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It’s all gone a bit Liz Truss – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Roger said:

    All those who dabble in the UK stock market have never had it so good. Today it's at at least a ten year high........
    Yes, but it is all relative isn't it. The UK market is still a poor performer overall compared to the US Market or a global tracker.

    Also bear in mind alot of the companies on the stock market are either international companies or make their money, or most of it, overseas. It is not purely a domestic market.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,280
    Taz said:

    Looks like the License Fee is on its last legs as Lisa Nandy rules out General Taxation to fund the BBC but says the BBC needs more money - it doesn't, it needs pruning not maintaining.

    "Ms Nandy acknowledged that a subscription model was among the options which were left after ruling out general taxation, but added: “It also leaves a whole range of options which the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has been exploring over recent years.

    “In other countries in Europe, they find different ways of raising money.

    “In France, for example, they have a levy on cinemas. I’m not committing to any of these things at this stage.”"

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/general-taxation-not-considered-to-replace-bbc-licence-fee-culture-secretary/ar-AA1xmp3K?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=605f178d3e7a483db2a7c3d6ac222ddf&ei=61

    Cinemas is a weird choice. If we want a tangential industry to part fund the license fee, we do actually have a suitable one, Premier League football. Broadcast revenues of about £4bn a year. Stick a 10% new tax on those and the Premier League would be still be the dominant league as the gap to other leagues is huge. The main impact would just be footballer salaries 10% lower (still around £3m a year for a typical Prem regular). Gives an extra £400m or 10% of the current license fee.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633

    When is the next one due?
    When Trump takes office and starts hitting the world with tariff's I'd guess.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 10,159
    Selebian said:

    There's a bizarre left/right reversal going on here*, re subsidies/tariffs versus free trade. The new right is quite different to the one I grew up with and so, it seems, is the left. I'm still somewhere in the centre, but some of my formerly left-wing positions now seem right-wing and vice-versa!

    *and elsewhere, US, for example
    It's weird how car manufacturers are treated as a special case. There wasn't this fuss over other industries being offloaded abroad.

    Perhaps it's because up until now cars were part of the highly technical, specialist manufacturing that Germany/UK etc are so good at. But now, with the advent of EVs, they are more like a TV or a laptop than ever before.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,280
    edited January 17
    Sean_F said:

    Notions of right and left change over time. The Town & Country Planning Act 1948, was considered an appalling interference with property rights by Conservatives and economic liberals at the time, yet many would now die in the ditch for the Green Belt.
    More recently several members of the Revolutionary Communist Party became a key part of Boris Johnsons Conservative? government.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,463
    edited January 17
    Taz said:

    If you don't want to be called out for being a snide twat, well, just don't be one.

    Try being courteous and civil instead.

    I said investment is going in and it is. Up here, the new factory I mentioned plus also the investment in AESC to support Nissan and other suppliers are investing. No need to respond with a shitty comment.
    TimS is one of the few civil posters still around.

    (Certainly who isn't part of the echo chamber)
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Roger said:

    TimS is one of the few civil posters still around.
    Well we can all have an off moment. I guess.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Trump rumoured to announce Sean Curran as the head of the US Secret Service.

    https://x.com/susancrabtree/status/1879992579049287922

    Curran was the lead USSS officer of Trump’s personal detail, and is the man on the right hand side of the famous photo of Trump after he was shot.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    Sandpit said:

    It would have been really easy to blame on the last lot a 2p increase in income tax rates, with the intention to abolish before the next election, which would have given headroom for major reforms in service delivery elsewhere.

    They have a huge majority, and there’s been so many issues left on the too-difficult list for too long.

    Someone needs to really grasp the mettle, to merge employee NI into income tax and simplify much of the tax code.

    Instead, a government run by the Process State guy intends to increase the cost of the bureaucracy, and appears wedded to Ed Miliband’s agenda of Net Zero no matter what the cost to the average man and woman in the street.
    It would not have been really easy to blame on the last lot a 2p increase in income tax rates. They would be being lambasted day and night by the media, opposition parties and PB commentators about how they've broken their promise. The complaints about WFA or VAT on private school fees would be nothing in comparison.

    I'd be up for a 2p increase in income tax, but the idea that the Government could have done that easily is for the birds.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Eabhal said:

    It's weird how car manufacturers are treated as a special case. There wasn't this fuss over other industries being offloaded abroad.
    There certainly was from those of us working in them, I can assure you of that, and at the time our exchange rate was crucifying manufacturing in the mid to late nineties we had our unions, campaigning for no avail, to try to help it.

    The car industry may have survived here but many of the Tier 1's went abroad as did white goods and other manufacturing, like Black and Decker, and the prevailing view across the political divide was if it is more cost effective to outsource then do so and we will gear up for the jobs of the future and as for cars, our car plants can become screwdriver facilities.

    I suspect if it was not China and the very real threat they are dumping cheap product on us to really dominate the market/put our domestic manufacturers out of business, then it would be different.

    Hence Biden's tariffs.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,235
    edited January 17
    Taz said:

    Yes, but it is all relative isn't it. The UK market is still a poor performer overall compared to the US Market or a global tracker.

