Tim Worstall

Sea Shepherd conservation group declared ‘pirates’ in US court ruling Piracy on the High Seas with violence. And given that it is the High Seas then it is the duty of every nation to punish it. The ruling was issued on Wednesday by chief judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th US circuit court of appeals. [...]

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Not that I normally look to Huffington Post for seriouos news stories but this one is nicely done: If anyone sees a female Lib Dem MP can they let us know? Given that there are only seven women out of the 56 Lib Dems in the Commons, it is rather conspicuous that only one of [...]

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So here’s the success that is being claimed: “We don’t see a problem for sterling at present levels. We have cut costs right through the economy with an internal devaluation of 15pc or 16pc and we are now highly competitive. We can take it,” he said. That’s what they’ve had to do. Internal devaluation. Here’s [...]

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If you change the calculation slightly that is. Earlier today, the Office for National Statistics confirmed the economy had contracted by 0.3pc in the final quarter of last year, mainly as a result of a collapse in North Sea activity. However, it revised up its estimates of previous quarters, and said there was 0.2pc growth [...]

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Of course: Come the revolution, only attractive men will try to hit on women, and then only when they’ve already said yes. And as is pointed out, there’s a further lovely point to be made. So, the general accusation is that prospective female MPs were at least left with the impression that sweating the blubber [...]

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OK, so people do, umm, “misremember” how much they drink. And if we look at the total amount that is sold we find out that some people, somewhere, are drinking more than the surveys say people drink. Nationwide surveys that purport to show the ‘average’ man and women drink much less than the recommended weekly [...]

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The latest report is that Irtan is now running a heavy water plant. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, a US think tank, if the heavy-water plant reaches full capacity, it would produce about 20lb of plutonium a year. No, just no. A heavy water plant produces heavy water. This can then [...]

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If this is the level of thought among “professional Catholics” thn the Church is in more trouble than I thought. But the Catholic Church is not the same as society at large. It defiantly stands out against the tolerant tide of a secular and sceptical society and claims to represent a more enduring set of [...]

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One a Telegraph slide show at the top we get: Value of money slides 30pc in 30 years as cost of goods rockets And in the caption, on the same page, we get: The value of money has plummeted by 67pc over the last 30 years as the cost of everyday goods has rocketed, research [...]

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Slightly more intimidating was the time, ironically at a political party conference, when a man who was then the editor of a national newspaper started propositioning me in the bar, despite knowing I was in a long-term relationship, and despite my making it patently clear that I wasn’t interested. I quickly made my excuses and [...]

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Rather than just a little giggle or a snort of laughter, I find myself wracked by guffaws at this: The eurozone’s debt crisis strategy was in chaos on Monday night after anti-austerity parties appeared on track to win a majority of seats in the Italian parliament, vastly complicating efforts to forge a government able to [...]

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Report finds shocking absence of women from UK public life The number of women in senior levels of the judiciary, education, the arts, finance, the civil service and government is plummeting, according to a new report, Sex and Power 2013. Women’s representation has gone into reverse The reason being that we’ve tried this and we [...]

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As Mr. Thompson points out, in many parts of the world it’s more honoured in the breach than anything else. In some parts of the world it’s heterosexual marriage, in others the discreet “housekeeper” approach (a favourite in rural Ireland for a long, long, time) and today in urban areas homosexuality of a more or [...]

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Eh? Before I was married I was a spender and then when I married I became a saver. My wife is more sensible than me but we have spent sometimes too. I was always under the impression that he danced on the other side of the aisle. That’ll teach me to conflate camp with gay [...]

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Some of the alleged unwanted advances go back many years, prompting questions about why the party had failed to act earlier. On Sunday a spokesman for Lord Rennard repeated his denials that he had pestered female staff or offered funding to candidates in return for sexual favours. Is it: 1) Over the years he said [...]

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Hi, everybody. Our top priority as a country right now should be doing everything we can to grow our economy and create good, middle class jobs. Agreed, agreed. Because the American people have worked too hard for too long to see everything they’ve built undone by partisan recklessness in Washington. … Making America a magnet [...]

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Yes, indeed, the British Government did compensate slave owners when they abolished colonial slavery. Damn good thing they did too. For it was the thing which got slavery abolished. Without the compensation it’s extremely doubtful that it would have passed: and it certainly wouldn’t have passed when it did. The true scale of Britain’s involvement [...]

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Today it’s all about the property market. About how houses are too expensive and Something Must Be Done! At which point he entirely fails to mention, even to dismiss it, the simple fact that cheaper housing will only come about through a relaxtion of the planning system. If, as is indeed true, 50% or more [...]

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Watkins draws comparisons with energy. “We need to ask ourselves: where will our food come from in the future? We’ve got to have food security.” Quite true. We don’t want to go to the larder and find that it’s empty, that’s for sure. So, how about expanding English farming then? It is only now becoming [...]

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At fiery rallies, shedelivers similar nationalist rhetoric in front of images of Evita. But according to a former Kirchner insider, she now also suffers the same delusions of grandeur and power. “She is a paranoid, arrogant person which in turn hides a deep insecurity,” he said. “She’s also a very mistrustful person who surrounds herself [...]

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