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Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall - Author Archive

It goes down: that’s what the minimum wage is supposed to do you dimbulb idiot

DEAR Heaven above wouldn’t it be nice to be ruled by people of a slightly higher intellectual capacity than this? Here we’ve got the ex-head of the organisation that sets … (read more)

Posted: 30th, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

So what first attracted you to the multi-billionaire Eric Schmidt then?

THE Mail is reporting that Eric Schmidt, the multi-billionaire chairman of Google, has a penchant for shagging around a bit.
Yet today The Mail on Sunday can reveal that 58-year-old Eric Schmidt, … (read more)

Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Thom Yorke and Johnny Lynch entirely misunderstand Spotify and online music

THIS is one of those newspaper pieces where you have to check that the people are still living on the same planet as the rest of us. They’re talking about … (read more)

Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Key Posts, Money, Music, Technology | Comments (3)

An absurd story on Formula One tax dodges

THIS absurd tax story is brought to you by The Independent:
The standard rate of corporation tax in the UK is 24 per cent of a company’s profit. The F1 teams … (read more)

Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Money, Sports | Comment

The Guardian makes a hash of biomass and gasoline use

THIS  is really rather good in The Guardian. Further evidence that the people who produce it just don’t understand numbers.

There’s a piece cooing over a new method of producing hydrogen. … (read more)

Posted: 23rd, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Austin Mitchell’s tax rate is lower than that of the Prince of Wales

AUSTIN Mitchell’s Tax Rate Is Lower Than That Of The Prince Of Wales….

A fact which makes his comments in the Commons yesterday really rather interesting.

Mitchell announced that the Prince of … (read more)

Posted: 18th, July 2013 | In: Money, Politicians, Royal Family | Comment

Spotify is overpaying Thom Yorke and The Bleaters

THE latest is the row about how the royalty streams from Spotify are too low turns up in The Guardian. As you might expect from that paper there’s a great … (read more)

Posted: 17th, July 2013 | In: Money, Music | Comment

The streets are paved with gold – well, the platinum in your catalytic converters

OR, in this case, platinum and other valuable metals:

One of the country’s biggest street cleaning firms has announced it is to “mine” the sweepings it collects from roads and pavements, … (read more)

Posted: 15th, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Don’t use the Internet if you want to keep secrets – Russian spies revert to paper economy

I ASSUME that we all actually know this by now, that you cannot keep things secret on the internet? At least, we should all have learnt it from the revelations … (read more)

Posted: 12th, July 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

The Wall Street Journal thinks Egypt needs a General Pinochet

THE Wall Street Journal thinks Egypt needs a General Pinochet

And this has predictably outraged just about everyone else:
Egyptians would be lucky if their new ruling generals turn out to be … (read more)

Posted: 8th, July 2013 | In: Money, Politicians | Comments (2)

Don’t panic: an extra minute in the shower will wash away that horrible Puritan spirit

HAVE we been taken over by some alien race of puritans or something? They’re telling us today that having a long shower is a “waste”. One that we should righteously … (read more)

Posted: 4th, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Starbuck balls: they’re becoming insane over this corporate tax dodging

TWO stories that show quite how insane people are becoming over this corporate tax dodging stuff. Both, of course, from the Mail. The paper that can indeed read the zeitgeit … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Corporation Tax: Government hires contractor based in British Virgin Islands

YOU’VE got to hand it to the campaigners: they can get newspapers to print the most godawful rubbish these days. The latest complaint seems to be that a company is … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

We’re all getting diesel generators to beat climate change – WTF!

THIS has to be the most insane side effect of the hysteria over climate change yet: we’re all supposed to kit ourselves out with diesel generators:
NHS hospitals are being asked … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Do we have to start saving our own pee to produce phosphorus for farming?

SOME scientists are working on the idea that we do you know. Fortunately, they’ve really not grasped an important part about the world that we live in:
American families may soon … (read more)

Posted: 1st, July 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Apple pays no UK tax yet again – this is why

SO,  someone’s gone and had a look at the Apple UK tax filings and once again we find that the company has paid no UK corporation tax whatever. Which really … (read more)

Posted: 1st, July 2013 | In: Money | Comment

About those tax-dodging hypocrites at The Guardian

THE Guardian’s been lambasting any and every one who doesn’t pay the amount of tax that they think they should. But of course, we find there is hypocrisy there:
The events … (read more)

Posted: 28th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

There’s a reason companies are people: The ACLU v NSA proves it

THERE much spluttering around about the fact that companies are people. However, there’s a damned good reason that they are: if they weren’t we couldn’t sue them. And we like  … (read more)

Posted: 27th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

It’s the schools to blame for the property crash, not the banks

THIS looks like an interesting piece of propaganda from our neo-capitalist overlords in the banking system. The property crash wasn’t actually their fault at all, oh no sirree. Actually, it … (read more)

Posted: 26th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Guardian Australia fails to understand the Aussie dollar and how Sony sells its PS4

AS you may or may not know The Guardian has just started up an online section devoted to Australia. And it’s terribly comforting to know that even on the other … (read more)

Posted: 25th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment (1)

Wonga puts its lending rate up to 5,853 per cent

NOT that it actually means very much but it’ll give some campaigners something else to shout about:
Payday loan giant Wonga has increased the interest rate it uses to illustrate the … (read more)

Posted: 24th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

All hail UKUncut as Starbucks pays some tax it doesn’t owe

I GUESS we should call this a victory for UKUncut. Starbucks has just paid some tax:

The coffee shop chain will reveal the amounts in its annual report, which is set … (read more)

Posted: 24th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Competition from Sony forces Microsoft U-Turns on the Xbox One ‘authorisation’ rip off

MICROSOFT has just done a complete u-turn on the terms and conditions under which their new Xbox One will operate. They had been proposing that used games would require “authorisation” … (read more)

Posted: 20th, June 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Polly Toynbee on the terrors of the tax system – Denmark is cheaper than the UK

POLLY Toynbee has decided to have a good old rant about the iniquities of the UK tax system. It’s all terrible that we cannot actually manage to take all that … (read more)

Posted: 18th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Sainsbury’s Boss Spouts Bollocks: boss wants internet firm to pay supermarket-sized business rates

THIS really is a bit much coming from the boss of Sainsbury’s. It’s total and complete bollocks: my assumption is that it’s a direct attempt to mislead. He’s claiming that … (read more)

Posted: 13th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

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