America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
I have, have I not, been saying for about 3 years - here in the snug of the Olde PB Armes - that universities as we know it are totally doomed
I am right, I was right, I am always right. No one will take on the debt any more. The courses are all online anyway. There aren’t any jobs at the end. Etc
The higher education system, as we know it, is finished. I just worked it out first, by EXTRAPOLATING
Record applications to my course this year says you are not right... yet.
Yet being the operative word.
I think in a decades time they will be like one of TSE’s Stepmoms.
I think change is coming, no doubt about that. But its across everything, not just university. Leon's ability to comprehend what a university is and isn't seems to be limited to his exploits in the early 80's on an arts based course. He doesn't seem able to see beyond that. He's like on of those annoying people who think Unis close down over the holidays in the way schools do. No, I don't get June, July, August and most of September off.
There is also some weird, deep seated need to be right about everything. And a belief that he can become an expert by reading reddit threads for a day, in the face of discussions with genuine experts.
Ok I take back the pleasantries. You’re a fucking beta cuck moron and your job deserves to go. Which it will
I'll be retired well before then, off to my sad little existence, just wishing that someone, anyone, would like my posts on PB...
I have, have I not, been saying for about 3 years - here in the snug of the Olde PB Armes - that universities as we know it are totally doomed
I am right, I was right, I am always right. No one will take on the debt any more. The courses are all online anyway. There aren’t any jobs at the end. Etc
The higher education system, as we know it, is finished. I just worked it out first, by EXTRAPOLATING
Record applications to my course this year says you are not right... yet.
Yet being the operative word.
I think in a decades time they will be like one of TSE’s Stepmoms.
I think change is coming, no doubt about that. But its across everything, not just university. Leon's ability to comprehend what a university is and isn't seems to be limited to his exploits in the early 80's on an arts based course. He doesn't seem able to see beyond that. He's like on of those annoying people who think Unis close down over the holidays in the way schools do. No, I don't get June, July, August and most of September off.
There is also some weird, deep seated need to be right about everything. And a belief that he can become an expert by reading reddit threads for a day, in the face of discussions with genuine experts.
Ok I take back the pleasantries. You’re a fucking beta cuck moron and your job deserves to go. Which it will
I'll be retired well before then, off to my sad little existence, just wishing that someone, anyone, would like my posts on PB...
Take solace in fact that unlike many who post here craving attention, you may well have the opportunity to visit South Gyle Industrial Estate before you die...
Ofcom is beginning to enforce the OSA on reluctant porn sites. The guy doing the enforcement ....
George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said it had "been clear" adult sites needed to deploy robust age checks to protect children in the UK form seeing porn.
Radio 4 discussing whether jugears, with form for accepting carrier bags of cash, was well-served by his advisors. Tugendhat throwing about lurid allegations of child prostitutes being trafficked via RAF bases to Royal residences. Not sure what he's basing that on.
The King as then Prince of Wales in 2001 advised against Andrew being appointed as a trade envoy in the first place but his late mother overruled him and Mandelson got him the job anyway. To be fair to the King both he and the current Prince of Wales come out reasonably unscathed by the Andrew affair, the late Queen though despite a great life of service overall sadly made some errors in relation to Andrew and the New Labour government of Blair, Brown and Mandelson also has serious questions to answer over Andrew and Epstein
Good morning
The problem Charles has is he also contributed to the pay off, so it is naive to think he wasn't aware of the detail and there is a real prospect both he and other royals could be drawn into this scandal
This is a very slow burning fuse for the royals
Andrew has not been arrested for anything to do with Giuffre, only for leaking info as a trade envoy, so that is not relevant at the moment.
As I told you at the weekend a civil settlement also has a much lower burden of proof than a criminal case. In any case while the late Queen definitely paid most of the pay off as did the estate of Philip it is not clear whether King Charles made any contribution to it at all
AMW is being investigated by the Met Police for very serious offences and as part of that investigation questions are being asked about the late Queen and Charles involvement in paying off Virginia Guiffre
It is irrelevant that it was a civil matter, but if Charles and others are able to prove they were not aware of the reason for the payoff then that is important
As I said this is a slow burning fuse for the royals
As lots of people have said, it was essentially blackmail by Giuffre and the royals paid hush money. That’s unedifying but not illegal.
