Tim Worstall

This scoring tries using the wingers. When did that come about? All very strange, the aim of the game is that the big blokes in the white shirts grumble up and down the field, isn’t it?

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17th century European noble culture commonly matched cousin to first cousin and uncle to niece, to preserve a prosperous family’s properties. Charles’s own immediate pedigree was exceptionally populated with nieces giving birth to children of their uncles: Charles’s mother was a niece of Charles’s father, being a daughter of Maria Anna of Spain (1606–46) and [...]

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We are told by our favourite retired accountant. Seriously, maturely, think through what we are to do about banking and finance. Two important  conditions are noted therein: first that we have an adult debate, and secondly that the banks’ self-interest, and the noisy protests of their trolls who populate much of the internet and media, [...]

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Doesn’t really quite get it: Banks are supposed to withhold taxes first on the initial capital, then on interest, capital gains and capital income owned by their UK taxpayer clients. Now, a Swiss bank would rarely hold John Smith’s account in the name of “John Smith” but in the name of, say, ABC Liechtenstein foundation [...]

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A former inmate cook who made the last meals for prisoners at the Huntsville unit, where Texas executions are carried out, wrote a cookbook several years ago after he was released. Among his recipes were Gallows Gravy, Rice Rigor Mortis and Old Sparky’s Genuine Convict Chili, a nod to the electric chair that once served [...]

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What? Betfair initially deducted 20pc of gross profits from successful punters gambling in more than 250 betting markets. In July, such charges were raised to 40pc to 60pc for customers who have won more than £250,000. Mr Sayaniya alleges he has bet in less than 250 markets and made a £24,000 profit. However, he claims [...]

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Measurement error or the real thing?

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Here: And Vince’s Spad, recruited after the election is a libertarian fundamentalist Poor judgement by Vince But that Spad would feel at home with you Two of a type Well, no, not really. Vince’s SpAd is an economist (so he’s up on both of us) who has worked in the City (ditto). You know, someone [...]

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Look, please, shouldn’t an accountant actually be able to understand the qualifications that people put on statistics? Here’s his post: Well, the detail shows why. I searched their report for a key word. It was offshore. It comes up once, on page 45 where they say by way of introduction: By matching data supplied by third parties [...]

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And a good pun at comment three.

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At City AM. About the Tobin Tax and how banks won’t pay it, consumers will. As to calling it the Robin Hood Tax, perhaps we should remind them of the original Robin of Loxley. He made his bones resisting those collecting unjustly levied taxes, not imposing them. They took out the line about Boris having [...]

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Clyde Loakes, a councillor at Waltham Forest, said the verdict was disappointing. He said rubbish would continue to be dumped on street corners if businesses did not ensure that their waste was transferred to a licensed contractor. He said: “Last year we handed out 1,650 fixed penalty notices and carried out almost 100 successful prosecutions [...]

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This is really momentous news: Cuadrilla Resources believes there are 200 trillion cubic feet of “shale” gas in the Bowland basin, which could result in a Lancashire gas boom creating 5,600 jobs at peak production. Yeah, yeah, unconfirmed, they might be causing earthquakes with their drilling, Chris Huhne has seen Gasland and thinks everyones’ taps [...]

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This might surprise some. But Cleggy’s announcement that paternity/maternity leave will be transferable, shareable. Umm, that’s my fault, sorry. Me banging on for years about how maternity leave itself leads to at least a part of the gender pay gap got as reader here thinking about how that ill-effect could be ameliorated. If young men [...]

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Ouch: So for 200 year rapid productivity growth didn’t cause any serious unemployment problems in America, but now, right after NGDP collapses, we are to believe it is producing mass unemployment, even though recent productivity gains have been rather low.  I’m at a loss for words.  We elected a Luddite as President of the United [...]

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At El Reg. About the difference between arbitrage and speculation. It reads a bit oddly as now that charges have been laid in a case that I cannot mention I have to leave out any reference to that case I cannot mention. So there has to be a little bit of reading between the lines [...]

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If there are three things I fear, as a passionate environmentalist who wants to see wild habitats restored all over the world, they are biofuels, renewable electricity and organic farming. Each would demand much, much more land from nature.

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Attention all you hedge fund readers: if these people can arbitrage and convexify their guinea pig market, you’d better not bet against their currency peg.

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Well, yes: “Every time we are interviewed by a German journalist they always say that British food has a terrible reputation, but that’s usually because they once went on a school exchange and were served beans on toast every night,” she said. “Jim always says, well, no one exactly says ‘I’m going out for a [...]

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Traditionally, kids entertainment groups have made just 10% of their income from broadcast commissions, with the balance generated by DVD and merchandise sales. Many companies have been squeezed by the global decline in DVD sales, while increasingly broadcasters expect to pay nothing for children’s television shows commissioned from outside rights holders. While Entertainment One has [...]

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