Tim Worstall

On one occasion he saved his men from an angry mob by showing a presence of mind well in advance of his 21 years. Encountering a roadblock consisting of eight young virgins, dressed in white and lying in the path of his armoured vehicles, he ordered a good-looking young Gurkha to walk forward and drop [...]

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OK, this isn’t an all inclusive thing but it certainly can be argued that from hte point of view of the US the current wars in Iraq ind Afghanistan are incredibly cheap. Nicholas Kristoff tells us that: The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent [...]

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If I might just give my considered view of this particular incident? Hang the bitch. Update: “Those who are commemorated by the Cenotaph died to protect the very freedoms that allow the people of Britain the right to protest and I feel deeply ashamed to have, although unintentionally and unknowingly, insulted the memory of them. [...]

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Although this is really rather strange: The case is being compared to that of Anna Chapman, a suspected Russian spy who was arrested in New York and then returned to Russia under a “spy swap exchange” earlier this month. There is no evidence that the two women knew one another. It has been reported that [...]

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The Times used to be rather good at these sorts of things. I have no doubt that there will be the occasional letter coming in as the sort of people who announce their weddings (and christenings, and tend to get obituaries in the paper) point out that the young shavers who write the paper these [...]

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Tyler notes that defence inflation is higher than normal inflation. Defence prices rise faster than general inflation both because the earnings of personnel rise faster, and because the price of defence equipment rises much faster. Addressing just the first of this. Earnings do, generally, rise faster than inflation. That’s what it means that we’re getting [...]

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Yet another defence review…..and there are those over on the left telling us that the two carriers must be scrapped. Hmm. There’s a reason you have two: big ships like that are such complex beasts that you’ve nearly always got one in dock somewhere, being repaired, upgraded, outfitted. You’d also rather like to make sure [...]

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Much as I hate to agree with Con Coughlin, he’s right here. For the thing is, we’ve got different military interests. The French are still deeply involved in the remnants of their African Empire. We are still deeply involved in the defence matters of some of our own Empire remnants. The two interests are rather [...]

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Sounds a little odd: Britain’s ability to defend itself from attack has been called into question after deep cutbacks to the Armed Forces were announced to pay for the war in Afghanistan. When unemployment rises we don’t cut unemployment pay in order to keep the budget constant. We wouldn’t insist that a pandemic were paid [...]

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Joanne Goody-Orris and her partner Maurice Benton, both 79, from Somerset, began sending packages to serving soldiers two and a half years ago. Since then they have sent over 6,000 parcels containing everything from treats such as chocolate and crisps to necessities such as wet wipes and thick socks. They drive hundreds of miles every [...]

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The Shadow Defence Secretary told The Daily Telegraph that ending Britain’s 25,000 strong military presence on the Rhine would be part of a fundamental reorganisation of Nato forces designed to free troops for military operations outside Europe. I thought we’d already left. Sounds sensible that we should leave though.

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The government will this week launch an attempt to deny soldiers crippled in battle full compensation for their injuries. The MoD is arguing that they should only have to pay compensation for the original injury, not for any complications that might result from treatment, infection, etc. Please, can we shoot them. Please?

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Doesn’t the gung-ho posturing of the princes rather undermine the courage of ordinary men and women in the forces? No, that’s actually what Princes are for. Yes, the Royal Family are immensely privileged. Yes, they’re rich beyond dreams simply by being members of the lucky sperm club. Yes, we do this so as to have [...]

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What I don’t understand is why they are wriggling so hard? Immigration rules introduced in 2004 allowed serving Gurkhas with at least four years’ service to settle in the UK but they did not apply to Gurkhas discharged from the British Army before July 1 1997. The Government announcement followed a High Court ruling last [...]

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And some of their sons wrote about it. I don’t envy the task, the work that was done, but by buggery I envy those who can write like that.

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French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims. They were, umm, using Windows and not adding the necessary patches. Egad!

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Generals oppose toys to be be used by Navy. Astonishing, eh?

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I thought this was well known already? Williams began to test the Ulfberht blades when a private collector brought one into the Wallace, and found they varied wildly. The tests at the NPL have proved that the inferior swords were forged in northern Europe from locally worked iron. But the genuine ones were made from [...]

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Umm, folks, can we stand down on this story please? Yes, you, you, you, you and you. I did a little digging yesterday and here’s the state of play. CS Dura’s widow and children do not have an absolute right to continue to live here. This much is true. However, it is almost certain that [...]

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So, I think it’s generally agreed (whether rightly or wrongly) that massive defence spending is what brought the US out of the Depression. We’re told here that we risk a Depression unless we provide a similar fiscal boost. So, what does the Government do? The Armed Forces yesterday became the first significant victims of government [...]

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