    Also bear in mind alot of the companies on the stock market are either international companies or make their money, or most of it, overseas. It is not purely a domestic market.
    In a mix of tech and global - pension is up 32% from this point at 17th Jan 2024. (Contributions worth 4% of the current pot in the year)
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    Cookie said:

    I can't see it. There's a lot of voters of the stripe of Bondegezou and MexicanPete. That cohort is aging, but won't all be gone by the time of 2029. If not Lab, they need another not Tory alternative they don't hate. It's clearly not Reform. And it's going to be whoever is best placed to beat Tory or Reform. Even if the LDs or Greens were an obvious successor to the main left wing party, there are relatively few opportunitues in FPTP to take over from Lab as the left wing alternative.
    I didn't vote Labour in the general election. I've never voted Labour in a general or local election.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,396
    Scott Manley has upset the SpaceX fanbois with this:

    "Given that this is disrupting aircraft downrange, I would be wanting an investigation before I let starship fly again.

    I'd want to know what kind of debris risk we're dealing with, starship is big and designed to handle reentry.

    Is the explosion the result of a tank failure or the FTS? We might reasonably ask whether trying to destroy such a large object is the best option in an emergency or whether it's safer to let it come down in as few pieces as possible."

    https://x.com/DJSnM/status/1880036142202098017

    (The debris came down in open international airspace, with airliners around)
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    HYUFD said:

    All would likely still have lost due to cost of living, which Trump now has to deal with. Not sure his tariffs will help
    If he hits Denmark with tarriffs because he wants Greenland... well, up goes the price of Ozempic.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    edited January 17

    The right have moved from free markets managed well to drive meritocracy to crony capitalism subsidised by the state. The left seem a bit scared to change anything which comes across as not having a clue what to do.
    In the 19th century the Tories and Conservatives under Derby and for a time Disraeli were often the party of tariffs and protectionism and under Liverpool the Corn Laws and the Whigs and Liberals were the party of free trade.

    In the US too at the turn of the 20th century GOP President McKinley, Trump's hero, was heavily pro tariff and the Democrats more for free trade
  • Roger said:

    TimS is one of the few civil posters still around.

    (Certainly who isn't part of the echo chamber)
    As a rule of thumb, when one poster starts calling another names, it generally indicates that they have run out of sensible arguments. They are effectively conceding defeat.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Selebian said:

    There's a bizarre left/right reversal going on here*, re subsidies/tariffs versus free trade. The new right is quite different to the one I grew up with and so, it seems, is the left. I'm still somewhere in the centre, but some of my formerly left-wing positions now seem right-wing and vice-versa!

    *and elsewhere, US, for example
    Yes, it’s very weird that concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ have been turned upside-down in recent years.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,786

    It would not have been really easy to blame on the last lot a 2p increase in income tax rates. They would be being lambasted day and night by the media, opposition parties and PB commentators about how they've broken their promise. The complaints about WFA or VAT on private school fees would be nothing in comparison.

    I'd be up for a 2p increase in income tax, but the idea that the Government could have done that easily is for the birds.
    Quite so. If Labour had raised income tax by 2p, having promised they wouldn't, they would be languishing at under 20% in the polls as the collective outrage would have been huge.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633

    If he hits Denmark with tarriffs because he wants Greenland... well, up goes the price of Ozempic.
    Novo manufacture Ozempic in several sites in the USA already.

    So possibly not.
  • logical_songlogical_song Posts: 10,033
    Taz said:

    Yes, but it is all relative isn't it. The UK market is still a poor performer overall compared to the US Market or a global tracker.

    Also bear in mind alot of the companies on the stock market are either international companies or make their money, or most of it, overseas. It is not purely a domestic market.
    A while back I moved from Nutmeg to ii and set up some Index funds. Since then my FTSE 500 index is up 17%, my S&P 500 index is up 36%.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,854
    Sandpit said:

    Yes, it’s very weird that concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ have been turned upside-down in recent years.
    @BJO is fundamentally right about the modern centre left being Tories.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670

    Scott Manley has upset the SpaceX fanbois with this:

    "Given that this is disrupting aircraft downrange, I would be wanting an investigation before I let starship fly again.

    I'd want to know what kind of debris risk we're dealing with, starship is big and designed to handle reentry.

    Is the explosion the result of a tank failure or the FTS? We might reasonably ask whether trying to destroy such a large object is the best option in an emergency or whether it's safer to let it come down in as few pieces as possible."

    https://x.com/DJSnM/status/1880036142202098017

    (The debris came down in open international airspace, with airliners around)

    Indeed.

    We know from Elon's friend Mr Putin that just debris from a tiny drone can destroy about 6 oil refineries, 5 harbours, 4 oil rigs, 3 air bases, 2 oligarch's gin palaces, and a partridge in a pear tree.

    Heaven knows what the leftovers from a rocket could do. :smile:
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    Taz said:

    Looks like the License Fee is on its last legs as Lisa Nandy rules out General Taxation to fund the BBC but says the BBC needs more money - it doesn't, it needs pruning not maintaining.

    "Ms Nandy acknowledged that a subscription model was among the options which were left after ruling out general taxation, but added: “It also leaves a whole range of options which the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has been exploring over recent years.

    “In other countries in Europe, they find different ways of raising money.

    “In France, for example, they have a levy on cinemas. I’m not committing to any of these things at this stage.”"

