Tim Worstall

My mum used to say to me, “If somebody doesn’t like you, fuck ‘em, they’ve got bad taste.” Bob Hoskins.

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Talking to Pat Gilbert in Mojo a couple of months back – an early warning shot in a publicity blitzkrieg of mounting and ultimately horrific intensity – the star of Jeeves & Wooster and House imagined Britain’s critical elite dipping their quills in venom in anticipation of his forthcoming celebration of the unique capacity of [...]

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Much of the literature on sex selection has suggested that cultural patterns explain the phenomenon. But Hvisten dahl lays the blame squarely on western governments and businesses that have exported technology and pro-abortion practices without considering the consequences. Amniocentesis and ultrasound scans have had largely positive applications in the west, where they have been used [...]

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At the ASI. The IPCC is going to have to change: at the moment they’ve got Greenpeace writing reports.

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But so profoundly unfashionable that no one will say so: Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, claimed the disabled or those with mental health problems were at a disadvantage because they could not offer to work for less money. Relaxing the law would help some to compete more effectively for jobs in “the real world” [...]

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Best line of the case: Michael Wolkind QC, argued that his client had a right to expose Mr Haynes’s behaviour. “His websites are his scream of frustration and even his scream of pain,” he told the court.’’ Mr Wolkind added: “He wouldn’t take it lying down – unlike, sadly, his wife did for years in [...]

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Fun looking book from David Friedman. Explanation here and download here. Some of the Moorish/Iberian techniques and combinations, if not the actual recipes, look familiar from the modern day Algarve. For those seriously into cooking could be fun to try out a dish or two.

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It seems as relevant today: Greece is falling over and needs bailing out. It won’t be alone. The point is a simple one: this is about money required until confidence is restored, and it is confidence that is key. Because the reality is that confidence is all there is to money because it literally comes out of thin air: [...]

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I take my eye off the blog for two days and the spam filter decides to trap lots of comments. Umm, sorry!

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My word, I’m not sure whether she’s going to feint in horror or explode in outrage. Competition and insurance breaks up the systems of redistribution. Several decades of research show that the impact of choice and competition on quality, efficiency and outcomes in healthcare is unproven. The forum pays no heed to evidence, selectively citing [...]

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Alan Milburn is wrong – private hospitals have done little for the NHS We don’t actually care whether private hospitals are good for the NHS. For the NHS is just a structure, one that exists to perform a task. It’s the task, how well it is performed, that is the question we should be talking [...]

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Ms Botín’s father, Emilio Botín, the chairman of Spanish banking group Santander, was yesterday named along with his brother as part of an investigation into allegations of tax evasion……. How, but, Spain’s a democracy! Taxes are determined by the peoples’ representatives! Hang them! Mr Botín and his brother Jamie, along with all their 10 children, [...]

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A small number of savers who had more than £85,000 on deposit with Southsea Mortgages could lose the money after the lender was yesterday forced into insolvency by the authorities. That’s the way to do it, get rid of that pesky moral hazard. Now, let’s see which lefties insist that the depositors must be made [...]

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The company, which is owned by Guardian Media Group and backed by charitable foundation The Scott Trust, plans to make £25m of savings over the next five years and to prioritise digital over print. Not any more it ain’t. Owned by the Scott Trust Limited, not a charitable foundation at all. The Guardian will continue [...]

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If I were Alina Kabaeva I’d start looking over my shoulder right about now.

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Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, indicates he may send his children to a leading Roman Catholic secondary school, despite having declared himself an atheist. For that’s the deal made when you marry a Catholic. That the children will be raised Catholic. *Shrug*

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although note that quantitative easing in the USA and UK has so far not raised interest rates, Gosh, that’s good, isn’t it? Especially as the purpose and intention of quantitative easing is to lower interest rates.

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Yet, if the crisis of 2007-08 taught us one thing, it’s that we need a more diverse banking system for stability, resilience and to work for people. That means more mutuals, co-ops and innovative, smaller local banks, not more risk-takers wanting to gamble unaccountably with other people’s money. Jeebus Simms! Innovation equals risk taking! ‘Coz, [...]

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Bankers’ Pay Rises 36%: Idiot Outraged

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I am now mostly over here. It’s All Trivial or Obvious Except. Swearing n’stuff will obviously stay here, but trying out this new Forbes thing to see how it goes. There’s an RSS feed there n’all. Murphy bashing here (for he is also a Forbes blogger). But, really, really really, folks, the majority, at least [...]

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