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Yes we Kam? – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 13,191
edited April 11 in General
Yes we Kam? – politicalbetting.com

? BREAKING: Kamala Harris says she is considering a run for president in 2028.“Are you going to run again in 28?”KAMALA: “Listen, I might, I’m thinking about it.” pic.twitter.com/8OQBKTe2Cq

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Comments

  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    Boom
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    I guess Kinabalu will be happy.

    That’s about it.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 19,716
    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 60,516
    FPT:

    As I noted with some prescience maybe a week ago, the way to solve this crisis was for Iran to charge tariffs to transit the Straits of Hormuz - and cut Trump personally into 20% of what is raised.

    "I get on great with the Mullahs. I understand them and they understand me. They are good, God-fearing folk.

    And I am a God."
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 55,492
    Not a great move
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591
    Beshear and Ossoff.

    You heard it here first.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 32,364

    FPT:

    As I noted with some prescience maybe a week ago, the way to solve this crisis was for Iran to charge tariffs to transit the Straits of Hormuz - and cut Trump personally into 20% of what is raised.

    "I get on great with the Mullahs. I understand them and they understand me. They are good, God-fearing folk.

    And I am a God."

    Yes. Trump is a gangster. Give him a piece of the action.

    Also, him saying the US will cut off all trade with Spain. He does know there is no "Spain" when it comes to trade, only the EU?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    At times Robert and I get criticised for shutting down certain topics but this is why.

    Crispin Odey abandons £79mn libel case against the FT over sexual misconduct claims

    The FT had said 15 women were willing to testify in court against former hedge fund boss


    Crispin Odey has dropped his £79mn libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, acknowledging that the FT would win in its defence. 

    In a letter on Friday afternoon, lawyers for the former hedge fund boss said he had been “forced to accept” that the FT was “likely to succeed in establishing” its public interest defence.

    Odey’s abrupt U-turn came only two months after the FT had served him with the substantial disclosure of the evidence that it intended to rely on in court, relating to its investigations into his behaviour.

    In 2023, the FT published several articles detailing allegations from 20 women of sexual assault and harassment against Odey. The allegations covered a period of five decades.

    “This is a vindication for investigative journalism and for the victims whose stories of abuse we reported,” said the FT’s editor, Roula Khalaf. “The FT was always confident in its reporting. This is a case that should have never been brought.”...

    ...Odey faces a seven-figure liability for the FT’s legal costs on top of his own. He launched the libel claim in May 2024.


    https://www.ft.com/content/69666b46-8452-4807-add9-712a0394a53c?sharetype=blocked&syn-25a6b1a6=1

    Yes, The FT had to spend several millions of pounds to defend themselves, which they will recover, but they've had to fund that themselves for years.

    Dan Neidle chimes in that the figure seems right

    Easy to believe! If my little case, with one witness, had £140k… and the FT had 15 women giving witness evidence plus their own team’s witness evidence, plus the complexity of the public interest defence….

    https://x.com/DanNeidle/status/2042722292082299158
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 60,516
    ydoethur said:

    Beshear and Ossoff.

    You heard it here first.

    Beshear? What - Martin?

    That would be quite a thing...
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 10,099
    IanB2 said:

    Not a great move

    She had no option but to keep her options open at this stage, given the direct question.
    In practice, I doubt that she will actually stand.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 8,359
    ydoethur said:

    Beshear and Ossoff.

    You heard it here first.

    Great minds think alike !

    That would be a great team.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 19,716
    Nigelb said:

    An absolutely inexplicable puzzle as to why this President would spend US money trying to buy an election for the most corrupt and pro-Russian leader in Europe.

    Trump: “My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/2042704252032946282

    I just can't come up with an explanation.

    It's a very good question. Maybe Trump likes Orbán. He's a symbol and an example to follow for the populist right internationally. Farage is a big fan. It should give anyone thinking voting for Farage - but won't of course - why Farage is so embedded with Europe's most corrupt and pro-Russian leader
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 60,516

    FPT:

    As I noted with some prescience maybe a week ago, the way to solve this crisis was for Iran to charge tariffs to transit the Straits of Hormuz - and cut Trump personally into 20% of what is raised.

    "I get on great with the Mullahs. I understand them and they understand me. They are good, God-fearing folk.

    And I am a God."

    Yes. Trump is a gangster. Give him a piece of the action.

    Also, him saying the US will cut off all trade with Spain. He does know there is no "Spain" when it comes to trade, only the EU?
    Hey, Spain should be grateful he isn't bombing them.

    And that's only cuz he's used all his bombs and missiles in a 0-0 draw with Iran.
  • So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.
  • Leon_VotedForStarmerLeon_VotedForStarmer Posts: 69,000
    edited April 11
    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 46,517

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 46,517
    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Lots of fools out there with money to burn
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 3,348
    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Bland, Dull, and Boring.


  • MelonBMelonB Posts: 17,363

    FPT:

    As I noted with some prescience maybe a week ago, the way to solve this crisis was for Iran to charge tariffs to transit the Straits of Hormuz - and cut Trump personally into 20% of what is raised.

    "I get on great with the Mullahs. I understand them and they understand me. They are good, God-fearing folk.

    And I am a God."

    Yes. Trump is a gangster. Give him a piece of the action.

    Also, him saying the US will cut off all trade with Spain. He does know there is no "Spain" when it comes to trade, only the EU?
    Hey, Spain should be grateful he isn't bombing them.

    And that's only cuz he's used all his bombs and missiles in a 0-0 draw with Iran.
    Got me thinking about what cutting off all trade with Spain would mean. Off the top of my head, no:

    - Jamon iberico
    - Chorizo
    - Xacoli, Rioja, Godello, Priorat, Fino…
    - Live streaming of La liga
    - Zara
    - Holidays to Ibiza
    - Seat cars
    - Santander bank

    Probably more manageable than cutting off trade with China, and I don’t imagine the teetotal Trump will bemoan the loss of the early evening Tio Pepe with Manchego triangles, but still a bit of a shame.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    edited April 11
    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.
  • Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591

    Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
    'Trainers?'
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 22,991
    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 137,034
    edited April 11
    Yes, Harris is unlikely to get it. You have to go back to Nixon to find the last losing presidential election nominee for the Republicans or Democrats who was nominated again for their party and who had never been elected president before and that was only after an 8 year gap not a 4 year gap.

