You’re quite right: they should have eliminated council tax & stamp duty at the same time & replaced them with a 0.75% property tax. (Replace 0.75% with figure necessary to make up the defici… (View Post)

The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits … (View Post)

Wiktionary says the etymology is from the latin for weasel: furrittum or “little thief”. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ferret (View Post)

IIRC this was immediately contrasted with Jason Bourne as a stand in for the equivalent “company man” of the modern era - the deniable external contractor who’s pension is a pile of gold bars in a sa… (View Post)

I think it was Charlie Stross that pointed out that Bond was aspirational fantasy for the “company man” of the 1960s. He gets the upmarket, exciting & exotic versions of everything that organisat… (View Post)