Best Of

It's not just about the government debt and deficit. It's about massive amounts of mortgage debt, and car debt. It's about companies borrowing money to buy themselves for their private equity owners, all the debt loaded onto the water companies, financial engineering to extract money, not for investment, but for consumption.

It's a whole economy problem and it has been for decades, and it requires a whole economy solution - government cutting welfare spending to balance the books isn't going to be enough, because it does nothing about the dysfunction in the private sector.

Government cutting spending is not all that’s required, but it’s definitely a prerequisite.

Yes the rest of us need to stop buying new cars on the never-never and much less cheap Chinese tat, and regulation of utilities in particular has been woeful in the last decade.

Tucker Carlson is RETARDED – Konstantin Kisin (5 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JoXbQbMdPA

In Leon's continued absence, someone has to watch these right wing social media pundits.

A couple of thought-provoking hypotheses: first, that MAGA's extreme isolationism is caused by guilt over being gung-ho for the Iraq War; secondly that the flip side of American optimism is susceptibility to conspiracy theories – if all ambitions are achievable then anything is possible. I'm not convinced on either count but it is interesting.

Konstantin is right is usual. Tucker has clearly taken a large cheque from Qatar, and has spent the last couple of months spreading their propoganda points against much evidence to the contrary. He joins Candace Owens in the “not worth listening to” category of US right-wing pundits.

The BBC seem to have put up a paywall on its standard news site for audiences in the U.S.

So I don’t know why police are closing off Primrose Hill on NYE.

Another daft idea; the BBC should aim to be the global Wikipedia of news, not try to “compete” with Bloomberg or whatever.

It's described as "dynamic" and "selective".

Breaking news, World Service Radio, and podcasts are still free, I am told.

If we want a global wikipedia of news (an aspiration with which I agree), then we need to fund it properly. We do not because purblind little Englanders are offended, and Mr Starmer pays them too much attention.

At present, the Foreign Office (-25% on headcount), the British Council (withdrawing from ~40 countries), and the BBC World Service (no numbers to hand), are amongst areas of funding which aiui are being gutted, alongside overseas development aid (down to 0.3% of GDP plus billions diverted to asylum hotels etc).

I think this may be one of Mr Starmer's biggest strategic mistakes, and where he should have reversed the previous Government direction - at whatever cost, because this policy will cost more long-term than the alternative.

The central problem of our times, which nobody is anywhere near answering.

Numerically, we're richer than previous generations of Britons. We're richer overall than this time last year, not that anyone says that out loud. Yet we don't feel rich, and we keep concluding that we can only keep warm is by chucking another but of furniture on the fire. See all the soft power cuts you mention, then continue from there.

And yes, a lot of that is because we're increasingly a pension system with a country attached, and those pensions should have been paid for decades ago but weren't. But that can't be the entire story... can it?

Any party campaigning on the line "You never had it so good" would be slaughtered, but in economic terms would be correct.

The problem is not so much economic, albeit tha economy is rather sluggish, but more a crisis of confidence in wider civic society. This is common to much of the developed world, rather than being UK specific of course.

Is the future to be one of digital hermits being fed narrowcasting by shadowy billionaires or are we going to engage with our neighbours? This is why I found the Primrose Hill closure depressing. Spontaneous, free and chaotic inter-reactions are deplored.

I was eavesdropping on couple of our Gen Z staff in the coffee room the other day. There are fewer and fewer random introductions via friends in the dating world now, and the Apps are increasingly awful, being dominated by men using the Boomhauer technique. No wonder the TFR is dropping faster than Starmers ratings.

You do realise we have an astonishingly high deficit and our debt interest payments dwarf our Defence budget? That's not a minor matter.

Point of order, the current deficit isn't especially high by historic standards and is expected to fall according to the OBR, not least because Rachel Reeves is raising some unpopular taxes

https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/brief-guides-and-explainers/public-finances/

The debt is more the issue than the deficit. Specifically its servicing costs now that the cheap money era is over.

On that both you and I have a rare point of agreement. Happy New Year! 🍾

U2! An annual event. Left it late this year but we managed it.

The BBC seem to have put up a paywall on its standard news site for audiences in the U.S.

So I don’t know why police are closing off Primrose Hill on NYE.

Another daft idea; the BBC should aim to be the global Wikipedia of news, not try to “compete” with Bloomberg or whatever.

It's described as "dynamic" and "selective".

Breaking news, World Service Radio, and podcasts are still free, I am told.

If we want a global wikipedia of news (an aspiration with which I agree), then we need to fund it properly. We do not because purblind little Englanders are offended, and Mr Starmer pays them too much attention.

At present, the Foreign Office (-25% on headcount), the British Council (withdrawing from ~40 countries), and the BBC World Service (no numbers to hand), are amongst areas of funding which aiui are being gutted, alongside overseas development aid (down to 0.3% of GDP plus billions diverted to asylum hotels etc).

I think this may be one of Mr Starmer's biggest strategic mistakes, and where he should have reversed the previous Government direction - at whatever cost, because this policy will cost more long-term than the alternative.

The central problem of our times, which nobody is anywhere near answering.

Numerically, we're richer than previous generations of Britons. We're richer overall than this time last year, not that anyone says that out loud. Yet we don't feel rich, and we keep concluding that we can only keep warm is by chucking another but of furniture on the fire. See all the soft power cuts you mention, then continue from there.

And yes, a lot of that is because we're increasingly a pension system with a country attached, and those pensions should have been paid for decades ago but weren't. But that can't be the entire story... can it?

Any party campaigning on the line "You never had it so good" would be slaughtered, but in economic terms would be correct.

The problem is not so much economic, albeit tha economy is rather sluggish, but more a crisis of confidence in wider civic society. This is common to much of the developed world, rather than being UK specific of course.

Is the future to be one of digital hermits being fed narrowcasting by shadowy billionaires or are we going to engage with our neighbours? This is why I found the Primrose Hill closure depressing. Spontaneous, free and chaotic inter-reactions are deplored.

I was eavesdropping on couple of our Gen Z staff in the coffee room the other day. There are fewer and fewer random introductions via friends in the dating world now, and the Apps are increasingly awful, being dominated by men using the Boomhauer technique. No wonder the TFR is dropping faster than Starmers ratings.

Join a club, a choir, go to the pub, etc. Apps are not the only way to meet people

Yes take up an activity or hobby that involves meeting up in groups, preferably something that attracts reasonable numbers of both men and women.

Its a great chart.

When do we get the results of the PB predictions contest. I fear that I didn't do too well.

I shall work on some better 2026 predictions.

Welsh, Scottish and English Locals, US Mid Terms, possible leadership changes, any other political bets this year?

I see the Russian Duma is on the list, Zambia and Brazil presidents but not a lot else planned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elections_in_2026

The World Cup is also next year if you can't contain your excitement for the Zambian presidential election

My wife was brought up in Zambia, so we have an interest. It's a lovely country with a pretty stable democracy.

I think HH will be re-elected as the economy is doing well despite the 2024 drought. Electricity remains an issue as 70% is hydroelectric and the reservoirs are still low.