I have, have I not, been saying for about 3 years - here in the snug of the Olde PB Armes - that universities as we know it are totally doomed
I am right, I was right, I am always right. No one will take on the debt any more. The courses are all online anyway. There aren’t any jobs at the end. Etc
The higher education system, as we know it, is finished. I just worked it out first, by EXTRAPOLATING
Record applications to my course this year says you are not right... yet.
It was a mistake in my opinion to have ever imposed tuition fees on university students.
I've given that a like - because the imposition of fees led to the situation we are in today, perhaps inevitably - but I don't have a principled objection to fees per se. I think there is a good argument for *some* fees: when I did may masters 20 years ago, the £3k fees seemed a lot oafter the free education of the 90s, but not an unreasonable test of commitment to the course - in any case, I valued my education rather more now I was paying for it and therefore got rather more out of it. But even at the time, it struck me that £3k was rather a lot for roughly 10 hours a week of education, 30 weeks a year, plus access to a library. £9k for that seems absolute daylight robbery. And I accept that universities work hard, and do more than just teach students - but that's not much consolation to the student impoverishing himself for the experience.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
For beer, the unpasturised Taiwan Beer variant "Taiwan Beer 18 days" (that's the shelf life, refrigerated through the whole delivery chain) is worth a go.
Beer and wine were state monopolies until 2002. You can buy the taiwanese wine in every 7/11 but it's not worth drinking.
Taiwan is the fourth largest importer of Scotch by value.
Most drinking outside of young people in big cities happens at home, or in restaurants. I spend time in a town of 25000 souls. Zero bars.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Ofcom is beginning to enforce the OSA on reluctant porn sites. The guy doing the enforcement ....
George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said it had "been clear" adult sites needed to deploy robust age checks to protect children in the UK form seeing porn.
Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, is an Oxford-educated lawyer. Rather helpfully, he maintains a list of dodgy sites so PBers can keep their children away. For instance:-
Published: 31 July 2025 Last updated: 23 February 2026 Open Investigation into 8579 LLC ... Summary We are investigating whether 8579 LLC has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 to prevent children from encountering pornographic content on its service through the use of highly effective age assurance. We are also investigating whether 8579 LLC has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duty to respond accurately to an information notice sent under the Act. ... From 25 July 2025 until at least 19 November 2025, 8579 LLC failed to implement highly effective age assurance on its services crazyporn.xxx, hoes.tube, and love4porn.com. For justpornflix.com, this failure is ongoing. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/investigation-into-8579-llcs-compliance-with-the-duty-to-prevent-children-from-encountering-pornographic-content-through-the-use-of-age-assurance
Next time there's a sale on Kleenex, just search for Ofcom enforcement!
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
I suggested that last week and was shot down in flames.
I do believe that if he thought it would help close off Andrew stuff he would abdicate
I've long thought he would not want his son to become King in old age.
I think when William is 50 or before Charles will step aside.
'Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands after his minority government was sworn in.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
I've been told, and happy to be corrected, that it's to do with Asian v Western tolerance genetics
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
For beer, the unpasturised Taiwan Beer variant "Taiwan Beer 18 days" (that's the shelf life, refrigerated through the whole delivery chain) is worth a go.
Beer and wine were state monopolies until 2002. You can buy the taiwanese wine in every 7/11 but it's not worth drinking.
Taiwan is the fourth largest importer of Scotch by value.
Most drinking outside of young people in big cities happens at home, or in restaurants. I spend time in a town of 25000 souls. Zero bars.
There was a short lived trend for beer houses. Strange log cabins. Which served a form of Chinese tapas. But they died out last century.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
I suggested that last week and was shot down in flames.
I do believe that if he thought it would help close off Andrew stuff he would abdicate
I've long thought he would not want his son to become King in old age.
I think when William is 50 or before Charles will step aside.
Charles is Edward VIIth to his mother's Victoria and his son's George Vth. Edward VIIth reigned for 9 years and I suspect a decade will be fine for the King, he also wants some time in retirement at Highgrove with Camilla before he dies, he just wants to say he was King and did it OK
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
Yes I’ve noticed this. Absolutely no bar culture (outside v big cities). It makes some Muslim countries look boozy
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
'Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands after his minority government was sworn in.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
Yes I’ve noticed this. Absolutely no bar culture (outside v big cities). It makes some Muslim countries look boozy
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
Can you please endeavour to bring the sun back with you? Its been ghastly. Worse even than normal.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
For beer, the unpasturised Taiwan Beer variant "Taiwan Beer 18 days" (that's the shelf life, refrigerated through the whole delivery chain) is worth a go.
