Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
When are we going to stop pretending that those working from home are actually working?
The article suggests the problems are falling oil extraction, lack of investment, and unreliable economic statistics.
Meanwhile, pro-ID card Labour MPs think the productivity problem is not enough ID cards:-
The letter calls on the government to revive the idea of ID cards – a hugely controversial policy proposal during Tony Blair’s era – but said digital IDs were the right route for the modern economy. It said it would mean that citizens could “engage with the state more seamlessly”, including booking GP appointments, renewing passports or paying tax.
It might also flush out the hundred of thousands (millions?) who are working illegally.
Indeed, but we could eliminate that problem by becoming a cashless society rather than having draconian ID cards.
ID cards are not really draconian. Its only the potential application by the state that makes it so. For instance you have to show ID such as a passport when being employed at my Uni - an ID card would do that. You could show it at the GP or hospital. Lots of benefits to it.
Could would rapidly become must in lots of other life situations.
Good morning, everyone.
Only because it would make life easier - reality is no one is going to create extra work here because there is no money involved.
What's involved is power. Power exerted by authority over individuals.
Unless there ends up being a law that says no ID card no treatment, anyone playing games like that is going to end up on a disciplinary at some level or other.
Tariffs are so great the stock market disagrees it's your fault, China
[Playing about with a haiku]
Spring in the city The merchants gaze at the stars Bears snort, wakening
There’s a line in Wayne’s World - “That was a haiku” - that I always heard as “That was a high coup”… it didn’t make sense, but I let it go. Probably only a year or so ago that I twigged
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
I did some maths when I bought my MacBook and I think Apple were valuing 8GB of additional RAM at over £400...
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
I did some maths when I bought my MacBook and I think Apple were valuing 8GB of additional RAM at over £400...
Their pricing all is carefully calculated to ladder you up. That much better spec is always just another £100 more rather than adding additional RAM / SSD size on the worse spec version. Until you hit their top spec then they just work out how much they can charge for pros that rely on their products.
When are we going to stop pretending that those working from home are actually working?
The article suggests the problems are falling oil extraction, lack of investment, and unreliable economic statistics.
Meanwhile, pro-ID card Labour MPs think the productivity problem is not enough ID cards:-
The letter calls on the government to revive the idea of ID cards – a hugely controversial policy proposal during Tony Blair’s era – but said digital IDs were the right route for the modern economy. It said it would mean that citizens could “engage with the state more seamlessly”, including booking GP appointments, renewing passports or paying tax.
It might also flush out the hundred of thousands (millions?) who are working illegally.
Indeed, but we could eliminate that problem by becoming a cashless society rather than having draconian ID cards.
ID cards are not really draconian. Its only the potential application by the state that makes it so. For instance you have to show ID such as a passport when being employed at my Uni - an ID card would do that. You could show it at the GP or hospital. Lots of benefits to it.
Could would rapidly become must in lots of other life situations.
Good morning, everyone.
Only because it would make life easier - reality is no one is going to create extra work here because there is no money involved.
What's involved is power. Power exerted by authority over individuals.
Unless there ends up being a law that says no ID card no treatment, anyone playing games like that is going to end up on a disciplinary at some level or other.
power only works if people are given it
Unfortunately Trump is giving us an object lesson in how power works. You take it and you smash people's face in and the others are too frightened to stop you. A 21st century hyperpower is turning itself into a medieval state and people are...doing podcasts. Please do not believe that decency prevents evil.
The Nobs of Altrincham all need self-driving Teslas because the installation of a short cycle track and pedestrian crossing means that none of them can find the plonking great parish church any more, so the vicar claims that 40% of them have stopped coming. Perhaps only 60% will tolerate fools gladly.
What's happened is that 1/3 of the parish have a new crossing so it is no longer cut off by a 10k vehicles a day road, and he has a lovely new active travel route so they can all get to his church without a quarter mile diversion to find a crossing across the bloody main road.
God save us from whining (*&^^$&*ers.
(My lovingkindness muscles are under strain, today, after three cars full of police turned up to a minor incident in the local park, whilst other people leave their cars all over the f**cking pavements with ZERO intervention.)
Personally, I find this new pedestrian crossing over the busy Dunham Road very useful on the walk to my regular place of worship (not St Margaret's Church).
Thanks for the reply. I had a serious dig into this when the story was first out last year, and the non-attendance was already being blamed on the short cycle lane (before it was actually built iirc - then it was attendance at Christmas services).
The previous Vicar there was a character - a biker with a Harley that he used for charity fundraising.
What they actually have (in Church of England "cure of the parish" terms) is a superb new mission / engagement opportunity - 1/3 of their parish area is the other side of the main road and has been cut off since the (estd) 1960s. And they now have a significant route in the new active travel network going past their door and people waiting outside for a minute to cross the road on the pedestrian crossing, and they are now the focus where people will come to cross.
It's crying out for a carefully designed wayside pulpit, noticeboard and maybe a cafe, and some cycle and mobility aid parking at the church. Plus it's an ideal place for inclusive cycling trials, since they have a sealed path and car park. There is a ready built platform to reach a whole new demographic.
All the infra and organisations exist in Manchester, including grants for their cycle / mobility aid parking.
But ... no.
That's why I'm a little cross about it.
While the actual regular Parish church attendees can largely go hang with vastly extended journey times and sat nav confusion to accommodate these cyclists and pedestrian crossing
Have you looked at it?
It's literally 90-120 seconds round the block - or a slightly different route if you are not one of the people who arrive on that particular side of the building.
In return for the 1/3 of the parish who live across the A56 to be able to get there easily and safely for the first time in half a century, and for the people of Manchester to have safe and convenient local transport routes.
I think in this case any questions answer themselves.
Here's the link - the change is that the last 25m of Gorsey Lane have been made 1 way N->S.
If it was felt necessary there is plenty of space for the church to open a new entrance onto the A56. They won't, because it is not a real problem - it's most likely about resistance to any change, or a bruised sense of privilege.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
Sadly, it's bollocks. A company is claiming this and created lots of publicity from gullible journalists. What they've actually done is a small amount of genetic engineering on a wolf. This is nothing like actually reviving a dire wolf. The dire wolf wasn't just a variety of wolf. It's a whole different genera of Canis.
Author of Mar A Lago accord concept that US tariff agenda is basically designed to cause negotiated dollar weakening, (now WH chief economist), gave speech yday which basically suggested that reserve status for dollar was a burden which others might need to “write checks” for
turns on its head the famous description of ex French President then fin minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing the US enjoyed an “exorbitant privilege” with $ reserve status…
Instead Administration appears to believe this is an exorbitant burden for which US should be remunerated.
It’s part of a narrative that seeks to paint new tariffs (accepted without retaliation) as justifiable payment for burden of strong dollar (eg on US manufacturing exports and jobs)… this new mindset is extremely consequential. The tariffs aren’t going.