    She also isn't polling that well either for someone who effectively led the Democrats in 2024, leading Newsom in national polls of Democrats by less than 10% and Buttigieg leads her in early polls of Democrats in the key primary state of New Hampshire. Both of them are more likely than her in my view to be 2028 Democrat nominee

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election#Democratic_primary

    On the GOP side it is hard to see past VP Vance who has big double digit leads now in both national and early state polls amongst Republicans, effectively lapping Rubio and Trump Jr already

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election#Republican_primary
  • Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
    Yes. I strongly suspect this is money laundering

    Because they’ve made a massive effort. And they do have real antiques amongst the tat. And the further you go back the more real the antiques seem to be

    My best guess right now is an honest antiques company taken over by some criminals (antiques traders are in deep trouble everywhere) and they’ve turned it into a clever money laundering op, by trading on a good name
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 46,517

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    For me I think Mcmanus will win it at least ..........
    I am Maximus
    Jagwar
    Johnnywho
  • Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    malcolmg said:

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    For me I think Mcmanus will win it at least ..........
    I am Maximus
    Jagwar
    Johnnywho
    Ta.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 55,492
    edited April 11
    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    There are a lot of chancers on eBay - people offering items that are obviously over-priced, for anyone in the know, but waiting for some numpty or person for whom cost is no object to click on 'buy it now'. For example, the various commemorative coins and sovereigns issued for late 20th century events such as the coronation, wedding of Charles & Di, etc, typically sell for just a small amount higher than their face value - because so many families have them, and the market is flooded as our parent's generation dies off and we children think they might be worth something. Yet you'll find people offering them 'buy it now' for some three figure £, presumably hoping for some dumb American who thinks it's a valuable collectors item and doesn't trouble to do a proper search. Since ebay is as good as free until you actually sell something, I guess this type of activity pays off if people have the time for it.

    Alternative explanations for obviously over-priced listings include those where prices are set algorithmically depending on availability, and instances where someone selling a continual supply of something bumps up the price to an obviously absurd figure while they're out of stock, to avoid losing the listing and then having to create one afresh when stock resumes.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 137,034
    edited April 11

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    He could means test the triple lock certainly or cut welfare spending instead of caving into his backbenchers on it.
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 2,331

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    I always like to find horses who have been clearly aimed and saved for the race and/or who have run well in it before

    Iroko
    Montys Star
    Stellar Story
    Grangeclare West
    Captain Cody

    fit various boxes and trends.

    A very good private Irish Tipster I have used for over a decade to good net profit year after year is very sweet on Quantum Quest e/w in the 1.20, I got on a 22/1 about 40 minutes ago to 5 places

  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
    'Trainers?'
    Nah, I am paying for quality and style.



    https://uk.louisvuitton.com/eng-gb/products/lv-trainer-sneaker-nvprod7160012v/1AJA06

    In fact Louis Vuitton are undercharging me.
  • MelonBMelonB Posts: 17,363
    FF43 said:

    Nigelb said:

    An absolutely inexplicable puzzle as to why this President would spend US money trying to buy an election for the most corrupt and pro-Russian leader in Europe.

    Trump: “My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/2042704252032946282

    I just can't come up with an explanation.

    It's a very good question. Maybe Trump likes Orbán. He's a symbol and an example to follow for the populist right internationally. Farage is a big fan. It should give anyone thinking voting for Farage - but won't of course - why Farage is so embedded with Europe's most corrupt and pro-Russian leader
    The populist right nationalist strongman genus seems to be a sort of Venn diagram in which Orban and Trump both occupy the same spot. Plus Orban is completely harmless to Trumpian interests. He doesn’t have the negatives that keep some others of the same ilk from being top friends of MAGA.

    - Reactionary domestic politics: tick
    - Hates the EU: tick
    - Warm towards Russia, but not actually Russia? Tick
    - Quite keen on a bit of irredentism: tick

    With none of the negatives of other similar populists:

    - Not Muslim like Erdogan or MBS
    - Not a sworn enemy of the USA like the Iranian Mullahs or Kim Jong Un
    - Not a meaningful trade rival like Xi or Modi
    - Doesn’t possess kompromat on him like Putin
    - Not irritatingly independent-minded like Meloni
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 47,984
    edited April 11
    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Would be interesting to see the fifference between asking prices and actual offers accepted.

    I was a very early adopter of eBay, great adrenaline rush when you waited till the last minute to put your bid in. The auction side seems to have gone by the board and eBay has pretty much adopted the Vinted model for buying and selling. Must say it's gone a bit rubbish for the stuff I'm interested in, everyone knows the value of everything now, not many bargains to be had.

    Not to add to your addictions but Vinted is not bad for nicknacks and small collectibles.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 55,492

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    A good tip is not to bet on the Grand National?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 137,034
    edited April 11
    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris led the Democrats to their worst defeat in the Electoral College since Michael Dukakis in 1988, even John Kerry got more EC votes than she did and she failed to win the popular vote either like Hillary or Gore.

    The only voters she did better than the average Democrat with was rich high earners, she bombed spectacularly with Middle America and in the swing states.

    If she had any sense or self awareness she would have just limited herself to running for Governor in her home state of wealthy deep blue California. However now she is letting Steve Hilton win that for the GOP while nonentities run on the Democrat side and making a pig headed push for another presidential run, she has been Vice President she should just leave it at that
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591
    IanB2 said:

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    A good tip is not to bet on the Grand National?
    An armed, Chair warrior?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    I've also stuck a cheeky tenner on The Real Whacker, purely because of the name.
  • IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    There are a lot of chancers on eBay - people offering items that are obviously over-priced, for anyone in the know, but waiting for some numpty or person for whom cost is no object to click on 'buy it now'. For example, the various commemorative coins and sovereigns issued for late 20th century events such as the coronation, wedding of Charles & Di, etc, typically sell for just a small amount higher than their face value - because so many families have them, and the market is flooded as our parent's generation dies off and we children think they might be worth something. Yet you'll find people offering them 'buy it now' for some three figure £, presumably hoping for some dumb American who thinks it's a valuable collectors item and doesn't trouble to do a proper search. Since ebay is as good as free until you actually sell something, I guess this type of activity pays off if people have the time for it.

