Barring disasters that would appear to make things fairly safe for Biden. He has a year and a half of mid-term unwind, swingback and Trump being a dick to help see him home.
I would draw precisely the opposite conclusion. Namely 43% of those polled would vote for Trump when in a world with a scintilla of integrity and sense the % would be approaching zero. So it follows that this group is large enough and the USA crazy enough that Trump could well win. When Trump won in 2016 it was Trump 46%, Clinton 48%.
He can win. I put it at 30-35% chance. Bet accordingly. But for the free world it is deadly dangerous.
Or, Trump’s supporters are going to be convinced and pledging support already, whereas people will be non commital on the incumbent before coming home at the election. I really can’t see many floating voters thinking “oh all right then, I’ll give Trump a go” after last time.
If Sunak’s Tories were 1% ahead of Starmer’s Labour now we’d be pencilling in another Tory majority.
We're also wrong to be just giving him the nomination imo.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
It seems that the person blocking the National Audit Office investigation into TeesWorks is a Mr M Gove.
Which opens up the question how embarrassing is the truth if the Government is playing tricks to avoid the NAO actually investigating things. It's the equivalent of a FOIA response where they reply to a Yes / No answer with the statement that the question isn't a valid submission under the FOIA even though they've answer all the other questions in the letter.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
I have several hundred thousand dollars in various denominations of a number of currencies as well as a firearm and a number of passports in a Zurich safe deposit box to be on the safe side.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
I agree partly with this, although I think we went much further than almost anyone else with this, really very much too far.
Now the result is that even several national/strategic industries are essentially not in our control, like nuclear power generation ; barmy, and not like any other major European country in this, or even that home of laissez-faire, the good ol' U.S of A !
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
I have several hundred thousand dollars in various denominations of a number of currencies as well as a firearm and a number of passports in a Zurich safe deposit box to be on the safe side.
Lucky man
Starting to wonder if Doug is, in fact, Jason Bourne…
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
I agree partly with this, althooughI think we went much further than almost anyone else with it, much too far.
Now the result is that even several national-/strategic industries are essentially not in our control, like nuclear power generation ; barmy, and not like any other major European country in this, or even the U.S !
We need a British Nasser to take control of them. A reverse Suez crisis.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
@Malmesbury Malmmesbury , you are being a silly billy. If stranded somewhere a few £20's would be invaluable. Hard to get 6 cans of lager with a bearers bond.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
I have several hundred thousand dollars in various denominations of a number of currencies as well as a firearm and a number of passports in a Zurich safe deposit box to be on the safe side.
Lucky man
Starting to wonder if Doug is, in fact, Jason Bourne…
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
I thought Single Transferable vote would have encouraged a greater number of candidates. What's the slogan about no wasted votes?
Yet, the BBC report "a total of 807 people are competing for 462 seats in council chambers across Northern Ireland". At fewer than 2 candidates per seat that seems somewhat sparse a choice. Anyone want to suggest an explanation? Is it to do with NI's unique political geography?
I imagine it has a lot to do with likely strengths being pretty well known in multi-member wards with STV.
So, in a 6 seat ward, SF might not put up more than 2, if they think they'll win 1 seat or 2 at a stretch. Likewise, if the DUP is likely to get 3 of those seats, they'll likely only put up 4 candidates.
I think those low multipliers, i.e. candidates per existing councillor, for the main parties in particular, drives a lower number of candidates overall.
I think the NI assembly elections are instructive in this regard:
DUP stood 30 candidates for 90 seats and got 25 elected. SF stood 34 candidates and got 27 elected Alliance 17/24 candidates returned UUP 9/26 candidates returned SDLP 8/22 candidates returned
It was only the extensive presence of smaller parties beyond these in every constituency that bolstered the candidates/seats ratio.
Thanks Prorata. What you say makes sense. I suppose what I am questioning in my own head is that I have been sold as a benefit of STV, that voters could choose between different flavours of party candidate. It seems that the party machines still stitch everything up.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
I have several hundred thousand dollars in various denominations of a number of currencies as well as a firearm and a number of passports in a Zurich safe deposit box to be on the safe side.
Lucky man
Starting to wonder if Doug is, in fact, Jason Bourne…
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
You’re so well off you count your cash in sheaves ?
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
I have several hundred thousand dollars in various denominations of a number of currencies as well as a firearm and a number of passports in a Zurich safe deposit box to be on the safe side.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
I agree partly with this, althooughI think we went much further than almost anyone else with it, much too far.
Now the result is that even several national-/strategic industries are essentially not in our control, like nuclear power generation ; barmy, and not like any other major European country in this, or even the U.S !
We need a British Nasser to take control of them. A reverse Suez crisis.
