Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
And on the other end, we can help take care of the top of the population pyramid by legalising all drugs for the over 70s.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Congratulations, and that name is just trying a bit too hard.
It'd be like me declaring a fatwa and launching a intifada against this site and calling my next son Mike Robert TSE Royale.
Short price for the first criticism of choice of name!
Yeah, but I mean COME ON.
"Lilibet" Diana?
I wish the kid all the best, but it's nauseating.
Absolutely, because no parent has ever named their sprog after family members.
I mean the Queen has the same name as her mother.
Nice idea from them, but I don’t like nicknames as the official name for kids really. Elizabeth known as ‘Lilibet’ would have been nicer, but then again maybe that’s just me being old fashioned.
Who cares what the Queen is called in private? Who cares what anyone is called in private? The determination to peek inside one family’s life is completely bizarre.
I've always felt that M'lud with a doff of the cap was acceptable to the 'My Lord' I usually would require.
Harry really needs to stop this crap or do a DNA test.
The obsession with one family you have never met is beyond bizarre.
For me the benchmark for bizarre is not only running a sockpuppet on pb, but actually having conversations with it. To each his own.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
- He might not have. Plausible the video is faked for a prank. - Loyalty test. Whether to deny that they were worn backwards, or to start doing likewise, uncertain at this point. - Distraction and/or desperate attempt to gain attention. - He's actually lost his marbles in basic day-to-day functional ways, but no-one in his inner circle can correct such a mistake, because he's unwilling to admit to it, or they didn't get to be in the inner circle by pointing out embarrassing things.
I incline to number 2. That's on brand for your mischievous depot types.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
If you have an increasing number of old people, with diminishing numbers of young ones, then you have big problems. (See Italy and Japan for the clearest examples.)
Congratulations, and that name is just trying a bit too hard.
It'd be like me declaring a fatwa and launching a intifada against this site and calling my next son Mike Robert TSE Royale.
Short price for the first criticism of choice of name!
Yeah, but I mean COME ON.
"Lilibet" Diana?
I wish the kid all the best, but it's nauseating.
Absolutely, because no parent has ever named their sprog after family members.
I mean the Queen has the same name as her mother.
Nice idea from them, but I don’t like nicknames as the official name for kids really. Elizabeth known as ‘Lilibet’ would have been nicer, but then again maybe that’s just me being old fashioned.
Who cares what the Queen is called in private? Who cares what anyone is called in private? The determination to peek inside one family’s life is completely bizarre.
I've always felt that M'lud with a doff of the cap was acceptable to the 'My Lord' I usually would require.
Harry really needs to stop this crap or do a DNA test.
The obsession with one family you have never met is beyond bizarre.
For me the benchmark for bizarre is not only running a sockpuppet on pb, but actually having conversations with it. To each his own.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
If you have an increasing number of old people, with diminishing numbers of young ones, then you have big problems. (See Italy and Japan for the clearest examples.)
Irrelevant. The OP referred to a shrinking population, which we aren't projected to have. It said nothing about the age distribution of that population.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Interesting idea. Globally though, we don't really want population growth.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
And, send them all on all-inclusive party weekends to Cardiff.
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Congratulations, and that name is just trying a bit too hard.
It'd be like me declaring a fatwa and launching a intifada against this site and calling my next son Mike Robert TSE Royale.
Short price for the first criticism of choice of name!
Yeah, but I mean COME ON.
"Lilibet" Diana?
I wish the kid all the best, but it's nauseating.
Absolutely, because no parent has ever named their sprog after family members.
I mean the Queen has the same name as her mother.
Nice idea from them, but I don’t like nicknames as the official name for kids really. Elizabeth known as ‘Lilibet’ would have been nicer, but then again maybe that’s just me being old fashioned.
Who cares what the Queen is called in private? Who cares what anyone is called in private? The determination to peek inside one family’s life is completely bizarre.
