Tim Worstall

However the energy secretary, Steven Chu, has argued that the 2007 law does not amount to a blanket ban on all incandescent bulbs. But it does require those bulbs to be more efficient. “These standards do not ban incandescent bulbs,” Chu told a conference call with reporters. “You’re still going to be able to buy [...]

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Rio de Janeiro aims to become world capital of gay tourism Brazilian city’s diversity week follows series of gay-friendly government schemes to capitalise on growing market I hear Peter Mandelson* is out of a job currently.     *Yes, yes, I know, slightly unfair but couldn’t resist.

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He’s done it again: Our fossil fuel habit leaves us hostage to global energy markets. The days of North Sea self-sufficiency are long gone. Please Chris, could you go and spend more time with your mistress? Stop pleasuring yourself with these inanities? You were, once, an economist, after all and you know these things. We [...]

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Or at least, not the banksters alone. There was no housing bubble, as Italian banks demand copper-bottomed collateral before they will lend the ordinary housebuyer a cent. There were almost no toxic assets, as banks are amazingly conservative in their investment policies. Once upon a time, few Italian bankers spoke a word of English; today [...]

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Phone hacking scandal: Murdoch pulls Sky News plan to force inquiry Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn a promise to spin off Sky News in a desperate attempt to rescue his plan to take full control of BSkyB. Force them to consider the plan under the law as it stands, rather than allowing the decision to be [...]

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Two little nuggets: From his earliest days, George Lascelles was blessed with an extraordinary ear for music and interest in facts about music, an eccentricity which prompted his uncle, the Prince of Wales (later the Duke of Windsor), to remark: “It’s very odd about George and music. You know his parents were quite normal — [...]

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And how is that there are no widely read democratic socialist publications whatsoever? Because there aren’t enough democratic socialists to make such a publication widely read? The same problem that “Wicca Today”, “First Great Western Trains Daily” and “Knobwarmer Knitter’s Weekly” face? Their offering is to a minority interest market? Perhaps more people ought to [...]

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Trying something out on Seeking Alpha. What happens to News Corp if the US decides to investigate the bribery of cops?

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The truth is simple: we cannot afford competition in basic services: as I pointed out that means we have to pay for ex ess wasted capacity instead of the best full capacity. There’s so much wrong with it’s difficult to know where to start. Every health care system will always have excess capacity most of the time. For we [...]

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That contention being of course, that when legislators get to decide what is bought and sold then legislators will be the first thing to be bought and sold. What is now happening with News Corp and BSkyB? Yes, there’s that screaming that politicians, legislators, shouldn’t let him buy the bit he doesn’t currently own. And [...]

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First, banks are likely to pass on the burden of this tax almost completely to their customers through higher bank interest margins and bank fees. This makes the Financial Activities Tax a tax on bank customers rather than on bank shareholders. Since the Financial Transactions Tax (ie, Tobin, or Robin Hood) also falls on customers, [...]

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Complete knobgobbling stupidity on display here. From the Guardian this morning: One of America’s biggest healthcare providers, McKesson, gave its chief executive, John Hammergren, a 190% pay rise last year to $150m. Welcome to the new NHS. Welcome to the corruption at the core of modern capitalism. Err, no. We do get that statement in The Guardian, true. [...]

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It opens up the potential for schools, hospitals, social care systems and nurseries to fold without the government stepping in to prop them up. Labour called it an “appalling revelation”. Appalling revelation? But that’s the damn point! “This problem is mitigated if the system allows for provider exit as well as entry – and indeed [...]

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The 2011 Tour de France, which flirted with madness last week, lost the plot altogether yesterday when an official French television car smashed into Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha just as he and Johnny Hoogerland launched an attack off the front of a five-man break 35km from the finish. Talking about the Tour de France and [...]

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The assorted boxes of mars, snickers, bouty and twix ice creams have just hit rural Portugal. Hmm. Think I prefered putting the original choccy bars in the freezer to be honest….

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What would you think about a helmet law that said that registered donors don’t have to wear helmets? Yes, there’s some joy to that.

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At the ASI. If you think the internet has overturned media, wait till you see what it does to education.

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Above all, it will be the governments of poor countries which are likely to object to any planetary-scale project. Two years ago, all countries except the US agreed to a de facto voluntary moratorium on geo-engineering projects and experiments. Apart from the unpredictability of the science, there was mistrust that western-northern-driven technological solutions to climate [...]

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John is entirely innocent of any involvement in the terror attacks, or any allegiance to terrorism. That is not disputed by the American government. Indeed, all accusations of terrorism against John were dropped by the government in a plea bargain, which in turn was approved by the US district court in which the case was [...]

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The Government last night insisted that leaving the electricity system as it is would be more costly in the long run. It believes switching to nuclear and wind makes sense because European Union-led taxes on gas and coal power generation will increase the costs of fossil fuel generation. So, our aim is to reduce the [...]

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