Careful you don't make it too much like Mossadeq's nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, though, as the British Secret Service may otherwise have to intervene, as they did then.
Perhaps a revolutionary "emergency national government", made up of both Corbynites and ultra-Brexiter Conservatives ? Richard Burgon could advise JRM on the plan, going forward.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Die Hard? It's the only film I know that references bearer bonds.
"Bearer bonds are official documents with monetary value. Normally when bonds are issued it is to a specific person or company. This is beneficial to the recipient so that if the bond is ever lost, stolen, or destroyed, it can be replaced by the issuer at no loss. Bearer bonds are not issued to anyone in particular and are therefore more like blank checks. If they are lost or stolen there is no recovery possible, as there is no record kept of the original owner. Anyone who has physical possession of a bearer bond is free to redeem it, which makes them very tempting targets for thieves. In the early 1980s, the U.S. Government made issuance of bearer bonds illegal, as their use made it much easier for drug lords and organized crime to conduct their illegal activity, hide their assets, and avoid paying their taxes.
"The bearer bonds in the vault in Nakatomi Tower were worth over $600 million."
Britain followed NZ in having the most laissez faire approach to industrial policy on earth.
It kind of worked in NZ (except that we’ve had a persistent trade deficit, so the country is increasing owned offshore), because we reorientated around agricultural specialisms which also happen to be nicely spread around what remains a sparsely populated country.
Britain, despite its heavy industrial legacy, basically sold off everything, and one industry after another has fallen into desuetude. Brexit seems to have expedited the process. Much of the country is essential propped up by social transfers, leaving its recipients enervated and dependent.
There are murmurings of a rethink within the modern Labour Party but only very very modestly. Sunak is essentially with Patrick Minford, he’d rather the entire north just closed down and moved to economically productive London.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Northern Ireland: the results see a continuation of the trend in which Sinn Fein scoops up a hegemonic position across nationalism and even the broader “left”.
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
For some reason the FT allow access to the full article if you google the link in a private browser window.
“the energy subsidies for heavy industry will eventually be funded through consumer bills”
They operate on the honour system, very sweet.
I used to have an ft sub. I tried bartering with them at renewal. Said it was worth £50 a year, to me, but since it was all available for free via google (albeit with a bit of hassle), I was doing them a favour.
They said the best they could do was 25% off, £150/yr, or something like that.
Northern Ireland: the results see a continuation of the trend in which Sinn Fein scoops up a hegemonic position across nationalism and even the broader “left”.
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Have you been demeaned by someone tipping you, or are you feeling demeaned on their behalf?
Britain followed NZ in having the most laissez faire approach to industrial policy on earth.
It kind of worked in NZ (except that we’ve had a persistent trade deficit, so the country is increasing owned offshore), because we reorientated around agricultural specialisms which also happen to be nicely spread around what remains a sparsely populated country.
Britain, despite its heavy industrial legacy, basically sold off everything, and one industry after another has fallen into desuetude. Brexit seems to have expedited the process. Much of the country is essential propped up by social transfers, leaving its recipients enervated and dependent.
There are murmurings of a rethink within the modern Labour Party but only very very modestly. Sunak is essentially with Patrick Minford, he’d rather the entire north just closed down and moved to economically productive London.
Provincial Science Master here, but the Minford-Sunak theory seems to be that international financiers are very well off, so if everyone in the country were an international financier, the country would be very well off.
Britain followed NZ in having the most laissez faire approach to industrial policy on earth.
It kind of worked in NZ (except that we’ve had a persistent trade deficit, so the country is increasing owned offshore), because we reorientated around agricultural specialisms which also happen to be nicely spread around what remains a sparsely populated country.
Britain, despite its heavy industrial legacy, basically sold off everything, and one industry after another has fallen into desuetude. Brexit seems to have expedited the process. Much of the country is essential propped up by social transfers, leaving its recipients enervated and dependent.
There are murmurings of a rethink within the modern Labour Party but only very very modestly. Sunak is essentially with Patrick Minford, he’d rather the entire north just closed down and moved to economically productive London.
Provincial Science Master here, but the Minford-Sunak theory seems to be that international financiers are very well off, so if everyone in the country were an international financier, the country would be very well off.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but what?
Personally, I think you have it exactly correct. They will be floating boats next....
Sunak in animated conversation with Italian PM Meloni overlooking a Japanese lake at the G7
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. Temba, at rest. Kiteo, his eyes closed. Zinda, his eyes red. Chenza at court, the court of silence. Darmok on the ocean.
• "Patriots are too complicated for Ukrainians to operate" to • "Ukrainians are the first in history to shoot down an air-launched ballistic missile" to • "Ukrainians defeated the most complex missile attack in human history." https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1659576803659317249
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Though in reality it is likely to add one more level of confusion, variables and incomprehension about what is the done thing in any particular setting about this murky area.