    Alternative explanations for obviously over-priced listings include those where prices are set algorithmically depending on availability, and instances where someone selling a continual supply of something bumps up the price to an obviously absurd figure while they're out of stock, to avoid losing the listing and then having to create one afresh when stock resumes.
    Interesting thanks

    It did occur to me that this could all be done by bots, and all you need is 1 in 10,000 browsers to bite, and buy your “antique newspaper stand” for £1200 and you’ve made a lovely profit compared to effort

    Some of the items are utterly hilarious, with hideous 1990s vases from Tesco acquiring “a compelling patina of age”
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 22,991
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    IanB2 said:

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    A good tip is not to bet on the Grand National?
    Where's the fun in that?
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 47,984

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    Coincidentally I have a Royal wedding of Andrew & Sarah commemorative mug, sure it's worth 40p of anyone's money.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    You should sell them for £7000 each as “precious heirlooms of the noble Inromford family”
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 23,306
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    Coincidentally I have a Royal wedding of Andrew & Sarah commemorative mug, sure it's worth 40p of anyone's money.
    I think you were definitely a mug to buy that.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 6,368
    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 25,561

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    People use decanter to hide the fact that they are offering cheap spirits from Lidl to their guests.

    Not as bad as filling an old single malt bottle with Bells, mind.
  • Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Would be interesting to see the fifference between asking prices and actual offers accepted.

    I was a very early adopter of eBay, great adrenaline rush when you waited till the last minute to put your bid in. The auction side seems to have gone by the board and eBay has pretty much adopted the Vinted model for buying and selling. Must say it's gone a bit rubbish for the stuff I'm interested in, everyone knows the value of everything now, not many bargains to be had.

    Not to add to your addictions but Vinted is not bad for nicknacks and small collectibles.
    There are still tons of bargains. In terms of quality for price. But that’s true of the whole market. No one wants old stuff

    I recently bought an absolutely stunning Spode plate - simply gorgeous and pristine - and 200 years old - for £9

    Mediocre factory made banal white John Lewis plates cost more
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 29,561
    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Harris didn't even campaign on Biden's successful industrial investments.

    Instead she allowed Trump to say they had failed.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    Is it easier? This is virtually foolproof unless eBay notices and takes action. But why would they

    It’s all online and easy. If you have five or six companies doing this you could launder a lot of cash quite quickly

    But it’s just a theory. An interesting theory to mull over as I speed along the sunny Lycian coast
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 25,561

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    I used to work with a bloke who would buy loads of stuff at boot sales and then sell on eBay. Often for a very healthy profit.

    I recall that when he was offering something that was particularly beat-up he would describe it as having "seen some service".

    A few times I managed to buy DVDs, watch them, then sell them for a profit.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 5,493
    I'd be more interested in the policies than the person.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 19,716
    edited April 11
    .
    HYUFD said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris led the Democrats to their worst defeat in the Electoral College since Michael Dukakis in 1988, even John Kerry got more EC votes than she did and she failed to win the popular vote either like Hillary or Gore.

    The only voters she did better than the average Democrat with was rich high earners, she bombed spectacularly with Middle America and in the swing states.

    If she had any sense or self awareness she would have just limited herself to running for Governor in her home state of wealthy deep blue California. However now she is letting Steve Hilton win that for the GOP while nonentities run on the Democrat side and making a pig headed push for another presidential run, she has been Vice President she should just leave it at that
    The context was an electorate not giving Democrats time of day and a consummate campaigner in Donald Trump who has won against every single challenger Republican and Democrat, except Biden (hence the January 6 insurrection).

    The numbers show Harris did pull back support in toss up states relative to the nation as a whole, which was grim. So her campaign was effective as far as it went. The popular vote was an effective deal heat.

    But not disputing your overall point that she shouldn't be candidate this time.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 47,984
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Would be interesting to see the fifference between asking prices and actual offers accepted.

    I was a very early adopter of eBay, great adrenaline rush when you waited till the last minute to put your bid in. The auction side seems to have gone by the board and eBay has pretty much adopted the Vinted model for buying and selling. Must say it's gone a bit rubbish for the stuff I'm interested in, everyone knows the value of everything now, not many bargains to be had.

    Not to add to your addictions but Vinted is not bad for nicknacks and small collectibles.
    There are still tons of bargains. In terms of quality for price. But that’s true of the whole market. No one wants old stuff

    I recently bought an absolutely stunning Spode plate - simply gorgeous and pristine - and 200 years old - for £9

    Mediocre factory made banal white John Lewis plates cost more
    They definitely want old clothes, particularly any with a military bent. I recently sold a 1943 British camo smock on ebay, starting at £1000 and 28 watchers but no bids, then one of the watchers offered £850, bob's your uncle. Think he was a dealer and no doubt moved it on for a profit. This was bought in a charity shop for £11, price label still on (removed it just in case the buyer got miffed).
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 28,081

    Any tips for the Grand National, my tips end up being glue by Becher's Brook.

    Jump cleanly, stay out of trouble and pace yourself, it is a long race. Good luck!
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 25,561

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    I used to work with a bloke who would buy loads of stuff at boot sales and then sell on eBay. Often for a very healthy profit.

    I recall that when he was offering something that was particularly beat-up he would describe it as having "seen some service".

    A few times I managed to buy DVDs, watch them, then sell them for a profit.
    Just to add, our office was across the road from a post office, so very convenient for sending out eBay items at lunchtime.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    I used to work with a bloke who would buy loads of stuff at boot sales and then sell on eBay. Often for a very healthy profit.