Beer and wine were state monopolies until 2002. You can buy the taiwanese wine in every 7/11 but it's not worth drinking.
Taiwan is the fourth largest importer of Scotch by value.
Most drinking outside of young people in big cities happens at home, or in restaurants. I spend time in a town of 25000 souls. Zero bars.
I would say that Taiwanese wine is an experience that everyone should try once. It is unlikely you will choose to repeat the experience, I grant.
'Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands after his minority government was sworn in.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
Yes I’ve noticed this. Absolutely no bar culture (outside v big cities). It makes some Muslim countries look boozy
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
Can you please endeavour to bring the sun back with you? Its been ghastly. Worse even than normal.
Barely seen the sun since October.
The Weather Gods are seriously pissed with us. We are being punished for Reform leading in the polls.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
'Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands after his minority government was sworn in.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
He doesn't
Charles has waited a lifetime to become king and I expect him to follow his mother's example
The denouement of this government will be Keir Starmer referring Keir Starmer to the ethics watchdog and being shocked to learn that he hasn't been honest with himself about what's been going on.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
Yes I’ve noticed this. Absolutely no bar culture (outside v big cities). It makes some Muslim countries look boozy
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
Can you please endeavour to bring the sun back with you? Its been ghastly. Worse even than normal.
Barely seen the sun since October.
The Weather Gods are seriously pissed with us. We are being punished for Reform leading in the polls.
Could it not just be cloudy for those voting that way?
'Rob Jetten has become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the Netherlands after his minority government was sworn in.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
Its not THAT obvious to me. Being King is not the same as being headmaster of the local school. He will see it as divine right (others may disagree, including me). He wasn't selected for the role other than by being born first to Liz 2.
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
If you want another deep dive for your article. The Taiwanese aborigines weren't just head hunters. Around 3500 to 5000 years ago they developed sail technology (perhaps to avoid having their heads chopped off and being buried under a nascent semiconductor plant) and went on to populate an area stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island as far south as New Zealand. Maoris, Samoans, native Filipinos, Madagascans, Hawaiians and a heck of a lot more all came from there. They are the seed of the Austronesian peoples according to the Out of Taiwan theory, which is the most commonly accepted. Their Polynesian presence and influence gives Taiwan a particularly louche and bohemian tone not normally associated with Chinese societies. You may have noticed a squat and curly haired subset of the population.
I know a small amount about Taiwan and did not know that. That's fascinating. @Leon, have you noticed any Polynesian-looking types? This strikes me as a subject ripe for covering in a popular and engaging history. Any recommendations of such?
Not aware of any. When I lived there in the 90's my flatmate was Aborigine. He looked like a Samoan rugby player. 9 out of the 10 language branches of Austronesian still exist on Taiwan as aboriginal languages. My flatmate spoke three. And Taiwanese and Mandarin. He rented to us to improve his English. Which was his sixth best language. There were openly gay mega techno clubs and monogamy treated as an idealised intention not really as an obligation. It's still the only country in Asia with same sex marriage. All not very Chinese. Here's a short You Tube clip very briefly going into the evidence. Search Out of Taiwan for more.
The coffee culture is also reputed to be excellent. Is that so ? (Pondering a visit some time.)
Was dreadful when I lived there. The ROC government bought mountains of essentially coffee dust from Central America in exchange for diplomatic recognition. It's probably changed.
It’s pretty good now. But then it’s pretty good almost everywhere. The coffee revolution has been global. I wouldn’t say Taiwan is outstanding in that respect
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
Re beer. Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey. After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American. There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place. So. Most people don't know what proper beer is. There isn't a culture of drinking it.
Yes I’ve noticed this. Absolutely no bar culture (outside v big cities). It makes some Muslim countries look boozy
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
Can you please endeavour to bring the sun back with you? Its been ghastly. Worse even than normal.
Barely seen the sun since October.
The Weather Gods are seriously pissed with us. We are being punished for Reform leading in the polls.