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/general-taxation-not-considered-to-replace-bbc-licence-fee-culture-secretary/ar-AA1xmp3K?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=605f178d3e7a483db2a7c3d6ac222ddf&ei=61

    https://web.archive.org/web/20130904131244/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/licensefee/licensefee.htm

    "Many countries other than Great Britain, including Israel, Malta, France, the Netherlands and Jordan, have some form of license fees. Some base their fee on color television only (like Great Britain) and some on color television and radio (for example, Denmark). Two thirds of the countries in Europe, one half in Africa and Asia and 10% of those in the Americas and Caribbean rely, at least in part, on a license fee to support their television systems."
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Can this possibly be right?

    https://x.com/adamcarolla/status/1879934612119646483

    Los Angeles authorities preventing removal of fire debris without approval from some inspections agency.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    edited January 17

    I'm sure all of those things are backed up by general taxation anyway. We should just bite the bullet and merge.

    Social services would be better in NHS overview. It would Free up local authorities somewhat.
    No, we are one of the only OECD nations which funds healthcare mainly via tax rather than insurance. If we want to stop an ever bottomless pit of taxpayer funds going into the NHS (and social care too for that matter) we need to use more social insurance to fund both
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670
    Taz said:

    Novo manufacture Ozempic in several sites in the USA already.

    So possibly not.
    And potentially insulin.

    Novo Nordisk are one of the big 3. Get shares in Eli Lilly?

    Never mind Lego.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 20,177
    HYUFD said:

    No, we are one of the only OECD nations which funds healthcare mainly via tax rather than insurance. If we want to stop an ever bottomless pit of taxpayer funds going into the NHS (and social care too for that matter) we need to use more social insurance to fund both
    Are you talking about actual insurance policies rather general taxation under another name? Are you suggesting that the Government incorporates a state-owned insurance firm which everyone is obliged to fund? How quickly does that get privatised to support general government spending I wonder.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,553
    Theo Bertram
    @theobertram
    ·
    15h
    It would be a good thing if there was cross party agreement that in the long run the triple lock is unsustainable & therefore an alternative must be found. Both Torsten Bell & Kemi Badenoch seem to recognise this inescapable fact. But it's hard to see how politics will allow it.

    Theo Bertram
    @theobertram
    ·
    15h
    The same goes for social care or council tax reform. Issues where MPs privately on all sides agree something needs to be done but will stamp on their opponents' fingers the minute they touch the issue in public.

    https://x.com/theobertram
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,709
    Sandpit said:

    Can this possibly be right?

    https://x.com/adamcarolla/status/1879934612119646483

    Los Angeles authorities preventing removal of fire debris without approval from some inspections agency.

    Asbestos?

    (Carolla did earthquake rehabilitation of houses after the 1994 LA earthquake before he was in Radio, so he is not entirely being a blowhard here - he does know something of it.)
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    HYUFD said:

    No, we are one of the only OECD nations which funds healthcare mainly via tax rather than insurance. If we want to stop an ever bottomless pit of taxpayer funds going into the NHS (and social care too for that matter) we need to use more social insurance to fund both
    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29

    "There are a range of approaches to raising revenues to fund healthcare provision. These can be categorised into public and private sources of funding. These revenues are used to fund the different health financing schemes through which healthcare is accessed, such as government schemes, health insurance schemes or household spending.

    "For the UK, around four-fifths (79%) of health expenditure is paid for through public revenues, mainly taxation. This is one of the highest shares of publicly funded healthcare out of the 25 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with comparable data. Several Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland) have larger shares of publicly funded healthcare and, like the UK, operate predominantly tax-funded healthcare systems (see European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies). Japan and Luxembourg are the only countries with a higher share of public revenues that operate primarily insurance-based health systems.

    "Public revenues cover the bulk of healthcare financing in most countries. Switzerland is the only OECD country, for which data are available, where the share of public healthcare funding is less than private funding. This is due to Switzerland operating a healthcare system where private health insurance is mandatory for citizens. Consequently, most healthcare funding comes from private insurance contributions."
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,509
    edited January 17
    Sandpit said:

    Yes, it’s very weird that concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ have been turned upside-down in recent years.
    It's because of the intellectual collapse of the statist Left following the destruction of the Soviet Union and the headlong retreat of the free-market right since the financial crisis of 2007-8. So neither left nor right have the theoretical basis they used to, and have been reduced to lowest common denominator grubbing for votes to stay in power.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,396
    Sandpit said:

    Can this possibly be right?

    https://x.com/adamcarolla/status/1879934612119646483

    Los Angeles authorities preventing removal of fire debris without approval from some inspections agency.

    The first reply states why it might be a good idea:

    "This is the same situation with every wildfire cleanup. That’s what my husband does is the cleanup. People don’t realize how toxic the debris is. They also have to contain the ash footprint, so it doesn’t get washed into the sewers, waterways, and ocean."
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226
    MattW said:

    You need lots of advice as to where to put wine factories, especially in Kent.
    Tons of free advice on whining factories on PB, though.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Pulpstar said:

    In a mix of tech and global - pension is up 32% from this point at 17th Jan 2024. (Contributions worth 4% of the current pot in the year)
    Nice one. My work pension has done well but I am more US and Global trackers so have done well but nowhere near that.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    Labour Minister attacks Badenoch on Triple Lock 'There’s being bold and there’s being plain bonkers. No-one who thinks for 5 minutes can believe means testing the state pension is a good idea - but that is what @KemiBadenoch says she’s up for'

    https://x.com/TorstenBell/status/1880022179485741267
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,832

    I didn't vote Labour in the general election. I've never voted Labour in a general or local election.
    Apologies Bondegezou - I genuinely thought you did. Can I ask who you did vote for? And is that because you favour that party/candidate above all others or because that party/candidate is best placed to beat your least favoured party/candidate?
    In my half-hearted defence, I was talking about voters like you, rather than you personally - i.e. you're probably not going to slot calmly into a Tory-Ref duopoly.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670
    Sandpit said:

    Can this possibly be right?

    https://x.com/adamcarolla/status/1879934612119646483

    Los Angeles authorities preventing removal of fire debris without approval from some inspections agency.