Dunning and Kruger would have a field day analysing the current US administration. But there must be some people in the US Cabinet who realise that we are seeing Orwell's "doublethink" applied to governance to a degree not seen before in an advanced economy. That we need to point to places like Cambodia or North Korea for comparisons with other governments pursuing the preposterous is telling.
The US is simultaneously the strongest but most attacked, the richest but most ripped-off, wants to trade with everyone and no-one, it's enemies are now allies, and it's allies now enemies. Up is down, black is white, etc.
Four years of this nonsense will end in calamity.
Vague memory of a political event in living memory where the UK was described as being both a "vassal state" and "holding all the cards". Probably hallucinating.
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
In 1984 the basic model Mac with 128K and a single floppy drive cost $2495, which is around $7600 in today's money.
I didn't buy one in 84-85, and I haven't bought one since .
It's one of those things to go window shopping for to look at things you don't need.
I am about as fan from an Apple fan boy as there is, but the M series laptops are a massive step up against the competition. I was recently on a 14hr flight, not even close to running out of charge.
Author of Mar A Lago accord concept that US tariff agenda is basically designed to cause negotiated dollar weakening, (now WH chief economist), gave speech yday which basically suggested that reserve status for dollar was a burden which others might need to “write checks” for
turns on its head the famous description of ex French President then fin minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing the US enjoyed an “exorbitant privilege” with $ reserve status…
Instead Administration appears to believe this is an exorbitant burden for which US should be remunerated.
It’s part of a narrative that seeks to paint new tariffs (accepted without retaliation) as justifiable payment for burden of strong dollar (eg on US manufacturing exports and jobs)… this new mindset is extremely consequential. The tariffs aren’t going.
I’ve seen it said that the dollars held in national banks around the world are what paid for the US Military. They issued the money and didn’t have to suck it up in taxes to keep down inflation.
I think it’s a version of monetary theory. Tax destroys, government spending creates.
Am I right in thinking that the famous dictum you quote came to be used ironically, as a lesson in the value and necessity of diplomacy? In other words, the crude bullying of the weak by the strong became an example of how not to do things.
Or did the Greeks never learn?
Thanks, and no they did not. It's striking that people who invented political philosophy were so bad at politics in practice.
Sparta, the victor of the Pelopennesian War, rapidly made itself as hated as Athens had been. Sparta kept the spoils of the war to itself (a significant mark of disrespect to peer powers like Thebes and Corinth that fought Athens); it launched a war to "liberate" Greek cities under Persian rule, which in practice meant placing them under Spartan governors who fleeced them; then it abandoned them, in favour of becoming Persia's enforcer, in Greece. Sparta's own military power was shattered at the Battle of Leuktra in 371.
The one major Greek figure who was a skilled diplomat (as well as a skilled general) was Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. He made a point of wooing his opponents, and offering them generous terms, following defeat. After him, the Macedonians ruled Greece with the same lack of tact as earlier powers had done.
It was a big "glass jaw" for the Hellenistic monarchies that fought Rome, that in general, they ruled over huge numbers of very unwilling subjects. They could field big armies, but a very high proportion of those armies were used to hold down provinces that would otherwise have revolted.
The Romans however, very much internalised this lesson. They were (compared to the Greeks), excellent diplomats, who almost always left something on the table for their allies, shared spoils equally with them in war, and took very seriously their obligations to defend them.
Thanks Sean.
You confirm the impression I have gathered rather late in life that the stereotupe is wrong. It was the Romans who were smart, and the Greeks a bit dumb, at least when it came to conquer and rule.
Fascinating.
The Romans lagged the Greeks in terms of the arts, philosophy, mathematics, and speculative thinking.
In terms of law, political science, logistics, and military science, they were in a completely different league.
This reminds me of the famous debate between Mary Beard (Roman) v. Boris Johnson (Greek).
Sadly, it's bollocks. A company is claiming this and created lots of publicity from gullible journalists. What they've actually done is a small amount of genetic engineering on a wolf. This is nothing like actually reviving a dire wolf. The dire wolf wasn't just a variety of wolf. It's a whole different genera of Canis.
Isn't this a bit like trigger's broom though? If you change the genetic code of an existing wolf embryo to match that of the dire wolf and it is viable, is that enough to say its a dire wolf? I guess you have to consider all the other aspects that simply the genetic code.
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
I did some maths when I bought my MacBook and I think Apple were valuing 8GB of additional RAM at over £400...
Their pricing all is carefully calculated to ladder you up. That much better spec is always just another £100 more rather than adding additional RAM / SSD size on the worse spec version. Until you hit their top spec then they just work out how much they can charge for pros that rely on their products.
There was a time when 64mb of RAM cost more than that.
I can’t remember what my original Mac SE cost but it wasn’t cheap and I knew someone who had a company Mac instead of a company car and the cost to the company was more
When are we going to stop pretending that those working from home are actually working?
The article suggests the problems are falling oil extraction, lack of investment, and unreliable economic statistics.
Meanwhile, pro-ID card Labour MPs think the productivity problem is not enough ID cards:-
The letter calls on the government to revive the idea of ID cards – a hugely controversial policy proposal during Tony Blair’s era – but said digital IDs were the right route for the modern economy. It said it would mean that citizens could “engage with the state more seamlessly”, including booking GP appointments, renewing passports or paying tax.
It might also flush out the hundred of thousands (millions?) who are working illegally.
Indeed, but we could eliminate that problem by becoming a cashless society rather than having draconian ID cards.
ID cards are not really draconian. Its only the potential application by the state that makes it so. For instance you have to show ID such as a passport when being employed at my Uni - an ID card would do that. You could show it at the GP or hospital. Lots of benefits to it.
Could would rapidly become must in lots of other life situations.
Good morning, everyone.
Only because it would make life easier - reality is no one is going to create extra work here because there is no money involved.
What's involved is power. Power exerted by authority over individuals.
Unless there ends up being a law that says no ID card no treatment, anyone playing games like that is going to end up on a disciplinary at some level or other.
power only works if people are given it
Unfortunately Trump is giving us an object lesson in how power works. You take it and you smash people's face in and the others are too frightened to stop you. A 21st century hyperpower is turning itself into a medieval state and people are...doing podcasts. Please do not believe that decency prevents evil.
As the O'Brien who doesn't have a phone-in on LBC put it:
Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
Sadly, it's bollocks. A company is claiming this and created lots of publicity from gullible journalists. What they've actually done is a small amount of genetic engineering on a wolf. This is nothing like actually reviving a dire wolf. The dire wolf wasn't just a variety of wolf. It's a whole different genera of Canis.
Isn't this a bit like trigger's broom though? If you change the genetic code of an existing wolf embryo to match that of the dire wolf and it is viable, is that enough to say its a dire wolf? I guess you have to consider all the other aspects that simply the genetic code.