I've always felt that M'lud with a doff of the cap was acceptable to the 'My Lord' I usually would require.
Harry really needs to stop this crap or do a DNA test.
The obsession with one family you have never met is beyond bizarre.
When you say obsession then you'd suggest I've posted about them before I presume?
Try to find an example.
Turns out there are none. Hang your head.
It'd have been so easy to apologise, but you choose to run away. @Anabobazina - shabby.
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
“The programme is constructed to ratchet up compliance; organizations compete with each other to display greater obedience to Stonewall’s demands, & every year the demands become more onerous”
A damning assessment of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Surely assumptions on immigration depend on whether open-door Labour forms a government again before 2050?
Cheddar Cheese, Apple Crumble, Coronation Chicken, Mrs King’s Pork Pies, Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches, Stilton, Cumberland Sausage, Marmalade, Dover Sole, Clotted Cream and Jam Scones, Haggis, Stout, Rhubarb and Custard, Chips, Chips, Chips, Bakewell Tart etc etc etc etc
Obviously we cannot compete with French, Italian and Japanese which are all God Tier.
It is still not possible to dine “serendipitously” outside of London, like it is in France.
Good list, but I'm not sure how much you've travelled outside of London recently?
The food in Hampshire is very good to phenomenal in most places - it has to be, or they'd close - and that's also the case in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
I wonder if there's a strange symbiosis going on here with the smoking ban and change in attitudes to drink-driving here - good food is almost the only way rural hostelries can now survive.
Local knowledge helps. It is fairly easy to eat badly and expensively in most of England, and well at more reasonable places nearby.
A lot depends on what you consider good food. Nearly everything in the header is unhealthy, full of fat, refined carbs and hardly any vegetables. While pretty much all can be part of a healthy diet, in practice they are mostly part of a nutritional wasteland of a diet.
Saturated fat, e.g. cheese & butter from grass-fed animals, is in reasonable amounts extremely good for health. It raises HDL cholesterol = a good thing. The French and Swiss have the highest sat. fat consumption in Europe, I think and statistically have good health.
The UK and US govts and medical professions have given people the opposite advice for >40 years - the so-called 'food pyramid'. The UK has an apparent epidemic - one is tempted to say 'pandemic' - of type 2 diabetes.
The Anglosphere, with semi-junk food diets, has appalling overweight and obesity figures. Western Europe (i.e. other than the UK) and the Far East do quite well.
Yes, and the Dutch have a traditional diet that on the face of it is full of saturated fat and carbs. They make up for it by doing a lot of cycling so are amongst the slimmest of Europeans.
So it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you exercise is what you're saying?
It certainly makes a great difference to weight.
The calorie intake of the average Briton is lower than in the Sixties, yet we are as a nation much fatter. The exercise of daily life is the big difference.
The thin people that you see with junk food are the Deliveroo cyclists...
The other thing is presumably central heating. We no longer need to keep warm in the winter.
What you need is a house where you get ice on the inside of windows during winter......
Yes I had one of those as a student. In Newcastle. Don't think I'm hard enough any more. We did have a real fire in the living room though, with a back boiler, so loads of hot baths.
My first year student room had the opposite problem. It was so heated that you couldn't wear a light pullover without it being drenched in sweat quite quickly. I always felt drowsy in it. One of my friends nicknamed it "Hawaii".
My wife will buy it, unseen....
Good luck to her, not sure how she would come with the bar staff taking deliveries, smoking outside and talking loudly from 6 am though.
Cheddar Cheese, Apple Crumble, Coronation Chicken, Mrs King’s Pork Pies, Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches, Stilton, Cumberland Sausage, Marmalade, Dover Sole, Clotted Cream and Jam Scones, Haggis, Stout, Rhubarb and Custard, Chips, Chips, Chips, Bakewell Tart etc etc etc etc
Obviously we cannot compete with French, Italian and Japanese which are all God Tier.
It is still not possible to dine “serendipitously” outside of London, like it is in France.