    Debris from burnt down houses can be full of eg asbestos, and by then it will be in a far more dangerous form.

    The EPA only managed to finally ban the last form of asbestos in use in building 2024, having had rules to ban most forms overturned by the courts in to 1989.

    I think the EPA is one of the Federal Bodies undermined by the (checks) Supreme Court removing the Chevron vs NRDC precedent. And Mr Chump plans to gut it further.

    Usonia really do seem to want to compete for the shortest life expectancy.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226

    There is no reason that we should not be having decent economic growth.

    Our demographics are not that bad.

    Technology is still developing in leaps and bounds.

    The problem is far too many people have a vested interest in preventing growth.

    Tackle that, everything else goes away. But the problem is tackling that will entail telling voters they don't have the right to stand in the way of growth and we need politicians with the cojones to do that.

    I hoped a newly elected Government with 5 years and a landslide majority might do it. Sadly, no, it seems.

    It’s pretty simple. Do you like this?



    If you do, you like growth. If you don’t, you don’t.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,301
    Sandpit said:

    Yes, it’s very weird that concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ have been turned upside-down in recent years.
    ...and not just recent. It flips occasionally. One of my bag of anecdotes is that in 1976 Carter (a Democrat) won Texas, and Ford (a Republican) won California. Labour used to be the party of the factory worker: now, not so much. Trump won because he corralled the union vote and I can see that trend continuing. Things change.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    MattW said:

    And potentially insulin.

    Novo Nordisk are one of the big 3. Get shares in Eli Lilly?

    Never mind Lego.
    I have shares in Novo Nordisk. Only a few. I have a small portfolio I play with for fun. Down 30%. My biggest poor performer. Most of them are green thankfully.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    MattW said:

    Debris from burnt down houses can be full of eg asbestos, and by then it will be in a far more dangerous form.

    The EPA only managed to finally ban the last form of asbestos in use in building 2024, having had rules to ban most forms overturned by the courts in to 1989.

    I think the EPA is one of the Federal Bodies undermined by the (checks) Supreme Court removing the Chevron vs NRDC precedent. And Mr Chump plans to gut it further.

    Usonia really do seem to want to compete for the shortest life expectancy.
    I am not sure or not whether the Twin Towers had asbestos but plenty of people suffered ill effects and death as a result of the debris when they came down.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,720
    Cookie said:

    Apologies Bondegezou - I genuinely thought you did. Can I ask who you did vote for? And is that because you favour that party/candidate above all others or because that party/candidate is best placed to beat your least favoured party/candidate?
    In my half-hearted defence, I was talking about voters like you, rather than you personally - i.e. you're probably not going to slot calmly into a Tory-Ref duopoly.
    I am not going to slot calmly into a Tory-Ref duopoly, no, although I might tactically vote Tory to keep out Reform. (The most important political divide, as I see it, is between reality-denying, authoritarian lunatics (Trump, RefUK, etc.) and everyone else.)

    I vote LibDem. I'm in a safe Labour seat for Westminster, so my vote is irrelevant and I can vote with my heart.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    HYUFD said:

    Labour Minister attacks Badenoch on Triple Lock 'There’s being bold and there’s being plain bonkers. No-one who thinks for 5 minutes can believe means testing the state pension is a good idea - but that is what @KemiBadenoch says she’s up for'

    https://x.com/TorstenBell/status/1880022179485741267

    But he's not attacked her on the triple lock. He's specifically said means testing the state pension.

    He's used her faux pas but widened the line of attack.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,812
    Fishing said:

    It's because of the intellectual collapse of the statist Left following the destruction of the Soviet Union and the headlong retreat of the free-market right since the financial crisis of 2007-8. So neither left nor right have the theoretical basis they used to, and have been reduced to lowest common denominator grubbing for votes to stay in power.
    Centre ground politics is not delivering what we think we deserve and all electable alternatives are worse. This could be where we are.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757

    That article mentions the Sampoong Department Store collapse, which should be instructive for the no-regulation idiots.

    If you let rich fuckwits do what they want, people die. Generally not just the rich fuckwits, sadly...
    S Korea went through its development much more quickly than we did, and a lot of corners got cut during the post dictatorship economic boom (this is about thirty years ago).
    I think bribery of politicians was also involved, from what I can recall.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,301

    It’s pretty simple. Do you like this?



    If you do, you like growth. If you don’t, you don’t.
    Google Lens is inconclusive. Whatchoo talking about, Willis? :)
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226

    Scott Manley has upset the SpaceX fanbois with this:

    "Given that this is disrupting aircraft downrange, I would be wanting an investigation before I let starship fly again.

    I'd want to know what kind of debris risk we're dealing with, starship is big and designed to handle reentry.

    Is the explosion the result of a tank failure or the FTS? We might reasonably ask whether trying to destroy such a large object is the best option in an emergency or whether it's safer to let it come down in as few pieces as possible."

    https://x.com/DJSnM/status/1880036142202098017

    (The debris came down in open international airspace, with airliners around)

    It was in the FAA defined hazard corridor - in the flight plan. Such corridors are a mandatory part of licensing for all launches. And are released as notifications to pilots.