    I recall that when he was offering something that was particularly beat-up he would describe it as having "seen some service".

    A few times I managed to buy DVDs, watch them, then sell them for a profit.
    It’s interesting finding the few niche areas where old stuff is still really prized. Or indeed getting pricier

    Eg Cornish copper ware from the 1890s-1910s. There were schools in newlyn and Hayle

    A nice copper art nouveau tray can set you back several hundred and they are increasing in value. Clean them up with lemon and salt and they sparkle lushly

    Yes. I bought one. I couldn’t resist the pull of my ancestry
  • Leon_VotedForStarmerLeon_VotedForStarmer Posts: 69,000
    edited April 11

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Would be interesting to see the fifference between asking prices and actual offers accepted.

    I was a very early adopter of eBay, great adrenaline rush when you waited till the last minute to put your bid in. The auction side seems to have gone by the board and eBay has pretty much adopted the Vinted model for buying and selling. Must say it's gone a bit rubbish for the stuff I'm interested in, everyone knows the value of everything now, not many bargains to be had.

    Not to add to your addictions but Vinted is not bad for nicknacks and small collectibles.
    There are still tons of bargains. In terms of quality for price. But that’s true of the whole market. No one wants old stuff

    I recently bought an absolutely stunning Spode plate - simply gorgeous and pristine - and 200 years old - for £9

    Mediocre factory made banal white John Lewis plates cost more
    They definitely want old clothes, particularly any with a military bent. I recently sold a 1943 British camo smock on ebay, starting at £1000 and 28 watchers but no bids, then one of the watchers offered £850, bob's your uncle. Think he was a dealer and no doubt moved it on for a profit. This was bought in a charity shop for £11, price label still on (removed it just in case the buyer got miffed).
    That’s incredible. And congrats
  • stodgestodge Posts: 16,729
    Morning all :)

    Oddly enough, the Grand National isn't a race about which I get very excited.

    It's not the race it was for good or ill but it seems the question this year is whether the higher weights with established records in the race can defeat the lower weighted younger inexperienced types.

    In the former we have the likes of I AM MAXIMUS, GRANGECLARE WEST and IROKO, second, third and fourth last year.

    The latter brings in PANIC ATTACK who has attracted the cash this morning , JAGWAR and JOHNNYWHO.

    I don't have a strong view - force me to write a thread on the 2026 Newham Council elections and I'll offer four against the field - MONTY'S PASS, GERRI COLOMBE, FINAL ORDERS and TOP OF THE HILL. They are all drifting like the proverbial barges in the morning betting which suggests this should be a Beefeater race - very small stakes.

    Good luck (or lick if you are Officer Crabtree) to whatever you're entrusting your hard earned and let's hope everyone gets home safely.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 56,962

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 6,368

    Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
    So you mean all the anti-money laundering crap we all have to deal with just inconveniences honest people and provides lots of employment for pointless busybodies while crooks find easy ways around it?

    I'm SHOCKED. SHOCKED I tell you.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 137,034
    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Certainly the more charismatic candidate almost always wins US presidential elections and indeed national elections in most nations now.

    Harris was always a no 2, a dull but reasonably competent deputy never an inspiring charismatic leader with a clear sense of direction and agenda
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    I used to do that with DVD’s, I know which ones in my sphere of interest are worth stuff. Spend a day going round charity shops. I made some money but for the effort it really was not worth it.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 28,081
    Taz said:

    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
    Because it is absurd and mathematically incoherent.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    Fishing said:

    Leon said:

    Another lovely antique newspaper rack

    https://ebay.us/m/516hPl

    £1000

    And another vintage waste paper bin

    https://ebay.us/m/pg4c6l

    £1200

    Who the fuck is buying this? Is there really a secret thriving market for vintage waste paper bins with slightly kitsch aesthetics? Perhaps there is

    But that doesn’t explain the vintage decanters. EBay is overwhelmed with glass decanters. Vintage or antique. They are out of fashion and a hassle to clean and people don’t want them. So you can buy nice examples for £30 or £60

    Yet this company is apparently and successfully selling them for £500

    Money laundering??!

    A key characteristic of money laundering is overpaying for something.
    So you mean all the anti-money laundering crap we all have to deal with just inconveniences honest people and provides lots of employment for pointless busybodies while crooks find easy ways around it?

    I'm SHOCKED. SHOCKED I tell you.
    It's not crap, my day job is spent dealing with OFSI.

    It's very sophisticated, up until the adventure in Iran, the Russians were trying to sell whatever they had to raise money for Putin and we were catching them.

    You're pro-Putin if you're against AML.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 17,602

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    People use decanter to hide the fact that they are offering cheap spirits from Lidl to their guests.

    Not as bad as filling an old single malt bottle with Bells, mind.
    My parents' generation had a whole range of items for presenting food that I don't own. Butter dish. Toast rack. Cream jug. Milk jug. Specific jar for dried pasta. I wonder what has changed that these items have fallen out of curculation.
    Also, normal plates/cutlery and another set for special occasions.
    Maybe it's the demise of the dinner party.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
    HMRC are onto it now mind.

    Still,I’m planning to flog lots of stuff this summer and declutter the loft.

    Now I have all of my DVDs on my strapons and backed up I can flog the ones worth stuff. Same with my Dr Who books.
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 2,331

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    I can talk about crystal glass with a degree of knowledge, with the past 2 generations of my family racking up 70 years of loyal service with Royal Brierley Crystal.

    I've inherited stacks of nice pieces.

    In the UK you can't give it away, especially around the Stourbridge area where Royal Brierley, Stuarts and Corbett Crystal fought like cat and dog to collar markets at home and around the globe.

    The Japanese and Yanks will pay firtunes for it.

    I found Royal Brierley in a top Jewelers on 5th Avenue on the top floor where you had to buzz to get let in about 20 years ago selling decanter sets for $5000, they were what we'd call "seconds" slight imperfections... I was trained by grandparent to look for imperfections from a young age, he started in the furnace at 14 and did his last shift taking coach visitors round at 84. The Williams-Thomas family were wonderful to him.

