Danny
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Post by Danny on Dec 31, 2023 8:35:01 GMT
I wonder if this is the sort of stuff that's putting paid to the Tories, much more so than cost of living issues and other economic/political travails currently besetting the government. Like Partygate, sleaze really resonates with voters and sticks too. It forms a lasting impression in their minds that finds an ultimate expression in the ballot box. I wonder if sleaze is simply a rection to conservatives already being convinced the game is up. Then there is no reason to hold back, its time to get anything you can while still in power.
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Dec 31, 2023 8:48:50 GMT
Partygate put Labour into leads around the 10% mark (they were already leading by more modest amount), it was Truss that sent those leads into the high 20s, from which there has yet to be a recovery to partygate levels. Again this pattern is clear from the aggregated polling. However, aggregated polling also shows a trend over time, which could be approximated by a straight line over time. While specific events might have shifted votes short term, changes returned to trend over a longer period. So arguably Truss shifted the votes of those who were already leaning against con, made them jump ship a bit earlier than they anyway would have. Sunak enjoyed a bit of a boost on taking office, but that again returned to trend with time. Long term trends under con have been, relative UK decline, rising government debt, declining service standards from government and regulated services, wealth gap increasing with a growing number falling on the wrong side, the 'big plan' Brexit steadily failing. Anyone got some suggestions for actual improvements during the conservative tenure?
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Dec 31, 2023 9:04:25 GMT
but, the only way to ensure it doesn't happen is to get rid of them. How do you do that? It takes a large industrial infrastructure to create nuclear weapons, but the basic principles are available on wikipedia. So all you need to do is hide the infrastructure for long enough to build some, and then as the only country in possession, you win all subsequent wars. A tempting prize for every dictator and plenty of elected leaders. Peace since WW2 has relied upon a standoff that no one can use nuclear weapons against another country similarly equipped. Did no one notice the reluctance to even aid Ukraine for fear of Russian nuclear response? My own criticism of Uk nuclear weapons is based upon their not being independently available for use by the UK, but linked to a US veto so they essentially become us paying for US weapons. Plus it being pointless to buy nuclear weapons to protect against a nuclear attack, if you then cannot afford enough tanks and soldiers to prevent a conventional one. Which is more the situation in europe now.
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Dec 31, 2023 9:11:32 GMT
Just weird, some people claim Starmer doesn't have a political brain, but in what world did Sunak think meeting Cummings was a good idea
'Former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings says he met Rishi Sunak twice in the past year to discuss political strategy and how to defeat Labour'
I thought this was a spoof, but apparently it's true
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Dec 31, 2023 9:13:58 GMT
I am quite a chilled person generally but not about politics, at least not in recent years. A bit of well focussed anger keeps you young I reckon! I and so many people I know my age (late forties) show zero signs of becoming more conservative with age, in fact quite the opposite, regardless of assets. Isnt there a problem that todays society is massively more liberal than was society 50 years ago? So someone who might have been seen as rather left wing then, who hasnt changed at all, will now be seen as old fashioned and conservative?
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pjw1961
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
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Post by pjw1961 on Dec 31, 2023 9:27:04 GMT
Just weird, some people claim Starmer doesn't have a political brain, but in what world did Sunak think meeting Cummings was a good idea 'Former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings says he met Rishi Sunak twice in the past year to discuss political strategy and how to defeat Labour' I thought this was a spoof, but apparently it's true What I like best in this is Cummings' conviction that just put him in charge and he would "deliver the election" and "smash Labour", after which he planned to change the entire way the UK is run. Its surprising his ego can actually fit on the planet. www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/31/dominic-cummings-held-secret-election-talks-with-rishi-sunak
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Post by leftieliberal on Dec 31, 2023 10:45:13 GMT
New Focaldata MRP poll reported in The Independent. Also on Best for Britain web site. The full data tables are here (but difficult to read). The main takeaways (Ind): Nationally, the Labour leader is the ahead of his Tory rival by 32 per cent to 22 per cent. Only Braintree, Castle Point, Clacton and North Bedfordshire put Mr Sunak ahead of Mr Starmer and undecideds. The 10,000-person MRP poll by Focaldata also revealed a high level of interest in tactical voting, and widespread dismay with Brexit. Some 52 per cent, potentially representing 16 million voters, said they would consider voting tactically. The MRP poll also found that Labour lead the Tories nationally by 35 per cent to 19 per cent. (I think this may be before excluding don't knows). The Electoral Calculus analysis of these results point to Labour winning 415 seats – a huge majority of 180 seats for Sir Keir. The Tories would lose around 200 seats and be left with just 151 MPs.(B4B) Poll of 10,006 GB adults by Focaldata commissioned by Best for Britain Limited conducted between 22 November 2023 and 29 November 2023.
