Tim Worstall

From the comments about great engineers: Brunel was voted something-or-other by the great unwashed, when James Watt or Geordie Stephenson were available. Those two changed human history: Brunel changed the means of getting to Bristol. Sigh. Brunel made it easier to get out of Bristol. A greater contribution to human happiness than no man has [...]

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Ritchie picks up on a piece in the New York Times: Without such tactics, Apple’s federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A. Sullivan. As it stands, the company paid cash taxes of [...]

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It is especially annoying that Banerjee was put back in the committee two years after he gave the award to his colleague and lover (not a secret any more now that they have a baby). About the award of the John Bates Clark Medal by the American Economics Association to the best economist under 40. [...]

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The French people and the labour movement will have a lot to lose if the radicalised right – which, moreover, is after the extreme right’s votes – monopolises state power. Sometimes the other bloke gets in and enjoys that State Power over you. The solution is to not allow the State to accumulate such power.

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Yes, yes, OK, Isambard and Bazalgette, lovely. But how can anyone write about the use and conservation of a limited resource like water without even once mentioning the incentive that makes all such efforts work? Price?

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On Saturday rumours circulated that some supporters at Bramall Lane would pay tribute to Evans with handclaps in the ninth and 35th minutes of the game (corresponding to his shirt number and goals he has scored this season). Apparently this was a damp squib with few taking part, but the fact it was suggested at [...]

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A new report warns that the commercial cultivation of cannabis poses a “significant risk” to Britain linked to burglary, violence and the use of guns. The number of farms detected has more than doubled in recent years to reach almost 8,000, with many now set up in homes or flats rather than factories in order [...]

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Most amusing: Wind farms can cause climate change, according to new research, that shows for the first time the new technology is already pushing up temperatures. … Satellite data over a large area in Texas, that is now covered by four of the world’s largest wind farms, found that over a decade the local temperature [...]

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At the ASI. If the Chinese can sell their BBC why can’t we sell ours?

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“In a way bankers are Marx’s dream, it’s the workers getting the fruits of their labours. It’s funny that the left is usually angry at shareholders, for taking money out of companies and thereby bringing down workers’ salaries. Yet with the banks they want shareholders to press the banks to do exactly that, and curb [...]

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Jagger, drunk, once telephoned Charlie Watts’s hotel room at 5am and demanded to speak to “my drummer”. Watts rose from bed, meticulously showered and shaved, dressed himself in a three-piece suit, then took the lift downstairs and decked Jagger for impertinence.

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So, I wrote that paper for the IEA on the FTT. Which was published in a journal. So I’ve actually produced a piece in a peer reviewed journal. Which sorta makes me a scientist. Yes, I know, more a comment on low barriers to entry than anything else. But I find that this paper has [...]

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At the ASI. Stock market investors do seem to be taking a long term view of Amazon…..

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Because it’s bizarre to see this logic: Yet, people – usually women – still do it, and there, essentially, is the root of the triple-whammy called the gender pay gap. First, careers are hurt even by short periods of leave, let alone a few years “out”. Second, the more limited work opportunities that this affords [...]

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For someone who exists in an environment where their political views are in a minority, immersing themselves in an audience who are singing songs that articulate those views can be inspirational. To find yourself among other people in your town who share your views – people whose existence you may not have been aware of [...]

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The Roberts court redefines judicial activism: it is pursuing a states’ rights, anti-federal agenda, reckless of the constitution That’s the subs getting it wrong of course. A State’s rights agenda is a pro-federal agenda. For that’s what federal means, that there are multiple sovereignties and a division of powers between them. The opposite to State’s [...]

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The London arm of the great vampire squid paid only £4.1m in corporation tax to the Treasury last year. Despite pocketing £1.9bn in pre-tax profits. Lord Blankfein’s investment bank received a tax bill of £422.3m for 2011 but has put off paying 99pc of it until next year. Umm, isn’t corporation tax always paid in [...]

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But let me also be clear, based upon my long experience as a tax practitioner, which I was before I became a tax campaigner, and during which earlier career I was responsible for the preparation of thousands of tax returns, I can genuinely say that I can’t recall seeing anyone give 10% of their income [...]

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The reason why we got a welfare state was that charities did not and could not do the job that was needed. Nor can they now. Which is why although I think charity is vital at drawing attention to problems and facilitating the actions of those who want to address them paying tax to maintain [...]

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“It is long established government policy neither to confirm nor deny speculation of this sort. However, given the intense interest in this case it is, exceptionally, appropriate for me to confirm that Mr Heywood was not an employee of the British government in any capacity,” the foreign secretary wrote in his reply. Employee has, of [...]

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