It is short book, with each fallacy generating two to four pages of discussion. Mr Worstall’s humorous style emanates, laughing the way through the dismal science. Also, these fallacies are not exclusively taken from a particular political view. Mr Worstall has written a concise and incisive book: it is pertinent since many of these fallacies drive contemporary policy.
Ljh
Fair Tax Mark? Is that a tattoo or sump’ing?
Flatcap Army
It’s not vainglory – it’s a pathetic attempt to hijack a bandwagon that’s getting more attention that the LTHD’s one. Poor Murphy increasingly resembles a one-time child star whose fame caught the imagination at the time but is rapidly fading, and who is increasingly desperate to stay centre stage
Van_Patten
Flatcap Army
Absolutely right – Following on from his spat with the Tax Justice Network, his travails with the Maugham blog, the desperate attempts to ensure that he has ‘a voice’ in any organization that materialises under the Miliband government and a variety of other fiascos, his siren voice is coming under scrutiny it cannot withstand. He sees coming irrelevance and like anyone so threatened casts around for ways to make himself seem more important. The recourse to a charlatan such as Brand suggests a desperation that I had not yet senn, however….
worzel
The paucity of Brand’s arguments, and (lack of) engagement with reality, were severely exposed on Newsnight. If Murph thinks he should attach himself to Brand in any way, we should be doing everything we can to encourage him.
Ian Reid
@worzel
Many more people would have seen Brand on the Jonathon Ross show where he came across as a likeable oddball sort of chap, without his arguments being in anyway critically examined. Anyhow most people agree with him, in that there is something wrong, heck even we do. It’s when you start talking about what to do about it that we part company. It’s sort of the Obama change thing over again.
Interested
@Worzel
I missed that (Newsnight) – was it on recently?
Interested
Talking of Russell B Rand, I was in the car with the sprogs yesterday, listening to some choons of my youth, and Eddie and the Hot Rods ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ appeared.
Once we had got over the amusing idea that Eddie didn’t need no optician telling him what he shoulda seen (kind of the point of opticians), one of the kinder pointed out that ‘You… can do anything you wanna do!’ left room for quite a lot of stuff, including going to Eddie and the Hot Rod gigs and smashing up their amplifiers.
She is 13 and I was secretly quite delighted.
worzel
Ian Reid
I’m all for change, but if we wanted economically naive comedians for politicians we’d, ahh. (didn’t think that one through)
@Worzel I can see my comment was misconstured. By “we” I meant most of the people who comment on this site, parting company with the people who voted for the vacuous change meme offered by Obama and in an even more intelleucally lite fashion by Brand.
As someone once said the trouble with political jokes is they get elected.
Interested
@Worzel
Thanks. Blimey. His strategy seems pretty clear: ‘I haven’t got a fucking clue what I’m on about, so I’ll just shout over Evan Davies.’
That said, he doesn’t trust government. I’m with him there. I assume he is massively in favour of free schools, for instance.
Oh yes he does. He wants the assets of corporations and utilities seized (presumably including Bertelsman that published his book). To do that either requires a government using force, or a mob using force (and thus, effectively becoming government).
Like a lot of people who have a problem with government, when you scratch the surface it’s not that they don’t like government interfering, it’s that government don’t interfere enough.
worzel
Interested
I think all you need to know about Russ’s depth of understanding is his reaction to a graph which shows how much his no doubt beloved ‘workers’ average wages have fallen so much in recent years, which might actually help (one of) his arguments.
‘Don’t try and confuse me with your graphs Euan’
Prick
Interested
@Stig
Yep, I was being mildly sarcastic (hence my slightly mischievous question re free schools).
There is no way that he will be in favour of free schools precisely because he is a big believer in govt doing stuff – as long as it’s stuff that ‘Tories’ or ‘corporations’ don’t like.
Hence sub-Arnald questions such as, ‘What has Vodafone ever done for us?’
The fact that they provide a phone service is irrelevant, they (allegedly) don’t pay ‘enough’ tax. The logical end game is of course to do away with all corporations and do everything through govt. Then 80 years later a new Gorbachev can start to unpick it all again.
If I didn’t have kids I would want it to happen, to let these fuckers live it, not just talk it.
It all ties in to my 13-year-old’s suggestion that Eddie Hot Rod would logically have been in favour of people trashing his amps if they ‘wanna’ – except that he wouldn’t, any more than Russell Brand will be turning all his wages over to poor folks.
@Worzel
He is a prick of the first order.
BraveFart
I’ve just noticed that the web address for Tax Research LLP is
Dot Org.
I thought that org was meant to be a non-business address, like gumbyment departments, charity etc.
Does anyone else think it’s a little secretive for what is actually a business to imply it’s third sector? Ironic when this business makes money out of certifying that other businesses are not being secretive with respect to their taxes.
Jack C
BraveFart.
Have you any idea how crass that comment makes you sound?
