Tim Worstall

The Observer is carrying a series of reports from the “secret diary” of a senior civil servant. The essential message is “Oh Woes”, the civil service, the backbone of Britain, the manager of everything good and pure in this land, is being gutted. I am writing because something fundamental has changed in our political system. [...]

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The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.

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How perverse is it that the Commons in the 21st century has become less, not more, class representative. Only 7% of children attend private schools but nearly four out of 10 MPs are privately educated, up from 30% in 1997. That’s inevitable with the Conservatives dominant, 54% of them from private schools, 40% of Lib [...]

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The Mail reports that the Home Office is looking at ways of denying Anna Chapman – who has British citizenship thanks to her four-year marriage to kiss-and-tell husband Alex – from re-entering the UK, as is apparently her wish. Err, no, sorry, it doesn’t work that way. If you are a British citizen then you [...]

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Absolutely the most important thing to do about the NHS, far more important than GP commissioning, internal markets and all the rest, is to break the national pay awards. We do have regional and local labour markets, with different prices in them. That the NHS runs a national labour market means that high cost areas [...]

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But if South Africa can deliver a global mega-event, why can’t it tackle its inequality with the same energy and efficiency? Because an economy is rather more complex than hosting 64 football matches. You can manage the latter with a bit of planning and throwing some money around. The former tends not to be manageable [...]

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At the ASI. More on the one place that doesn’t have a waiting list for kidneys….the only place with a market in them.

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“There is no voluntary donation box in tax” Yes there is: Make your cheque payable to “The Accountant, HM Treasury”, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1. They will happily cash it.

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So, someone does something which I do consider to be more than just a tad unkind. Richard – a quick check with the Valuation Office Agency suggest you are not paying business rates on your Norfolk premises. Is this tax planning, tax avoidance, tax compliance or tax evasion? Either way, I’m sure one of the [...]

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Censorship is an essential part of freedom R. Murphy.

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The European Union could obtain 92% of its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2050 while cutting carbon emissions by 95% compared with 1990, according to a report. Gosh, that’s nice. So, how do we get there? claims a mixture of existing technologies plus the widespread adoption of electric cars and [...]

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Two things I really don’t understand here: Pensions minister Steve Webb said there were plans to link pension payments to a lower measure of inflation. It would be applied to all final salary pensions, as well as payments made by the Pension Protection Fund – a lifeboat fund for workers who have lost their pensions [...]

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In particular there is substantial evidence elsewhere that infant mortality, life expectancy, violence, trust, social capital and school bullying are all worse in more unequal societies. Should have included that in your book then, eh?

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One quite appropriate response would be to ban those identified to be users of such thuggish approaches to debate from Comment is Free, because free comment is the last thing these people want. As Climategate showed, intimidation is their goal. And that is something that should not be tolerated in democratic society – of which [...]

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New paper out showing how it’s wrong. Not that unusual (Christopher Snowdon’s work for example). But a comment thread to watch because CiF has allowed them to launch it there. Could be fun really.

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No, really this is glorious. So we’ve a set of definitions, of tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax compliance and tax planning. This is the ex cathedra pronouncement of what those words mean from Il Papa himself. Fair enough, now let us take him absolutely at his word: Tax planning Tax planning is a part of [...]

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Sorry. Any fule kno that we’re on the unfashionable western spiral arm.

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Good, sensible decision. This intrigues though: Not only would he not be able to indulge openly in the mild flirtations which are an enjoyable part of heterosexual life, So where do we get asylum from the harpies who insist that flirting is oppression/rape/patriarchy/whateverthey’recallingitthisweek?

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Simmons could still win it: if oil prices for the rest of the year average $330 a barrel. Sounds a bit unlikely really.

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