    Believe me no one should be paying 500 quid for any crystal in the UK. There is so much of it hoarded away.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    Would be interesting to see the fifference between asking prices and actual offers accepted.

    I was a very early adopter of eBay, great adrenaline rush when you waited till the last minute to put your bid in. The auction side seems to have gone by the board and eBay has pretty much adopted the Vinted model for buying and selling. Must say it's gone a bit rubbish for the stuff I'm interested in, everyone knows the value of everything now, not many bargains to be had.

    Not to add to your addictions but Vinted is not bad for nicknacks and small collectibles.
    There are still tons of bargains. In terms of quality for price. But that’s true of the whole market. No one wants old stuff

    I recently bought an absolutely stunning Spode plate - simply gorgeous and pristine - and 200 years old - for £9

    Mediocre factory made banal white John Lewis plates cost more
    They definitely want old clothes, particularly any with a military bent. I recently sold a 1943 British camo smock on ebay, starting at £1000 and 28 watchers but no bids, then one of the watchers offered £850, bob's your uncle. Think he was a dealer and no doubt moved it on for a profit. This was bought in a charity shop for £11, price label still on (removed it just in case the buyer got miffed).
    Vintage soccer tops go for a decent sum too.

    There’s a shop in Durham that sells them. Recently opened. I had a mooch the other day.

    My mate Baker collects Birmingham City ones.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Harris didn't even campaign on Biden's successful industrial investments.

    Instead she allowed Trump to say they had failed.
    That was one of Bidens big successes too.

    Time will judge Biden very kindly, not just because Trump47 is such a clusterfuck.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 56,962
    HYUFD said:

    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Certainly the more charismatic candidate almost always wins US presidential elections and indeed national elections in most nations now.

    Harris was always a no 2, a dull but reasonably competent deputy never an inspiring charismatic leader with a clear sense of direction and agenda
    Starmer is many things, but charismatic?

    There is a certain circularity to this sort of claim. What is charisma apart from the sheen of success? So we see Johnson 2019, Corbyn 2017, Cameron 2010 and Blair 1997 as charismatic, but is that why they did well, or was it because they did well that people were attracted to them and call it charismatic?

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591
    Taz said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
    HMRC are onto it now mind.

    Still,I’m planning to flog lots of stuff this summer and declutter the loft.

    Now I have all of my DVDs on my strapons and backed up I can flog the ones worth stuff. Same with my Dr Who books.
    Was that hard?
  • welshowlwelshowl Posts: 4,523
    edited April 11

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Does anyone have figures as to how much this would save in the real world?

    I assume by “ditching” what is meant is revert to it going up with just inflation (as was the case 1979 - the Coalition)? Or is it actually meant as no rises at all (which would impoverish many quickly)?

    Any numbers anyone? Because if defence goes from 2.5 to 3.5% quickly that’s about £20-25bn to find I guess.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 17,602
    FPT:
    IanB2 said:

    Cookie said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kemi making gains amongst centrist swing voters who dislike both the Greens and Reform and who voted Conservative in 2019 but switched to Labour in 2024 a new Ashcroft poll finds.

    'We will use the term “Centrists” to describe people who are rejecters of both the Greens and of Reform. Currently, just 7 per cent of the population fall into this category – at a time when all politicians have negative approval ratings, this may seem a surprisingly small group (even in the context of a fragmented electorate and opinion polls often showing all parties below 30 per cent). Yet when the two blocs form the only likely basis for a governing coalition after the next election (whether that is by a party cannibalising the vote in its respective bloc to win a majority, or the formation of a coalition government between parties within a bloc), a group of voters who reject the insurgent party in both the left bloc and the right bloc make the situation more complex.



    What do we know about the Centrist? Among those who are likely to vote at the next election, 42 per cent intend to back the Conservatives, compared with 29 per cent for Labour and 14 per cent Lib Dem. At the 2024 general election, Labour received 40 per cent of the vote among this group, with the Tories on 35 per cent and the Lib Dems 17 per cent. In 2019, the Conservatives took nearly half of their vote (47 per cent); Labour managed just 28 per cent, and the Lib Dems 16 per cent. In other words, the Conservatives have nearly recovered to their 2019 levels of support among centrists, whereas Labour have fallen back to their 2019 performance.'

    https://conservativehome.com/2026/04/10/lord-ashcroft-my-latest-polling-the-crucial-centrists-who-reject-both-reform-and-the-greens/

    Is that really true - only 7% reject both the extreme left AND the extreme right? 93% are willing to consider either Ref, or Green, or both?
    The emergence of mainstream forces to the left of Labour and to the right of the Tories make both those latter parties more acceptable to moderate voters repelled by the extremes; although both Tory and Labour Party retain individual politicians with views that many would still see as extreme, their leverage within their own parties is now hugely diminished, with pressure on the two larger parties coming through the political system as voters dally with the more radical options now on offer.
    Thanks @IanB2 - I agree, but that wasn't really my point: I'm more amazed that only 3% reject both the extreme left and the extreme right. 20 years ago, those figures were reversed - 97% would reject both, particularly with their repeated embarassing candidates.

    I have a theory that Reform have led to the Greens. People are so cross about the existence of Reform that they vote for the party which is the most anti-Reform, cheerfully overlooking all the insanity of the Green party.

    Which, bringing me back to this thread, is my fear for the Dems in 2028: they will be so angry about Trump that they vote for the candidate who is angriest about Trump, rather than the one who opposes Trump the most sanely.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 37,472
    My father had a decanter which, I think, he bought as an 'investment' back in the seventies. He left it to one of his nephews who was supposed to 'know about these things' and thought highly of it. When the nephew died he left it to me, and it was carefully brought, from Devon, to me, in Essex, by his daughter about ten years ago
    I did an internet search and found that it was worth at most about £30.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    People use decanter to hide the fact that they are offering cheap spirits from Lidl to their guests.

