Tim Worstall

Hmm. Thereport by Unicef, the UN children’s agency, warns that materialism has come to dominate family life in Britain as parents “pointlessly” amass goods for their children to compensate for their long working hours. While parents said they felt compelled into buying more, the children themselves said spending time with their families made them happier. [...]

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Interesting stuff, for we’re normally told to listen when the IFS speaks: The 50p rate of income tax is costing the Treasury up to £500 million a year as high earners shelter their money abroad, a leading think tank has warned. The argument is that this rate is increasing the use of (entirely legal) tax [...]

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No, the evidence presented does not prove what you assert. Modern mothers are much more adventurous in the kitchen and can prepare 25 per cent more dishes than their mothers, research suggests. Being able to cook more things is not the same as being able to cook better. I, for example, am a lousy cook [...]

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Yes, there’s lots of cable theft going on. Yes, it’s a cash in hand industry. It pretty much has to be really. All recycling industries face exactly the same problem, which is that their economics are entirely the reverse of normal retail economics. We all understand that if you’ve a container load of PCs, each [...]

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Eventually, housing output reached a peak of 90,000 new homes per year – far more than Britain’s, despite the huge difference in population (4.5 million versus 60 million). Talking about Ireland that is. And he’s just not bothered to go and look up the UK statistics. Here. There were 28,590 seasonally adjusted house building starts [...]

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“Specific government institutions and programmes supported by the central bank must be targeted to the needs of the economy. For the UK, the primary need is investment for SMEs and new firms.” To ensure credit makes its way through to small businesses, he said the Bank and the Treasury should work together to “set up [...]

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Never let it be said that there’s not an economic concept that our Gaian Economist cannot misunderstand. In a peasant community, each new birth represents a mouth that needs feeding from a limited land resource; in contrast, in an economy where livelihoods are based around the labour-market, each birth represents a potential labourer whose time [...]

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The Tory government is failing UK manufacturing.  Their fiscal policy has failed to strengthen the pound Facepalm. A strong pound is bad for UK manufacturing. It makes our manufactured exports more expensive and the import of foreign manufactures cheaper for UK consumers.

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But at what cost, say critics? Requiring banks to hold more capital – even £17 to £20 for every £100 they lend, as Vickers proposes, instead of the old £4 – will only make the average cost of each parcel of lending more expensive, they say. The banks will pass that on to consumers and [...]

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Nothing has been done about bonuses or the absent link between pay and performance Bonuses are pay for performance. Nothing has been done about the huge profits investment banks skim off all transactions – while they resist a tiny transaction tax. The transactions tax being advocated is larger than the profits being skimmed off the [...]

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Having looked him up, apparently he’s something like the Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Open University. And entirely ignorant to boot: Neoliberalism is grounded in the “free, possessive individual”, with the state cast as tyrannical and oppressive. The welfare state, in particular, is the arch enemy of freedom. The state must never govern society, [...]

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I have an American friend who is absolutely insistent that this is all the proof that anyone could need to prove that the English are entirely mad: It was the sound of wholesome 1980s Sunday-night TV: a plaintive “baaaa!”, a piercing whistle, and “Come Bye!” ringing out across the lush hillside. At home, eight million [...]

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The picture we see, with the striking exception of Reform, is of secrecy among the rightwing groups, creating a powerful impression that they have something to hide. Shockingly, this absence of accountability – and the influence-peddling it doubtless obscures – does not affect their charitable status. The funding of these groups should not be a [...]

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Few might now take issue with Mr Barber’s view that Britain has become a country in which the poor and middle earners struggle and the rich often do better than they deserve. Nor would they deny that the unions must “win the intellectual debates as well as the industrial battles”. Given that Mr. Barber’s advisor [...]

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Just had that interesting little message from it: Hope you get this on time, I made a trip to Swansea, Wales and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and credit cards in it. The embassy is willing to help by letting me fly without my passport, I just have to pay for [...]

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David Cameron has warned Russia that corruption, bureaucracy and an inconsistent approach to the rule of law was holding back trade relations with Britain. Rilly? I’ve had a shipment stuck in customs for a month now. They’re wanting a bribe. And the thing is, I’d be entirely happy to pay such a bribe: if I [...]

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An abomination that should be taken out and shot. Along with those that passed it. The ruling, dubbed “Cliff’s Law” after the veteran pop star waged a long-running campaign to have the copyright period extended, will prevent his material from the 1960s from falling out of copyright. Some earlier recordings that have fallen out of [...]

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As I understand it the allegation is that George took cocaine when a young man. Umm, yes? Rich young thing about town takes cocaine in 1990s Britain? That’s it?  

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Apparently Madness have sold out. Or is putting past hits into beer adverts not selling out but carefully extracting full value from a back catalogue?

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At the ASI. Will household energy bills go up or down?

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