Outside NAFTA and the EEA, in terms of economic models, you really just have Australia (relatively unsophisticated commodity-led economy), South Korea (one big industrial policy; Samsung is 20% of the economy), and Japan (dirigiste, ageing, reclusive, and in decline since the mid 90s).
Britain followed NZ in having the most laissez faire approach to industrial policy on earth.
It kind of worked in NZ (except that we’ve had a persistent trade deficit, so the country is increasing owned offshore), because we reorientated around agricultural specialisms which also happen to be nicely spread around what remains a sparsely populated country.
Britain, despite its heavy industrial legacy, basically sold off everything, and one industry after another has fallen into desuetude. Brexit seems to have expedited the process. Much of the country is essential propped up by social transfers, leaving its recipients enervated and dependent.
There are murmurings of a rethink within the modern Labour Party but only very very modestly. Sunak is essentially with Patrick Minford, he’d rather the entire north just closed down and moved to economically productive London.
Provincial Science Master here, but the Minford-Sunak theory seems to be that international financiers are very well off, so if everyone in the country were an international financier, the country would be very well off.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but what?
Not fair really.
The wisdom is that you provide a level playing field and economic growth will come.
It’s not 100% wrong of course, but after forty years of experimentation, we can see that it is only very partially true.
And free marketers who look wistfully at Silicon Valley and Singapore seem unaware that that hands on government policy and investment lurks behind both of them.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
Anyone figured out where Britain is going to source lithium from?
Barring disasters that would appear to make things fairly safe for Biden. He has a year and a half of mid-term unwind, swingback and Trump being a dick to help see him home.
The GOP will find a way not to choose an unelectable like Trump as their candidate. That's what I think.
I sometimes wonder if the saner 'Elders of the GOP' would like to see Trump run again just to exorcise that part of the movement when (assuming) he loses for a 2nd time. Then re-assert control of their philosophy on the party.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
Anyone figured out where Britain is going to source lithium from?
Funnily enough, considering the discussion here earlier, there's some in Cornwall
Barring disasters that would appear to make things fairly safe for Biden. He has a year and a half of mid-term unwind, swingback and Trump being a dick to help see him home.
The GOP will find a way not to choose an unelectable like Trump as their candidate. That's what I think.
I sometimes wonder if the saner 'Elders of the GOP' would like to see Trump run again just to exorcise that part of the movement when he loses for a 2nd time. Then re-assert control of their philosophy on the party.
I think that possibility can be discounted given that he lost last time, helped stoke an atmosphere that led to a mob storming the Capitol, and they movement appears as strong as ever. Why would a further loss diminish it?
At this rate Trump could die and the only winner of a primary would be someone promising to be true to his legacy.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
Anyone figured out where Britain is going to source lithium from?
Barring disasters that would appear to make things fairly safe for Biden. He has a year and a half of mid-term unwind, swingback and Trump being a dick to help see him home.
The GOP will find a way not to choose an unelectable like Trump as their candidate. That's what I think.
I sometimes wonder if the saner 'Elders of the GOP' would like to see Trump run again just to exorcise that part of the movement when he loses for a 2nd time. Then re-assert control of their philosophy on the party.
I think that possibility can be discounted given that he lost last time, helped stoke an atmosphere that led to a mob storming the Capitol, and they movement appears as strong as ever. Why would a further loss diminish it?
At this rate Trump could die and the only winner of a primary would be someone promising to be true to his legacy.
Apart from that though, I had a point? Let me cling to one last vestige of hope, please...
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Outside NAFTA and the EEA, in terms of economic models, you really just have Australia (relatively unsophisticated commodity-led economy), South Korea (one big industrial policy; Samsung is 20% of the economy), and Japan (dirigiste, ageing, reclusive, and in decline since the mid 90s).
There are no free lunches.
Despite its economic decline, I find Japan to be quite a stimulatingly open-minded culture now, at least compared to much of South-East Asia.
They tend to have a certain fascination for, and a certain refined awareness of, many cult obscurities and precious gems within Western culture, that we've long since forgotten for ourselves, and then reproduce their own, very subtle versions. This applies to music, fashion, art, and even literature.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Much older
Sherlock Holmes? The Count of Monte Cristo? Something by Mark Twain? Dickens?
Outside NAFTA and the EEA, in terms of economic models, you really just have Australia (relatively unsophisticated commodity-led economy), South Korea (one big industrial policy; Samsung is 20% of the economy), and Japan (dirigiste, ageing, reclusive, and in decline since the mid 90s).
There are no free lunches.
Despite its economic decline, I find Japan to be quite a stimulatingly open-minded culture now, at least compared to much of South-East Asia.