    Not as bad as filling an old single malt bottle with Bells, mind.
    My parents' generation had a whole range of items for presenting food that I don't own. Butter dish. Toast rack. Cream jug. Milk jug. Specific jar for dried pasta. I wonder what has changed that these items have fallen out of curculation.
    Also, normal plates/cutlery and another set for special occasions.
    Maybe it's the demise of the dinner party.
    We have dried jars for rice, pasta, couscous and bulgur wheat

    We also,have a milk jug as when I’m make my wife’s breakfast, if it’s Weetabix or granola, I am not allowed to put the milk on as I do it wrong 🤔
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478
    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
    HMRC are onto it now mind.

    Still,I’m planning to flog lots of stuff this summer and declutter the loft.

    Now I have all of my DVDs on my strapons and backed up I can flog the ones worth stuff. Same with my Dr Who books.
    Was that hard?
    It is indeed a Hard Drive.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 128,770
    Even Radiohead hate themselves

    The Top 10: Artists begrudging the creation that made them famous

    4. Radiohead and “Creep”. The band eventually refused to play it and Thom Yorke told a Montreal audience demanding it: “We’re tired of it.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sherlock-holmes-top-10-artists-creation-famous-b1828480.html
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 63,717
    Leon said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    There are a lot of chancers on eBay - people offering items that are obviously over-priced, for anyone in the know, but waiting for some numpty or person for whom cost is no object to click on 'buy it now'. For example, the various commemorative coins and sovereigns issued for late 20th century events such as the coronation, wedding of Charles & Di, etc, typically sell for just a small amount higher than their face value - because so many families have them, and the market is flooded as our parent's generation dies off and we children think they might be worth something. Yet you'll find people offering them 'buy it now' for some three figure £, presumably hoping for some dumb American who thinks it's a valuable collectors item and doesn't trouble to do a proper search. Since ebay is as good as free until you actually sell something, I guess this type of activity pays off if people have the time for it.

    Alternative explanations for obviously over-priced listings include those where prices are set algorithmically depending on availability, and instances where someone selling a continual supply of something bumps up the price to an obviously absurd figure while they're out of stock, to avoid losing the listing and then having to create one afresh when stock resumes.
    Interesting thanks

    It did occur to me that this could all be done by bots, and all you need is 1 in 10,000 browsers to bite, and buy your “antique newspaper stand” for £1200 and you’ve made a lovely profit compared to effort

    Some of the items are utterly hilarious, with hideous 1990s vases from Tesco acquiring “a compelling patina of age”
    The other thing that happens is building what appears to be a large business (to the buyer) on EBay. People trust a large business more.

    The actual items that are real and available are the reasonably priced items.

    The others aren’t really there. If one actually sells, the seller either tells the buyer it’s no longer available or buys something to send.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 137,034
    edited April 11
    Foxy said:

    HYUFD said:

    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Certainly the more charismatic candidate almost always wins US presidential elections and indeed national elections in most nations now.

    Harris was always a no 2, a dull but reasonably competent deputy never an inspiring charismatic leader with a clear sense of direction and agenda
    Starmer is many things, but charismatic?

    There is a certain circularity to this sort of claim. What is charisma apart from the sheen of success? So we see Johnson 2019, Corbyn 2017, Cameron 2010 and Blair 1997 as charismatic, but is that why they did well, or was it because they did well that people were attracted to them and call it charismatic?

    Sunak wasn't very charismatic either and the election of 2024 was after over a decade of the Tories in power.

    The above you mentioned had charisma even before winning
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Taz said:

    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
    Because it is absurd and mathematically incoherent.
    And the ever burgeoning benefits bill isn’t 🤔
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 5,549
    Taz said:

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    People use decanter to hide the fact that they are offering cheap spirits from Lidl to their guests.

    Not as bad as filling an old single malt bottle with Bells, mind.
    My parents' generation had a whole range of items for presenting food that I don't own. Butter dish. Toast rack. Cream jug. Milk jug. Specific jar for dried pasta. I wonder what has changed that these items have fallen out of curculation.
    Also, normal plates/cutlery and another set for special occasions.
    Maybe it's the demise of the dinner party.
    We have dried jars for rice, pasta, couscous and bulgur wheat

    We also,have a milk jug as when I’m make my wife’s breakfast, if it’s Weetabix or granola, I am not allowed to put the milk on as I do it wrong 🤔
    Sounds familiar
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Even Radiohead hate themselves

    The Top 10: Artists begrudging the creation that made them famous

    4. Radiohead and “Creep”. The band eventually refused to play it and Thom Yorke told a Montreal audience demanding it: “We’re tired of it.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sherlock-holmes-top-10-artists-creation-famous-b1828480.html

    Reminds me of this cracking Big Train sketch

    https://youtu.be/p1YNEtaHbzA?si=CzAj4vKz8gxD3315
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 91,964
    Ukraine expands anti-drone defenses, installing protective netting over 25+ km of key roads in Donetsk at a pace of 1 km per day; 371 km of such structures have already been deployed across seven regions in 2026.

    https://x.com/NOELreports/status/2042705020626309479?s=20

    Can we get these lads on HS2 job?
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 2,331
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    HYUFD said:

    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Certainly the more charismatic candidate almost always wins US presidential elections and indeed national elections in most nations now.

    Harris was always a no 2, a dull but reasonably competent deputy never an inspiring charismatic leader with a clear sense of direction and agenda
    Starmer is many things, but charismatic?

    There is a certain circularity to this sort of claim. What is charisma apart from the sheen of success? So we see Johnson 2019, Corbyn 2017, Cameron 2010 and Blair 1997 as charismatic, but is that why they did well, or was it because they did well that people were attracted to them and call it charismatic?

    Sunak wasn't very charismatic either and the election of 2024 was after over a decade of the Tories in power.

    The above you mentioned had charisma even before winning
    Whether you agree with their political views or not, there is a degree of charisma about

    Farage, who can be charming and self effacing on occasions.

    Rhuan the PC guy with his chiseled features

    Starmer nope
    Badenoch nope
    Davey nope
    Polanski nope needs a good dentist!