If it's like Trigger's broom, then it's like changing two bristles on the broom and claiming you have re-created a whole lost broom. They've changed 14 genes. Far, far more than 14 genes separate a dire wolf from a wolf.
Dire wolf to wolf is similar to sheep to goat in genetic relationship.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
In 1984 the basic model Mac with 128K and a single floppy drive cost $2495, which is around $7600 in today's money.
I didn't buy one in 84-85, and I haven't bought one since .
It's one of those things to go window shopping for to look at things you don't need.
I am about as fan from an Apple fan boy as there is, but the M series laptops are a massive step up against the competition. I was recently on a 14hr flight, not even close to running out of charge.
I'm very nearly a purist on this one.
Anyone who has *ever* bought more than *two* Apple devices is a fanboy.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
I did some maths when I bought my MacBook and I think Apple were valuing 8GB of additional RAM at over £400...
Their pricing all is carefully calculated to ladder you up. That much better spec is always just another £100 more rather than adding additional RAM / SSD size on the worse spec version. Until you hit their top spec then they just work out how much they can charge for pros that rely on their products.
There was a time when 64mb of RAM cost more than that.
I can’t remember what my original Mac SE cost but it wasn’t cheap and I knew someone who had a company Mac instead of a company car and the cost to the company was more
A 16k memory expansion card for the Apple II was about £100 too.
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
I did some maths when I bought my MacBook and I think Apple were valuing 8GB of additional RAM at over £400...
Their pricing all is carefully calculated to ladder you up. That much better spec is always just another £100 more rather than adding additional RAM / SSD size on the worse spec version. Until you hit their top spec then they just work out how much they can charge for pros that rely on their products.
There was a time when 64mb of RAM cost more than that.
I can’t remember what my original Mac SE cost but it wasn’t cheap and I knew someone who had a company Mac instead of a company car and the cost to the company was more
(next gen after SE) I bought a Power PC (risc Mac604) in the early 90s. It was £199 a MB to upgrade the RAM. Now when I buy an Apple I just buy the memory I require.
This was an extremely good thread and I do tend to agree with every point. Of course, as I've said, I do see a continuum between the America first policy that has run for decades, with what we see from Trump now. He is just doing it in a way that cannot be politely ignored.
Thank you.
Of course, the international order was set up to benefit the United States. The new order that the US is seeking seems less beneficial to them, as well as to its allies.
It’s exactly the same mercantlist “their success is our loss” mindset applied to the US shipping industry.
Bipartisan support though !
Representative Rosa DeLauro and 62 other congressional Democrats backed the proposed fees and other "swift and decisive" action in a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday, saying China's domination of the sector imposed "unacceptable costs and risks" in terms of job losses and critical manufacturing capacity.
There is much to Bessent analysis here re global imbalances obviously, but on the point about trade wars and surplus countries, they and the EU are finding that US stock markets are providing the most profound form of negotiation in and of themselves, as Handlesblatt reports:
Brussels is watching amazed, as Trump destroys the US economy. "Nobody in the Commission thought that the US government would be this stupid and self-destructive," an EU official tells me. "That they would blow up their own country by letting ChatGPT make their trade policy."
EU officials are quietly preparing brutal countermeasures — but they’re in no rush. Markets are doing the work for them.
Trump’s chaos is collapsing the US markets faster than any EU retaliation could. Inside the Commission and among EU governments, the mood is: Don't give Trump an excuse to blame this on others.
Inside the Commission and among EU trade ministers, the mood is calm — almost mocking. “We’ll just let them stew,” another senior official says. “If Trump doesn’t blink by the end of the month, we’re ready to hit hard.” But for now? They'll watch him sweat.
Habeck also mocked Elon Musk’s call for a US-EU "zero-tariff" deal: “It's sign of weakness and fear. If he has something to say, he should go to his President... Before we talk about zero tariffs, stop the nonsense and mess you just made in the last week.”
That's quite like Trump and Putin pulling Trump's pants down in negotiating Trump's surrender in Ukraine.
Putin had Team Autocrat who have been together for 20 years. And Trump had Chump and the Magic Mushrooms.
Team UVDL have the type of well-established team that if Trump had them Musk would have sacked them at random in the first 24 hours. So who has the advantage?
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
In 1984 the basic model Mac with 128K and a single floppy drive cost $2495, which is around $7600 in today's money.
I didn't buy one in 84-85, and I haven't bought one since .
It's one of those things to go window shopping for to look at things you don't need.
I am about as fan from an Apple fan boy as there is, but the M series laptops are a massive step up against the competition. I was recently on a 14hr flight, not even close to running out of charge.
My base model M2 is just incredible. And that's coming from someone who has a mid-range Pixel for a phone.
Great header, thanks Sean, I really enjoyed it. Off topic, been away from politics for a while focusing on things closer to home, so just catching up on Badenoch's outrageous comments about the Labour MPs detained by the Israelis. I'm gobsmacked. She's a disgrace to the office of LOTO.
Latest YouGov poll for The Times: Lab 24, Ref 23, Con 22, Lib Dem 17, Green 9
Lib Dems on highest poll rating with YouGov since before 2019 election. OGH used to focus on momentum, seems like the Lib Dems have some- and its concentrated in the south. The Tories seem set to have a very nasty local result indeed on May 1st.
Every year there is an election in May, and every year the LibDems climb during the campaign to have a good locals result, and then slip back during the rest of the year. Conversely, even in a parliament that led to Labours best ever election result, they would bit by bit slip backwards during the spring campaign to some of their lowest polling of the year.
Expensive iPhones for the US will mean, if anything, cheaper iPhones for us, no?
I Apple can't sell iPhones in America, they are going to try and recoup that loss somehow
If demand falls, you expect prices to fall.
This is Apple we are talking about. The only way you get a discount on their products if somebody has previously buggered it up and it has had to be repaired ;-)
The price of an entry level Mac has been roughly $1,000 since 1984 (You can obviously pay more than that as well)
Where as TSE is now paying £7k for his....due to Apple 4000% tariff on SSD and RAM.
Fake news, I have never paid more than £3,500 for a MacBook.
If you spec up the latest MacBook Pro with 128 GB RAM and 8TB SSD costs £7,349.
When are we going to stop pretending that those working from home are actually working?
The article suggests the problems are falling oil extraction, lack of investment, and unreliable economic statistics.
Meanwhile, pro-ID card Labour MPs think the productivity problem is not enough ID cards:-
The letter calls on the government to revive the idea of ID cards – a hugely controversial policy proposal during Tony Blair’s era – but said digital IDs were the right route for the modern economy. It said it would mean that citizens could “engage with the state more seamlessly”, including booking GP appointments, renewing passports or paying tax.
It might also flush out the hundred of thousands (millions?) who are working illegally.
Indeed, but we could eliminate that problem by becoming a cashless society rather than having draconian ID cards.