Good list, but I'm not sure how much you've travelled outside of London recently?
The food in Hampshire is very good to phenomenal in most places - it has to be, or they'd close - and that's also the case in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
I wonder if there's a strange symbiosis going on here with the smoking ban and change in attitudes to drink-driving here - good food is almost the only way rural hostelries can now survive.
Local knowledge helps. It is fairly easy to eat badly and expensively in most of England, and well at more reasonable places nearby.
A lot depends on what you consider good food. Nearly everything in the header is unhealthy, full of fat, refined carbs and hardly any vegetables. While pretty much all can be part of a healthy diet, in practice they are mostly part of a nutritional wasteland of a diet.
Saturated fat, e.g. cheese & butter from grass-fed animals, is in reasonable amounts extremely good for health. It raises HDL cholesterol = a good thing. The French and Swiss have the highest sat. fat consumption in Europe, I think and statistically have good health.
The UK and US govts and medical professions have given people the opposite advice for >40 years - the so-called 'food pyramid'. The UK has an apparent epidemic - one is tempted to say 'pandemic' - of type 2 diabetes.
The Anglosphere, with semi-junk food diets, has appalling overweight and obesity figures. Western Europe (i.e. other than the UK) and the Far East do quite well.
Yes, and the Dutch have a traditional diet that on the face of it is full of saturated fat and carbs. They make up for it by doing a lot of cycling so are amongst the slimmest of Europeans.
So it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you exercise is what you're saying?
It certainly makes a great difference to weight.
The calorie intake of the average Briton is lower than in the Sixties, yet we are as a nation much fatter. The exercise of daily life is the big difference.
The thin people that you see with junk food are the Deliveroo cyclists...
The other thing is presumably central heating. We no longer need to keep warm in the winter.
What you need is a house where you get ice on the inside of windows during winter......
Yes I had one of those as a student. In Newcastle. Don't think I'm hard enough any more. We did have a real fire in the living room though, with a back boiler, so loads of hot baths.
My first year student room had the opposite problem. It was so heated that you couldn't wear a light pullover without it being drenched in sweat quite quickly. I always felt drowsy in it. One of my friends nicknamed it "Hawaii".
My wife will buy it, unseen....
Good luck to her, not sure how she would come with the bar staff taking deliveries, smoking outside and talking loudly from 6 am though.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Cheddar Cheese, Apple Crumble, Coronation Chicken, Mrs King’s Pork Pies, Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches, Stilton, Cumberland Sausage, Marmalade, Dover Sole, Clotted Cream and Jam Scones, Haggis, Stout, Rhubarb and Custard, Chips, Chips, Chips, Bakewell Tart etc etc etc etc
Obviously we cannot compete with French, Italian and Japanese which are all God Tier.
It is still not possible to dine “serendipitously” outside of London, like it is in France.
Good list, but I'm not sure how much you've travelled outside of London recently?
The food in Hampshire is very good to phenomenal in most places - it has to be, or they'd close - and that's also the case in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
I wonder if there's a strange symbiosis going on here with the smoking ban and change in attitudes to drink-driving here - good food is almost the only way rural hostelries can now survive.
Local knowledge helps. It is fairly easy to eat badly and expensively in most of England, and well at more reasonable places nearby.
A lot depends on what you consider good food. Nearly everything in the header is unhealthy, full of fat, refined carbs and hardly any vegetables. While pretty much all can be part of a healthy diet, in practice they are mostly part of a nutritional wasteland of a diet.
Saturated fat, e.g. cheese & butter from grass-fed animals, is in reasonable amounts extremely good for health. It raises HDL cholesterol = a good thing. The French and Swiss have the highest sat. fat consumption in Europe, I think and statistically have good health.
The UK and US govts and medical professions have given people the opposite advice for >40 years - the so-called 'food pyramid'. The UK has an apparent epidemic - one is tempted to say 'pandemic' - of type 2 diabetes.
