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Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall - Author Archive

Blitheringly stupid idea: eliminate VAT on home heating

I DO wonder sometimes whether anyone actually engages brain any more. For some of the ideas that get passed around are so amazingly stupid that I just cannot believe that … (read more)

Posted: 13th, February 2012 | In: Money | Comments (4)

I’m Female, Give Me Money! What Kerry Andrew wants

IT gets rather tedious seeing yet another person demanding that they be given the taxpayers’ money for some reason or other. Here we’ve a female composer named Kerry Andrew demanding that … (read more)

Posted: 9th, February 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Companies clear cash from eurozone as Greece’s March 20 D-day nears

THE big crunch day on this Greek thing is March 20. That’s the day that they’ve got to pay back squiddely billions (erm, about £12 billion or so) of money … (read more)

Posted: 8th, February 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Yup, we really should copy the Germans

IT’S one of those things in the air, you’ve noticed I hope? All these pieces floating around saying that as Germany has low unemployment then we should obviously be doing … (read more)

Posted: 6th, February 2012 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Well of course Economists cannot predict things – it’s rock, paper scissors with graphs

THERE’S a certain loigical problem floating around about what economists can and cannot do. This idea that if they’re all so smart then why can’t they predict what is going … (read more)

Posted: 6th, February 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Saving taxes at the student loan company the David Miliband way – with Ed Lester

HOW to save tax at the Student Loan Company… This does all look rather odd but I’m afraid that the investigation doesn’t actually understand the way that tax works.
The Treasury … (read more)

Posted: 2nd, February 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Oh woes, the UK doesn’t make anything any more! Good – we’re winning

THE UK does not make anything any more. This isn’t, in fact, quite true. UK manufacturing output peaked in 2005: yes, really, manufacturing output was higher whan Maggie left office … (read more)

Posted: 1st, February 2012 | In: Money | Comments (3)

Sarkozy to make London estate agents rich with his FTT idiocy

AS if it wasn’t bad enough with every Sloane who couldn’t scrape three GCSE’s together riving around in bloody Minis, it looks like the London estate ageny game is going … (read more)

Posted: 31st, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Is it too late to call Paris over the LondonOlympics bill?

WHAT joy eh, yet another rise in the bill for the Olympics:
The true cost of the London 2012 Games for the UK taxpayer comes in at over £12 billion, £2.7 … (read more)

Posted: 30th, January 2012 | In: Sports | Comment

What a farrago of ignorant stupidity over Stephen Hester’s damn bonus – Miliband’s an idiot

Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Heston will nto accept his million pound share bonus.

IT was only a couple of years ago you know, that there was a great … (read more)

Posted: 30th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (10)

The German way of dealing with unemployment

THE usual Guardianista rant about how lovely Germany is with its apprentice schemes and low youth unemployment:
In the battle between rival systems, “Rhineland capitalism” appears to be winning hands down. … (read more)

Posted: 27th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Is Labour really being this damn stupid? Rent control don’t work

IS the Labour Party so very stupid? Something I simply could not believe in Polly Toynbee’s column today. And believe me, I’ve seen an awful lot in that column over … (read more)

Posted: 27th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (3)

Libel and censorship on t’Internet – 190 countries control your words

LIBEL and censorship on the internet is big news. This new move by Twitter tells us something that most people don’t realise about this lovely playground that is the internet:
Twitter … (read more)

Posted: 27th, January 2012 | In: Technology | Comment

The cashless scrap metal market – government bans recycling iron and steel

THE scrap metal is cashless. Yes, there has been a rising problem with the theft of scrap metal, yes, banning people paying cash for it will help, at least at … (read more)

Posted: 25th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Petroplus Goes Bust: What shortage of fuel?

PETROPLUS has gone bust. The media chatter is of fuel shortages. This does rather amuse:

The UK government moved to calm fears of a fuel shortage on forecourts in London and … (read more)

Posted: 25th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (3)

If Italy goes into recession then the Euro’s over

IF Italy goes into recession then the Euro’s over. That’s one way of looking at it at least: if Italy goes into a deep recession then the game’s up for … (read more)

Posted: 19th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Why breaking up Ikea prove Marx was wrong

WHAT’S the problem with Ikea? Should it be broken up? And why does it prove that Marx was wrong?

Anders Dahlvig, the flat-pack pioneer’s boss from 1999 until 2009, said IKEA … (read more)

Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (13)

Yes, of course the Government lies to us but…..

YOU can usually find the truth if you go looking hard enough. You know, the real numbers about what is happening, not what the politicians’ spinmeisters have cooked up for … (read more)

Posted: 17th, January 2012 | In: Politicians | Comment

Why the Government was right to force you and Cait Reilly to work in Poundland for free

THE Government was right to force Ms. Cait Reilly, the University of Birmingham geology graduate, and you to work at Poundland. This is aimed directly at you, Reilly:
“Forcing young people like me … (read more)

Posted: 16th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (4)

You local HSBC is 0.5320458941752867 miles away

WE normally rather like it when banks are accurate. You know, count our money correctly, manage  to send the new credit card to the right address, that sort of thing. … (read more)

Posted: 6th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Adele’s 21 biggest selling album ever: online piracy to blame

WELL, OK, no, Adele’s 21 hasn’t been the biggest selling album of all time, no, but it has been the biggest selling album in one year for the UK.

Ever.

As is … (read more)

Posted: 5th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment (1)

Milton Friedman was right about the euro you know

MILTON Friedman was not right about everything, certainly, but there was much more to his views than just that the working class should have their faces ground in the dust … (read more)

Posted: 4th, January 2012 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Taxpayers’ subsidy for House of Commons bars rises to £5.8m a year

THIS is one of those things that really rather gets the dander up:
The taxpayers’ subsidy for the bars and restaurants in the Houses of Commons has risen to £5.8m a … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, January 2012 | In: Money | Comment

Dear God, even the Telegraph Can’t understand Corporate Tax

DO newspapers understand tax? No. We sorta expect this sort of thing from the Guardian or the Mirror. Not just whipping up people into paroxysms of rage about companies not … (read more)

Posted: 2nd, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment

Green energy could be cheaper than traditional say lying bastards at DECC

GREEN energy could be cheaper than traditional. That’s what the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) would have us believe. Look, there’s the press release faithfully typed out in The … (read more)

Posted: 30th, December 2011 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)

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