    In fact the notifications going out on airspace restrictions and hazards are the first confirmation of the scheduling of a space launch, usually. The announcement of the launch license itself often comes later.

    The FTS is fired according to defined limits (again agreed with the licensing authorities) - there’s no ground button to push. The usual main ones are the vehicle leaving (or heading to leave) the hazard corridor, or loss of control. The FTS is controlled from a separate box on the vehicle that monitors various numbers.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,854
    viewcode said:

    Google Lens is inconclusive. Whatchoo talking about, Willis? :)
    I think he’s talking about buildings. In fields.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,812

    It’s pretty simple. Do you like this?



    If you do, you like growth. If you don’t, you don’t.
    That's a nice vista. Pity about all the grass though.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670
    edited January 17
    Taz said:

    I have shares in Novo Nordisk. Only a few. I have a small portfolio I play with for fun. Down 30%. My biggest poor performer. Most of them are green thankfully.
    If it's any consolation, they make excellent insulin. I have been using it since 2001.

    And their insulin pens (which they invented) are beautifully engineered, and design classics. I have one on the table in front of me which is a Novopen 3, which I have had for more than a decade. My latest one does bluetooth, and I can log onto it and download my injection record.

    They have a charitable foundation attached to them which is 4x more wealthy than the Wellcome Trust.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    Sandpit said:

    At least give Rolls Royce the order for the SMR nuclear power stations.

    There’s three competitors here, USA, UK, and China. The US is still waiting for its first order, the UK has a tentative order from a Czech company*, and the Chinese are behind in development but we know will sell them to all of their client states quickly once they’re ready.

    *https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2024/29-10-2024-rolls-royce-smr-and-cez-group-partner-to-deploy-smrs-in-uk-and-czechia.aspx
    They all desperately need to streamline the planning regs for UK nuclear, or it will take so long and cost so much to build the first one that the funding will be irrelevant.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,214
    Selebian said:

    Cameron and Osborne also had the benefit of, in addition to inheriting a big deficit, inheriting public services that were generally in pretty good shape. They could cut/freeze spending without things being seen to immediately break. Labour don't have that luxury - inherited tight financials and public services that are clearly falling apart and need investment.

    I still think they should be doing better, but it is a politically very difficult situation they've come into.
    That's true. However that's also why they should have joined the dots more effectively.

    I think the public would have understood 'the public estate is falling apart and is going to need more money; some tax rises are therefore necessary, justified and moral'. It wouldn't have been overly popular but I don't think that many people would have defected their support when the case was so obviously right.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    Sean_F said:

    Notions of right and left change over time. The Town & Country Planning Act 1948, was considered an appalling interference with property rights by Conservatives and economic liberals at the time, yet many would now die in the ditch for the Green Belt.
    Along with the economy.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226
    kinabalu said:

    That's a nice vista. Pity about all the grass though.
    Think that is animal feed, IIRC, something not actually a grass…
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    edited January 17
    HYUFD said:

    Labour Minister attacks Badenoch on Triple Lock 'There’s being bold and there’s being plain bonkers. No-one who thinks for 5 minutes can believe means testing the state pension is a good idea - but that is what @KemiBadenoch says she’s up for'

    https://x.com/TorstenBell/status/1880022179485741267

    'Kemi Badenoch has put pensioners on notice: the Tories would cut the state pension.'

    https://x.com/UKLabour/status/1880017923449954735
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226

    I think he’s talking about buildings. In fields.
    Yup. It’s just outside Chablis, in France. Smallish town.

    Which is growing and will swallow the outlying villages and become a city in a few years. The locals are happy about that.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,364

    Theo Bertram
    @theobertram
    ·
    15h
    It would be a good thing if there was cross party agreement that in the long run the triple lock is unsustainable & therefore an alternative must be found. Both Torsten Bell & Kemi Badenoch seem to recognise this inescapable fact. But it's hard to see how politics will allow it.

    Theo Bertram
    @theobertram
    ·
    15h
    The same goes for social care or council tax reform. Issues where MPs privately on all sides agree something needs to be done but will stamp on their opponents' fingers the minute they touch the issue in public.

    https://x.com/theobertram

    The mistake was when the Triple Lock was created. It's a decent idea to have the state pension drift up a bit gradually for a few decades- the pure inflation lock was making the basic pension too stingy and things were getting worse. Hence the need for sticking plasters like the winter fuel topup.

    What was missed at the time was the need to plan the offramp; when would it go from being useful to absurd neverending exponential growth, and what should happen after that?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,778
    Sandpit said:

    Oh, definitely not holidays, just conferences
    in Aspen in the winter and Barbados in the summer. How bad that anyone might think that these are holidays rather than important work meetings to which the attendees for some reason bring their families.
    Agendas are full and attendance mandatory. Families are no longer paid for and haven’t been for 20 years.

    It’s also pretty rare to get more glamorous than Orlando
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,103
    Roger said:

    All those who dabble in the UK stock market have never had it so good. Today it's at at least a ten year high........
    Everything is going gangbusters
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,812

    Think that is animal feed, IIRC, something not actually a grass…
    I can believe that, yes.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    MattW said:

    Indeed.

    We know from Elon's friend Mr Putin that just debris from a tiny drone can destroy about 6 oil refineries, 5 harbours, 4 oil rigs, 3 air bases, 2 oligarch's gin palaces, and a partridge in a pear tree.