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Post by leftieliberal on Dec 31, 2023 11:06:30 GMT
New Focaldata MRP poll reported in The Independent. Also on Best for Britain web site. The full data tables are here (but difficult to read). The main takeaways (Ind): Nationally, the Labour leader is the ahead of his Tory rival by 32 per cent to 22 per cent. Only Braintree, Castle Point, Clacton and North Bedfordshire put Mr Sunak ahead of Mr Starmer and undecideds. The 10,000-person MRP poll by Focaldata also revealed a high level of interest in tactical voting, and widespread dismay with Brexit. Some 52 per cent, potentially representing 16 million voters, said they would consider voting tactically. The MRP poll also found that Labour lead the Tories nationally by 35 per cent to 19 per cent. (I think this may be before excluding don't knows). The Electoral Calculus analysis of these results point to Labour winning 415 seats – a huge majority of 180 seats for Sir Keir. The Tories would lose around 200 seats and be left with just 151 MPs.(B4B) Poll of 10,006 GB adults by Focaldata commissioned by Best for Britain Limited conducted between 22 November 2023 and 29 November 2023. The question where people are asked who they would vote for at the next GE is Q14 Con 1866, Green 599, Lab 3612, LD 707, RefUK 676, Plaid 58, SNP 191, Won't Vote 770, Don't Know 1527 There does not appear to be any likelihood to vote question, so the following percentages after removal of Won't Vote and Don't Knows are not strictly comparable with other pollsters Lab 46.85%, Con 24.21%, LD 9.17%, RefUK 8.77%, Green 7.77%, SNP 2.48%, Plaid 0.75%
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Post by robbiealive on Dec 31, 2023 11:08:29 GMT
I wonder how the Flat Earthers explain that one? MERCIAN I thought I would reply to one of yr posts to give a much-needed boost to yr "Site Status" Flat Earthers Whenever I hear some political scammer, like yr hero Nigel Garage, saying it's Only Common Sense to belive some nonsense, I think: it's Common Sense to believe the world is flat. What evidence is there to the contrary. Some faked fotos from supposed space ships: n the fact that supposed "experts", by a series of flukes "predict" eclipses. I ask you!
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Dec 31, 2023 11:49:20 GMT
A picture paints a thousand words
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Dec 31, 2023 12:00:02 GMT
Politicians are increasingly transitory at the top level. Only Khan is still there in a top position
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Post by leftieliberal on Dec 31, 2023 12:23:40 GMT
Will Hutton in The Observer on pensions and economic growth: Britain is stuck in a doom loop: the system is rigged against growth. That needs to changeThe British corporate sector is dying in front of our eyes. Corporate decay and the lifelessness of our stock market, now ranking a mere 10th in the world, affects everything: jobs, careers, good wages, pensions, tax revenues and vibrant public services. Worse, Britain is rich in the research and intellectual knowledge on which successful 21st-century economies will be founded: the opportunity is being squandered. Decisively addressing what is happening must be at the forefront of the 2024 electoral debate.As someone who has a private pension pot as well as a State pension and a Civil Service pension, this is something I have been aware of since the mid-2000s. The FTSE 100 index grew well up to 1999, then (like the USA) there was a dip but the recovery from it only brought the index back to where it was in 1999, unlike the USA's Dow Jones Index that continued to power ahead. In the quarter-century since 1999 the FTSE has only risen by ~10% (in money terms - in real terms it has declined) and this has caused our pension funds to invest more of our money abroad. So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article.
