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China’s growth comes not from dirigisme, but from low-level freedoms I know very little about what is being discussed inside the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party, which started at the weekend. The meeting is being held in secret — although one of the subjects to be discussed is […]

In the UK, 40% fewer emergencies of all kinds for the fire service than ten years ago This morning’s brief strike by the Fire Brigades Union, like the one last Friday evening, will, I suspect, mostly serve to remind those who work in the private sector just how well remunerated many in the public sector […]

A big wind hitting Britain today does less harm than in past centuries My Times article on the storm that was to hit Britain on 28 October. In the event, four or five people died. Disruption to transport lasted only a few days.   If you are reading this with the hatches battened down, it […]

Regulation has driven up the price My Times article:   The real problem with nuclear power is the scale of it. After decades of cost inflation, driven mostly by regulations to redouble safety, 1600 megawatt monsters cost so much and take so long to build that only governments can afford to borrow the money to […]

Few people know that warming is doing more good than harm My Spectator cover story on the net benefits of climate change. I will post rebuttals to the articles that criticised this piece below.   Climate change has done more good than harm so far and is likely to continue doing so for most of […]

Britain leads the world in offshore wind — because nobody else is so foolish My Times column asks if offshore wind is too expensive:   Here’s a short quiz. Question One: which source of energy is allowed to charge the highest price for its electricity? Question Two: which source of energy is expected to receive […]

Don’t treat e-cigarettes as medicines; glamorise them My Times column tackles an egregious example of regulation doing more harm than good:   Should shampoo be classified as a medicine and prescribed by doctors? It can, after all, cause harm: it can sting your eyes and a recent study found traces of carcinogens in 98 shampoo […]

Economic growth means the time it takes to do something falls My recent Times column on Moore’s Law, technological progress and economic growth: The law that has changed our lives most in the past 50 years may be about to be repealed, even though it was never even on the statute book. I am referring […]

Climate change could be real but do less harm than climate policy My luke-warming column in the Times on 28th September 2013, pleaded in vain for a moderate middle approach to climate change, and drew a parallel with the nature-nurture debate. Here’s what I wrote: In the climate debate, which side are you on? Do […]

Ed Miliband insists on trebling and freezing prices at the same time My regular Times column from 26th September 2013: Hypocrisy can be a beautiful thing when done well. To go, as Ed Miliband has done, within four years, from being the minister insisting that energy prices must rise — so uncompetitive green energy producers […]