    Heaven knows what the leftovers from a rocket could do. :smile:
    Nice firework show, but the steel shards might be pretty hazardous for any aircraft in the vicinity.
    https://x.com/zebulgar/status/1880031186870993098
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,778
    Sandpit said:

    Can this possibly be right?

    https://x.com/adamcarolla/status/1879934612119646483

    Los Angeles authorities preventing removal of fire debris without approval from some inspections agency.

    It’s not unreasonable to want a controlled clean up given the amount of toxic material
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,103

    As a rule of thumb, when one poster starts calling another names, it generally indicates that they have run out of sensible arguments. They are effectively conceding defeat.
    Rubbish , you need to have some fun to liven up the boring posts at times.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,295

    The mistake was when the Triple Lock was created. It's a decent idea to have the state pension drift up a bit gradually for a few decades- the pure inflation lock was making the basic pension too stingy and things were getting worse. Hence the need for sticking plasters like the winter fuel topup.

    What was missed at the time was the need to plan the offramp; when would it go from being useful to absurd neverending exponential growth, and what should happen after that?
    One of those situations where no-one wants to be the person whose name is associated with stopping it for fear of unpopularity.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670
    edited January 17
    Taz said:

    I am not sure or not whether the Twin Towers had asbestos but plenty of people suffered ill effects and death as a result of the debris when they came down.
    They were built late 1960s iirc, so would be full of it.

    The latency period for asbestosis is 10 -> 50 years (lost my dad in 2009 from exposure around 1970), so cases from 9/11 are likely to peak in the 2030s and 2040s.
  • malcolmg said:

    Everything is going gangbusters
    More relevant is the surprise fall in December retail sales
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 943

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29

    "There are a range of approaches to raising revenues to fund healthcare provision. These can be categorised into public and private sources of funding. These revenues are used to fund the different health financing schemes through which healthcare is accessed, such as government schemes, health insurance schemes or household spending.

    "For the UK, around four-fifths (79%) of health expenditure is paid for through public revenues, mainly taxation. This is one of the highest shares of publicly funded healthcare out of the 25 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with comparable data. Several Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland) have larger shares of publicly funded healthcare and, like the UK, operate predominantly tax-funded healthcare systems (see European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies). Japan and Luxembourg are the only countries with a higher share of public revenues that operate primarily insurance-based health systems.

    "Public revenues cover the bulk of healthcare financing in most countries. Switzerland is the only OECD country, for which data are available, where the share of public healthcare funding is less than private funding. This is due to Switzerland operating a healthcare system where private health insurance is mandatory for citizens. Consequently, most healthcare funding comes from private insurance contributions."
    Social insurance as a term can mean tax-payer funded provision (like UK) or insurance policies (public or private).
    Either way health and social care are paid for out of the public's pocket whether by tax, insurance premiums or direct payment. The debate is whether you share the cost by paying through tax or insurance premiums or leave it down to luck.

    We've landed on our current system for good reasons including selfish ones.
    1) business needs a healthy workforce
    2) the well-off don't want to be surrounded by deadly infections
    3) if the capital costs of the health system weren't underwritten by the state, it would probably be much smaller and more expensive
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    edited January 17

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29

    "There are a range of approaches to raising revenues to fund healthcare provision. These can be categorised into public and private sources of funding. These revenues are used to fund the different health financing schemes through which healthcare is accessed, such as government schemes, health insurance schemes or household spending.

    "For the UK, around four-fifths (79%) of health expenditure is paid for through public revenues, mainly taxation. This is one of the highest shares of publicly funded healthcare out of the 25 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with comparable data. Several Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland) have larger shares of publicly funded healthcare and, like the UK, operate predominantly tax-funded healthcare systems (see European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies). Japan and Luxembourg are the only countries with a higher share of public revenues that operate primarily insurance-based health systems.

    "Public revenues cover the bulk of healthcare financing in most countries. Switzerland is the only OECD country, for which data are available, where the share of public healthcare funding is less than private funding. This is due to Switzerland operating a healthcare system where private health insurance is mandatory for citizens. Consequently, most healthcare funding comes from private insurance contributions."
    So on that graph 79% of UK healthcare funding comes from government schemes compared to just 6% in Germany, 8% in Japan, 16% in France, 26% in the US, 68% in Australia, 68% in Canada, 69% in NZ, 66% in Spain and 73% in Italy
    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,778
    MattW said:

    If it's any consolation, they make excellent insulin. I have been using it since 2001.

    And their insulin pens (which they invented) are beautifully engineered, and design
    classics. I have one on the table in front of me which is a Novopen 3, which I have had for more than a decade. My latest one does bluetooth, and I can log onto it and download my injection record.

    They have a charitable foundation attached to them which is 4x more wealthy than the Wellcome Trust.
    I sold Novo that technology 😁😊

    (And technically the company is attached to the foundation not the other way around)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    MaxPB said:

    Sure, but that's a hard rewiring of how western economies work, would you be comfortable with the state pumping billions into UK car companies and have those execs take home tens of millions per year still and those companies making billions in profit for their shareholders with near zero direct ROI for the state? China is able to do this because the state owns a big part of its industries so on order to ape the Chinese model you have to become comfortable with the state owning big chunks of UK industry and we all know how that went in the 70s.

    No, our way forwards is, as a single voice, telling China to get fucked and lock them out of our markets until the state subsidy programmes are eliminated.
    Is it - or would it be more sensible to incentivise them via tariffs to build battery manufacturing here ?

    Otherwise we just fall further behind.