Could it not just be cloudy for those voting that way?
It’s in the process of flipping to spring. 17C by Wednesday, with sunny spells. 25C in SW France. Whether that means Reform are due to sink in the polls or that political polling doesn’t directly influence weather remains to be seen.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
There is no evidence of that other than in your imagination
Dear @KemiBadenoch , apologies for gate crashing your @GMB interview today. Student loans are so life-impacting that I wanted to ensure the key point was made - that financially, if not psychologically, the repayment threshold is a bigger issue than the interest, (as I explain here: https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025861052009734186?s=20)
Thank you for being so courteous after the interruption - you handled it far better than I would have the other way round. I have asked my office to request a meeting, if you are available, to discuss this more calmly. https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025878042183168152
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
There is no evidence of that other than in your imagination
There is evidence of that, not least William and Kate will push very hard indeed to take over if the King tries to go on much beyond 80. Most MPs would also want William to take over by then.
He has also been doing public service all his life, he deserves a rest at Highgrove before he dies
Dear @KemiBadenoch , apologies for gate crashing your @GMB interview today. Student loans are so life-impacting that I wanted to ensure the key point was made - that financially, if not psychologically, the repayment threshold is a bigger issue than the interest, (as I explain here: https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025861052009734186?s=20)
Thank you for being so courteous after the interruption - you handled it far better than I would have the other way round. I have asked my office to request a meeting, if you are available, to discuss this more calmly. https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025878042183168152
Dear Kemi, Its been pointed out to me that i was a bit of a shit It was Eds idea Kind regards Money Supermaket dot busted
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
Its not THAT obvious to me. Being King is not the same as being headmaster of the local school. He will see it as divine right (others may disagree, including me). He wasn't selected for the role other than by being born first to Liz 2.
Parliament has had the final say on the line of succession since the English civil war, no King can reign forever without parliament's consent. Charles I was the last King with true divine right
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
There is no evidence of that other than in your imagination
There is evidence of that, not least William and Kate will push very hard indeed to take over if the King tries to go on much beyond 80. Most MPs would also want William to take over by then.
He has also been doing public service all his life, he deserves a rest at Highgrove before he dies
That is not evidence nor would it be in his character of service to the country
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
Its not THAT obvious to me. Being King is not the same as being headmaster of the local school. He will see it as divine right (others may disagree, including me). He wasn't selected for the role other than by being born first to Liz 2.
Parliament has had the final say on the line of succession since the English civil war, no King can reign forever without parliament's consent. Charles I was the last King with true divine right
I would just say it would be impossible for any king to reign forever !!!!!!
500 Lufthansa Passengers Trapped Overnight On Planes At Munich Airport
An official from Lufthansa told RTL, “According to airport regulations, the aircraft had to return to an off-airport parking position. Parking at the terminal building was not possible,” adding, “Due to an insufficient number of apron buses provided by FMG [Munich Airport GmbH], the passengers were initially unable to disembark. The crews kept the passengers informed and provided them with the drinks and food available on board as best they could. Only after several hours were the passengers able to be picked up by the buses and thus leave the aircraft.”.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
There is no evidence of that other than in your imagination
There is evidence of that, not least William and Kate will push very hard indeed to take over if the King tries to go on much beyond 80. Most MPs would also want William to take over by then.
He has also been doing public service all his life, he deserves a rest at Highgrove before he dies
That is not evidence nor would it be in his character of service to the country
He was still assuming the duties of King whilst fighting off cancer.
I can believe that Camilla might have persuaded him to stand down on an agreed timescale if William hadn't also been supporting his wife through cancer treatment too.
500 Lufthansa Passengers Trapped Overnight On Planes At Munich Airport
An official from Lufthansa told RTL, “According to airport regulations, the aircraft had to return to an off-airport parking position. Parking at the terminal building was not possible,” adding, “Due to an insufficient number of apron buses provided by FMG [Munich Airport GmbH], the passengers were initially unable to disembark. The crews kept the passengers informed and provided them with the drinks and food available on board as best they could. Only after several hours were the passengers able to be picked up by the buses and thus leave the aircraft.”.
If that was Ryanair at Stanstead, the emergency exits would have been activated by the passengers.
EDIT: though only after any booze on board had been drunk.