They probably mean this symbol
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100185609/you-thought-the-whole-eussr-thing-was-over-the-top-have-a-look-at-this-poster/
Well they are both pointless ego trips.
Someone mentioned to me that Russell Brand is the spitting image of Oddbod Jr from Carry on Screaming.
I find it helps.
Talking of vainglory:
Fair Tax Mark? Is that a tattoo or sump’ing?
It’s not vainglory – it’s a pathetic attempt to hijack a bandwagon that’s getting more attention that the LTHD’s one. Poor Murphy increasingly resembles a one-time child star whose fame caught the imagination at the time but is rapidly fading, and who is increasingly desperate to stay centre stage
Flatcap Army
Absolutely right – Following on from his spat with the Tax Justice Network, his travails with the Maugham blog, the desperate attempts to ensure that he has ‘a voice’ in any organization that materialises under the Miliband government and a variety of other fiascos, his siren voice is coming under scrutiny it cannot withstand. He sees coming irrelevance and like anyone so threatened casts around for ways to make himself seem more important. The recourse to a charlatan such as Brand suggests a desperation that I had not yet senn, however….
The paucity of Brand’s arguments, and (lack of) engagement with reality, were severely exposed on Newsnight. If Murph thinks he should attach himself to Brand in any way, we should be doing everything we can to encourage him.
@worzel
Many more people would have seen Brand on the Jonathon Ross show where he came across as a likeable oddball sort of chap, without his arguments being in anyway critically examined. Anyhow most people agree with him, in that there is something wrong, heck even we do. It’s when you start talking about what to do about it that we part company. It’s sort of the Obama change thing over again.
@Worzel
I missed that (Newsnight) – was it on recently?
Talking of Russell B Rand, I was in the car with the sprogs yesterday, listening to some choons of my youth, and Eddie and the Hot Rods ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ appeared.
Once we had got over the amusing idea that Eddie didn’t need no optician telling him what he shoulda seen (kind of the point of opticians), one of the kinder pointed out that ‘You… can do anything you wanna do!’ left room for quite a lot of stuff, including going to Eddie and the Hot Rod gigs and smashing up their amplifiers.
She is 13 and I was secretly quite delighted.
Ian Reid
I’m all for change, but if we wanted economically naive comedians for politicians we’d, ahh. (didn’t think that one through)
Interested.
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqsFp0J22Hc
@Worzel I can see my comment was misconstured. By “we” I meant most of the people who comment on this site, parting company with the people who voted for the vacuous change meme offered by Obama and in an even more intelleucally lite fashion by Brand.
As someone once said the trouble with political jokes is they get elected.
@Worzel
Thanks. Blimey. His strategy seems pretty clear: ‘I haven’t got a fucking clue what I’m on about, so I’ll just shout over Evan Davies.’
That said, he doesn’t trust government. I’m with him there. I assume he is massively in favour of free schools, for instance.
Interested,
Oh yes he does. He wants the assets of corporations and utilities seized (presumably including Bertelsman that published his book). To do that either requires a government using force, or a mob using force (and thus, effectively becoming government).
Like a lot of people who have a problem with government, when you scratch the surface it’s not that they don’t like government interfering, it’s that government don’t interfere enough.
Interested
I think all you need to know about Russ’s depth of understanding is his reaction to a graph which shows how much his no doubt beloved ‘workers’ average wages have fallen so much in recent years, which might actually help (one of) his arguments.
‘Don’t try and confuse me with your graphs Euan’
Prick
@Stig
Yep, I was being mildly sarcastic (hence my slightly mischievous question re free schools).
There is no way that he will be in favour of free schools precisely because he is a big believer in govt doing stuff – as long as it’s stuff that ‘Tories’ or ‘corporations’ don’t like.
Hence sub-Arnald questions such as, ‘What has Vodafone ever done for us?’
The fact that they provide a phone service is irrelevant, they (allegedly) don’t pay ‘enough’ tax. The logical end game is of course to do away with all corporations and do everything through govt. Then 80 years later a new Gorbachev can start to unpick it all again.
If I didn’t have kids I would want it to happen, to let these fuckers live it, not just talk it.
It all ties in to my 13-year-old’s suggestion that Eddie Hot Rod would logically have been in favour of people trashing his amps if they ‘wanna’ – except that he wouldn’t, any more than Russell Brand will be turning all his wages over to poor folks.
@Worzel
He is a prick of the first order.
I’ve just noticed that the web address for Tax Research LLP is
Dot Org.
I thought that org was meant to be a non-business address, like gumbyment departments, charity etc.
Does anyone else think it’s a little secretive for what is actually a business to imply it’s third sector? Ironic when this business makes money out of certifying that other businesses are not being secretive with respect to their taxes.
BraveFart.
Have you any idea how crass that comment makes you sound?
Jack
No sorry, no idea – you’ve lost me here?
cf a bearded Salma Hayek