  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,670
    edited January 17

    I sold Novo that technology 😁😊

    (And technically the company is attached to the foundation not the other way around)
    Which technology? I want to know more.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    MattW said:

    If it's any consolation, they make excellent insulin. I have been using it since 2001.

    And their insulin pens (which they invented) are beautifully engineered, and design classics. I have one on the table in front of me which is a Novopen 3, which I have had for more than a decade. My latest one does bluetooth, and I can log onto it and download my injection record.

    They have a charitable foundation attached to them which is 4x more wealthy than the Wellcome Trust.
    I tend to buy and hold, I am expecting them to come good in future.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,364

    More relevant is the surprise fall in December retail sales
    Good. I think we all sort-of accept that many of our national problems come from buying too much imported tat on the never-never. There's no path to national financial healing that doesn't go through lower retail sales.

    And no, it won't be pleasant for any of us, and I hope that those who need to find new jobs find good ones soon. But this is what hangovers are always like- they are never fun.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633

    More relevant is the surprise fall in December retail sales
    Indeed and for some far worse than others. We know Next did well and M&S seem to have done as well. For a sharp fall like that there must be some real losers out there,
  • Houses not being built latest:

    Paul Smith
    @Paul_SLG
    The latest planning application statistics are out - and the number of homes consented has fallen again.

    https://x.com/Paul_SLG/status/1880199167798395199
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,235



    Theo Bertram
    @theobertram
    ·
    15h
    The same goes for social care or council tax reform. Issues where MPs privately on all sides agree something needs to be done but will stamp on their opponents' fingers the minute they touch the issue in public.

    https://x.com/theobertram

    :D

    https://twitter.com/TorstenBell/status/1880022179485741267
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Engels air base in Russia, still on fire after nine days since the first Ukranian bombs dropped there.

    https://x.com/iaponomarenko/status/1880198456616083631
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    malcolmg said:

    Rubbish , you need to have some fun to liven up the boring posts at times.
    Not a line he would have tried on Ishmael in his pomp, that's for certain and many of us were on the receiving end of his barbs to which people taking moral high ground now were silent :wink:
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633

    Good. I think we all sort-of accept that many of our national problems come from buying too much imported tat on the never-never. There's no path to national financial healing that doesn't go through lower retail sales.

    And no, it won't be pleasant for any of us, and I hope that those who need to find new jobs find good ones soon. But this is what hangovers are always like- they are never fun.
    We also seriously need to consider how we are going to re-purpose city and town centres and shopping malls if this decline continues because, at the moment, town centres full of boarded up shops do nothing for the area and seem to be a magnet for crime like petty vandalism.

    This affects pubs and restaurants as well as shops.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    edited January 17
    RIP Joan Plowright.
    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jan/17/joan-plowright-dies-after-long-stage-and-screen-career

    Are any of theatre's great dames other than Judi Dench still left ?

    (edit) Apols to Eileen Atkins, who is still with us at 90.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    MattW said:

    They were built late 1960s iirc, so would be full of it.

    The latency period for asbestosis is 10 -> 50 years (lost my dad in 2009 from exposure around 1970), so cases from 9/11 are likely to peak in the 2030s and 2040s.
    One of my wife's university colleagues died of mesothelioma a few years back from exposure 20-30 years prior (maintenance workers drilling into affected walls and ceiling, I think). The material was still there when she left.

    Current mortality studies are inconclusive for 911 responders, but you're almost certainly right. There was a lot of asbestos (before the proof of its hazardous nature, a "wonder" material for building) in the Trade Center.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,235

    Houses not being built latest:

    Paul Smith
    @Paul_SLG
    The latest planning application statistics are out - and the number of homes consented has fallen again.

    https://x.com/Paul_SLG/status/1880199167798395199

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j9j0j4l7mo

    Definitely more of a southern problem than anything else.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Nigelb said:

    RIP Joan Plowright.
    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jan/17/joan-plowright-dies-after-long-stage-and-screen-career

    Are any of theatre's great dames other than Judi Dench still left ?

    Paul Danan, Christopher Benjamin, Diane Langton, David Lynch.

    The great and the good in the artistic world are dropping like flies this week.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,156
    Nigelb said:

    RIP Joan Plowright.
    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jan/17/joan-plowright-dies-after-long-stage-and-screen-career

    Are any of theatre's great dames other than Judi Dench still left ?

    Ian McKellen?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,778
    MattW said:

    Which technology? I want to know more.
    DM me - don’t want to doxx myself
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,838
    boulay said:

    I did like her nick Robinson interview today, to paraphrase, I wouldn’t call myself the Iron Chancellor but if everyone else would like to that would be great.

    Her biggest f up which she should be vilified for, more than any of the other decisions, was the purely politically driven talking down of the economy. She thought she was being clever in giving the Tories a big kicking whilst they were already down and internally haemorrhaging but ultimately this political act caused huge economic damage.

    Childish student politics has big repercussions.

    I don't think that was the biggest mistake (there's some stiff competition) but it was a big mistake. A bigger one imo was to do what I've heard a commentator (can't remember who sadly) describe as Labour's normal habit on the economy, start grim and tough (Stick to Tory spending plans) and end in a flurry of giveaways as the GE looms. That was what all this 'tough decisions early on' bollocks they've been spouting in interviews has been about. It was projection.

