Tim Worstall

About this country by country reporting thing of Ritchie’s. An investor asks him what benefit the system might offer him: I can assess the use of tax havens Yes, OK, that would be a benefit. I’d be able to see how hard the management were working to keep my money for me and not allowing [...]

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If you can incriminate yourself by answering such questions then you’ve definitely got something to hide. Quite amazing, don’t you think? No one needs legal or expert representation when being interviewed by the agents of the State. ‘Coz they’re all just righteous and just they are, representing nothing but the interests of society. Clearly….I mean [...]

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For decades a reduction of the intake of saturated fat has been the cornerstone in dietary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The main argument for this advice is its alleged influence on blood cholesterol. However, several recent trials have found no such effect in spite of intakes up to five times higher than the recommended upper [...]

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Instead of wringing their hands at the state-owned banks’ cash hoarding, ministers have the power to drive the recovery by instructing them to lend to infrastructure, transport and green technology projects. That isn’t “politically directed lending”… Well done indeed. Politicians directing lending for political reasons isn’t politically directed lending. As the late great DA put [...]

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The call for a ban has not been taken lightly. We live in a democracy where the right to protest is fundamental but with rights come responsibilities and there has to be limits on people who set out to terrorise, frighten and provoke trouble. Quite right, there are responsibilities. To maintain the Queen’s Peace for [...]

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No, not really Sir Michael: Politicians and pundits who confidently predict the likelihood of a double-dip recession are bluffing. No one knows for certain, let alone where or why. After all, economists are still squabbling over the Wall Street crash of 1929 turning into the protracted Great Depression in 1931 after markets had appeared to [...]

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Death rates from breast cancer have fallen more dramatically in the UK than any other European county, cancer researchers have said. Good oh! The study, which examined mortality rates in 30 countries over the past two decades, challenges claims that survival rates in the UK are worse than anywhere else in western Europe. Ooooh, excellent. [...]

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A safety scandal over sticking accelerators that forced Toyota into a crisis-stricken recall of millions of vehicles may have been overblown, according to tentative findings from a US government investigation that suggest driver error was the cause of most of the Japanese manufacturer’s “runaway” cars. Yes, as with the runaway Audi scare of the 80s [...]

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I’ve just written up a quick ad, elsewhere, for a company offering tutoring. US high school sort of stuff. Online tutoring. They offer 24/7 service, as much as any one child wants, in any and every subject, for $99 a month. No, not per subject, total. Given the length of the school year that’s about [...]

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“A supply crunch appears likely around 2013 … given recent price experience, a spike in excess of $200 per barrel is not infeasible”. What effect would a barrel price of $200 have on industrial economies, should that spike be sustained for any length of time? We would witness endemic global market disruption, reductions in agricultural [...]

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Bankers, lawyers, accountants and investment managers were asked in the survey referred to (run by the Isle of Man Association of Corporate Services Providers  and the Society for Trusts and Estate Practitioners, who it should be said, are far from objective observers) what would happen to their firms if corporate tax were introduced. The survey [...]

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It also points to a rather marvellous Wlliam Tell response from Queen Fabiola after a death threat this year, “At one time, somebody threatened that they were so angry that they would kill her on the square with a crossbow at the National day procession on July 21st. She responded to the threat by carrying [...]

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At the ASI. We should only be charging people once for their emissions, not twice.

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Much chortling by the liberal arts types over the claim that relativity must be wrong because Jesus could do instantaneous action at a distance. Schlafly also points to the Bible as a reason that Einstein’s theory must be wrong: 9. The action-at-a-distance by Jesus, described in John 4:46-54.Conservapedia defines “action-at-a-distance” as “Action at a distance [...]

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We’re told that a project in North Karelia did wondrous things for health inequality. The North Karelia project shows how the geography of inequality can be conquered by engaging the hearts and minds of local people. In the 60s, Finland had the world’s highest rate of early deaths from coronary heart disease. People died young [...]

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Dan Kennedy says everyone’s being terribly unfair for criticising Michelle Obama for taking a holiday in Spain. It’s all right wing frotho at the moutho stuff. Well, yes, OK, it is all a bit trivial criticising the holiday location. But it’s also extremely American to do so. It’s one of those unwritten rules of American [...]

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There is some cause for optimism, though, as more businesses are starting to realise the cost benefits of reducing waste. Walmart, of all places, is leading the charge to becoming a sustainable company. At a recent EPA roundtable on food recovery issues, Bobby Fanning, senior manager of solid waste and recycling for Walmart, discussed plans [...]

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Steven Slater is the Jet Blue flight attendant who, when faced with a passenger who stood up too soon after landing, a passenger who insisted on getting his luggage while the plane was still moving, told him to stop doing so. The passenger did not, swore at Mr. Slater and then cracked him on the [...]

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All this talk of the tax gap….how huge it is. Some part of it is people taking entirely valid allowances (from tax planning to tax avoidance), some part of it is people just late paying (from simple sloth through to bankruptcy) and the largest part of it is outright tax evasion. Now, yes, people should [...]

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