The Anglosphere, with semi-junk food diets, has appalling overweight and obesity figures. Western Europe (i.e. other than the UK) and the Far East do quite well.
Yes, and the Dutch have a traditional diet that on the face of it is full of saturated fat and carbs. They make up for it by doing a lot of cycling so are amongst the slimmest of Europeans.
So it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you exercise is what you're saying?
It certainly makes a great difference to weight.
The calorie intake of the average Briton is lower than in the Sixties, yet we are as a nation much fatter. The exercise of daily life is the big difference.
The thin people that you see with junk food are the Deliveroo cyclists...
The other thing is presumably central heating. We no longer need to keep warm in the winter.
What you need is a house where you get ice on the inside of windows during winter......
Yes I had one of those as a student. In Newcastle. Don't think I'm hard enough any more. We did have a real fire in the living room though, with a back boiler, so loads of hot baths.
My first year student room had the opposite problem. It was so heated that you couldn't wear a light pullover without it being drenched in sweat quite quickly. I always felt drowsy in it. One of my friends nicknamed it "Hawaii".
My wife will buy it, unseen....
Good luck to her, not sure how she would come with the bar staff taking deliveries, smoking outside and talking loudly from 6 am though.
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
FFS Somebody just name the country. It's hardly likely to sue for libel!
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
What kind of teacher doesn't know the name of every single country in the world?
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
What kind of teacher doesn't know the name of every single country in the world?
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
What kind of teacher doesn't know the name of every single country in the world?
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
What kind of teacher doesn't know the name of every single country in the world?
Cheddar Cheese, Apple Crumble, Coronation Chicken, Mrs King’s Pork Pies, Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches, Stilton, Cumberland Sausage, Marmalade, Dover Sole, Clotted Cream and Jam Scones, Haggis, Stout, Rhubarb and Custard, Chips, Chips, Chips, Bakewell Tart etc etc etc etc
Obviously we cannot compete with French, Italian and Japanese which are all God Tier.
It is still not possible to dine “serendipitously” outside of London, like it is in France.
Good list, but I'm not sure how much you've travelled outside of London recently?
The food in Hampshire is very good to phenomenal in most places - it has to be, or they'd close - and that's also the case in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
I wonder if there's a strange symbiosis going on here with the smoking ban and change in attitudes to drink-driving here - good food is almost the only way rural hostelries can now survive.
Local knowledge helps. It is fairly easy to eat badly and expensively in most of England, and well at more reasonable places nearby.
A lot depends on what you consider good food. Nearly everything in the header is unhealthy, full of fat, refined carbs and hardly any vegetables. While pretty much all can be part of a healthy diet, in practice they are mostly part of a nutritional wasteland of a diet.
Saturated fat, e.g. cheese & butter from grass-fed animals, is in reasonable amounts extremely good for health. It raises HDL cholesterol = a good thing. The French and Swiss have the highest sat. fat consumption in Europe, I think and statistically have good health.
The UK and US govts and medical professions have given people the opposite advice for >40 years - the so-called 'food pyramid'. The UK has an apparent epidemic - one is tempted to say 'pandemic' - of type 2 diabetes.
The Anglosphere, with semi-junk food diets, has appalling overweight and obesity figures. Western Europe (i.e. other than the UK) and the Far East do quite well.
Yes, and the Dutch have a traditional diet that on the face of it is full of saturated fat and carbs. They make up for it by doing a lot of cycling so are amongst the slimmest of Europeans.
So it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you exercise is what you're saying?
It certainly makes a great difference to weight.
The calorie intake of the average Briton is lower than in the Sixties, yet we are as a nation much fatter. The exercise of daily life is the big difference.
The thin people that you see with junk food are the Deliveroo cyclists...
The other thing is presumably central heating. We no longer need to keep warm in the winter.
What you need is a house where you get ice on the inside of windows during winter......