    As they are now realising, the economy (especially in its current weakened state) is not a prop in Labour's political pointscoring game. They have now fucked things so much that borrowing costs are through the roof and there won't be any money for pre-election bribes. A peculiar combination of uncaring malice and stupidity.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5gd48v10jo

    “Fiona and Dan don't think any future CQC investigation into Leeds could be independent with the trust's former chief executive in charge of the regulator.

    Sir Julian Hartley led the trust for 10 years, until January 2023, and was in post when Aliona died. He took over the CQC in December 2024.”
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    Nigelb said:

    Is it - or would it be more sensible to incentivise them via tariffs to build battery manufacturing here ?

    Otherwise we just fall further behind.

    Isn't that the same as telling China to get fucked, putting up mega tariffs against China is basically excluding them from our markets. I agree we should do it but Starmer seems to be going down the other route and is inviting China in rather than excluding them.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    Taz said:

    Indeed and for some far worse than others. We know Next did well and M&S seem to have done as well. For a sharp fall like that there must be some real losers out there,
    Asda seems to be the biggest loser and not just among the big supermarkets, they seem to have lost across all categories in food and non-food.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,633
    Nigelb said:

    One of my wife's university colleagues died of mesothelioma a few years back from exposure 20-30 years prior (maintenance workers drilling into affected walls and ceiling, I think). The material was still there when she left.

    Current mortality studies are inconclusive for 911 responders, but you're almost certainly right. There was a lot of asbestos (before the proof of its hazardous nature, a "wonder" material for building) in the Trade Center.
    The Mesothelioma centre puts it at a 19% greater chance for Firefighters to die after 911 compared to a normal event.

    I made the comment as I remembered the "Dust Lady" who ended up succumbing to Stomach cancer in 2014 which was attributed to 911.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34061442

    I would guess, given the timescales, it will be at least another decade until we know conclusively.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,344
    Nigelb said:

    RIP Joan Plowright.
    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jan/17/joan-plowright-dies-after-long-stage-and-screen-career

    Are any of theatre's great dames other than Judi Dench still left ?

    Eileen Atkins & Helen Mirren surely qualify.

    Disgracefully I only got round to watching Gosford Park over the festive period, cracking film with a good An Inspector Calls, boot the class system in the balls vibe. Didn’t seem dated at all unlike a lot of stuff made 20+ years ago.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,594
    Taz said:

    Absolutely on both counts. It is the biggest deriliction of duty of labour to kick the can down the road and, I am afraid, those with the deeper pockets will have to pay. The current system is crucifying councils up and down the country.

    Was the "death tax" really such a bad idea.

    Our MP is cynically using potholes for his own benefit and I do not blame him.
    It was a good idea, even if details would have needed ironing out. And it was bold to mention it rather than fudge it until after the election (mandate doesn’t mean anything if you have the numbers).
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,594
    Sean_F said:

    Notions of right and left change over time. The Town & Country Planning Act 1948, was considered an appalling interference with property rights by Conservatives and economic liberals at the time, yet many would now die in the ditch for the Green Belt.
    You get used to the status quo. People try now to treat any field like its Green Belt, and even scrubland in the Belt like its the heart of the Cotswolds. Ridiculous.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,757
    MaxPB said:

    Isn't that the same as telling China to get fucked, putting up mega tariffs against China is basically excluding them from our markets. I agree we should do it but Starmer seems to be going down the other route and is inviting China in rather than excluding them.
    No, I don't think it is.
    Trump (or at least his proposed policies) are one extreme; allowing unfettered imposts another. Carrot and stick would be somewhere in the middle.

    Time will tell with Starmer, but I'm no more confident than you are that he'll navigate this well.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,226
    Nigelb said:

    One of my wife's university colleagues died of mesothelioma a few years back from exposure 20-30 years prior (maintenance workers drilling into affected walls and ceiling, I think). The material was still there when she left.

    Current mortality studies are inconclusive for 911 responders, but you're almost certainly right. There was a lot of asbestos (before the proof of its hazardous nature, a "wonder" material for building) in the Trade Center.
    Watching builders at work, the next big scandals will be painting and insulation.

    Insulation - the use of fibre products without PPE. *any* microscopic fibres in the lungs are bad.

    Painting - to get a good finish, you fill, sand, paint, sand… Power tools are great but produce huge quantities of very fine particulates. A lot of people using no PPE.

    The building firm I’m associated with insists on masks, eye protection. For some stuff, wearing disposable protective suits.

    That way we don’t have young men coughing like they are smoking 40 a day.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,235

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5gd48v10jo

    “Fiona and Dan don't think any future CQC investigation into Leeds could be independent with the trust's former chief executive in charge of the regulator.

    Sir Julian Hartley led the trust for 10 years, until January 2023, and was in post when Aliona died. He took over the CQC in December 2024.”

    NU10k
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,674
    edited January 17
    MaxPB said:

    Asda seems to be the biggest loser and not just among the big supermarkets, they seem to have lost across all categories in food and non-food.
    I know a few people who work for them or worked for them, the new owners are woeful.

    It seems the money now goes to pay interest and dividends these days rather than on stores or product development/review.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,518
    Techne UK have:

    Con 25%
    Lab 26%
    Reform 23%
    Lib Dem 12%
    Green 7%.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,266

    It’s pretty simple. Do you like this?



    If you do, you like growth. If you don’t, you don’t.
    I'm fairly neutral on monoculture farmland like that - neither like nor dislike - but yes, all that green stuff is clear evidence of growth, isn't it? :wink:

    The factory (or whatever - warehouse?) in the background looks fine too.
This discussion has been closed.