ID cards are not really draconian. Its only the potential application by the state that makes it so. For instance you have to show ID such as a passport when being employed at my Uni - an ID card would do that. You could show it at the GP or hospital. Lots of benefits to it.
Could would rapidly become must in lots of other life situations.
Good morning, everyone.
Only because it would make life easier - reality is no one is going to create extra work here because there is no money involved.
What's involved is power. Power exerted by authority over individuals.
Unless there ends up being a law that says no ID card no treatment, anyone playing games like that is going to end up on a disciplinary at some level or other.
power only works if people are given it
Unfortunately Trump is giving us an object lesson in how power works. You take it and you smash people's face in and the others are too frightened to stop you. A 21st century hyperpower is turning itself into a medieval state and people are...doing podcasts. Please do not believe that decency prevents evil.
But, as I pointed out in the header, that attitude towards power is ultimately, quite self-owning
A massive trade war between the USA and China would leave both powers weakened, at the end of it.
Sparta and Athens finished up as ... theme parks for rich Roman tourists.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
FB neighbourhood information page (aka moaning old indigenes) update. There are loads of posts like this atm, mostly anonymous, though some regular Reform cheerleaders. If I were of a more cynical turn of mind I might be a bit suspicious.
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
Great header, thanks Sean, I really enjoyed it. Off topic, been away from politics for a while focusing on things closer to home, so just catching up on Badenoch's outrageous comments about the Labour MPs detained by the Israelis. I'm gobsmacked. She's a disgrace to the office of LOTO.
Latest YouGov poll for The Times: Lab 24, Ref 23, Con 22, Lib Dem 17, Green 9
Lib Dems on highest poll rating with YouGov since before 2019 election. OGH used to focus on momentum, seems like the Lib Dems have some- and its concentrated in the south. The Tories seem set to have a very nasty local result indeed on May 1st.
Every year there is an election in May, and every year the LibDems climb during the campaign to have a good locals result, and then slip back during the rest of the year. Conversely, even in a parliament that led to Labours best ever election result, they would bit by bit slip backwards during the spring campaign to some of their lowest polling of the year.
Visibility and "winning here". Vote share is vanity, seats are sanity.
Getting the largest number of candidates nominated is an impressive logistical feat by Reform. No question about that. But there is a risk that they are going to fall into the same trap as the SDP did in the 1980s; quite a lot of votes everywhere, but not lumpy enough to win in many places.
My suspicion is that the LibLab 41 will be a lot more efficiently arranged than the RefCon 45.
The Chinese are now master-trolling the US about re-industrialization. Not just a frank reality check on how Americans are viewed by some in China but also a delightful glimpse at their sharp sense of humour. The psyops continue...
China plans to ban Hollywood movies after saying it will never accept the 'blackmail nature' of the United States following President Donald Trump's escalated tariff threats against Beijing
Sadly, it's bollocks. A company is claiming this and created lots of publicity from gullible journalists. What they've actually done is a small amount of genetic engineering on a wolf. This is nothing like actually reviving a dire wolf. The dire wolf wasn't just a variety of wolf. It's a whole different genera of Canis.
Isn't this a bit like trigger's broom though? If you change the genetic code of an existing wolf embryo to match that of the dire wolf and it is viable, is that enough to say its a dire wolf? I guess you have to consider all the other aspects that simply the genetic code.
If it's like Trigger's broom, then it's like changing two bristles on the broom and claiming you have re-created a whole lost broom. They've changed 14 genes. Far, far more than 14 genes separate a dire wolf from a wolf.
Dire wolf to wolf is similar to sheep to goat in genetic relationship.
I just assumed it was a made up animal in Game of Thrones!
Uncertain waiting times feel longer than finite waiting times1. The anxiety of not knowing is simply too much for many of us to bear. That is why Disney cheerily informs guests how long it will be before they can ride on Space Mountain. Why Transport for London invests in dot matrix displays. And why Uber provides a little map detailing where your driver is. People really would rather wait for a longer, finite period of time than a shorter, indeterminate period.
This yearning for certainty is also why we are so keen to attribute a rationale where one might not exist. It is why so many economists, political pundits and partisans have been at pains to explain the logic – good, bad or certifiable – for Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a thought. What if there is no rationale at all? What if the President of the United States simply believes – and has believed for decades – that any trade deficit is evidence of foreign malfeasance. What if he thinks that reciprocity – the basis of the global trading system – is for chumps? What if Americans elected a mad king, and no one – not his advisors, not the Republican-led Congress, not the courts – will stop him? Because they fear the repercussions of doing so, which include the threat of violence.
What if Donald Trump loves tariffs, and now we all have to wait patiently for the results?
FB neighbourhood information page (aka moaning old indigenes) update. There are loads of posts like this atm, mostly anonymous, though some regular Reform cheerleaders. If I were of a more cynical turn of mind I might be a bit suspicious.
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
I've seen similar on FB from around here a month or so ago. Different wording, similar tone.
It's very different tone from when there was a (genuine) flasher in the local country park.
Great header, thanks Sean, I really enjoyed it. Off topic, been away from politics for a while focusing on things closer to home, so just catching up on Badenoch's outrageous comments about the Labour MPs detained by the Israelis. I'm gobsmacked. She's a disgrace to the office of LOTO.
Latest YouGov poll for The Times: Lab 24, Ref 23, Con 22, Lib Dem 17, Green 9
Lib Dems on highest poll rating with YouGov since before 2019 election. OGH used to focus on momentum, seems like the Lib Dems have some- and its concentrated in the south. The Tories seem set to have a very nasty local result indeed on May 1st.
Every year there is an election in May, and every year the LibDems climb during the campaign to have a good locals result, and then slip back during the rest of the year. Conversely, even in a parliament that led to Labours best ever election result, they would bit by bit slip backwards during the spring campaign to some of their lowest polling of the year.
What seems to me to be unusual this time is that the Lib Dems didn't fall back in the polls after the General Election. They usually do, but since July 2024 the Lib Dems have been consistently over 10%. These latest small increases seem to be adding to a more permanent base, despite the media obsession with Reform.
Van stuck in a car park stacker for ... two years.
The owners of a small family-run business say they have been left £40,000 out of pocket after their van became trapped in a mechanical stacked car park in central London more than two years ago.
Mark Lucas, co-owner of HCS Furniture in Buckinghamshire, parked his electric Vauxhall van at Rathbone Square, a building complex near Oxford Street, in December 2022. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qw74djvnjo
Author of Mar A Lago accord concept that US tariff agenda is basically designed to cause negotiated dollar weakening, (now WH chief economist), gave speech yday which basically suggested that reserve status for dollar was a burden which others might need to “write checks” for
turns on its head the famous description of ex French President then fin minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing the US enjoyed an “exorbitant privilege” with $ reserve status…
Instead Administration appears to believe this is an exorbitant burden for which US should be remunerated.
