Tim Worstall

And here we have it explained to us. How excellent, a better road map for what we should be cutting. You want it, you pay for it.

[Read more →]

Of mammals this time: Animals that were picked off by new predators were rarely rediscovered, while those threatened by a loss of habitat or hunting by humans were more likely to be holding on in small colonies, she found. It’s the continental shake up of species that we’ve been responsible for over the centuries which [...]

[Read more →]

Hmm: The remaining 4,000 species were assessed and the level or risk based on a combination of the absolute number of plants estimated in the wild, the known decline, and the total area in which they are thought to live. Is this using the old method of how many species live in an area, if [...]

[Read more →]

One of the most captivating political soap operas in Russia has come to an abrupt end with the sacking of Moscow’s embattled mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. OK, pretty pissed. But we can measure how pissed they are by what happens next: They also attacked his property developer wife, Yelena Baturina, saying her $2.8bn fortune had been [...]

[Read more →]

And agnostics and atheists seem to get better results. And on the short version you can take yourself, this agnostic/atheist got 100%, aided by two things. One, a lucky guess on the last question and two, well, try this: When does the Jewish Sabbath begin? Possible answers are Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The correct answer [...]

[Read more →]

I am intrigued by some early responses to ‘Making Pensions Work’ I have received on this blog and have read in some (typically abusive) commentary on the right wing blogosphere to which I do not link. Without exception the commentary ducks the issue, which I find fascinating. The key issues that raises are: OK, so, [...]

[Read more →]

Guess who: And they want to do this so that the burden of tax is shifted from capital – business profits in this case – to labour. And this is part of the process of reallocating wealth from the poorest to the richest in society. So what Wolseley is doing is not a politically neutral [...]

[Read more →]

Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse. Hmm. So [...]

[Read more →]

Large supermarket chains would benefit from a £700m windfall if minimum pricing for alcohol was introduced across the UK, new research indicated today. Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, stands to reap the most rewards, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The thinktank researched the likely impact of a 45p minimum unit price for [...]

[Read more →]

This looks interesting: The Panorama programme, widely trailed over the weekend in the run-up to its anticipated Monday evening slot, alleged Ashcroft had avoided more than £3m in tax through a financial manoeuvre that involved transferring shares in the Impellam Group worth £17m to a trust to benefit his children. Sources close to the peer [...]

[Read more →]

In this day and age? The man obtained a High Court ruling stating that his name and details of his alleged relationship with the woman should not be published, nor even the existence of the gagging order. It can now be disclosed that the man sought the order because a woman had threatened to reveal [...]

[Read more →]

A Tim but not this Tim writes: A report last week was covered across the press about the environmental benefits of Internet Shopping and working from home:- Working from home and shopping online could create more carbon emissions than travelling to the office or a store, a study has found. Consumers who buy online must [...]

[Read more →]

So, higher minimum wages for all! Decent enough rallying cry: but of course we’re all aware that the minimum wage can be too high. If it is too high (and is enforced) then all of those whose labour is worth less than that minimum wage will find themselves unemployed. “Too high” therefore becomes a value [...]

[Read more →]

Via, this. It was a decision point. I had to find out if the bacteria could really affect a healthy person and cause gastritis. I’d been working very hard in the previous 12 months on piglets, but I have to tell you that piglets aren’t piglets for very long. They just about grow before your [...]

[Read more →]

Apologies to Richard and sundry others. But I simply don’t see what spending £100,000 to clean the chandeliers at Buckingham Palace has to do with the Queen. Are we saying that if we were a Republic, with a President, that the chandeliers would not get cleaned (Elysee anyone?)? That we would tear Buck House to [...]

[Read more →]

Here’s an example of what they’re saying they ought to be saying. For what it’s worth – I’d favour sticking to a four year blue print, emphasising the flexibility in our approach and moving towards a 50/50 split between tax rises and spending cuts. Barring extreme events the next election is in about 4 years [...]

[Read more →]

The change that is very obviously needed is that a company must be considered resident where the economic substance of its management is located. And yes, that can be determined. It’s where a majority of the board and their senior management team work day in day out. OK. So, say, BP, board and management all [...]

[Read more →]

However it emerged this year that Ashcroft had not become a permanent resident when he took up his peerage. Instead he had persuaded officials to allow him to acquire a different status – as a long-term resident – meaning that the peer, who has a large business empire in the Caribbean and US, had not [...]

[Read more →]

But it has emerged that Sir Edward Elgar, the composer of Land of Hope and Glory, penned the world’s first football chant. Titled “He Banged The Leather for Goal”, the theme was written more than 100 years ago in honour of his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers. And of course in Terry Pratchett’s recent Unseen Academicals there [...]

[Read more →]

Here. Yes, he probably should be fired and go to jail for it though.

[Read more →]