Yes I had one of those as a student. In Newcastle. Don't think I'm hard enough any more. We did have a real fire in the living room though, with a back boiler, so loads of hot baths.
My first year student room had the opposite problem. It was so heated that you couldn't wear a light pullover without it being drenched in sweat quite quickly. I always felt drowsy in it. One of my friends nicknamed it "Hawaii".
My wife will buy it, unseen....
Good luck to her, not sure how she would come with the bar staff taking deliveries, smoking outside and talking loudly from 6 am though.
Was that meant to be "cope"???
Yes. I'd like to blame autocorrect, but it was just my sloppy typing.
Anyway if she's one of those people who can sleep through anything, she'd be fine. I'm not.
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
By coincidence also the most obese country in the world? And that 90% unemployment rate sounds the worst in the world too.
I used to do an audit for a client who was the ambassador for Nauru as a sideline to his main business of farming and property development in Sevenoaks. The actual barn i worked in was the embassy (or whatever they call the official office for micro states).After doing the audit I was curious so learnt a lot about Nauru .A lot of phosphate there and Commonwealth gold weightlifters!
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
By coincidence also the most obese country in the world? And that 90% unemployment rate sounds the worst in the world too.
So there’s a third one as well?
Unless the Swiss are much fatter than I realised?
Edit - I think that time you really were talking about Nauru!
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
By coincidence also the most obese country in the world? And that 90% unemployment rate sounds the worst in the world too.
So there’s a third one as well?
Unless the Swiss are much fatter than I realised?
Edit - I think that time you really were talking about Nauru!
Yep. The country went to shit when the shit ran out...
I used to do an audit for a client who was the ambassador for Nauru as a sideline to his main business of farming and property development in Sevenoaks. The actual barn i worked in was the embassy (or whatever they call the official office for micro states).After doing the audit I was curious so learnt a lot about Nauru .A lot of phosphate there
Past tense -there WAS a lot of phosphate there, but IIRC it's run out. And the Nauruans did NOT save for when the shit (or guano if you prefer) ran out.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won a resounding victory in a state election in eastern Germany on Sunday, in a boost to Armin Laschet, who hopes to succeed her in September's national election.
An exit poll from the Saxony-Anhalt election for public broadcaster MDR had the Christian Democrats (CDU) on 36%, up more than 6 points on five years ago, and far ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who were on 22.5%, slightly down on the previous election.
Laschet, a centrist, was seen as having made an uncertain start to his election campaign and had faced calls to chart a more right-wing course to win back voters disenchanted by 16 years of compromises under Merkel.
"We have won the election," Saxony-Anhalt state premier Reiner Haseloff said after the exit polls came out. "A great majority of our citizens have said we don't want to be associated with the AfD. And for that I'm grateful."
He and other conservatives hailed the result as a tailwind for them ahead of the federal election.
"This will give us a boost for Berlin," national conservative caucus leader Ralph Brinkhaus said. "It is a victory for Armin Laschet."
The results were disappointing for most other parties, with the Greens, who are running a close second to the conservatives nationally, only in the single digits in the regional election.
"Sure, we'd like to have done better," said their candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock. The Greens are traditionally weaker in less urban eastern Germany, which is more reliant on the carbon-intensive industries that the Greens hope to phase out.
Baerbock said the conservatives had benefited from voters rallying to the incumbent out of a desire to thwart the far-right, who had been as little as one point behind the conservatives in some opinion polls. . . .
Carsten Nickel, an analyst at consultancy Teneo, said the state election result was a "much-needed boost for Laschet just as the Bundestag campaign is about to heat up".
The pro-business Free Democrats were another winner, re-entering parliament after their vote share climbed back above the 5% threshold needed to win seats.
The Social Democrats, junior partners in Merkel's ruling coalition, had a disappointing night, with their forecast vote share of 8% showing they were unable to capitalise on the popularity of Olaf Scholz, who is finance minister and their candidate for chancellor.