  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 91,964
    edited April 11

    Even Radiohead hate themselves

    The Top 10: Artists begrudging the creation that made them famous

    4. Radiohead and “Creep”. The band eventually refused to play it and Thom Yorke told a Montreal audience demanding it: “We’re tired of it.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sherlock-holmes-top-10-artists-creation-famous-b1828480.html

    I always think it must become quite torturous for big bands who keep going for a long time. 30 years of gigs and your audience demands 3-4 of the tracks must be certain ones, every single gig.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 5,549
    Brixian59 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    I can talk about crystal glass with a degree of knowledge, with the past 2 generations of my family racking up 70 years of loyal service with Royal Brierley Crystal.

    I've inherited stacks of nice pieces.

    In the UK you can't give it away, especially around the Stourbridge area where Royal Brierley, Stuarts and Corbett Crystal fought like cat and dog to collar markets at home and around the globe.

    The Japanese and Yanks will pay firtunes for it.

    I found Royal Brierley in a top Jewelers on 5th Avenue on the top floor where you had to buzz to get let in about 20 years ago selling decanter sets for $5000, they were what we'd call "seconds" slight imperfections... I was trained by grandparent to look for imperfections from a young age, he started in the furnace at 14 and did his last shift taking coach visitors round at 84. The Williams-Thomas family were wonderful to him.

    Believe me no one should be paying 500 quid for any crystal in the UK. There is so much of it hoarded away.
    It's the same with Wedgwood plates. I used to work for them and accumulated a lot of kutani crane in my younger years. I can't give it away now.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 79,591
    Taz said:

    ydoethur said:

    Taz said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
    HMRC are onto it now mind.

    Still,I’m planning to flog lots of stuff this summer and declutter the loft.

    Now I have all of my DVDs on my strapons and backed up I can flog the ones worth stuff. Same with my Dr Who books.
    Was that hard?
    It is indeed a Hard Drive.
    Is it compatible with soft ware?
  • maxhmaxh Posts: 2,039
    Taz said:

    Foxy said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    I have a friend who regularly buys stuff at car boots etc that he sees are listed for large sums on eBay and asserts that said items are worth that. They are not. Simply being listed at x pounds does not equal being sold for that. I suspect some sellers are happy to have vastly inflated priced goods for an eternity on the off chance some idiot buys it, while most wouldn’t.
    Of course it could be money laundering but it’s surely easer to open the fifth Turkish barbers on the high street.
    My dad ran a business on ebay for some years, specialising in old cameras, stereos and jazz records. A lot of it would be considered trash by most people, for example old promotional literature for midrange Japanese cameras of the Seventies, but it always sold. Once he bought up a few crates of old reel to reel tape, but it all sold. Indeed he was the only seller of it for a while.

    You can sell anything if you can find a buyer, and the internet is perfect for that. The real benefit though is clearing out the clutter rather than gathering more.
    HMRC are onto it now mind.

    Still,I’m planning to flog lots of stuff this summer and declutter the loft.

    Now I have all of my DVDs on my strapons and backed up I can flog the ones worth stuff. Same with my Dr Who books.
    DVDs of my strapons surely?

    #pb pedantry
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 56,962
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    HYUFD said:

    Fishing said:

    FF43 said:

    The Democrats can do better.

    Harris has had her run at it. She should have been president instead of Trump. I don't even think she did badly in the campaign, which was a lot closer than people think or Trump pretends it was, and closer than Biden's win in 2020. But we are where we are.

    Harris was a terrible candidate. The lesson from American presidential elections is that the better bullshitter wins, and Harris was really bad at that essential skill, whereas Trump can churn it out by the ton. She couldn't bullshit on stage successfully, which was second nature to Kennedy, Obama or Clinton, or for that matter George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    But even given that, Harris did badly. She never really articulated why she wanted to be President, other than to continue Biden's policies; she failed completely to engage with new media, and she didn't have any answers to the two key issues of the campaign: soaring prices and the southern border.

    She should have won convincingly against her convicted felon opponent with his record, lack of grasp of policy and poor record from his first term, but she didn't, and, as you say, we are where we are.
    Certainly the more charismatic candidate almost always wins US presidential elections and indeed national elections in most nations now.

    Harris was always a no 2, a dull but reasonably competent deputy never an inspiring charismatic leader with a clear sense of direction and agenda
    Starmer is many things, but charismatic?

    There is a certain circularity to this sort of claim. What is charisma apart from the sheen of success? So we see Johnson 2019, Corbyn 2017, Cameron 2010 and Blair 1997 as charismatic, but is that why they did well, or was it because they did well that people were attracted to them and call it charismatic?

    Sunak wasn't very charismatic either and it was over a decade of the Tories in power.

    The above you mentioned had charisma even before winning
    In all cases that charisma broke down into hubris then nemesis.

    The question for political punters is how useful this is to betting. Is Farage now looking increasingly dog-eared and shop soiled? Can Polanski convert his charisma into a commanding national platform? Is Swinney really charismatic, or just the best of a bad field? Does Badenoch have charisma or just a doomscrolling addiction?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 89,936
    FF43 said:

    Nigelb said:

    An absolutely inexplicable puzzle as to why this President would spend US money trying to buy an election for the most corrupt and pro-Russian leader in Europe.

    Trump: “My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/2042704252032946282

    I just can't come up with an explanation.

    It's a very good question. Maybe Trump likes Orbán. He's a symbol and an example to follow for the populist right internationally. Farage is a big fan. It should give anyone thinking voting for Farage - but won't of course - why Farage is so embedded with Europe's most corrupt and pro-Russian leader
    I think you missed the heavy slice of irony in the question.
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 2,331

    Even Radiohead hate themselves

    The Top 10: Artists begrudging the creation that made them famous

    4. Radiohead and “Creep”. The band eventually refused to play it and Thom Yorke told a Montreal audience demanding it: “We’re tired of it.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sherlock-holmes-top-10-artists-creation-famous-b1828480.html

    I always think it must become quite torturous for big bands who keep going for a long time. 30 years of gigs and your audience demands 3-4 of the tracks must be certain ones, every single gig.
    Robert Plant hates Stairway To Heaven and flatly refused to sing it for many years.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 8,984

    Even Radiohead hate themselves

    The Top 10: Artists begrudging the creation that made them famous

    4. Radiohead and “Creep”. The band eventually refused to play it and Thom Yorke told a Montreal audience demanding it: “We’re tired of it.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sherlock-holmes-top-10-artists-creation-famous-b1828480.html

    I always think it must become quite torturous for big bands who keep going for a long time. 30 years of gigs and your audience demands 3-4 of the tracks must be certain ones, every single gig.
    They were speaking to Peter Hook from New Order and Graham Coxon from Blur on Today yesterday about this in light of the Pet Shop Boys doing a series of shows with B-sides and oddities only.

