Paul Maunders | Web log

Although I’m fundamentally a capitalist, and a strong believer in the power of free markets to allocate capital effectively, I’m not an absolute market libertarian. So whilst I’m convinced that an economy based on competition and creative destruction is far more able to generate productivity growth and technological advance than one that’s centrally planned, I [...]

The Bank of England released it’s quarterly inflation report today, and it paints a pretty gloomy picture. Inflation is set to exceed 3% for most of the rest of the year, obliging the Bank of England’s governor, Mervyn King, to write a series of explanatory letters to the Chancellor.
As part of their report, The [...]

In November last year, I saw an advert in which the British Army appeared to use an Xbox controller to fly a miniature UAV. A few people commented on my blog on whether they thought this was real or not, so I decided to find out for certain by sending a Freedom of Information [...]

The Guardian have been running a campaign for the past 2 years to free public information that tax payers have paid to collect but the government currently charges for. Coincidentally, this is nearly as long as Fubra has been interested in making such data available for free.
Free House Prices
We launched our first free data [...]

Let’s face it, cars aren’t going to go away. As a means of private transport they are extremely popular for their convenience, comfort and the personal freedom they offer their owners, so anyone who suggests that we should all give them up and use public transport instead is mad. However, there is no denying that [...]

I don’t know how it evaded my attention at the time, but somehow it did. Back in June, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs simplified rules for producers and users of biodiesel such that if you produce (or use) less than 2500 litres per year you are exempt from fuel duty, and from the requirement to [...]

It’s just a little over one month now (33 days) before the smoking ban comes into force in England, making it illegal to smoke in any enclosed public space or work place…. and I personally can’t wait! At last we will be able to go out for a night on the town without coming home [...]

I just got an e-mail from Newsnight; it seems tonight they will be debating whether we need a house price crash in the United Kingdom.
I think the answer to that is:
Yes, if we want young people to be able to afford to buy a home.
Yes, if the people stuck in rabbit-hutch sized flats want to [...]

One thing that really frustrates me is the amount of plastic shopping bags that we accumulate in our house over the course of a month. Unfortunately, Rushmoor council’s recycling facility won’t accept plastic bags in their recycling collection, and since we do all pretty much all our grocery shopping online with Tesco now, I rarely [...]