Tim Worstall

Bangladeshi building regs are shite. This is Primark’s fault.

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That was the word in the pub last night. Typically mordant Czech humour of course: Statement of the Ambassador of the Czech Republic on the Boston terrorist attack 19.04.2013 / 21:27 As many I was deeply shocked by the tragedy that occurred in Boston earlier this month. It was a stark reminder of the fact [...]

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I would certainly expect some of it to be true: Here the late-president’s family owns 17 country estates, totalling more than 100,000 acres, in addition to liquid assets of $550 million (£360 million) stored in various international bank accounts, according to Venezuelan news website Noticias Centro. While ordinary Venezuelans suffer growing food shortages and 23 [...]

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By rejecting the neoliberal recipes of privatisation, structural adjustment and curtailed demand, we have grown by 4.3% over the last five years despite the global slowdown. Central to this growth, and to the reduction of unemployment to the lowest rate in the region, has been public investment, which at 14% in 2011 is the highest [...]

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I wonder how bad the floods are going to be in Central Europe this year? Just had news that our engineers cannot sample a site as not only is the snow cover still there, the rocks are actually still iced together. We’ve got to wait for the snow melt (hmm, 10 days, two weeks?). That’s [...]

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Two months after Cyprus joined the euro area [in January, 2008], there were presidential elections and the Cypriot public elected as president a communist, Demetris Christofias. The public was convinced he could solve the political problem we had with Turkey and reunify the island. The issue was not economic. If one thing has become clear [...]

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Sir, I cycled over the dam yesterday afternoon and saw that the reservoir was full. So, we have no need of any more rain here for this year thank you. We’re ready for spring if you would be so kind. Yours, Tim Worstall

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Random checks will be performed on the vehicles after companies advertising rides in “ambulance-taxis” for upwards of 6,000 roubles (£120) per hour appeared on the internet. The vehicles are said to use their sirens to scatter traffic and deliver harried businessman to meetings on time. Used to be that ambulances charged the same rate as [...]

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The body of Hugo Chavez will no longer be embalmed and placed on permanent display, after Venezuelan’s acting president said it had not been properly prepared in time.

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OK, so this is an industry story, shouting about how they shouldbe given more money. But: The Asphalt Industry Alliance, which represents companies who produce materials needed for highway repair, has warned of what it described as a £10 billion crumbling road crisis. Last year’s rain is estimated as having caused £338 million of damage [...]

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Politically, what Chavez did was successful. But that success came at the cost of the future. Instead of building a more stable foundation for long-term prosperity, Chavez started cutting chunks out of the house and handing them out to the crowd. Socialists, especially, take note: he essentially destroyed one of the most competent, successful, state [...]

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How does this work then? A funeral’s about the final disposition of earthly remains. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes (the latter more appropriate for cremations of course). So what happens at the funeral of one being embalmed? From formaldehyde you were made and to formaldehyde you will return? Does everyone turn up with bits [...]

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Latin American Caudillo rides commodity boom. Nope, we’ve never seen that before now have we?

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Perhaps national costume should be mandatory for all Welsh people? Harrods refuses to allow six women dressed in Welsh national costume into the store on St David’s Day It would make it easier to identify those you wish to refuse entry to after all. What say a checkpoint on the Severn Bridge?

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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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Underlining wariness of Berlusconi outside of Italy, Mr Schulz, who the media tycoon once compared to a Nazi concentration camp guard, on warned Italians not to vote for him. “Silvio Berlusconi has already sent Italy into a tailspin with irresponsible behaviour in government and personal escapades,” Schulz was quoted as saying in German daily Bild. [...]

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Yes, I like this, I do. An empty space marks the spot where, until earlier this month, the gilded bronze sculpture graced the facade of the cookie baker’s Hanover office. The symbol has disappeared and according to a ransom note sent to a German newspaper, the sign won’t be returned until Bahlsen supplies cookies to [...]

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Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, said the comments by Mr Sapin were “inappropriate”. He added: “France is a really solvent country. France is a really credible country, France is a country that is starting to recover.” Oh aye?

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There’s just one final point in this article that I noticed. Steele talks about how “white” farms were invaded by “Africans”. Zimbabwe didn’t permit dual nationality, meaning that the overwhelming majority of white farmers were Zimbabwean citizens. Many have family roots in Africa going back hundreds of years. At what point do they become African? [...]

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This is rather fun. One candidate in the current Czech presidential election is formally called: Karl Johannes Nepomuk Joseph Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas Fürst zu Schwarzenberg Think the Duke of Buccleigh running for president of an independent Scotland. Sorta. Or perhaps the Duke of Normandy for that of France (which would be a real [...]

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