Tim Worstall

The party may now have time to regret the one reform that would ensure this essentially social democratic nation is never again governed by Conservatives on their own. I really don’t think that England is a social democratic nation. We simply do not trust our rulers in the manner necessary for us to be one: [...]

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Showing the Lib Dems coming 2 nd. Had a quick look around (political betting, polling report) and nobody seems to think that it’s a rogue poll. So, is Labour going to end up like it did in the Euros, coming third? One thing I don’t know: are the Lib Dems actually standing in every seat? [...]

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At the ASI. Brazil won its case against US cotton subsidies. So what are the Americans going to do? Subsidise Brazilian cotton farmers. You can’t make these things up.

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This is because it will increasingly be trundled around countries, and shipped across the world, to fuel reactors. The Earth has limited amounts of usable uranium that will not take more energy to mine and process than it generates – so the industry wants to eke the supply out by mixing it with plutonium. Indeed, [...]

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If true of course: The Wall Street bank, which has previously denied working against its own clients, was yesterday rocked by allegations that it hood-winked investors by selling them a toxic package of mortgages in the interests of another client, the hedge fund Paulson & Co. From the brief story so far it doesn’t look [...]

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Therefore, if all measures designed chiefly for the purpose of avoiding tax were outlawed, can anyone from the nef explain why they should not be subject to their own law, and forced to pay tax accordingly. Most amusing. Especially since the nef report mentioned was written by Our Ritchie who gets some of his funding [...]

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The scale of online activism was unprecedented. Bloggers like Simon Perry and Zeno took the BCA membership head on: they waded through every single members website, checked if they were claiming to treat infant colic, and if so, referred them to the the General Chiropractic Council, a statutory body who are obliged to investigate all [...]

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Chief Exec of Oxfam talks about aid. We have been through seven Prime Ministers and countless development ministers since the promise was first made in 1970, yet it is only now that all three main parties are committed to giving legal force to the promise to give 7p in every £10 of the UK’s national [...]

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Airlines, insurance companies, the Civil Aviation Authority and the European Union all reminded passengers of their compensation rights following today’s cancellations. Eh? Compensation for an Act of God? Which I assume a volcano blowing up and closing all air space counts as?

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Umm, oh dearie me. This report. Page 11. Promethium is used in portable X Ray units. Err, no, it ain’t. The general consensus is that at any one time there’s about 40 grammes of promethium on the planet. Because it’s a radioactive element with a short half life and is only produced as part of [...]

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Yers, I know, I know, I’ve been saying this for a long time now. But dealing with climate change is going to be a lot less painful than many seem to think. And it’s also a lot less urgent. For the technological cycle is taking care of it all for us. Sure, we need to [...]

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The British regard people of mixed race as the most attractive and successful, say psychologists. All we’ve got to do is wait a few generations. At which point there won’t be any “races” to have any problems about.

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Just a thought on this Tory thing about hanging all the bureaucrats and getting people to do things locally, themselves, as a voluntary community. The one point I’ve not yet seen put across seems to be the most important one to me. It’s a variation of the economist’s idea of revealed preference. We currently have [...]

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Last year, before the crisis exploded, banks and hedge funds had bought up a large amount of Greek debt cheaply, insuring it by purchasing credit default swaps (CDSs). The crisis has enabled banks to make a killing by selling what is now high-yield Greek debt and issuing further CDSs at a huge premium. Seriously? Is [...]

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“Tax pays for new jobs“. Well, yes, no one doubts that the spending of tax money creates jobs. Even new jobs. Where it gets more complex is that similarly no one (umm, no one actually clued in this is) doubts that the raising of taxes kills jobs, both new and old. If we’re to concern [...]

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Well, you could do what some Spanish peeps have allegedly been doing. Run a diesel generator to sell power to the grid at 45 p a unit. Or you might want to check out the Bishop’s comments section. Sticking your solar panel under the street light that’s on all night works for me.

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The idea of using the pressure of people walking on a paving stone to generate electricty. OK, not too tough, bit of piezo electrics and you’re away. However: The relatively high cost of the modules remained a deterrent, he said, but should not put off authorities in cities where the political will was strong. It [...]

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Oh dear: Greece passed its first key test of investor confidence with the successful sale of short-term treasury bills. OK, bills, short term debt instruments. The embattled Greek government raised an estimated €1.6bn (£1.3bn) in an overscubscribed bond issue Err, no, bonds are long term debt instruments. They’re not the same thing. Greece’s recovery plan [...]

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Georgian sources said the highly-enriched uranium – HEU – was intercepted in a sting operation carried out by the Tbilisi authorities in March without international assistance. They said the uranium was more than 70% enriched. The exact analysis is expected in a few days, but it appears to have been pure enough to use in [...]

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You can just tell that this is going to get twisted. The report said: “Despite their beneficial effects, capital inflow surges can pose challenges to receiving economies… surges of capital inflows can complicate macroeconomic management as the real economy may not be able to adapt to large swings in the exchange rate. They can fuel [...]

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