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Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall - Author Archive

Airbnb Home Share Is A Boom To Prostitution

YOU may or may not know what Airbnb is. It’s a system whereby people can rent out their homes, or an extra bedroom, for a couple of days or a … (read more)

Posted: 15th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment (1)

Hilary Benn Spent Enough For 720,479 Packets of Jammie Dodgers from Waitrose

THERE’S an interesting little tactic that Labour MPs are trying to use in the House of Commons these days. To ask questions about how much a department is spending on … (read more)

Posted: 11th, April 2014 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment

Aaaaand the Bitcoin Bubble Is Deflating

Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelly, places the company’s decal on the Robocoin machine, the world’s first bitcoin kiosk (ATM) for buying and selling popular and controversial digital … (read more)

Posted: 11th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment

Dodgy Maths: Where Apple Goes Wrong In Calculating The Samsung Damages

YES! We’ve another exciting instalment of the Apple v. Samsung patents battle and this time Apple are asking for over $2 billion in damages from the Korean firm. The problem … (read more)

Posted: 10th, April 2014 | In: Money | Comment

If Your Looks Got You The Job Don’t Complain When The Job Goes When Your Looks Fade

BBC TV newsreaders past and present at the BBC TV Centre in London. From Left to Right Peter Woods, John Snagge, Corbet Woodall, Bob Langley, Colin … (read more)

Posted: 9th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment

When Venture Capital Fails Spectacularly: The Bessemer Venture Partners Story

WE’VE all heard about the titans of the silicon Valley venture capital industry. One day they put 30 cents into the stock of some company enabling people to show cat … (read more)

Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Key Posts, Money, Reviews | Comment

Michael Lewis Says High Frequency Trading Rips Off Investors. Michael Lewis Is Clearly Wrong

THERE’S been a bit of a furore over in the US about the new Michael Lewis book. He’s saying that all this high speed trading (that’s the stuff done by … (read more)

Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment

The Real Life Barbie Manages To Get Her Racism The Wrong Way Around

OK, so there’s being good looking and stupid, not an unknown combination, and then there’s being freakish looking and being a blind bloody idiot. Which is what seems to have … (read more)

Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment

How Many People Do You Need To Colonize The Next Star System – 150 or 40,000?

 

 

THIS is an interesting little calculation that’s been made about how many people you would need on your spaceship if you were to set off and try to colonise the … (read more)

Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews, Technology | Comments (2)

Mad Men Rejoice: Plain Packaging For Cigarettes Will Increase Branding

 

 

AS you’ll know there’s a move to get to the plain packaging of cigarettes. This is the rather strange idea that if we can’t associate red with Marlboro and white … (read more)

Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Money, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment

Everything You Heard About Climate Change Is Wrong

TODAY’S the lovely day we all find out how we’re going to fry in that latest report from the IPCC. You know, the scientific consensus on how climate change is … (read more)

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comments (2)

Climate Change Ain’t Gonna Be As Bad As They Say

THERE are three important questions about climate change: is it happening, is it us causing it and how bad is it going to be? It’s the answers to those three that … (read more)

Posted: 28th, March 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)

The IRS Says It’s Going To Tax Bitcoin, Well, Just Like It Taxes Everything Else

Christopher David uses a Robocoin kiosk to sell bitcoins outside of the 500 Startups’ Bitcoinferance in Mountain View, Calif., Thursday, March 20, 2014. The Robocoin kiosk … (read more)

Posted: 27th, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment

George Monbiot Makes Shock Discovery That Humans Are A Viciously Destructive Species

A Myanmar vendor in the border town of Tachilek, just across from Mae Sai, Thailand, offers endangered animal bones and skins for sale to tourist in … (read more)

Posted: 27th, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment (1)

Candy Crush Saga Floats In NY – Here’s The Saddest Story About Its Founder Toby Rowland

SO. King.com, the makers of Candy Crush Saga, is floating shares in the company in New York. The valuation put on it is that it will be worth $7 billion … (read more)

Posted: 25th, March 2014 | In: Money | Comment (1)

It’s EU, Stupid: Apple And Amazon Get Stung By Osborne In The Budget

THAT’S what the newspapers are reporting this morning, that Osborne has stung the big internet companies like Amazon and Apple by changing the rules on VAT rates. Although it’s not … (read more)

Posted: 24th, March 2014 | In: Money, Politicians | Comment

Idiotic Turkish Prime Minster Bans Twitter And Twitter Use In Turkey Rises

A man photograph a placard with the name of Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul during a rally against a bill which would allow Turkey’s authorities to block … (read more)

Posted: 21st, March 2014 | In: Money, Politicians, Technology | Comment

Will The New Pound Coin Kill Us All?

WELl, it might not kill is all but it’s entirely possible that it will poison a good few of us.

As you may have seen George Osborne unveiled the idea of … (read more)

Posted: 20th, March 2014 | In: Money | Comment (1)

Apple’s Only 10% Of The Phone Market But They Make 60% Of The Profits

THE smartphone is really only just under 7 years old: that’s right, we’re just coming up to hte 7 th anniversary of the release of the Apple iPhone. And this … (read more)

Posted: 19th, March 2014 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Sod The Sugar And The Salt We’re Allowed To Eat Fat Again

 

SO. Everything that we’ve been told about healthy eating for the past 30 years has turned out to be a mistake. Or a lie, your call:
For the health conscious reader … (read more)

Posted: 18th, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment (1)

Five Families Are Richer Than 20% Of All Britons – And So Are 80% Of You

SO the latest shocking report from Oxfam tells us. That only five families are richer than the bottom 20% of Britons put together, that just one family has more wealth … (read more)

Posted: 17th, March 2014 | In: Money | Comment

Is The Resurgence Of The Clap About To Reverse The Sexual Revolution?

WE’RE all used to the idea of getting our jollies fairly regularly these days. Certainly it’s all very different from Victorian times when it was supposedly marriage, celibacy or prostitution. … (read more)

Posted: 15th, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment

Polly Toynbee Should Realise That It’s Just Great When Bankers Get Bonuses

 

 

THE reason being that when bankers get bonuses then we get most of it flowing right back into the Treasury in the form of taxes. Which makes this complaint of … (read more)

Posted: 14th, March 2014 | In: Money | Comment

Hurrah! The CIA Spies On The Senate!

THIS is excellent news really, that the CIA has been spying on the people in the Senate over in the US. OK, in one sense it’s a bit naughty as … (read more)

Posted: 12th, March 2014 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment

Scamtastic: How Absolutely Glorious About Ponzicoin

THESE people really should have known just given the name of the scheme. Quite the best story about alternative currencies today:

This is pure comedy gold. Operator of a bitcoin ponzi … (read more)

Posted: 11th, March 2014 | In: Money | Comment

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