Tim Worstall

Will the first bird you see on Valentine’s Day reveal your future husband?

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Hmm. These serious health inequalities do not arise by chance, and they cannot be attributed simply to genetic makeup, ‘bad’, unhealthy behaviour, or difficulties in access to medical care, important as those factors may be. Social and economic differences in health status reflect, and are caused by, social and economic inequalities in society. I agree, [...]

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They warn of an oil crunch: an unexpected crash in global production such that supply can no longer meet demand, even if China and India throttle back. Dimbulb. This isn’t possible. There is only the balance of supply and demand “at a price”. Supply of oil cannot meet the demand for it at $5 a [...]

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From his Forbes column: Secondly, and more importantly, the idea of discounting the future is fundamentally subversive. Net present value is subversive now, is it? Then: Wherever there’s been mark-to-market or fair value accounting, executives in the financial world have used this technique to book profit and pay the bonuses made for themselves. Sorry, NPV, [...]

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He’s banned comments.* Thus it ain’t a blog anymore, it’s a website. Ho hum. This did amuse me though: It  is increasingly, and unfortunately,  clear that the vast majority of those who do seek to comment come  from way beyond the fringes of political electoral credibility and seek only to harm and undermine society. It [...]

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So, how do I go about setting up a little pressure group/think tank to argue the case against this Robin Hood Tax? It’s lunatic on the very face of it. There are extremely strong arguments against it. How do I organise a whip round of the banks and hedge funds (trivial amounts each: £10k, £20 [...]

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You know, looking at the list of supporters, there’s only one who even pretends to have any knowledge of economics. That’s the new economics foundation. It’s going to be a complete disaster, isn’t it? Oh, here’s a lovely little point. Although 0.05% is a tiny tax, $400 billion is a substantial amount. That’s what they [...]

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There’s two ways this can go really. 1) The PIIGS are hung out to dry, they default or leave the euro and the European Project grinds to a halt for a generation or two. 2) Fiscal transfers start between rich and poor EU countries. In effect, we get the economic government of Europe as well [...]

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The cost of a nursery place for children aged over two rose by twice the rate of inflation last year while childcare for a toddler now swallows half the gross earnings of an average parent in England working part-time, according to a report out today. Yes? And? The Government’s spent the last 13 years piling [...]

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I’m happy to play my part in the great Robin Hood Tax A tax on transactions could turn banks from the pantomime villains of the world economy into its dashing heroes, argues Bill Nighy. Well, yes Bill. But you’re a fucking actor. What in buggery do you know about economics? Or banking? Nighy attended The [...]

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is responsible for car safety in the US, said it was reviewing complaints about the steering of 2009 and 2010 Corollas, which are not on sale in the UK. More than 80 complaints have been lodged about the Corolla, which claim it is prone to wandering, rather than [...]

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Any of my readers involved with AIM? Are perhaps a NOMAD? We’re in the throes of thinking that the time might be right to take the next step with the metals business. At present it’s tiny, but there have been a number of political and technological* developments meaning that this might be a very good [...]

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The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston divided American households into 10 groups based on annual household income. Then it analyzed labor conditions in each of the groups during the fourth quarter of 2009. The highest group, with household incomes of $150,000 or more, had an unemployment rate during that quarter [...]

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Umm: At an Intelligence Squared debate last week, Professor Mary Beard gave some indications of how the teaching of languages has suffered in state education. – Fewer than 500 state schools now offer any classical languages and much of this teaching is offered in the ‘twilight’ hours after most classes have finished. – The government [...]

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Apparently Gordon is cutting down his intake of Kit-Kats, and replacing them with bananas. What a bastard eh? Throwing honest British chocolate toilers onto the dole and subsidising instead Latin American oligarchies. Quite disgusting, man should be shot, obviously.

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FEMINIST Labour MP Harriet Harman is in line for the annual Rear of the Year award. Yes, yes, yes. You can add to the gaiety of the nation by nominating or voting here. Pass it along folks. Let’s make this thing happen.

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We are sometimes told that Britain remains a fundamentally social ­democratic country. I’ve said it before and will no doubt have to say it again. I simply don’t think that Britain is fundamentally a social democratic society. It might be possible to persuade me that the Celtic fringes are, but not I think England. We [...]

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Commander Ali Dizaei became the highest-ranking officer to be convicted of a criminal offence in 33 years. A jury took 10 minutes to convict….. Those last 7 words speak volumes about this case.

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A new fund allowing the Government to pay people who notify authorities about benefit cheats would be created under proposals being examined by Labour’s manifesto team. I see the point: there might be nothing better than to use the petty jealousies and gee them up with a bit of cash to get people informing about [...]

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The environmental audit committee is calling on the government to introduce measures such as a new carbon tax to push the price of carbon from its level of €15 (£13) a tonne to what the MPs see as a more credible price of €100. Tim Yeo, chairman of the committee, said: “Emissions trading should be [...]

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