Best Of

LET’S TALK ABOUT BOTTOMS

I am at a waste to energy incinerator discussing the disposable of bottom ash if that helps.

Don't use the "I" word. "Energy recovery facility" is the preferred terminology for plants that, er, incinerate waste.

Is the site you are visiting considering retrofitting CCS, by any chance?

Carbon capture is above my pay grade. I am merely advising on optimal disposal of bottom ash and the potential for salvaging ferrous and non ferrous residues.

Doesn't the bottom ash go into road building as a base? We could fill a lot of potholes with it.

Yes, bottom ash is typically used in aggregates production. But you want to extract the metals first, and sell them.

By the way, don't bother with the Lynley reboot. Almost comically badly-written at moments. More like a Channel 5 pulp murder mystery than a BBC production.

It was pretty dreadful. They had tried to get a bit of a scandi Wallander feel to it but Lynsey was played like some cliche of an upper class arrogant toff with zero qualities. I actually cannot remember any of the storylines only a week or two on either.

Yes, it was awful.
But nowhere near as bad as Dawn French's latest BBC 'sitcom', Can you keep a Secret?, which the boss made me watch last night. I don't think I've seen anything as bad in my nearly 70 years. Worth a watch just for the sheer horror of the script (though we abandoned it after Episode 2).

Truss’s disastrous tenure as prime minister destroyed the savings of tens of thousands of people in this country.

I'm curious as to how that supposedly happened ?

Thinking back to the Truss interlude I'm pretty sure my net wealth increased - the lower level of sterling causing the value of my investments and pensions to increase.

I do wonder how many politicians have any idea about personal finances work for normal people.

As opposed to politicians whose personal finances depend on generous expenses, a final salary pension scheme and mysterious donations from dubious people.

It was the increase in mortgage rates that’s the issue.

Mortgages are the opposite of savings though.

Higher mortgage rates also mean higher savings rates.

And interest rates were rising before Truss, after Truss, are set by the Bank of England and rose across the world.

I wonder if BobbyJ was overextended on his mortgage ?

This is not to defend Truss, whose economic strategy was complete bollox.

It would be somewhat an oddity for Truss's idea of borrowing more while cutting taxes to become mainstream.

Those wishing to invest in somewhere other than the US (and their bubble market) could finance a renaissance in UK DIB to become the alternative supplier of choice for weapons. Seems like a good punt for personal investment too.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-ultra-heavy-lift-drone-extends-range-to-2000km/

and

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britains-new-drone-helicopter-takes-first-flight/

There are clearly still lots of really smart engineers in Britain who can do great things if the country gets behind them.

Britain needs British businesses to invest in engineering excellence instead of sweating assets to increase dividend payments. How do we create that change?

Offer businesses more incentives/tax reliefs to invest in R&D and Universities are a great place for potential R&D development. Fund more of them. For starters.

Businesses need to make a profit and paying a dividend is not a bad thing as long as there is sufficient cover. Far from it. Some companies see it as a matter of pride to annually increase their dividend payments.

You have to get from R&D to industrial production.

But certainly, tax incentives are a small part of that.

Hence why I said ‘for starters’ it was not meant as an exhaustive list.

Businesses will only do what is strategically in their interest. Universities can be a little more creative.

Scalability is an issue, as is potential demand. I used to have suppliers come to me with new products and new developments and we had no interest. They had not done voice of the customer.

I worked in industry for many years including new product development and new plant/capital to support it.

And you have to sweat assets to get the payback.

If anybody really wants to listen to Starmer's speech, it is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx2k7gv0znmt

I have a genuine problem with listening to Starmer speak: his whiny voice means I forget what he says a few moments after he says it, so I am in no position to say whether it was good or bad. So I'll leave that up to you.

My prejudices regarding his character lead me to think it'll be bad: perhaps somebody can persuade me otherwise but looking at the comments so far I doubt it.

The style, not the voice, that Starmer seems unable to avoid is the same as Major. Bathos. Addressing the nation this morning on a major threat to world peace and world order and 80 years of western foreign and military policy he did OK, but can't avoid drifting off into domestic stuff about the cost of living and prices at the pumps or cones hotlines or something. He is absolutely anti-climactic. "Lower gas prices and breakfast clubs in our time".

OTOH thirty years on Major is still quite well regarded. Perhaps Starmer will be too.

Donald Trump's letter to the Norwegian prime minister.

"Dear Jonas:
Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.
Thank you!
President DJT"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/19/trump-taking-greenland-is-revenge-for-no-nobel-peace-prize/

So, that's genuine, not a skit from Saturday Night Live?
Unbelievable, they need to invoke the 25th amendment.

Such a toddler tantrum.

Problem there is Trump is the Devil we know, Vance is the Devil we don't know and could well be worse - remember what Vance was like with Zelenskyy the first time Zelenskyy went to the White House..

Except we don't know Trump. He is completely irrational. Flattery doesn't work. Coercion might. Or it might provoke him further.

Vance may be even more evil than trump, but he is rational AFAIK.