They tend to have a certain fascination for, and a certain refined awareness of, many cult obscurities and precious gems within Western culture, that we've long since forgotten for ourselves, and then reproduce their own, very subtle versions. This applies to music, fashion, art, and even literature.
Very astute post.
I agree, for whatever reason, the Japanese have excellent taste in western art, in its various forms.
Maybe it’s because they’re somewhat immune to the socially repressive backlash that often immediately attacks our most creative instincts?
Not that Japan isn’t repressive. It is. Even moreso, but in a different way.
The Japan/West cultural dynamic is weird. Quite unique.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Much older
Sherlock Holmes? The Count of Monte Cristo? Something by Mark Twain? Dickens?
I'm struggling, clearly.
It is the Count of Monte Cristo, when meeting Danglars for the first time since his escape.
But it was of course in francs...
The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So throwing himself back in his armchair, he said, with an arrogant and purse-proud air: “Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest demands; and were you even to require a million——” “I beg your pardon,” interposed Monte Cristo. “I said a million,” replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance. “But could I do with a million?” retorted the count. “My dear sir, if a trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or dressing-case.” And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly. “Come, come,” said Monte Cristo, “confess honestly that you have not perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon M. Lafitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of these two firms.” The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker. “Oh, sir,” said Danglars, after he had convinced himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,—“three letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of astonishment.”
Northern Ireland: the results see a continuation of the trend in which Sinn Fein scoops up a hegemonic position across nationalism and even the broader “left”.
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
Yet the latest results have Sinn Fein on just 31% ie less than a third of the vote with 71 councillors.
The DUP have 59 councillors and with the UUP on 24 councillors combined they have more councillors than Sinn Fein.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Much older
Sherlock Holmes? The Count of Monte Cristo? Something by Mark Twain? Dickens?
I'm struggling, clearly.
It is the Count of Monte Cristo, when meeting Danglars for the first time since his escape.
But it was of course in francs...
The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So throwing himself back in his armchair, he said, with an arrogant and purse-proud air: “Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest demands; and were you even to require a million——” “I beg your pardon,” interposed Monte Cristo. “I said a million,” replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance. “But could I do with a million?” retorted the count. “My dear sir, if a trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or dressing-case.” And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly. “Come, come,” said Monte Cristo, “confess honestly that you have not perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon M. Lafitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of these two firms.” The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker. “Oh, sir,” said Danglars, after he had convinced himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,—“three letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of astonishment.”
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
Anyone figured out where Britain is going to source lithium from?
Cornwall. The granites that produced the china clay industry are hugely rich in lithium. So much so that they are defined by their lithium content. One of the great things about that is they don't even need to start mining new stuff for quite a while as the tippings from both the old tin mining and the china clay works are saturated with lithium.
Together with my British, Danish and Belgian colleagues we welcome the news that the United States stands ready to approve the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighterjets. The modalities will be worked out in the coming weeks. Ukraine can count on the unwavering support of the Netherlands and its international partners. https://twitter.com/MinPres/status/1659589584018190340
Together with my British, Danish and Belgian colleagues we welcome the news that the United States stands ready to approve the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighterjets. The modalities will be worked out in the coming weeks. Ukraine can count on the unwavering support of the Netherlands and its international partners. https://twitter.com/MinPres/status/1659589584018190340
Just as long as they're not FC Alkmaar supporters!
So not long ago it seemed that Carrie Johnson had split with Boris. Now seems that wasn’t true. So what am I to make of the rumours of Harry and Megan having split?
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
UK increasingly hopeful of securing JLR battery factory is all I can see from the link
copy the headline, search for it on Google and you will get a link that allows you to read the story. I do love how the FT does it's firewall
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
This is the near future. Industrial dirigisme. If we don’t go big we’ll lose out. We did very well for a long time working on the philosophy that if you create a nice level playing field, and make doing business easy, the investment will come. Not anymore.
All other things being equal, Spain is a lower risk location to invest in because it's in the EU and the UK is not. Here the UK has to compensate for it no longer being a level playing field.
More to the point, with BEV, there is a point of change. The Germans are beginning to realise that the New World Order won’t necessarily have them making all the cars. It’s up for grabs. The same for silicon chip production…
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
Anyone figured out where Britain is going to source lithium from?
Cornwall. The granites that produced the china clay industry are hugely rich in lithium. So much so that they are defined by their lithium content. One of the great things about that is they don't even need to start mining new stuff for quite a while as the tippings from both the old tin mining and the china clay works are saturated with lithium.
Oh ffs. Leon's child-labouring tin-mining forebears are the source of the UK's future wealth.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
Mrs P and I had a lovely lunch at the Pythouse Kitchen Garden today (which I recommend if you're ever in deepest west Wiltshire). On their menu they explicitly state:
A discretionary 12.5% service charge is added to your final bill, which will be very gratefully received by all staff at the end of the month.
