Tim Worstall

Ritchie: Can News Corp pay a special dividend when the demand for cash to pay compensation and fines is not known? Err, what special dividend is that? As he himself points out: News Corp has announced plans to buy back $5bn (£3.2bn) of its shares in an attempt to halt the slide in value of Rupert [...]

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As Clive James once said, the problem with Australia isn’t that we sent a load of prisoners there, but that we sent a load of prison wardens there.

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I am interested in Mr Miliband’s radical idea that we might need tighter rules on media ownership and market shares. It will be interesting to see how he defines unacceptable levels of control, as it appears  that the BBC has the largest share of the TV and radio market, and also has a very powerful [...]

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A breakdown of the outlay on medical care published by newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday revealed Italy‘s 630 MPs are racking up €3m a year on dentistry, €257,000 on psychiatric bills You’re not going to cure many politicians of their delusions on a mere quarter mil a year you know.

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Alongside this, we need 100% transparency on how energy bills are calculated, so huge price rises can’t be hidden behind rising wholesale prices. I’m afraid that I do have to admit, sexist, patronising and not very feminist at all curmudgeon that I am, that I rate Ms. Berger more for her looks than her brains. [...]

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The editorial gives no evidence behind its own statement. Not from a paper that publishes Polly and Julie Bindel.

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Now that cloud has become darker with the news that Hugo Chávez is to return to Cuba for chemotherapy to treat his abdominal cancer, the severity of which is still unknown. Isn’t it funny how these socialists, intent on building a better world with lovely health care for all, so often go off and use [...]

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Well, yes: Sir Paul said that while he was resigning with his personal integrity intact And the louder he talked of his honour the faster we counted the spoons.

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Not very lefty, is he: Lord Glasman, the leading policy adviser to the Labour leader, said the country should “draw the line” on immigration and even renegotiate EU rules that allow free movement for migrant workers. He told The Daily Telegraph that Britain is “not an outpost of the UN” and the needs of the [...]

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At the ASI.

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Hang the bastards and hang them high. Currently, section 16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 gives courts the power to award costs that are “reasonably sufficient to compensate the defendant for any expenses which he has properly incurred in the proceedings”. The last government wanted to introduce a scheme that limited these costs [...]

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Clubbers don’t care whether a drugs is legal or not, just how it makes them feel, research shows My word, that is a surprise, isn’t it? We would just never have guessed this from the existence of vibrant markets in, easy supply of, high demand for, heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, pot, hash, crack, LSD, ‘rooms and [...]

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Antarctica is the coldest, most desolate place on Earth, a land of barren mountains buried beneath a two-mile thick ice cap. Freezing winds batter its shores while week-long blizzards frequently sweep its glaciers. Yet this icy vision turns out to be exceptional. For most of the past 100 million years, the south pole was a tropical [...]

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From September, Neuberger will become a full-time rabbi at the West London Synagogue and going on to the crossbenches. “Because I’ve got members of the congregation of all religious faiths and none, I don’t want people to think I’m preaching Lib Dem politics from the pulpit.” I have a feeling that it’s the political views [...]

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Producing just one ton of aluminium uses more power than the average family does in 15 years. About 3 years I think. I tonne of Al uses around (from Australian numbers) 15 MWh. The average families usage for a year (from Scottish figures) is 5 MWh. But yes, it’s a lot and Huhne is playing [...]

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The Trans Community Conference will be a one-day gathering featuring a series of workshops for members of the trans community from across the UK, as well as professionals who work with the trans community. OK. There will also be a “Doing it for ourselves” stream Doesn’t the NHS handle that these days?

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President Obama famously played to grandma’s Social Security fears this week, saying in an interview about the debt-ceiling talks that “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we haven’t resolved this issue because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.” To which a friend [...]

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At the ASI. About the Rahm Curve.

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What is your favourite smell? New shoes. Fair enough. Bit pandering to the female stereotype perhaps and requiring of a system that produces new shoes cheaply and efficiently so we can all have them. But still, fair enough. What makes you unhappy? Misogyny and capitalism. Oh well, fortunately we look to actresses for ability at [...]

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Republicans claimed to have struck a blow for freedom on Friday when the House of Representatives voted to strip all funding from government programmes promoting energy-saving lightbulbs. If not incandescent light bulbs are so good then why does there need to be government money (ie, taxpayers’ money) promoting not incandescent light bulbs?

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