It’s part of a narrative that seeks to paint new tariffs (accepted without retaliation) as justifiable payment for burden of strong dollar (eg on US manufacturing exports and jobs)… this new mindset is extremely consequential. The tariffs aren’t going.
Dunning and Kruger would have a field day analysing the current US administration. But there must be some people in the US Cabinet who realise that we are seeing Orwell's "doublethink" applied to governance to a degree not seen before in an advanced economy. That we need to point to places like Cambodia or North Korea for comparisons with other governments pursuing the preposterous is telling.
The US is simultaneously the strongest but most attacked, the richest but most ripped-off, wants to trade with everyone and no-one, it's enemies are now allies, and it's allies now enemies. Up is down, black is white, etc.
Four years of this nonsense will end in calamity.
Yes, but victim status claiming is standard nowadays. Makes you top dog.
Hardline nationalists, on both right and left, tend to combine triumphalism with self-pity.
That's (almost) always been the case. The justification for hardline policies lies in grievance and the perceived excess power of others meaning that softer measures cannot work.
"'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym, a foreign Spectator journalist came out from the hotel where he began panting heavily as he walked and clocked both of the girls he repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as he panted onto the bridge he began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! He headed up to the local brothel so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how they were laughing at him. Scum bag!'"
There is much to Bessent analysis here re global imbalances obviously, but on the point about trade wars and surplus countries, they and the EU are finding that US stock markets are providing the most profound form of negotiation in and of themselves, as Handlesblatt reports:
Brussels is watching amazed, as Trump destroys the US economy. "Nobody in the Commission thought that the US government would be this stupid and self-destructive," an EU official tells me. "That they would blow up their own country by letting ChatGPT make their trade policy."
EU officials are quietly preparing brutal countermeasures — but they’re in no rush. Markets are doing the work for them.
Trump’s chaos is collapsing the US markets faster than any EU retaliation could. Inside the Commission and among EU governments, the mood is: Don't give Trump an excuse to blame this on others.
Inside the Commission and among EU trade ministers, the mood is calm — almost mocking. “We’ll just let them stew,” another senior official says. “If Trump doesn’t blink by the end of the month, we’re ready to hit hard.” But for now? They'll watch him sweat.
Habeck also mocked Elon Musk’s call for a US-EU "zero-tariff" deal: “It's sign of weakness and fear. If he has something to say, he should go to his President... Before we talk about zero tariffs, stop the nonsense and mess you just made in the last week.”
Thank goodness for Brexit and that we are out of the EU then.
"Hitting back hard" is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
'America is hurting because of their self-imposed tariffs, so if they don't blink we're going to retaliate by doing the exact same thing ourselves.'
Its the definition of madness.
We should follow the proudest British traditions of free trade and keep calm and carry on. No retaliation.
Tariffs are a form of economic warfare.
Trump essentially wants to punch others in the face, but says that he doesn't want them to him punch back in the face.
In actual fact, he despises those fail to punch back because he considers them "weak" & "holding no cards", and respects those like China who do punch back.
The correct strategy is to demonstrate "strength" to Trump by punching back hard, the way that China is doing.
You could punch back by doing something other than imposing tariffs. Not sure what, but I am not sure it even has to be trade-related. If you believe in free trade then engaging in a tariff war seems suboptimal.
It is suboptimal. But it may also be necessary. After all, if one side is putting up substantial trade barriers then free trade is already impossible.
That said, Trump has a particular thing for tariffs so if the objective is to get him to back down then it helps to hit him where he'll notice it. It's also a lot easier to explain to the UK voting public that tariffing US exports is a just and appropriate response to it tariffing UK ones.
Van stuck in a car park stacker for ... two years.
The owners of a small family-run business say they have been left £40,000 out of pocket after their van became trapped in a mechanical stacked car park in central London more than two years ago.
Mark Lucas, co-owner of HCS Furniture in Buckinghamshire, parked his electric Vauxhall van at Rathbone Square, a building complex near Oxford Street, in December 2022. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qw74djvnjo
China plans to ban Hollywood movies after saying it will never accept the 'blackmail nature' of the United States following President Donald Trump's escalated tariff threats against Beijing
That'll blow Hollywood plans right out of the water. A franchise that appeals in China can gross big: "Avengers Endgame" did over $500 million in China. The second Avatar did a quarter of a billion there. "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is due out later this year, so an American film ban will hurt. I wonder if they'll rebadge their fillums as "British" to get it past the tariffs?
FB neighbourhood information page (aka moaning old indigenes) update. There are loads of posts like this atm, mostly anonymous, though some regular Reform cheerleaders. If I were of a more cynical turn of mind I might be a bit suspicious.
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
Clearly bollocks, but - had it been real - blowing kisses and shouting at random girls walking down the street would be scumbag behaviour.
China plans to ban Hollywood movies after saying it will never accept the 'blackmail nature' of the United States following President Donald Trump's escalated tariff threats against Beijing
That'll blow Hollywood plans right out of the water. A franchise that appeals in China can gross big: "Avengers Endgame" did over $500 million in China. The second Avatar did a quarter of a billion there. "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is due out later this year, so an American film ban will hurt. I wonder if they'll rebadge their fillums as "British" to get it past the tariffs?
Gave up on that franchise after sitting through one movie that promised to tell us how old Ultron was and singularly failed to do so.
Great header, thanks Sean, I really enjoyed it. Off topic, been away from politics for a while focusing on things closer to home, so just catching up on Badenoch's outrageous comments about the Labour MPs detained by the Israelis. I'm gobsmacked. She's a disgrace to the office of LOTO.
Latest YouGov poll for The Times: Lab 24, Ref 23, Con 22, Lib Dem 17, Green 9
Lib Dems on highest poll rating with YouGov since before 2019 election. OGH used to focus on momentum, seems like the Lib Dems have some- and its concentrated in the south. The Tories seem set to have a very nasty local result indeed on May 1st.
As a Lib Dem I am delighted with this poll, though my "highest LD % in a poll" prediction in the PB competition is now bust.
What chance is there of the top four parties al being on 21% one day soon?
Close to zero.
Despite several periods of near-threeway ties in polling, and one other of near-fourway ties in 2019, with many polls conducted across them, there's only ever been one actual threeway tie.
However, both Labour and the Tories will be thankful there are so few seats up in May because on these numbers, against those in 2021, they'll be losing a pretty large share.
Uncertain waiting times feel longer than finite waiting times1. The anxiety of not knowing is simply too much for many of us to bear. That is why Disney cheerily informs guests how long it will be before they can ride on Space Mountain. Why Transport for London invests in dot matrix displays. And why Uber provides a little map detailing where your driver is. People really would rather wait for a longer, finite period of time than a shorter, indeterminate period.