    Both musicians said there is always a tension between those fans who know every song and don’t care which ones they here really, those who have come to hear the latest album, and those who know three big hits and only care about those songs.

    I’ve always found the Cure choose a great set list balancing the songs big fans love, the greatest hits people all know and new music. Can’t be easy.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 66,711
    Taz said:

    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
    That should be done too, but there's no cut. Pensions would still go up each year with earnings.

    It would assure the country continues to be solvent and stable.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 28,081
    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
    Because it is absurd and mathematically incoherent.
    And the ever burgeoning benefits bill isn’t 🤔
    Govts and parties havent committed to an endless ever increasing share of GDP going to anything else, apart from state pensions. Other planned increases like we have seen on health recently, and defence in the future have end points whether time or % share.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 56,962

    Brixian59 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I have an interesting puzzle for PB brainiacs to resolve. I’ve become addicted to eBay - I love just browsing the mad stuff people sell (and also the really cheap lovely antique stuff)

    I’ve come across a company called London Fine Antiques. They seem to be legitimate. They have a a proper quality website and phone numbers, they’re based in Devon. They get good ratings and feedback, and seem to have lots of eager buyers

    But the stuff they sell is insanely overpriced. Look here. A very generic cut glass vase. 1970s maybe. Should be £20 in a car boot sale at most

    https://ebay.us/m/j56u7e

    £366

    Here’s an antique newspaper rack. Should be about £50 at most. Who really wants this stuff? It’s £895

    It’s of these items have likes. People eager to buy. Here’s a favourite

    A fake book bin. They’re not even pretending these are real books. It’s a moulded plastic wastepaper basket made to look like books. Yet it has seven watchers. Who is really out there thinking “I need a £500 fake book wastepaper basket and I’d better act fast because seven other people want it too”

    Is the whole thing a hoax, a scam, conceptual art? Are all the buyers imaginary? The blurbs are hilarious. This is for the bin:



    “This is a vintage library waste bin. An English, composite leather effect book basket, dating to the late 20th century, circa 1980.

    Fascinating book form to this distinctive bin - ideal for a home library
    Displays a desirable aged patina throughout
    Crafted from composite with bound book motif
    Replicating a leather spine, each book reads 'Royal Academy Pictures'
    Dressed to the base with a protective textile base”

    https://ebay.us/m/x65Q80


    All yours for five hundred quid

    As sent up by Harry Enfield in the "I saw you coming" sketches. Which were getting on for twenty years ago. Ruddy Hell.

    But it's also a bijou example of a wider question. In large chunks of the West, some of us have more money than we know how to usefully spend. Whereas lots of other people don't.

    I know the economic theory behind why this is so, I acknowledge the possibility that alternative models would be worse... But it doesn't make for a good society.
    But this example is so extreme it just doesn’t make sense even within that context. Why buy a 1970s glass decanter for £500 when literally 30 seconds of browsing will show you ten more, easily as good, for £50?
    Mugs, that's who. But you only need to find one mug somewhere in the world to be quids in. After all, if it's listed at £500, it must be valuable...

    Then again, who uses decanters any more? When Mrs Romford and I got married, we did the classic wedding list, and so there are a couple of nice decanters in the cupboard with the nice glassware. We haven't used them in 20 years, and I can't imagine circumstances where we would.
    I can talk about crystal glass with a degree of knowledge, with the past 2 generations of my family racking up 70 years of loyal service with Royal Brierley Crystal.

    I've inherited stacks of nice pieces.

    In the UK you can't give it away, especially around the Stourbridge area where Royal Brierley, Stuarts and Corbett Crystal fought like cat and dog to collar markets at home and around the globe.

    The Japanese and Yanks will pay firtunes for it.

    I found Royal Brierley in a top Jewelers on 5th Avenue on the top floor where you had to buzz to get let in about 20 years ago selling decanter sets for $5000, they were what we'd call "seconds" slight imperfections... I was trained by grandparent to look for imperfections from a young age, he started in the furnace at 14 and did his last shift taking coach visitors round at 84. The Williams-Thomas family were wonderful to him.

    Believe me no one should be paying 500 quid for any crystal in the UK. There is so much of it hoarded away.
    It's the same with Wedgwood plates. I used to work for them and accumulated a lot of kutani crane in my younger years. I can't give it away now.
    I have a lovely set of Wedgewood Columbia 595, given as a wedding present. It hasn't been out of the sideboard for over a decade.

    I think it still sellable in the USA, but no one wants that sort of "best china" any more here.
  • TazTaz Posts: 28,478

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    malcolmg said:

    So Starmer is to increase defence spending more quickly.

    Which will require tax rises.

    Or instead why don’t we ditch the triple lock.

    Another arsehole who would beggar pensioners to enrich themselves.
    It’s always cut the triple lock. It’s never tax benefits as income or reduce the rate of increase of benefits. Up 6.4% this year.
    Because it is absurd and mathematically incoherent.
    And the ever burgeoning benefits bill isn’t 🤔
    Govts and parties havent committed to an endless ever increasing share of GDP going to anything else, apart from state pensions. Other planned increases like we have seen on health recently, and defence in the future have end points whether time or % share.
    Yet when this govt wanted to slow the rate of growth of the benefits bill, not cut it just slow it, it couldn’t do it.

    It should absolutely be up for discussion too.
This discussion has been closed.