Northern Ireland: the results see a continuation of the trend in which Sinn Fein scoops up a hegemonic position across nationalism and even the broader “left”.
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
Also happily for SF, the SDLP is much weaker electorally than Labour in rUK.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
Mrs P and I had a lovely lunch at the Pythouse Kitchen Garden today (which I recommend if you're ever in deepest west Wiltshire). On their menu they explicitly state:
A discretionary 12.5% service charge is added to your final bill, which will be very gratefully received by all staff at the end of the month.
...so I hope I can trust them on that.
Absolutely. I am sure there are many - or maybe most - who are paying fair. But sadly there are also plenty who do not.
Jeep maker Stellantis has threatened to shift a planned battery plant from Canada to the US unless it receives billions more in state subsidies offered to a rival, in the latest manoeuvre by a big manufacturer in the international battle over green incentives.
It comes as the world’s fourth biggest carmaker, which also produces Vauxhall/Opel, Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot, DS, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth vehicles, leads a campaign in Europe for the UK and EU to renegotiate tariff rules in the Brexit deal.
Stellantis and the South Korean electronics maker LG announced plans in March last year to build a C$5bn (£3bn) electric-vehicle “gigafactory” in the city of Windsor, Ontario, an investment that received nearly C$1bn in subsidies from the federal and provincial governments.
The factory opening date was set for 2024, with the deal touted by the governing Liberal party as a key win in luring multinational automakers to the country.
Months later, the US passed the Inflation Reduction Act, promising generous subsidies for battery production. In April this year, Ottawa matched incentives offered under the IRA in order to secure a deal with Volkswagen for a sprawling battery plant in St Thomas, Ontario, with subsidies that could cost as much as C$13bn over the next decade.
Now, Stellantis has demanded similar benefits from Canada, warning that otherwise it will move production to the US.
Biden has really changed the game with the subsidies to boost manufacturing and other western countries will have to respond.
Now making the West more secure in strategic industries is a good thing and worth spending a few billion on.
But if those subsidies are going to be accepted then they need to be used for actually building new industrial plants and not merely boosting corporate profits and executive bonuses.
People now moaning about the government actually meeting a manifesto commitment and increasing NHS employment:
Britain’s reliance on foreign nurses has reached “unsustainable” levels, the government has been warned as new analysis reveals that international recruits has accounted for two thirds of the rise in numbers since 2019.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to boost the domestic supply of health staff amid warnings that reliance on international workers leaves the NHS at the mercy of global labour markets.
In 2019 the government pledged to recruit 50,000 extra nurses for England by the end of March 2024. Although it is expected to reach that goal, analysis by the Nuffield Trust underlines the extent to which it has used international recruitment to do so.
One of the local hamburger joints (Shake Shack) has little terminals set up for you to order your meal, and pay for it with a credit or debit card. And when the total comes up, the terminal asks whether you want to tip. (The default amount is 10 percent, but you can change that, up or down.)
On the other hand, a local Wendy's has kept ordering at the counter, with no obvious way to tip. (But I have started putting in a little extra in their little box for orphans, by the cash register.)
(I mention this, hoping not to set off another round of cash versus card discussions. My own position is that you should do what works best for you, and not care if an acquaintance feels otherwise. Feynman's autobiography title often gives us good advice: "What Do You Care What Other People Think?")
Together with my British, Danish and Belgian colleagues we welcome the news that the United States stands ready to approve the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighterjets. The modalities will be worked out in the coming weeks. Ukraine can count on the unwavering support of the Netherlands and its international partners. https://twitter.com/MinPres/status/1659589584018190340
Whichever party makes wide ranging changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act gets my vote.
Another horrific death today. Police forced to defend killing the dog involved because more people are concerned about that than the people getting maimed and killed across the country.
Then we have all the sheep getting killed. And me out on a run getting jumped at: "He just wants to play - why are you kicking him off?"
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
Huh. I had never considered before that tips would be taxed.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Much older
Sherlock Holmes? The Count of Monte Cristo? Something by Mark Twain? Dickens?
I'm struggling, clearly.
It is the Count of Monte Cristo, when meeting Danglars for the first time since his escape.
But it was of course in francs...
The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So throwing himself back in his armchair, he said, with an arrogant and purse-proud air: “Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest demands; and were you even to require a million——” “I beg your pardon,” interposed Monte Cristo. “I said a million,” replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance. “But could I do with a million?” retorted the count. “My dear sir, if a trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or dressing-case.” And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly. “Come, come,” said Monte Cristo, “confess honestly that you have not perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon M. Lafitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of these two firms.” The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker. “Oh, sir,” said Danglars, after he had convinced himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,—“three letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of astonishment.”