This yearning for certainty is also why we are so keen to attribute a rationale where one might not exist. It is why so many economists, political pundits and partisans have been at pains to explain the logic – good, bad or certifiable – for Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a thought. What if there is no rationale at all? What if the President of the United States simply believes – and has believed for decades – that any trade deficit is evidence of foreign malfeasance. What if he thinks that reciprocity – the basis of the global trading system – is for chumps? What if Americans elected a mad king, and no one – not his advisors, not the Republican-led Congress, not the courts – will stop him? Because they fear the repercussions of doing so, which include the threat of violence.
What if Donald Trump loves tariffs, and now we all have to wait patiently for the results?
Uncertain waiting times feel longer than finite waiting times1. The anxiety of not knowing is simply too much for many of us to bear. That is why Disney cheerily informs guests how long it will be before they can ride on Space Mountain. Why Transport for London invests in dot matrix displays. And why Uber provides a little map detailing where your driver is. People really would rather wait for a longer, finite period of time than a shorter, indeterminate period.
This yearning for certainty is also why we are so keen to attribute a rationale where one might not exist. It is why so many economists, political pundits and partisans have been at pains to explain the logic – good, bad or certifiable – for Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a thought. What if there is no rationale at all? What if the President of the United States simply believes – and has believed for decades – that any trade deficit is evidence of foreign malfeasance. What if he thinks that reciprocity – the basis of the global trading system – is for chumps? What if Americans elected a mad king, and no one – not his advisors, not the Republican-led Congress, not the courts – will stop him? Because they fear the repercussions of doing so, which include the threat of violence.
What if Donald Trump loves tariffs, and now we all have to wait patiently for the results?
I am done with labour. If they are just going to pursue populist policies like kissing trumps arse, kicking downwards to hurt the poorest, insisting on red lines with the EU.... then their policies are just totally out of line with mine.
Labour insisting that it won't join the CU today - that was the straw that broke the dromedary. Just a total lack of solidarity with Canada and our European neighbours. My understanding is that even NZ aus and Jap would be interested in that arrangement. The UK would be out because Starmer appeases the populist right. To me he is like the cowardly lion. He needs to grow a pair.
Read the room Starmer. 2/3 of the electorate are rejoiners. They largely got you over the line in 2024.... and you are losing them.
Not joining the EU customs union shows a lack of solidarity with Canada???
Direction of travel. Keep up!
If the EU is sensible (may be forlorn hope) it will look to have associate status of the customs union. It can then keep saying "non" to the US in a few years time.
As I pant and wheeze around Almaty I can inform curious PBers that the site of Trotsky’s house, where he was internally exiled from 1928-1929 has been entirely swept away, replaced by the “Lucky Yu” Chinese restaurant, the Caspian University branch of Starbucks, and a trendy new “European-style cheeseria”
As I pant and wheeze around Almaty I can inform curious PBers that the site of Trotsky’s house, where he was internally exiled from 1928-1929 has been entirely swept away, replaced by the “Lucky Yu” Chinese restaurant, the Caspian University branch of Starbucks, and a trendy new “European-style cheeseria”
There is no plaque, no nothing. Poignant
That leads e to wonder which other historic figures might be better forgotten, wiped away from the history books?
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
FB neighbourhood information page (aka moaning old indigenes) update. There are loads of posts like this atm, mostly anonymous, though some regular Reform cheerleaders. If I were of a more cynical turn of mind I might be a bit suspicious.
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
Hang on a minute. Are you seriously saying you would excuse this sort of behaviour if it was a bunch of Rangers fans doing it? Because I think you'd be posting it here to show us all what pervy scumbags Rangers fans are.
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
The short answer is that they are making their problem (recalcitrant insurers) your problem. But their liability to your relatives is not contingent upon their insurers. It is their negligence that has caused the loss. Contact the Law Society's complaints department and make a complaint that they are failing to address the loss caused and keep a careful note of any consequential loss, advising them when it is incurred.
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
The short answer is that they are making their problem (recalcitrant insurers) your problem. But their liability to your relatives is not contingent upon their insurers. It is their negligence that has caused the loss. Contact the Law Society's complaints department and make a complaint that they are failing to address the loss caused and keep a careful note of any consequential loss, advising them when it is incurred.
Thanks David. Is it worth engaging solicitors to demand payment, do you think?
As I pant and wheeze around Almaty I can inform curious PBers that the site of Trotsky’s house, where he was internally exiled from 1928-1929 has been entirely swept away, replaced by the “Lucky Yu” Chinese restaurant, the Caspian University branch of Starbucks, and a trendy new “European-style cheeseria”
There is no plaque, no nothing. Poignant
Sounds like he didn't have a Snowball in hell's chance after all.
FB neighbourhood information page (aka moaning old indigenes) update. There are loads of posts like this atm, mostly anonymous, though some regular Reform cheerleaders. If I were of a more cynical turn of mind I might be a bit suspicious.
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
Clearly bollocks, but - had it been real - blowing kisses and shouting at random girls walking down the street would be scumbag behaviour.
It doesn't sound particularly far-fetched to me. That kind of behaviour is incredibly common in many parts of the world. It's also probably quite tricky to quickly change those kind of attitudes for new people who come to the UK, as plenty of UK born white men would be quite happy to go back to the days when that level of harassment was normal here.
You'd think, given the profile of Reform voters (a larger percentage are men with much less progressive views than the other parties), it *should* be a bit of a dilemma.
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
Your relative should instruct a solicitor of their own, who will draft a letter of claim, and serve it upon the conveyancing solicitor. The matter will then be taken over by the insurer's solicitor.
On the face of it, it seems a clear cut example of professional negligence, and it should not be hard to resolve.
Major territorial gains by the US: Louisiana purchase: bought from France in 1803 (If you want to say that France did not control most of the territory at the time, I won't quarrel with you.) Florida: bought from Spain in 1819 Texas, Utah, the Southwest: won in the Mexican-American War (The US paid Mexico for the damages of the war, and assumed the Mexican government's debt.) Gadsden Purchase: The US bought a slice of land from Mexico for 10 million dollars for a railroad route. It became southern Arizona and a little corner of New Mexico.) Alaska: bought from the Russian government. (The Russians feared that they could not hold it against Britain, after the Crimean War.) Hawaii: American settlers overthrew the kingdom, and applied for statehood. Oregon territory: Acquired by agreement with the UK.
(The example of William Penn is instructive. When he established the colony that became the state of Pennsylvania, he bought the land that became Philadelphia, and got an option for more as part of the purchase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penn
Almaty is really quite a pleasant city. Feels weirdly affluent - more like a big important up and coming city in Eastern Europe than remote Central Asia; yet somehow everyone looks a bit Chinese
And now I’m going to get a Kazakh haircut. Wish me luck
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
The short answer is that they are making their problem (recalcitrant insurers) your problem. But their liability to your relatives is not contingent upon their insurers. It is their negligence that has caused the loss. Contact the Law Society's complaints department and make a complaint that they are failing to address the loss caused and keep a careful note of any consequential loss, advising them when it is incurred.
