, believes it has a case to cut off the flow of Ashcroft’s millions during [...]

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Apologies for this, it’s very much off the top of my head and I’m not quite sure how sensible it is. But a suggestion for aid to Haiti. There is gross and disastrous destruction in Haiti as a result of the earthquake. Tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands have died or are at [...]

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The gossip is that the Telgraph spends £45 a page getting the subbing done over the internet: bods in Australia put down their tinnies, back away from the barbecue, and check spellings and layouts. Interesting experiment: Geatest guitar riff named Music fans have voted for the song with the best guitar riff ever. Sri Lankan [...]

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Sacked Nutt starts rival drugs panel Sadly, when you get to the actual article they’ve changed it to: Sacked drugs adviser David Nutt launches rival committee

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At The Register. Explaining rare earths to the tech crowd.

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Much to my surprise the answer might in fact be yes.

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Another report from the scientists. Car companies are raising false hopes of emission-free motoring in order to continue profiting from large, fuel-hungry vehicles, according to a study. Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are not expected to be available widely until after 2050 because of the high cost of the platinum in their catalysts. Battery-powered [...]

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She’s been doing some research into why men use prostitutes. One point stands out: Discovering the women were ­trafficked, pimped or otherwise coerced would appear not to be so ­effective. Almost half said they ­believed that most women in prostitution are victims of pimps….. The presence of a pimp does not indicate either victimisation or [...]

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For this looks like one of he great opportunities of our time. Ethiopia‘s great land lease project is moved swiftly ahead. In an effort to introduce large-scale commercial farming to the country, the government is offering up vast chunks of fertile farmland to local and foreign investors at almost giveaway rates. By 2013, 3m hectares [...]

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Umm, yes, well, I dunno. Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has been arrested for allegedly propositioning what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl on an internet chat room. The truth of the matter, of course I have absolutely no idea. But it would be so terribly convenient if such a sterling [...]

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The plan, if approved by Congress, would levy the tax on up to 50 financial services companies based on the total size of their liabilities. White House officials estimates it will raise at least $90bn over the next decade and wrest back for the taxpayer the money given the banks as part of the $700bn [...]

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The floor of a Weight Watchers clinic in Sweden collapsed beneath a group of 20 members of the weight loss programme who were gathered for a meeting. Cue the usual jokes….was this the before or after meeting etc. We might be able to work out the answer to this though: The cause of the floor’s [...]

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I’ve seen this around a bit but would love to be able to actually source it. Robert Conquest talking about the Soviet Union, the Gulags and the economy. After the rubble had been sorted through he said: “I told you so, you fucking fools”. So, anyone got the source?

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School badges emerged yesterday as the latest, and most unlikely, battleground in the supermarket price war. Uniforms with bespoke embroidered crests, loathed by many parents for pushing up the price of schoolwear, are being targeted for the first time by Tesco. Britain’s biggest retailer is promising to undercut specialists by at least 40 per cent. [...]

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OK, so, in a leader: Even so, for a country to follow a strategy of export-led recovery requires others to consume. Well, whether I agree or not take their point, that not everyone can export their way out of recession (I don’t take this point as trade is not simply swapping stuff: there’s added value [...]

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So says The Guardian: It seems we have all been guilty of defaming Neanderthal man. Research by a team based at the University of Bristol suggests that, far from being a lumbering, witless no-hoper, he was capable, 50,000 years ago, of producing forms of cosmetic adornment and even of primitive jewellery. Primitive jewelry and odd [...]

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Fun comment there: @Lord Tebbit If you really care about the poor, why don’t you become a socialist? Well, perhaps because these “right wing”, classically liberal economic ideas are the ones that have passed the test of improving the lives of the poor. By making them richer. Socialism has failed that very test every time [...]

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