Northern Ireland: the results see a continuation of the trend in which Sinn Fein scoops up a hegemonic position across nationalism and even the broader “left”.
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
Wait until they take power in Dublin.
The 32 Counties will be reunited.
Unlike the SNP, Sinn Fein will shoot their shot.
No hegemonic party remains hegemonic, indefinitely.
I don't know if SF taking power in Dublin would be a case of one person, one vote, once. I do think it would generate a reaction among non SF voters.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
Huh. I had never considered before that tips would be taxed.
You are supposed to declare them for tax and NI. Of course if it is cash then this usually won't happen. If it goes through the books (as a service charge) then it is automatically considered as part of your wages and treated as such.
Amusingly when I used to work in Tunisia the Tunisian government used to do a calculation of how much officials were likely to be getting in bribes and would tax them on that theortical amount. We were always told by our companies to pay any bribes and then get tham back as reclaimable expenses.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Have you been demeaned by someone tipping you, or are you feeling demeaned on their behalf?
I used to be a waiter and was always happy to get a tip after I'd spent a load of time taking the order, bringing their food and drinks, clearing their plates, getting their dessert etc, and had given them a good service and looked after them, chatted to them a bit, made sure they had everything they needed. It was the hardest job I've ever had and the tips made up for being paid £1.50 an hour. What I find demeaning is that situation in the US where you are expected to give someone a dollar bill for opening a door for you, or taking your case out of a luggage store and handing it to you. Simply because they're not being paid properly in the first place, so they have to wait for you to compensate for the meanness of their employer. Add to that the stress of not knowing if a tip is expected, not knowing the appropriate amount, not having change, not having the right currency... It is a fucking minefield. I would rather just pay 20% more for everything and have the staff paid decently. Basically, if I am already paying a bill I am happy to add 10% or 20% to it and I am a generous tipper by British standards. But handing out cash to people is just something that makes me feel grubby for all parties concerned.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
It's a nice sentiment but you can't really consider it to be a gift if you are only giving it to people who have done stuff for you, immediately after they do it.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
"Not a single person" had a pound coin?
Not when I was in the changing room (and there were a few blokes in there). I'm sure at some point in the history of the spa someone might have had one on them.
I always carry at least one pound coin for just such an occasion , especially supermarkets. Most coins I keep in tins at home but always have a sheaf of £20 notes in my pocket in case of emergency. Of a generation who baulk at using a card for 50p or a quid etc, makes you look like a loser big time.
What use is a sheaf of £20, for paying people? I myself carry a couple of bearer bonds for half a million each*, to manage the small expenses of life.
*Fiver to the charity of choice for a correct guess as to the reference.
Bonfire of the Vanities? Bright Lights, Big City? American Psycho? Great Gatsby?
Comments
“the energy subsidies for heavy industry will eventually be funded through consumer bills”
Worth saying that the incentives being offered are
£500mn of financial assistance
and subsidized energy costs which we are going to pay for
yes it looks insane but if we don't have a battery factory we aren't going to be manufacturing cars nor home energy storage systems.
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1659615421991927817
Carole Cadwalladr
@carolecadwalla
‘Guardian editor reveals investigations and ‘legal attacks’ drive reader contributions.‘
Especially when the newspaper doesn’t bear the costs of the legal attacks, I guess?
Which opens up the question how embarrassing is the truth if the Government is playing tricks to avoid the NAO actually investigating things. It's the equivalent of a FOIA response where they reply to a Yes / No answer with the statement that the question isn't a valid submission under the FOIA even though they've answer all the other questions in the letter.
Now the result is that even several national/strategic industries are essentially not in our control, like nuclear power generation ; barmy, and not like any other major European country in this, or even that home of laissez-faire, the good ol' U.S of A !
Perhaps a revolutionary "emergency national government", made up of both Corbynites and ultra-Brexiter Conservatives ? Richard Burgon could advise JRM on the plan, going forward.
https://twitter.com/electpoliticsuk/status/1659629203581485067?t=yWn7Pm2uvfxLJDtQ_E_VdA&s=19
https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1659485895337164802?s=20
"Bearer bonds are official documents with monetary value. Normally when bonds are issued it is to a specific person or company. This is beneficial to the recipient so that if the bond is ever lost, stolen, or destroyed, it can be replaced by the issuer at no loss. Bearer bonds are not issued to anyone in particular and are therefore more like blank checks. If they are lost or stolen there is no recovery possible, as there is no record kept of the original owner. Anyone who has physical possession of a bearer bond is free to redeem it, which makes them very tempting targets for thieves. In the early 1980s, the U.S. Government made issuance of bearer bonds illegal, as their use made it much easier for drug lords and organized crime to conduct their illegal activity, hide their assets, and avoid paying their taxes.
