Best Of

I don't agree. Social Media networks should not have the status of being publishers of news - it conders a legitimacy that isn't warranted. We also know that when they do censor (as Facebook does) they often censor the wrong thing, wrongly. Social media is just a conversation. People should just understand that and grow up.

But people don't understand that. Some people do not make a clear distinction any more between fact and fiction. So when they see something on social media that is plainly nonsense, they judge it's truth by the popularity or authority of the source, not the content. Such people are susceptible to manipulation by bad actors. It's not unreasonable for a body like the EU to ask Twitter to do something about the issue. And it's no longer "mischief makers" that we have to worry about, but hostile states trying to shape public opinion, influence elections, and cause social unrest. Stopping such acts is an entirely legitimate thing for a state to do. If you leave it to self-regulation you are simply allowing our actual enemies to harm our society.

I sometimes wonder if the fact I have zero chance of inheriting any assets affects my ability to get very worked up about the principle of inheritance taxation.

I think it is more a "feels" thing. I'll probably inherit a significant amount (to a normal person (and myself...), perhaps crumbs to some of the pb elite)), and think it weird that it would be taxed less strictly than me working hard.

Maybe if it was from a family business rather than well paid professional jobs I might think differently as that would create more attachment between the money, bequestors and the future so I can see where the farmers are coming from, but ultimately we are skint, and someone has to be taxed more and very few of the candidates for that will like it either.

I visited my mother recently, and it seems like she's lost all her money on this McCarthy & Stone leasehold retirement flat that she moved into a while ago, and she feels quite bitter about it.

One of the other residents left their flat to the Salvation Army, and it sounds like they're going to struggle not to lose money on the bequest.

People really like to pass money onto their kids once they don't need it anymore. It is a strong emotional thing.

Why is there low demand on resale for those retirement flats? Feels like it should have been a growth market over the last couple of decades such that even with charges leaseholders shouldn't come out too badly.

I think it's similar to Park Homes or Static Holiday Caravans, or back in the day Time Shares. There can be quite abusive management practices, around service charges and resale especially. There are also parallels to some of the problems with newbuild leasehold.

McCarthy and Stone have come in for significant criticism. It will partly be about *them* because they have a large market share.

https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2003547575580815814

For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.

Today, @StateDept will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.

Europe (and us) are probably too censorious, but this just seems like yet another example of the Trump administration wanting to antagonise or even make enemies of it's allies, a la Denmark and Canada.

Even if you think they are being too cesnorious all the EU wants is for US social media platforms to deal with abuse and disinformation the same way that local media would have to. The US seems to have adopted a position that US companies need not comply with local laws, and should be free to act as the US alone sees fit. It's plainly nuts, and not something the US would tolerate as the TikTok debacle and others demonstrates.

I don't really see why anyone should be expected to 'deal with disinformation' on social media networks. It's an unfiltered jungle of opinion, and users should be aware of that and act accordingly. Caveat emptor.

Except it's not unfiltered.
It's delivered by very particular algorithms.

The US attitude is that they get to skew the marketplace for opinions, and no one else should be allowed to interfere with that.

https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2003547575580815814

For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.

Today, @StateDept will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.

For far too long, ideologues in Washington have pursued coordinated efforts to obstruct renewable energy projects they oppose, using federal authority to suppress innovation, distort energy markets, and limit domestic energy supply. The European Union will no longer ignore these egregious acts of policy-driven obstructionism.

Today, EU institutions will take steps to formally challenge the United States’ prohibition of new wind projects, measures that raise prices for American consumers, weaken grid resilience, and increase U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources. These actions undermine climate commitments, economic competitiveness, and the foundations of transatlantic cooperation. We stand ready and willing to escalate our response should these restrictions not be reconsidered.

Personally, I think that the Europeans, including us, should be backing Denmark and that all of us should send the US ambassadors packing until the sovereignty of Greenland is acknowledged. We let this bunch of morons away with so much it is hardly surprising that they conclude they can walk all over us whenever they want.