Meta’s director of safety and alignment at its “superintelligence” lab, supposedly the person at the company who is working to make sure that powerful AI tools don’t go rogue and act against human interests, had to scramble to stop an AI agent from deleting her inbox against her wishes and called it a “rookie mistake.”
Just a quick reminder about tomorrow's demonstration in Trafalgar Square at 6:30 against Putin's murderous and pointless war. Of course it won't have the slightest direct effect on hostilities but it would at least show the Ukrainians that some people, anyway, haven't forgotten them. Last year's was a peaceful and moving occasion. I should be finished with work in time to get down there.
Let's hope that this year of this war will be the last.
500 Lufthansa Passengers Trapped Overnight On Planes At Munich Airport
An official from Lufthansa told RTL, “According to airport regulations, the aircraft had to return to an off-airport parking position. Parking at the terminal building was not possible,” adding, “Due to an insufficient number of apron buses provided by FMG [Munich Airport GmbH], the passengers were initially unable to disembark. The crews kept the passengers informed and provided them with the drinks and food available on board as best they could. Only after several hours were the passengers able to be picked up by the buses and thus leave the aircraft.”.
German refusal to deviate from the rules alive and well.
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
Its not THAT obvious to me. Being King is not the same as being headmaster of the local school. He will see it as divine right (others may disagree, including me). He wasn't selected for the role other than by being born first to Liz 2.
Parliament has had the final say on the line of succession since the English civil war, no King can reign forever without parliament's consent. Charles I was the last King with true divine right
No monarch has reigned without the active consent of parliament since 1485
They have preparations for state funerals / coronations constantly being reviewed and updated every year (for the queen it was “LondonBridge”)
On the one hand the king is an old man with cancer, so being ready to go with funerals and coronations is not a bad thing. But seriously - surely they just drag out the notes from (checks) September 2022?
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Unlikely, I'd have thought. Sense of duty and all that. The King still seems quite chipper despite his diagnosis. If I were to wager on the Establishment death pool, Gordon Brown looked like he could barely move at the Cenotaph last November.
Yes, I think Charles has his mothers concept of King or Queenship - you do it till you die. We don't know what cancer he has, but for all cancer diagnoses there is now a greater than 50% chance of being alive 10 years later.*
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
He doesn't, he will hand over to William once William gets to 50 and he has been King for a decade.
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
How do you know this?
It is blatantly obvious and also practical, it is a complete waste of the more popular William and Kate to keep them hanging on until 60 if the King survives into his nineties. I suspect the latter 2 will push hard for him to step down once he reaches 80 and has done ten years and rightly so and the King also doesn't want to hang on forever when he could spend his final years in blissful retirement at Highgrove in his gardens and organic farm with Camilla and no more stress of being head of state or Prince of Wales
Is it true that KCIII has an expected remaining life expectancy of ~12 months from now? Is there any proof?
He's younger than myself, and Big G.
Although neither your good self nor Big G are currently receiving cancer treatment, so far as we know. And KCIII definitely is (or at least was).
I am very grateful that in my health crisis since 2023 I have not had cancer
Though I remain under a cardiologist, vascular surgeon, and a haemotogist for the rest of my life plus the elderly care unit which I discovered is the geriatric unit
I am truely grateful for all the medics nurses and staff who have been wonderfully kind and caring throughout my health crisis
My sense too. The desperation of some on the right to see the UK fail economically is one of the more distasteful aspects of recent politics.
Whatever our politics I’d like to think we all want the country to do well. Naive maybe.
I’m concerned my feeling optimistic is due to the improving weather and imminent springtime !
How quickly some forget - during every Conservative government I can remember, some people spent the entire time talking about how the NHS was collapsing, the economy was collapsing etc etc.
Talking the country down, as hard as a they could.
I've completely forgotten who those people were. Can anyone remind me?
Chagossian First Minister Misley Mandarin has - from the new settlement on the Chagos archipelago - given Donald Trump formal permission to strike Iran from Diego Garcia.
He says: "We, the people of the Chagos Islands, give our blessing for the United States to use the base at Diego Garcia for strikes against the Iranian regime – in defence of the Iranian people."
My sense too. The desperation of some on the right to see the UK fail economically is one of the more distasteful aspects of recent politics.
