Tim Worstall

“Anyone who has ever seen a sonogram or has spent even an hour with a textbook on embryology knows” that pro-life women are on to something when they recoil at the idea of the “disposable fetus.” Hmmmm… that must be why most OB-GYNs are pro-choice….. Ob/Gyn, in the modern world, involves performing abortions. It would [...]

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In the last 25 years we have allowed banks to balloon in size. Until the 1970s, banks’ assets as a percentage of UK GDP remained steady at approximately 50%. By 2006, after decades of deregulation, banks’ assets as a percentage of UK GDP were more than 500%. We’ve abolished capital controls you know. Finance has [...]

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The permanent secretary has already said he will retire, but the rot at the top reaches beyond one individual. The priority must be to bring in non-executive directors who can speak for taxpayers, workers and civil society and challenge those of the over-represented voice of the business world – and make sure it pays its [...]

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Rightwing libertarianism recognises few legitimate constraints on the power to act, regardless of the impact on the lives of others. In the UK it is forcefully promoted by groups like the TaxPayers’ Alliance, the Adam Smith Institute, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Policy Exchange. Their concept of freedom looks to me like nothing but [...]

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“Wealth inequality is very much greater than income inequality, and widening,” Clegg said. “The bottom third of households hold just 3% of the nation’s wealth. The top third hold three-quarters of it. This inequality of wealth then cascades down the generations, potentially widening the opportunity gap.” The specific piece that isn’t is this: The bottom [...]

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So, 8 days ago, nine days ago, we had the announcement that the ECB would lend at 1% to any bank that could come up with even vaguely acceptable collateral. And yes, eurozone sovereign debt would be most welcome collateral, why do you ask? Thus an attempt at a solution could be seen. Get the [...]

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Indeed, prison guards have a duty to make sure that it doesn’t. Young offenders jailed in the wake of the summer riots were attacked by fellow inmates who had seen their home towns targeted. Criminals already in custody and worried about their families and friends being caught up in the disturbances turned on the perpetrators [...]

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Largely politicians grandstanding in ignorance. I have particularly liked the way they go on about how HMRC must be independent, seen to be independent and impartial, then insist that HMRC shouldn’t keep the tax matters of individuals (personal or corporate) confidential from politicians. Politicians who would, never, ever, be anything less than entirely impartial when [...]

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We are particularly uneasy about the blanket confidentiality applied to cases raising governance concerns or where mistakes were made in reaching settlements, because we are unable to scrutinise what went wrong in these cases. Details of some of these cases only came to our attention because they appeared in the media. It is deplorable that [...]

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In one case, we sought information on the details of a settlement in which an error had been made with the effect that the company concerned did not have to pay interest due on its tax liability. The C&AG told us that this resulted in a loss of up to £8 million in interest forgone. [...]

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Tax disputes between HM Revenue & Customs (the Department) and large companies are a consequence of the complex and international nature of modern business. Disputes can arise about the facts of a particular case, about the interpretation and application of tax law, and about the legitimacy of tax avoidance schemes. At 31 March 2011, the [...]

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Our favourite retired accountant from Wandsworth is all over the place shouting about his Peoples’ Pension Plan. And I’ve just noticed a nice little oddity about it. return the capital invested over the life of the asset, so that at the end of the period the sponsor would effectively own the asset, as is common [...]

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Second, the statement doesn’t note that Vodafone fought this for nine years and lost all the way. No, they didn’t. They won all the way to the Court of Appeal. They won at the Special Commissioners, they won in the High Court. The essential question was: Do the CFC rules apply to EU subsidiaries? Special Commissioners said “No”. High Court said [...]

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Via, this: Stray showers of mercury getting into food chain Poisonous metal released as a vapour by burning fuel, then falls back to Earth and gets absorbed by the aquatic ecosystem Given that this has been happening for a century or two and we’re not all murdered in our beds by the pollution, should we [...]

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PRS for Music accepted that payments to many Welsh language musicians had declined. Mark Lawrence, the director of membership, said: “Rates paid for radio station play and also for use in businesses around the country are reviewed constantly, based on audience, reach and sampling work our teams do.” The basic rate for a song on [...]

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More fundamentally, over centuries this country has made her living (and endured much of her dying) around the world. It is extraordinary that in the age of the internet she should believe that she must do the economic and political equivalent of marrying her next door neighbour. If ever there was a time when matters [...]

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Melvyn Bragg: ‘Why shouldn’t Britain be the clever country?’ Because of the British?

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Aye: The world is a better place for him having been in it. Would that they will say that after the rest of us fuckwits pass on. Vale, eh?

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Vaclav Havel, died 18 Dec 2011.

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At the ASI. It’s possible that what’s wrong with US health care is government price fixing.

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