"The bearer bonds in the vault in Nakatomi Tower were worth over $600 million."
It kind of worked in NZ (except that we’ve had a persistent trade deficit, so the country is increasing owned offshore), because we reorientated around agricultural specialisms which also happen to be nicely spread around what remains a sparsely populated country.
Britain, despite its heavy industrial legacy, basically sold off everything, and one industry after another has fallen into desuetude. Brexit seems to have expedited the process. Much of the country is essential propped up by social transfers, leaving its recipients enervated and dependent.
There are murmurings of a rethink within the modern Labour Party but only very very modestly.
Sunak is essentially with Patrick Minford, he’d rather the entire north just closed down and moved to economically productive London.
[Republican debate]
Trump: backstage, I saw Ron pick an M&M off the floor and eat it. One of the woke colors too.
*Booing*
Desantis: it’s not true (to moderator) he’s lying!
Trump: he ate it like a dog folks
*laughter*
Desantis: (voice trembling) the blue ones aren’t woke!
https://twitter.com/LRonMexico/status/1659352408613437440?cxt=HHwWgIC-iauOmocuAAAA "Next year you come over and we'll do this in Blackpool"
https://twitter.com/frantzfries/status/1659402597109841921
Whereas unionism (overt or otherwise) is fragmented across four different parties.
Similar to what we saw in Scotland with the SNP until very recently.
Conclusion: Sinn Fein dominance over Northern Ireland is baked in for some time.
They said the best they could do was 25% off, £150/yr, or something like that.
I told them I’d think about it.
That was a year ago.
I’m still thinking about it….
The 32 Counties will be reunited.
Unlike the SNP, Sinn Fein will shoot their shot.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but what?
Shaka, when the walls fell.
• "Patriots are too complicated for Ukrainians to operate"
to
• "Ukrainians are the first in history to shoot down an air-launched ballistic missile"
to
• "Ukrainians defeated the most complex missile attack in human history."
https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1659576803659317249
There are no free lunches.
The wisdom is that you provide a level playing field and economic growth will come.
It’s not 100% wrong of course, but after forty years of experimentation, we can see that it is only very partially true.
And free marketers who look wistfully at Silicon Valley and Singapore seem unaware that that hands on government policy and investment lurks behind both of them.
I’ve got Global South advocates on my various feeds worrying that the West will disconnect with the end of oil. If they can mine enough Lithium in Canada and the US….
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/20/the-part-of-cornwall-nobody-ever-sees-the-hi-tech-future-for-lithium-and-tin-mining
At this rate Trump could die and the only winner of a primary would be someone promising to be true to his legacy.
They tend to have a certain fascination for, and a certain refined awareness of, many cult obscurities and precious gems within Western culture, that we've long since forgotten for ourselves, and then reproduce their own, very subtle versions. This applies to music, fashion, art, and even literature.
I'm struggling, clearly.
I agree, for whatever reason, the Japanese have excellent taste in western art, in its various forms.
Maybe it’s because they’re somewhat immune to the socially repressive backlash that often immediately attacks our most creative instincts?
Not that Japan isn’t repressive. It is. Even moreso, but in a different way.
The Japan/West cultural dynamic is weird. Quite unique.
But it was of course in francs...
The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So throwing himself back in his armchair, he said, with an arrogant and purse-proud air:
“Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest demands; and were you even to require a million——”
“I beg your pardon,” interposed Monte Cristo.
“I said a million,” replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance.
“But could I do with a million?” retorted the count. “My dear sir, if a trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or dressing-case.”
And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly.
“Come, come,” said Monte Cristo, “confess honestly that you have not perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon M. Lafitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of these two firms.”
The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker.
“Oh, sir,” said Danglars, after he had convinced himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,—“three letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of astonishment.”
The DUP have 59 councillors and with the UUP on 24 councillors combined they have more councillors than Sinn Fein.
The combined Unionist vote of DUP, UUP and TUV is currently 39%, identical to the combined Sinn Fein and SDLP vote of 39%
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2023/northern-ireland/results
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65649471
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
"‘We’re going all in’: how France raced ahead of UK on electric car batteries"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/19/france-uk-electric-car-batteries-subsidies
https://twitter.com/MinPres/status/1659589584018190340
The Defense Ministry says it’s considering donating F-16s to Ukraine.
Denmark has 46 F-16s.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1659631182160510992
So what am I to make of the rumours of Harry and Megan having split?
He'll probably claim even more reparations.