Haseloff conceded that forming a state government could be tricky. His ally, state legislator Siegfried Borgwardt, said the party would not join forces with the AfD or the far-left Linke, but he would not commit to any other scenarios at this stage.
Good result for the CDU who are now back in the driving seat to lead another Coalition after September's election, poor result for the Greens and AfD.
Though the CDU score will have been boosted by some centre left voters lending their vote to the CDU to beat the AfD
I used to do an audit for a client who was the ambassador for Nauru as a sideline to his main business of farming and property development in Sevenoaks. The actual barn i worked in was the embassy (or whatever they call the official office for micro states).After doing the audit I was curious so learnt a lot about Nauru .A lot of phosphate there
Past tense -there WAS a lot of phosphate there, but IIRC it's run out. And the Nauruans did NOT save for when the shit (or guano if you prefer) ran out.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Surely assumptions on immigration depend on whether open-door Labour forms a government again before 2050?
You can imagine under a Labour Government the UK Border Force would take on the role of collecting migrants from French waters and giving them a lift to Blighty.
Switzerland of course is unusual in another way - it doesn’t have a single Head of State. The Federal Council hold the office in commission.
San Marino has two heads of state - Captains General - who serve simultaneous 6-month terms.
And Andorra has two heads of state, neither of whom live in the country - the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell.
The President of France probably is not even aware ! Wheras the Bishop of Urgell probably dines out on it
I think he probably does, if only because Sarkozy tried to use his position as co-Prince to force tax reforms on them, making it quite a hot political issue
On topic, agree with most of the Top Tier apart from Fish and Chips which I am not a fan of, I prefer fresh unfried fish and chips with burgers.
I would put cauliflower cheese and Toad in the Hole higher too and am a fan of Bubble and Squeak, Scotch Eggs and Steak and Kidney Pudding which are far too low for me.
As TSE correctly states though we tend to prefer comfort fair as a people, we are never going to match the French or Italians or indeed the Japanese for the quality of our cuisine
On topic, agree with most of the Top Tier apart from Fish and Chips which I am not a fan of, I prefer fresh unfried fish and chips with burgers.
I would put cauliflower cheese and Toad in the Hole higher too and am a fan of Bubble and Squeak, Scotch Eggs and Steak and Kidney Pudding which are far too low for me.
As TSE correctly states though we tend to prefer comfort fair as a people, we are never going to match the French or Italians or indeed the Japanese for the quality of our cuisine
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Immigration is an interesting one. Because if your population pyramid inverts then you become a place that's very unattractive for young people to live.
Ever greater percentages of young peoples' paychecks are sequestered to pay for the oldies, and that means - as with both Italy and Japan - you end up with net emigration of the young and the talented.
I used to do an audit for a client who was the ambassador for Nauru as a sideline to his main business of farming and property development in Sevenoaks. The actual barn i worked in was the embassy (or whatever they call the official office for micro states).After doing the audit I was curious so learnt a lot about Nauru .A lot of phosphate there
Past tense -there WAS a lot of phosphate there, but IIRC it's run out. And the Nauruans did NOT save for when the shit (or guano if you prefer) ran out.
welll I did the audit over 25 years ago!
Well, at least you got some benefit from Nauru's natural wealth before (or rather while) it was all looted and pissed (poetic justice?) away.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
On topic, agree with most of the Top Tier apart from Fish and Chips which I am not a fan of, I prefer fresh unfried fish and chips with burgers.
I would put cauliflower cheese and Toad in the Hole higher too and am a fan of Bubble and Squeak, Scotch Eggs and Steak and Kidney Pudding which are far too low for me.
As TSE correctly states though we tend to prefer comfort fair as a people, we are never going to match the French or Italians or indeed the Japanese for the quality of our cuisine
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
You have ruined it for me now. I will only be able to be thinking that when it plays.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Immigration is an interesting one. Because if your population pyramid inverts then you become a place that's very unattractive for young people to live.
