Tim Worstall

WATER is set to cost more during the summer following the introduction of a controversial seasonal tariff, it emerged yesterday. I find myself a little confused here. Something costs more at times of higher demand….clearly and obviously sensible. However, there’s another little thought at the back of my brain. Levelling out the cycle….we’ve got lots [...]

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NYMPHOMANIA is vital for the survival of mankind, scientists said yesterday. Lucky thing, eh lads?

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Here’s the bit that people aren’t concentrating on: Hester insisted RBS needed to pay bonuses to its investment bankers – who generated £5.7bn of an £8.3bn underlying profit Yes, the bank as a whole made a loss. But the investment bankers seem to have made a very good profit. The losses came from the previous [...]

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We were approaching Rugby and the landscape was scarred by electricity pylons. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering aloud why we couldn’t lay electric cabling underground to replace them. Even though she was staring at them, my companion saw nothing. She didn’t realise that by burying electric cables we could create hundreds of rural jobs [...]

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Contains this gem: 5. Volatility – many hedge funds thrive on instability in the markets, whereas the national interest lies in having stability. Yes, very good, and it’s by people thriving on instability, trading it, that we get stability. Twats.

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At Takimag. I’m certainly not going to try to criticise his economics…well, except for one area….for if we were to try and get into a dick measuring contest I’m the micro-penis and he’s wielding the Ron Jeremy.

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Just a little musing on this. We know that there is such a thing as the resource curse. We also know that such curse is worse the more dysfunctional the State that the resource is adminstered by. Yes, the resource curse can indeed actually make things worse, not better, for the general population despite the [...]

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Cadbury’s Creme Eggs advertising is upon us once again.

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Most of you will know that I’ve been part of a number of different “paid Blog post” companies over the years. Some have been better than others it has to be said. There’s one just launching here in the UK that might be worth your checking out: ebuzzing. They started out in France I think [...]

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This piece appears in most of the newspapers today. OUT-of-date cosmetics are putting women at risk of infection. Make-up “time bombs” include discoloured or smelly lipsticks, mascara and eye pencils that can collect dangerous bacteria. All beauty essentials have a best before date on them – a picture of an open pot with a number [...]

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One in four mothers is now a single parent, having made a ‘lifestyle choice’ to rely on benefits rather than a partner, according to a report. More than half of mothers with children under 13 have never married or lived with a boyfriend and find it ‘rewarding’ to stay at home supported by state handouts, [...]

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This will cause outrage: The loss is down from £24.3bn in 2008 – a record for a UK company. Despite the loss, RBS said it will be paying out bonuses to reward staff for a record year for its investment banking business. Stephen Hester, RBS’s chief executive, has said that on pay the bank is [...]

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I am directed to this piece in Vanity Fair by James Verini. The piece and the direction coming from James you understand. A very good piece about Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames of the eXile, the newspaper in Moscow which has just closed. Or been closed by the authorities perhaps. The coincidence being that James [...]

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Over at LibCon. The second Abortion Support Network ‘Pro Choice Happy Hour’ will be: Monday 1 March 7-10 pm Yes, I know, they’re having a booze up to raise money for Irish women who come over to have abortions. Yes, I know, I’m very out of step on this subject. But really, “happy” and “abortion” [...]

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Comment central asks for a blues for comment central. Well, this ain’t a blues (although the chords and lyrics follow the form) and it also isn’t very good (needs more work Worstall, see me after class). She drew out all her money of the Finchley Trust And put her little boy aboard a Wapping Bus [...]

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Bird into polyamoury. Two blokes live with her. Well, to be fair, there does seem to be enough of her for two.

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A massive extension of maternity leave across Europe was last night voted for by the Womens’ Rights Committee of the European Parliament to make it compulsory for employers to pay mothers for a minimum of 20 weeks on full pay. You couldn’t find a better way to do it really. Increase the (potential) cost to [...]

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But nearly: A tale of drink-sodden debauchery between passengers and crew is revealed in the journal of a junior officer on an emigrant ship to Australia more than 170 years ago. James Bell sailed on the Planter, which left Deptford, southeast London, on the five-month journey to Adelaide in November 1838. “With all this whoring [...]

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Perhaps there’s been too much sex education? Times headline: Ministers admit failure on teen pregnancies You could reduce that failure rate in engendering teenage pregnancies if you advised the Ministers to remove the condoms they’ve just been told for 20 years to wear at all times. There is the counter thought, that perhaps they aren’t [...]

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