Whatever our politics I’d like to think we all want the country to do well. Naive maybe.
I’m concerned my feeling optimistic is due to the improving weather and imminent springtime !
How quickly some forget - during every Conservative government I can remember, some people spent the entire time talking about how the NHS was collapsing, the economy was collapsing etc etc.
Talking the country down, as hard as a they could.
I've completely forgotten who those people were. Can anyone remind me?
I do chuckle when I see labour supporters complaining at how the nasty press are mean to brilliant Sir Keir now he’s PM and conveniently forget how the prior Tory PMs were treated by the press. A lettuce anyone !!
We even had Brixian complaining the ITV news the other night wasn’t full of praise for Reeves after some economic news but dared to feature two teenagers, who were white, who died due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning in a holiday caravan. 😀
I think the Greens drugs policy is a step too far and say that as someone very pro legalising cannabis .
It would have been good if we had someone here who lives in the Gorton and Denton constituency to give an idea as to what campaign leaflets are dropping through doors and if they’d had visits from the parties and what their messaging is.
The Manchester Evening News just did a "We asked these 4 questions to every candidate" piece.
For "What's the biggest priority for Gorton and Denton voters right now - and how would you help address it as MP?", the Communist candidate's answer is about Cuba.
The Libertarian focuses on combatting fly-tipping... which doesn't seem very libertarian!
The Rejoin EU candidate says rejoining the EU, which feels strongly on message.
The MRLP candidate replied, "I believe the biggest concern to local residents is Trump's attempted take over of Iceland’s packing factory in Gorton."
Green, Labour and SDP give complete non-answers.
The other questions are also good, which great answers like, "Gorton and Denton has a proud history of making hats and building locomotives but we need to imagine a new future." No more hat making for Gorton and Denton!
America deciding to offshore its high tech chip production to Taiwan must count as one of the stupidest unforced errors in history
America had the tech and the money and the space. Uniquely so. They could have imported the hard working East Asian people if absolutely necessary
Now they are totally dependant on an island across a mighty ocean and perilously close to America’s most potent economic and military rival, a rival which claims that island as its own, and with good reason
Tut
Wasn't it the reverse? Taiwan deliberately chose to pour energy into dominating a critical sector of technology so that the US, and others, would have a vested interest in defending them should China try anything, no?
Yep. The US did not throw away their lead in chips, it was taken from them.
The Taiwanese government recognised the importance of semiconductors early on and pumped money and effort in to supporting companies that would build fabs on the island. That led to the founding of TSMC and the smaller UMC.
Japan tried something similar, which worked for a while, but their mistake was trying to get existing domestic technology companies like NEC and Hitachi to invest in semi fabs. They did, but it wasn't a core part of their business so as soon as the industry went in to a lean period they diverted funds away to other areas and fell behind the Taiwanese.
Their one notable success was Toshiba, which heavily invested in manufacturing flash memory and became the biggest supplier in the world for a while. A financial scandal forced them to spin off their flash memory division as Kioxia, which is something like third or fourth in the market today.
There are people on here with - horror! - more experience and knowledge in this area. But I catch up fast
All day I’ve been deep diving this. My impression is that it is a mix of both. Yes, Taiwan showed incredible prescience (and got a bit lucky?) and partly it was agreement - Taiwan sent young men to learn in America and America was happy to teach. Also Morris Chang!
And yet America was the world leader in all this from the 50s-70s and they did kinda chuck it away. Tho you could argue: who foresaw the arrival of a genuinely potent arrival in the form of China? Even in the 90s i can recall guys like Clinton laughing at the idea of China as a genuine threat to American supremacy
In my view almost all the mistakes made by the US in semiconductors stem from one thing; arrogance. They never believed any other country could beat them, only the US could produce cutting-edge technology.
Let foreign students come and learn, their crappy countries will never be able to catch up anyway. Build fabs in China, it's a dump that can't produce anything but cheap crap without US help.
They should have known better, and it's not like the didn't have warning. Japan gave them a mighty scare in the late 70s and early 80s when they pulled the DRAM market out from under American suppliers. People forget Intel was originally a DRAM company until the Japanese out-developed them and took that market away. Intel only survived because of the accidental success of their 8086 CPU line.
