Tim Worstall

Local communities will also be able to operate libraries, museums and even deal with low-level anti-social behaviour under “power to the people” plans to be announced on Monday. The Sunday Telegraph understands that the driving force behind the coalition’s flagship public services white paper will be new moves towards “localism” and away from top-down “Whitehall [...]

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Mortality from heart disease in England is highest in the North West, primary care trust figures indicate. Richer areas in the south have lower death rates from heart disease than poorer areas in the North. Yes, OK. Dr Jessica Allen, of University College London, is one of the authors of a landmark report on health [...]

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but we are proud of the Green Belts and other controls that have stopped, for example, south-east England from becoming a sprawling megapolis like much of the US East Coast, But others of us do insist on pointing to the costs of those Green Belts and controls. They are, for example, a subsidy to everyone [...]

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According to analysis from LSL Property Services, house prices have increased by just 11pc between 2006 and 2011, which means that the actual worth of the average home has gone down. This is because inflation has increased by 17pc in the same period, while salary growth is up 15pc. For home owners in many parts [...]

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At the ASI Why we’re stuffed. The British left won’t accept the policies that would make their desired social democracy work.

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Parliament simply does not represent the British people. Instead, it represents special interests. There is no shortage of groups, from the environmentalists to industrialists, throwing energy and money into lobbying MPs and ministers for new laws, taxes, regulations and monopolies that will either enrich them or force the public to behave as they believe we [...]

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Dale & Co is a new blogging platform, showcasing 92 writers, each with editorial independence, providing some of the best political, media, social and sports commentary on the net. Right, OK. Looking at the list of contributions on that front page I see…15 stories. OK, good. 12 of which are about the NOTW story. Ah, [...]

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At Anorak, about the trillion $ coin.

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And whilst I would agree with you that a consensus is not necessarily correct – because of course there are occasions when it is clear that is not true – to view as you do the process of democracy that reflects, albeit imperfectly, a consensus view on most occasions as illegitimate and unable to regulate [...]

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Liechtenstein has just announced the latest sums it has collected under the terms of the European Savings Tax Directive. It was a measly €7.8 million. OK, yes, that is what the report says: According to the Liechtenstein administration, the withholding tax levied on interest income paid to European Union (EU) taxpayers in the Principality amounted to [...]

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This might not be it: Nothing that happened on Thursday has changed that. Murdoch and his media – like all media – live in a world of tectonic change. Tectonic: slow? Millimetric? Entirely invisible to the human senses? At the speed of continental drift? Not, really, quite how I would describe the last few decades [...]

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And the demographic that is targeted is significant. The armed forces draws non-officer recruits mainly from young people with low educational attainment and living in poor communities. Research suggests schools from deprived areas are more likely to be visited by recruiters, with particular focus on the north-east of England, Scotland and Wales. Infantry recruits need only the [...]

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Can Candy Bar Girls really challenge lesbian stereotypes? Yes. They’re wearing make up.

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Europe is in danger of falling behind in the green investment race, new research shows, after a bumper year for renewable energy around the world. Last year, green investment surged by one-third to a record $211bn (£132bn), with a huge boost coming from investment in China, particularly in windfarms. Almost $50bn of the total came [...]

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I’ve had this argument with John Christensen before on my blog. The government’s pursuit of tax competitiveness, where countries vie with each other to offer lower corporate tax rates, puts Christensen’s hackles right up. “It’s just a race to the bottom, a beggar-your-neighbour return to the protectionist policies of the 1930s, but these days it’s [...]

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With the National Lottery your chance of bagging the jackpot is a decidedly rosy one in 14 million per pound per draw – with Premium Bonds it’s an eye-popping one-in-40 billion. Of course, though, with premium bonds you don’t lose your capital. So for a fair comparison, put £2,900 in premium bonds and your jackpot [...]

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MichaelWhite News Corp still lying. Closing the NoW will allow them to streamline the operation, save cash and launch the seven day Sunday Sun Completely and totally different to GMG’s recent attempts to close down the Observer and run a seven day and Sunday Guardian, isn’t it?

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Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper was shut down last night by the Murdoch family in a surprise move designed to bring an end to the phone hacking scandal engulfing the News of the World.

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see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

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Interesting little run in that I’ve been advised of. This piece, about an analyst who got fired. One reader of both this blog and that paper wrote to Mr. English and pointed out that such firings are an inevitable consequence of the diminished bonus system. Bonuses are variable pay: when there’s not much work about, [...]

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