After 2020, reformers vowed to erect guardrails against a rogue chief executive. They ran into a wall of complacency, partisanship and distraction.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/19/hurricane-trump-is-coming-and-washington-hasnt-bothered-to-prepare-00097774
Tomorrow's front page:
More than 70,000 sign petition to defy Starmer and say... We want Corbyn!
You can't buy a revolution, but you can support the only paper that's fighting for one: http://morningstaronline.co.uk/subscribe
https://twitter.com/M_Star_Online/status/1659618720728113154?s=20
The sort of place where you might like to live or at least retire to.
I doubt 'Make America Arkansas' would have the positive vibes.
A discretionary 12.5% service charge is added to your final bill, which will be very gratefully received by all staff at the end of the month.
...so I hope I can trust them on that.
It comes as the world’s fourth biggest carmaker, which also produces Vauxhall/Opel, Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot, DS, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth vehicles, leads a campaign in Europe for the UK and EU to renegotiate tariff rules in the Brexit deal.
Stellantis and the South Korean electronics maker LG announced plans in March last year to build a C$5bn (£3bn) electric-vehicle “gigafactory” in the city of Windsor, Ontario, an investment that received nearly C$1bn in subsidies from the federal and provincial governments.
The factory opening date was set for 2024, with the deal touted by the governing Liberal party as a key win in luring multinational automakers to the country.
Months later, the US passed the Inflation Reduction Act, promising generous subsidies for battery production. In April this year, Ottawa matched incentives offered under the IRA in order to secure a deal with Volkswagen for a sprawling battery plant in St Thomas, Ontario, with subsidies that could cost as much as C$13bn over the next decade.
Now, Stellantis has demanded similar benefits from Canada, warning that otherwise it will move production to the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/18/stellantis-canada-electric-vehicle-battery-plant-subsidies
Biden has really changed the game with the subsidies to boost manufacturing and other western countries will have to respond.
Now making the West more secure in strategic industries is a good thing and worth spending a few billion on.
But if those subsidies are going to be accepted then they need to be used for actually building new industrial plants and not merely boosting corporate profits and executive bonuses.
Britain’s reliance on foreign nurses has reached “unsustainable” levels, the government has been warned as new analysis reveals that international recruits has accounted for two thirds of the rise in numbers since 2019.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to boost the domestic supply of health staff amid warnings that reliance on international workers leaves the NHS at the mercy of global labour markets.
In 2019 the government pledged to recruit 50,000 extra nurses for England by the end of March 2024. Although it is expected to reach that goal, analysis by the Nuffield Trust underlines the extent to which it has used international recruitment to do so.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-reliance-on-foreign-nurses-at-critical-level-rs8wb8lsh
On the other hand, a local Wendy's has kept ordering at the counter, with no obvious way to tip. (But I have started putting in a little extra in their little box for orphans, by the cash register.)
(I mention this, hoping not to set off another round of cash versus card discussions. My own position is that you should do what works best for you, and not care if an acquaintance feels otherwise. Feynman's autobiography title often gives us good advice: "What Do You Care What Other People Think?")
English in Eurospeak
Another horrific death today. Police forced to defend killing the dog involved because more people are concerned about that than the people getting maimed and killed across the country.
Then we have all the sheep getting killed. And me out on a run getting jumped at: "He just wants to play - why are you kicking him off?"
PM me for where to send the donation.
'The mansion can found in the picturesque village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell in Oxfordshire and has nine bedrooms, five bathrooms, six reception rooms and multiple open fireplaces. Dating back to the 1600s, it comes with Tudor and Georgian features, having been updated over the course of centuries. The rest of the five acres of land also features a guest cottage, a garage, a tennis court, a walled garden, and two stables.'
https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-house-mansion-oxfordshire?utm_brand=houseandgarden&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwAR0llRrAzw457ZGcDLle12bZrZovMPQXHCoj_kaQD0zXUprwDuE91uAI73Q
I don't know if SF taking power in Dublin would be a case of one person, one vote, once. I do think it would generate a reaction among non SF voters.
Amusingly when I used to work in Tunisia the Tunisian government used to do a calculation of how much officials were likely to be getting in bribes and would tax them on that theortical amount. We were always told by our companies to pay any bribes and then get tham back as reclaimable expenses.
What I find demeaning is that situation in the US where you are expected to give someone a dollar bill for opening a door for you, or taking your case out of a luggage store and handing it to you. Simply because they're not being paid properly in the first place, so they have to wait for you to compensate for the meanness of their employer. Add to that the stress of not knowing if a tip is expected, not knowing the appropriate amount, not having change, not having the right currency... It is a fucking minefield. I would rather just pay 20% more for everything and have the staff paid decently. Basically, if I am already paying a bill I am happy to add 10% or 20% to it and I am a generous tipper by British standards. But handing out cash to people is just something that makes me feel grubby for all parties concerned.