The same arrogance still exists today. US vendors dominate the most advanced design sectors - CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, etc. But competition has already eaten the lower end of those markets and are working upwards. Intel and AMD design the big CPUs, but look at the cheap microcontrollers that go into basically everything now - the US is a bit player in that market. The biggest suppliers are STMicro and Infineon (Europe), Renesas (Japan), NXP (Netherlands/China), Espressif (China), etc. The US only really has TI in that market.
Some of those microcontrollers are so powerful now they're doing jobs that would have needed a full-blown CPU a decade ago, and the gap keeps narrowing.
The arrogance of Intel leadership was something to behold IMO. It's a bit like Boeing but without the plane crashes killing people. Both US industrial titans taken over by MBA shitheads who see the cost of investing in cutting edge engineering and cut it back to the bone while pumping up prices thinking that the competition will never catch up. If it wasn't for the decade or so of criminal underinvestment by Intel the US would still have or be in the mix for engineering leadership, but the CEO listened to Wall Street instead of his own engineering teams, cut investment, concentrated on direct shareholder returns and fucked it.
My sense too. The desperation of some on the right to see the UK fail economically is one of the more distasteful aspects of recent politics.
We'll wait for Kemi to claim it was all down to the last Tory Government and then remind her she's spent every day of the last year claiming that was fuck all to do with her.
Comments
The food IS outstanding. The beer is oddly meh and limited, wine is just a few major Aussie/Argie brands
And @Cookie yes you do see a lot of Polynesian Māori types, it is believed they all came from here! And spread across the Indo-Pacific, from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ
I throughly recommend a visit, it’s culturally very compelling and strange, in a way even more interesting than Korea. But Japan is still tops, for me, if you want a truly foreign, absorbing, thought-provoking Asian travel experience with no crime and world class food
PS back to coffee, in Taiwan you can buy these little sachets of ground coffee that come in card-paper origami cradles which you place in a mug and then slowly fill then discard all the otiose trimmings leaving the coffee. They make excellent “fresh” coffee. I have no fucking idea why we don’t have them in the west. they are so quick, clever and easy
https://x.com/carriecordero/status/2025935118578090367?s=20
And I accept that universities work hard, and do more than just teach students - but that's not much consolation to the student impoverishing himself for the experience.
Beer and wine were state monopolies until 2002. You can buy the taiwanese wine in every 7/11 but it's not worth drinking.
Taiwan is the fourth largest importer of Scotch by value.
Most drinking outside of young people in big cities happens at home, or in restaurants. I spend time in a town of 25000 souls. Zero bars.
And I can believe that Maguire has fallen for gossip.
But its not impossible that Charles may wish to hand over early. I don't think he will, but not impossible.
Published: 31 July 2025
Last updated: 23 February 2026
Open
Investigation into
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Summary
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From 25 July 2025 until at least 19 November 2025, 8579 LLC failed to implement highly effective age assurance on its services crazyporn.xxx, hoes.tube, and love4porn.com. For justpornflix.com, this failure is ongoing.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/investigation-into-8579-llcs-compliance-with-the-duty-to-prevent-children-from-encountering-pornographic-content-through-the-use-of-age-assurance
Next time there's a sale on Kleenex, just search for Ofcom enforcement!
Till 1987 there wàs a monopoly. Taiwan beer. It's hideous. Sweet and ricey.
After this other beers were allowed in but behind heavy tariffs. Mainly Japanese and American.
There was a place sold Boddingtons. One place.
So. Most people don't know what proper beer is.
There isn't a culture of drinking it.
I do believe that if he thought it would help close off Andrew stuff he would abdicate
I've long thought he would not want his son to become King in old age.
I think when William is 50 or before Charles will step aside.
The 38-year-old claimed victory in October's election with his Democrats 66 party (D66) narrowly beating anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders in a nail-biting election.
Jetten formed a centre-right minority government with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).
It is a minority cabinet, meaning every major reform in the coalition deal - from an extra €19bn (£16.6bn) for defence to painful cuts in healthcare and benefits - will have to be negotiated vote by vote in the Netherlands' two parliamentary houses.
