Tim Worstall

Households spend £1,542 every month on utility bills, rent or mortgage payments, the weekly shop and other bills. It equates to annual bill of £24,100. However, the typical Briton earns an annual salary of £23,244, which after tax only leaves them with £1,497 each month. The way they’ve written that makes possible solutions to the [...]

[Read more →]

Cute. I hadn’t realised that the Jedi census thing was more than just the UK.

[Read more →]

Mr. Aslet would do well to ponder a moment. Naturally, the northern Europeans behaved better, the Germans and Scandinavians disciplined by Calvinism and hygiene. Britain tried hard to clean up its act in the post-war years, introducing legislation for clean air, washing the soot of generations from St Paul’s and other buildings, introducing Best Kept [...]

[Read more →]

Eric Pickles, the Local Government secretary, is examining plans to reward councils which axe unpopular fortnightly collections. Yes, we all know why fortnightly, to encourage recycling as a result of EU rules. But any localism worthy of the name would simply say, here’s the task, (rubbish collection) now get on with it best you can [...]

[Read more →]

Here. Valuable stuff for anyone going to the beach this summer.

[Read more →]

Private schools upped their standards in response to policies that were intended to increase equality – with the result that inequality increased. You should pay attention to economics: it’s the art of making sure that your actions match your intentions.

[Read more →]

Via, this. Given that abolishing university fees did not increase access among the lower socio-economic groups in Ireland, it’s not going to in England either, is it?

[Read more →]

“By the early 1800s, however, with the publication of David Ricardo’s landmark work on free trade and the adoption of his ideas by Adam Smith, the British state had embraced global liberalism, and the British-dominated world economy that emerged after the Congress of Vienna of 1815 was defined almost entirely by these values.” Umm, Adam [...]

[Read more →]

Do some women really suffer angst over such mind numbing trivia, or were you just pressured to write a piece on this subject???? Seems an appropriate response to a complaint about the patriarchal body fascism (I precis here, not quote) of the bikini. Still, Ms. Penny seems to be well on track to be the [...]

[Read more →]

This makes the process of “throwing off” (finishing) the frame easier, as we always know where the next letter will go. Previously, letters were walk-sorted but not walk-sequenced. The letters would arrive in no particular order and the postal worker had to remember where on the frame the letters should go. The skill was in [...]

[Read more →]

Most amusing: The real problem comes with boundary changes. This is not an argument about the greater equalisation of constituency numbers, to within 5% of 75,000 electors; nor is it about the risible series of exemptions to Clegg’s “make every vote equal” rule. The most egregious of these being the small print that allows Charles [...]

[Read more →]

But whilst the rest of the world is pumping cash into research, the UK spends less than one per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on developing new technologies. In comparison the US spends three times as much of its national income on green energy. Eh? Spending on research is not, at all at all, [...]

[Read more →]

SS chief Heinrich Himmler set up a secret unit in the Dachau concentration camp after becoming convinced he could turn sand into gold, a book has claimed. Yes, of course it was a scam: but the fun thing is that it is actually possible. As Sir Pterry pointed out, you can turn lead into gold [...]

[Read more →]

I have to admit that this doesn’t fill me with a great deal of optimism: The World Development Movement is one of the most dynamic and successful NGOs I have known. I salute WDM!” – John Pilger, journalist Nor does this: We do not give aid, and we do not run projects; A talk shop [...]

[Read more →]

At the ASI. Exploring a lefty myth about Haiti.

[Read more →]

Relying on the ability of future generations to adapt to climate change instead of asking the present generation to start the process of mitigating it is a selfish and risky strategy. Tsk: we’re talking about economics here, not morals. The question is not which is the selfish strategy but which is the sensible one, the [...]

[Read more →]

I do wonder sometimes you know? Is there some alternative reality out there that I’m not plugged into? John Maynard Keynes described Snowden’s 1931 “emergency budget” as “replete with folly and injustice”. He wrote to an American correspondent: “Every person … who hates social progress and loves deflation … feels that his hour has come [...]

[Read more →]

Some market participants say that speculators add liquidity in the market, providing opportunity for buyers and sellers. Love that “some say”. For of course speculators do provide liquidity: as well as carrying the risks. That’s what they’re actually there for of course. That’s even what the markets themselves are here for, to allow non-physical market [...]

[Read more →]

So, err, what was this reference? As part of the promotion, supposedly embarrassing messages would be posted under the user’s name, which could be seen by friends entitled to view their Facebook profile. But the promotion backfired when a parent protested after finding her 14-year-old daughter had been sent a message that made direct reference [...]

[Read more →]

Yes, the cretins are out in force. Financial speculators have come under renewed fire from anti-poverty campaigners for their bets on food prices, blamed for raising the costs of goods such as coffee and chocolate and threatening the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries. The World Development Movement (WDM) will issue a damning report today [...]

[Read more →]