Ever greater percentages of young peoples' paychecks are sequestered to pay for the oldies, and that means - as with both Italy and Japan - you end up with net emigration of the young and the talented.
Brexit was basically a vote to invert the pyramid.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
The French system is superb: everyone in a family gets their own tax allowances (including children) and they stack. So, if you have a couple with two children, then you get 4 x €8,000 of zero tax, plus 4 x whatever the lower tax limit is etc..
The consequence is that working families instantly become quite a lot richer when they have children.
France is, as far as I know, the only country in the world where female university graduates are having babies at an above replacement rate.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
1967: England 2-3 Scotland
I remembere them ripping up the Wembley turf to take home ...
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Immigration is an interesting one. Because if your population pyramid inverts then you become a place that's very unattractive for young people to live.
Ever greater percentages of young peoples' paychecks are sequestered to pay for the oldies, and that means - as with both Italy and Japan - you end up with net emigration of the young and the talented.
I think that your tip for a year of net emigration has probably come true.
I think though that the combination of global warming and employment opportunities will keep migration from Africa going, indeed accelerating over the next couple of decades.
Ooh, trivia! Which is the only republican state in the world without an official capital?
South Africa?
Nah, it's a small town near Jo'burg. That I forget the name of.
As I recall, South Africa has three capitals with none taking precedence over the other.
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
Really?
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Assuming we are talking about the same country (and if not, the premise of your question is wrong) I hadn’t heard of it. Knew a little about both it’s neighbours, but not that one.
Now are you kidding me?
No.
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink.
Eh? Our population is expected to keep growing through 2050, by which time we could have the largest population in Europe, excluding Russia.
Due to ageing and poor assumptions on immigration.
I think the assumptions on immigration are, if anything, an underestimate. And how old people are is irrelevant to the total population, which is what you said would shrink.
Immigration is an interesting one. Because if your population pyramid inverts then you become a place that's very unattractive for young people to live.
Ever greater percentages of young peoples' paychecks are sequestered to pay for the oldies, and that means - as with both Italy and Japan - you end up with net emigration of the young and the talented.
Which is why those immigration numbers are a fantasy. Young people won't come to the UK to pay 50% of their wages to pay for old people who pissed away all their money.
Which takes me back to the original point of helicopter money to have kids and get married. Something like £50k paid over 10 years for a kid and £20k over 5 years to get married for your first three kids and first marriage.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
World in Motion was a much better Footy song in any case!
On topic, agree with most of the Top Tier apart from Fish and Chips which I am not a fan of, I prefer fresh unfried fish and chips with burgers.
I would put cauliflower cheese and Toad in the Hole higher too and am a fan of Bubble and Squeak, Scotch Eggs and Steak and Kidney Pudding which are far too low for me.
As TSE correctly states though we tend to prefer comfort fair as a people, we are never going to match the French or Italians or indeed the Japanese for the quality of our cuisine
Unfried fish with burgers?
I’ve heard of a surf and turf, but even so...
As separate meals I meant
I think you also meant that you cook the fish by a different method, rather than slapping a raw cod fillet on the plate.
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
1967: England 2-3 Scotland
Happily football doesn't have the concept of a lineal champion!
Had a great afternoon with some friends about 20 of us crammed into a tiny garden and dining room. One subject that came up was Japan (with a few of us working for various Japanese companies this isn't out of the ordinary) and their constant fight with deflation. Something that we're going to struggle with in 10-15 years as the population starts to shrink. One of the best ideas was to give couples ¥5m to have babies and ¥2m each to get married. Helicopter money to help drive population growth rather than endless money printing to fight deflation in a country where there are fewer people spending money every year. I think we're all going to need to look at odd schemes like this in the next decade or so.
Surely the simplest solution is to subsidise alcohol and bars for those in their early 20s, combined with making contraceptives harder to acquire.
That's also a good idea. Lower the drinking age to 16, more Suntory adverts and raise the age of getting condoms to 21. Instant baby boom.