The coalition also wants fewer asylum seekers, with refugees having to apply for asylum outside Europe, not after they arrive.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clygj3421pqo?xtor=AL-71-[partner]-[bbc.news.twitter]-[headline]-[news]-[bizdev]-[isapi]&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_id=B68EC5E0-10B6-11F1-92B3-FDFE2C0BE10D&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_format=link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_link_type=web_link&at_medium=social&at_link_origin=BBCWorld
https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/344/people/the-asian-alcohol-gene-explained
But they died out last century.
And yet China itself is much boozier. Weird
Anyways I’ve adapted. I scrape a gin and tonic somehow then a beer with dinner then drink red Aussie wine at hotel. It’s fine
The brilliant food makes up for a lot
Tomorrow I begin the slow journey home. Then london!
*Very dependent on type and your age and health at the time of course.
Of course, these days 5% might be the winning score in the Netherlands.
Could this have been them?
Queen Elizabeth II was likely the last John Paul II type UK monarch who does it until death
The Weather Gods are seriously pissed with us. We are being punished for Reform leading in the polls.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/23/josh-simons-investigation-labour-together-reporters-keir-starmer?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Charles has waited a lifetime to become king and I expect him to follow his mother's example
Of course health and other issues may intervene
, apologies for gate crashing your @GMB interview today. Student loans are so life-impacting that I wanted to ensure the key point was made - that financially, if not psychologically, the repayment threshold is a bigger issue than the interest, (as I explain here: https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025861052009734186?s=20)
Thank you for being so courteous after the interruption - you handled it far better than I would have the other way round. I have asked my office to request a meeting, if you are available, to discuss this more calmly.
https://x.com/MartinSLewis/status/2025878042183168152
He has also been doing public service all his life, he deserves a rest at Highgrove before he dies
Starmer has been in Gorton and Denton today
Confidence, or hubris?
Its been pointed out to me that i was a bit of a shit
It was Eds idea
Kind regards
Money Supermaket dot busted
Now it will be "You scared the voters off..."
https://www.ndtv.com/travel/500-lufthansa-passengers-trapped-overnight-on-planes-at-munich-airport-11123719/
500 Lufthansa Passengers Trapped Overnight On Planes At Munich Airport
An official from Lufthansa told RTL, “According to airport regulations, the aircraft had to return to an off-airport parking position. Parking at the terminal building was not possible,” adding, “Due to an insufficient number of apron buses provided by FMG [Munich Airport GmbH], the passengers were initially unable to disembark. The crews kept the passengers informed and provided them with the drinks and food available on board as best they could. Only after several hours were the passengers able to be picked up by the buses and thus leave the aircraft.”.
I can believe that Camilla might have persuaded him to stand down on an agreed timescale if William hadn't also been supporting his wife through cancer treatment too.
EDIT: though only after any booze on board had been drunk.
https://www.404media.co/meta-director-of-ai-safety-allows-ai-agent-to-accidentally-delete-her-inbox/
Let's hope that this year of this war will be the last.
Glory to Ukraine.
It’s the now stock phrase which is wheeled out .
Reform are just an orgy of hate and division .
Though I remain under a cardiologist, vascular surgeon, and a haemotogist for the rest of my life plus the elderly care unit which I discovered is the geriatric unit
I am truely grateful for all the medics nurses and staff who have been wonderfully kind and caring throughout my health crisis
The ungrateful wretches need to shut up and check their privilege.
I’m concerned my feeling optimistic is due to the improving weather and imminent springtime !
https://youtu.be/IhJQp-q1Y1s?si=GGTpIKiLZghhmPZa
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x96xluk
My mate suddenly quit his job at BMW.
He gave absolutely no indication he was leaving.
Talking the country down, as hard as a they could.
I've completely forgotten who those people were. Can anyone remind me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfI1S0PKJR8
Spocksavers.
Chagossian First Minister Misley Mandarin has - from the new settlement on the Chagos archipelago - given Donald Trump formal permission to strike Iran from Diego Garcia.
He says: "We, the people of the Chagos Islands, give our blessing for the United States to use the base at Diego Garcia for strikes against the Iranian regime – in defence of the Iranian people."
NEW THREAD
We even had Brixian complaining the ITV news the other night wasn’t full of praise for Reeves after some economic news but dared to feature two teenagers, who were white, who died due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning in a holiday caravan. 😀
(What is the piece of kit on the chest LHS?)
The women police have enormous tote bags.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cew8jde9pxqt#player