Thanks David. Is it worth engaging solicitors to demand payment, do you think?
Uncertain waiting times feel longer than finite waiting times1. The anxiety of not knowing is simply too much for many of us to bear. That is why Disney cheerily informs guests how long it will be before they can ride on Space Mountain. Why Transport for London invests in dot matrix displays. And why Uber provides a little map detailing where your driver is. People really would rather wait for a longer, finite period of time than a shorter, indeterminate period.
This yearning for certainty is also why we are so keen to attribute a rationale where one might not exist. It is why so many economists, political pundits and partisans have been at pains to explain the logic – good, bad or certifiable – for Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a thought. What if there is no rationale at all? What if the President of the United States simply believes – and has believed for decades – that any trade deficit is evidence of foreign malfeasance. What if he thinks that reciprocity – the basis of the global trading system – is for chumps? What if Americans elected a mad king, and no one – not his advisors, not the Republican-led Congress, not the courts – will stop him? Because they fear the repercussions of doing so, which include the threat of violence.
What if Donald Trump loves tariffs, and now we all have to wait patiently for the results?
I think with Trump the whole tariffs not taxes, pay the US for trade, yanking the rug, changing the rules at his whim and so on, is largely driven by him now being able to govern the US they way he would run his businesses. Trump has a reputation for forcing renegotiation of terms, demanding fees, refusing to pay businesses, overvaluing his assets, not paying taxes due, and generally being am absolute nightmare to do business with. Now he gets to do it his way to the entire world. When the world has had enough the US will pay a very heavy price.
Regarding the fraud highlighted by Only Living Boy: how did the fraudsters know i) his relative was selling his house, and ii) what his email was?
There are many unanswered questions. It appears to have been a very sophisticated fraud, although that doesn't let the solicitors off the hook, I have done enough financial crime training to recognize an absolute red flag for fraud.
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
The short answer is that they are making their problem (recalcitrant insurers) your problem. But their liability to your relatives is not contingent upon their insurers. It is their negligence that has caused the loss. Contact the Law Society's complaints department and make a complaint that they are failing to address the loss caused and keep a careful note of any consequential loss, advising them when it is incurred.
Thanks David. Is it worth engaging solicitors to demand payment, do you think?
Yes, but they will probably just pass the correspondence from the solicitors to their insurers so you may not end up any further forward. The Law Society is a better bet. If they are anything like their Scottish equivalents no sane solicitor ever wants to have to deal with them. Life is way too short.
The size of the firm and the loss are also relevant. Most lawyers have a self insured limit that is often measured by partner so a larger firm has a bigger excess. If the loss is not huge they may be funding a lot of it themselves anyway in which case they really are mucking about.
Regarding the fraud highlighted by Only Living Boy: how did the fraudsters know i) his relative was selling his house, and ii) what his email was?
It's a type of fraud that we are constantly warned about. Changing bank account details is a major red flag.
You can check bank account details via services like Infotrack, and then verify them with a telephone call. I would always telephone to check bank details.
I learned it the hard way, accidentally transferring £3,000 to a fraudster, and having to make it good out of my own pocket.
Regarding the fraud highlighted by Only Living Boy: how did the fraudsters know i) his relative was selling his house, and ii) what his email was?
It's a type of fraud that we are constantly warned about. Changing bank account details is a major red flag.
You can check bank account details via services like Infotrack, and then verify them with a telephone call. I would always telephone to check bank details.
I am curious what name was on the new account, and if it matched the old one
Regarding the fraud highlighted by Only Living Boy: how did the fraudsters know i) his relative was selling his house, and ii) what his email was?
It's a type of fraud that we are constantly warned about. Changing bank account details is a major red flag.
You can check bank account details via services like Infotrack, and then verify them with a telephone call. I would always telephone to check bank details.
Especially with last minute changes. I successfully sued someone for ignoring that and failing to take the appropriate steps to confirm about 4 years ago.
PB legal brains: a family member has fallen victim to fraud. Their email was hacked and the fraudsters used it to make a last minute change in banking instructions to their conveyancing solicitor. The solicitors failed to check these instructions with a phone call, and sent the proceeds of their home sale to fraudsters. To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately. However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money. There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
Your relative should instruct a solicitor of their own, who will draft a letter of claim, and serve it upon the conveyancing solicitor. The matter will then be taken over by the insurer's solicitor.
On the face of it, it seems a clear cut example of professional negligence, and it should not be hard to resolve.
Hang on - the lawyer got a last minute email with new banking details and just sent the money to the new bank account? That’s grade A stupidity on their part.
Mind you last year when twin A was buying her house the solicitor complained about the very simple fraud steps of small payment and waiting for confirmation it had been received wasn’t required (it is for exactly the reason above).
Comments
power only works if people are given it
https://x.com/JurassicWorld/status/1909386233744330991
https://maps.app.goo.gl/BgbDNVVkSZxjmdVJ6
If it was felt necessary there is plenty of space for the church to open a new entrance onto the A56. They won't, because it is not a real problem - it's most likely about resistance to any change, or a bruised sense of privilege.
It's one of those things to go window shopping for to look at things you don't need.
I’ve seen it said that the dollars held in national banks around the world are what paid for the US Military. They issued the money and didn’t have to suck it up in taxes to keep down inflation.
I think it’s a version of monetary theory. Tax destroys, government spending creates.
I’m not an economist so I may be right.
I can’t remember what my original Mac SE cost but it wasn’t cheap and I knew someone who had a company Mac instead of a company car and the cost to the company was more
Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.
Dire wolf to wolf is similar to sheep to goat in genetic relationship.
It was JM Keynes.
Anyone who has *ever* bought more than *two* Apple devices is a fanboy.
* Guess why it's two?
It’s exactly the same mercantlist “their success is our loss” mindset applied to the US shipping industry.
Of course, the international order was set up to benefit the United States. The new order that the US is seeking seems less beneficial to them, as well as to its allies.
Representative Rosa DeLauro and 62 other congressional Democrats backed the proposed fees and other "swift and decisive" action in a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday, saying China's domination of the sector imposed "unacceptable costs and risks" in terms of job losses and critical manufacturing capacity.
Putin had Team Autocrat who have been together for 20 years. And Trump had Chump and the Magic Mushrooms.
Team UVDL have the type of well-established team that if Trump had them Musk would have sacked them at random in the first 24 hours. So who has the advantage?
If you spec up the latest MacBook Pro with 128 GB RAM and 8TB SSD costs £7,349.
A massive trade war between the USA and China would leave both powers weakened, at the end of it.
Sparta and Athens finished up as ... theme parks for rich Roman tourists.
You also get the great theme tune, which I think (like Going Places of the same era) was chosen by the great Barry Norman.