Tax allowances based on your family might be a good idea (Done in France I think). We do need a higher birth rate here in the UK.
Er... why?
I think on this issue the UK is actually in the Goldilocks zone and can worry about other things like Brexit and the fact that the Euro 96 song containing the exasperated worlds of "30 years of hurt" is now "55 years of hurt" and will be 56 next year unless Southgate changes course. Also how do we win the Eurovision ever again?
Silly lyric. How were the four years between 1966 and 1970 'years of hurt' when we were reigning world champions?
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
You have ruined it for me now. I will only be able to be thinking that when it plays.
Just pretend that it was the song for the 1994 World Cup!
Comments
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/august2019
If you have an increasing number of old people, with diminishing numbers of young ones, then you have big problems. (See Italy and Japan for the clearest examples.)
Having looked it up, I will admit I would never have guessed because I’d never even heard of it.
With so many streaming services nowadays, that's a good website I use now to find out on what service any particular film or TV show is on.
(Has anyone had any success hatching a Scotsman out a of Scotch egg?)
The first shredder in the country went missing. It was supposed to shred sensitive documents. It was found in what passes for the presidential palace. The main man thought it great for making coleslaw....
Q. What is a nuclear physicist's favourite meal?
A. Fission Chips
You asked, so we watched the 90-minute speech.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-wear-pants-backwards/
I think I’ve just accidentally signed up for Prime!!
So that's settled then.....
https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/life-is-beautiful
https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/cinema-paradiso
A damning assessment of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme.
https://twitter.com/andrewdoyle_com/status/1401591340639657987?s=20
Administrative capital - Pretoria
Legislative capital - Cape Town
Judicial capital - Bloemfontein
(Something yours truly learned in the 6th grade)
Germany, Italy and France are all vaccinating at a higher rate than the UK now. Are we still supply constrained?
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations#how-many-covid-19-vaccine-doses-are-administered-daily
Which makes me think, unless you expect me to know the name of every single country in the world, that there is more than one and your original question is wrong,
I was thinking of Nauru.
@MarqueeMark was thinking of Switzerland, which does not name a capital in its constitution and instead has Berne as a ‘federal city.’
So it was a false premise:
https://garfors.com/the-two-countries-without-capitals-html/
Anyway if she's one of those people who can sleep through anything, she'd be fine. I'm not.
Wiki says that Yaren is "de facto" capital.
Unless the Swiss are much fatter than I realised?
Edit - I think that time you really were talking about Nauru!
https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-02-04/nauru-country-without-a-capital-maphead-ken-jennings
Though the CDU score will have been boosted by some centre left voters lending their vote to the CDU to beat the AfD
Oh, they do that already do they?
Lol - the absolute state of these 'protests'.
As in "Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino"
I would put cauliflower cheese and Toad in the Hole higher too and am a fan of Bubble and Squeak, Scotch Eggs and Steak and Kidney Pudding which are far too low for me.
As TSE correctly states though we tend to prefer comfort fair as a people, we are never going to match the French or Italians or indeed the Japanese for the quality of our cuisine
I’ve heard of a surf and turf, but even so...
Should have been '26 years of hurt'.
Ever greater percentages of young peoples' paychecks are sequestered to pay for the oldies, and that means - as with both Italy and Japan - you end up with net emigration of the young and the talented.
The consequence is that working families instantly become quite a lot richer when they have children.
France is, as far as I know, the only country in the world where female university graduates are having babies at an above replacement rate.
I think though that the combination of global warming and employment opportunities will keep migration from Africa going, indeed accelerating over the next couple of decades.
I don't know why I bother...
Which takes me back to the original point of helicopter money to have kids and get married. Something like £50k paid over 10 years for a kid and £20k over 5 years to get married for your first three kids and first marriage.
676,000 yesterday. Another few days of that and the numbers will start rising significantly again.
Edit: No, that's not right. Euro 2000.