Comment on the USA: "From barbarism to decadence without pausing in between for civilisation." Now, barbarism is back ... maybe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhKNfNQWqeI
(Edit: link corrected. )
Being foreign and blowing kisses makes you a scumbag apparently.
'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym two foreign just eat guys came out from the flats at the royal were they began cycling on their bikes and clocked both of the girls they repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as they cycled up onto the bridge they began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! Both men headed up into Royston so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how fast they cycled away. Scum bags!'
@Reuters
Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD said on Tuesday it expects net profit in the first quarter to grow 86.0%-118.9% year-on-year.
https://x.com/Reuters/status/1909565673103147092
Getting the largest number of candidates nominated is an impressive logistical feat by Reform. No question about that. But there is a risk that they are going to fall into the same trap as the SDP did in the 1980s; quite a lot of votes everywhere, but not lumpy enough to win in many places.
My suspicion is that the LibLab 41 will be a lot more efficiently arranged than the RefCon 45.
China plans to ban Hollywood movies after saying it will never accept the 'blackmail nature' of the United States following President Donald Trump's escalated tariff threats against Beijing
This yearning for certainty is also why we are so keen to attribute a rationale where one might not exist. It is why so many economists, political pundits and partisans have been at pains to explain the logic – good, bad or certifiable – for Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Here’s a thought. What if there is no rationale at all? What if the President of the United States simply believes – and has believed for decades – that any trade deficit is evidence of foreign malfeasance. What if he thinks that reciprocity – the basis of the global trading system – is for chumps? What if Americans elected a mad king, and no one – not his advisors, not the Republican-led Congress, not the courts – will stop him? Because they fear the repercussions of doing so, which include the threat of violence.
What if Donald Trump loves tariffs, and now we all have to wait patiently for the results?
https://www.linestotake.com/p/donald-trump-tariffs-there-is-no-plan
It's very different tone from when there was a (genuine) flasher in the local country park.
Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
Westminster Voting Intention:
LAB: 24% (=)
RFM: 23% (=)
CON: 22% (+1)
LDM: 17% (+3)
GRN: 9% (-2)
Seriously good poll for the LDs.
The owners of a small family-run business say they have been left £40,000 out of pocket after their van became trapped in a mechanical stacked car park in central London more than two years ago.
Mark Lucas, co-owner of HCS Furniture in Buckinghamshire, parked his electric Vauxhall van at Rathbone Square, a building complex near Oxford Street, in December 2022.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qw74djvnjo
"'Tonight whilst my daughter and her friend was walking home from gym, a foreign Spectator journalist came out from the hotel where he began panting heavily as he walked and clocked both of the girls he repeatedly kept turning round looking at them and as he panted onto the bridge he began shouting and blowing kisses at the girls. This behaviour is totally unacceptable!! He headed up to the local brothel so please be careful. The girls never managed to get pictures unfortunately due to how they were laughing at him. Scum bag!'"
That said, Trump has a particular thing for tariffs so if the objective is to get him to back down then it helps to hit him where he'll notice it. It's also a lot easier to explain to the UK voting public that tariffing US exports is a just and appropriate response to it tariffing UK ones.
https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2025/01/09/does-this-1992-scottish-constituency-result-presage-the-next-uk-general-election/
Despite several periods of near-threeway ties in polling, and one other of near-fourway ties in 2019, with many polls conducted across them, there's only ever been one actual threeway tie.
However, both Labour and the Tories will be thankful there are so few seats up in May because on these numbers, against those in 2021, they'll be losing a pretty large share.
Perm your explanations from:
- having a large bunch of MPs is beneficial, after all, despite the many people who haven’t noticed
- Trump has made being pro-European both sensible and fashionable
- the old axiom that dissatisfied Labour votes jump back to the Tories no longer holds given the shortage of sufficiently long barge poles
- Labour tacking to the wimpy right has left a huge political space for the LibDems and Greens to frolic in
- being robustly anti-Trump, when neither Labour nor Tories can
- people eagerly await Ed’s next jumping into the lake stunt
One should not look for complexity where it does not exist.
The fascinating question though is the establishment figures who are letting him do it
They either
1. Think he's right
2. Think there will be a penalty for opposing him
I don't think 1 is true, and I think 2 is true only up to a point
The things Trump is doing will be unpopular
I ask (again) is there any first mover advantage in opposing Trump?
If the EU is sensible (may be forlorn hope) it will look to have associate status of the customs union. It can then keep saying "non" to the US in a few years time.
There is no plaque, no nothing. Poignant
Or is that, in itself, a dangerous move?
To my mind, the solicitors failed to spot a blatant red flag for fraud and were grossly negligent in their treatment of the money. The funds are now overdue and they need to make our family member good immediately.
However, the solicitors are claiming that they can't do anything until they hear from their liability insurers, which might take weeks/months. My fear is that the insurers will try to find some means of avoiding reimbursing the lost money.
There is no onward chain so there isn't a critical urgency here, but we are concerned about the anxiety this is creating for elderly family members. What should we do? Do we have any mechanism to force the payment? They are just stonewalling us.
Even Ashdown’s affair saw their poll ratings rise
You'd think, given the profile of Reform voters (a larger percentage are men with much less progressive views than the other parties), it *should* be a bit of a dilemma.
On the face of it, it seems a clear cut example of professional negligence, and it should not be hard to resolve.
Louisiana purchase: bought from France in 1803 (If you want to say that France did not control most of the territory at the time, I won't quarrel with you.)
Florida: bought from Spain in 1819
Texas, Utah, the Southwest: won in the Mexican-American War (The US paid Mexico for the damages of the war, and assumed the Mexican government's debt.)
Gadsden Purchase: The US bought a slice of land from Mexico for 10 million dollars for a railroad route. It became southern Arizona and a little corner of New Mexico.)
Alaska: bought from the Russian government. (The Russians feared that they could not hold it against Britain, after the Crimean War.)
Hawaii: American settlers overthrew the kingdom, and applied for statehood.
Oregon territory: Acquired by agreement with the UK.
(The example of William Penn is instructive. When he established the colony that became the state of Pennsylvania, he bought the land that became Philadelphia, and got an option for more as part of the purchase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penn
But not unique.)
And now I’m going to get a Kazakh haircut. Wish me luck
The size of the firm and the loss are also relevant. Most lawyers have a self insured limit that is often measured by partner so a larger firm has a bigger excess. If the loss is not huge they may be funding a lot of it themselves anyway in which case they really are mucking about.
You can check bank account details via services like Infotrack, and then verify them with a telephone call. I would always telephone to check bank details.
I learned it the hard way, accidentally transferring £3,000 to a fraudster, and having to make it good out of my own pocket.
Mind you last year when twin A was buying her house the solicitor complained about the very simple fraud steps of small payment and waiting for confirmation it had been received wasn’t required (it is for exactly the reason above).