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Post by mercian on Dec 31, 2023 13:19:52 GMT
So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. But won't proceeds from those foreign investments be paid out to people here and then circulate in our economy?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2023 13:37:19 GMT
Will Hutton in The Observer on pensions and economic growth: Britain is stuck in a doom loop: the system is rigged against growth. That needs to changeThe British corporate sector is dying in front of our eyes. Corporate decay and the lifelessness of our stock market, now ranking a mere 10th in the world, affects everything: jobs, careers, good wages, pensions, tax revenues and vibrant public services. Worse, Britain is rich in the research and intellectual knowledge on which successful 21st-century economies will be founded: the opportunity is being squandered. Decisively addressing what is happening must be at the forefront of the 2024 electoral debate.As someone who has a private pension pot as well as a State pension and a Civil Service pension, this is something I have been aware of since the mid-2000s. The FTSE 100 index grew well up to 1999, then (like the USA) there was a dip but the recovery from it only brought the index back to where it was in 1999, unlike the USA's Dow Jones Index that continued to power ahead. In the quarter-century since 1999 the FTSE has only risen by ~10% (in money terms - in real terms it has declined) and this has caused our pension funds to invest more of our money abroad. So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. An interesting article. Informed by Corporate financier Michael Tory's report ( had to be -didn't it !) "Britain PLC in Liquidation 2006....? " ( linked to in Hutton's piece.) Some caveats about Tory-his consultancy Ondra is pitching for business in Pension Fund Aggregation -which he proposes. But what struck me about his paper was the proportion of the "lost " £850bn in FTSE value attributable to the era of QE and loose Monetary Policy. Notably the fictitious £250bn of accounting "liabilities" produced by low interest rates , which required corporate contributions. The real history of the damage done by the decade of ultra low interest rates , and Central Bank ramping of the Gilts market has yet to be honestly written.
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Post by leftieliberal on Dec 31, 2023 14:08:51 GMT
So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. But won't proceeds from those foreign investments be paid out to people here and then circulate in our economy? Only the share of the profits that are paid out as dividends. One of the features of the US stock market in particular is that the total return has been driven by rises in prices of the stocks rather than payment of dividends (rapidly growing companies often pay little or no dividends because retaining cash allows them to grow more quickly). If you look back to one of my earlier postings in this thread where I also made the point about lack of capital growth in the UK you will se that going back to the beginning of the FTSE in the mid 1980s the total return was more dependent on capital growth than on dividends, while for the last five years capital growth has been negative in money terms (and even more negative in real terms). The information is all out there, you just have to understand it.
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Post by leftieliberal on Dec 31, 2023 14:38:52 GMT
Will Hutton in The Observer on pensions and economic growth: Britain is stuck in a doom loop: the system is rigged against growth. That needs to changeThe British corporate sector is dying in front of our eyes. Corporate decay and the lifelessness of our stock market, now ranking a mere 10th in the world, affects everything: jobs, careers, good wages, pensions, tax revenues and vibrant public services. Worse, Britain is rich in the research and intellectual knowledge on which successful 21st-century economies will be founded: the opportunity is being squandered. Decisively addressing what is happening must be at the forefront of the 2024 electoral debate.As someone who has a private pension pot as well as a State pension and a Civil Service pension, this is something I have been aware of since the mid-2000s. The FTSE 100 index grew well up to 1999, then (like the USA) there was a dip but the recovery from it only brought the index back to where it was in 1999, unlike the USA's Dow Jones Index that continued to power ahead. In the quarter-century since 1999 the FTSE has only risen by ~10% (in money terms - in real terms it has declined) and this has caused our pension funds to invest more of our money abroad. So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. An interesting article. Informed by Corporate financier Michael Tory's report ( had to be -didn't it !) "Britain PLC in Liquidation 2006....? " ( linked to in Hutton's piece.) Some caveats about Tory-his consultancy Ondra is pitching for business in Pension Fund Aggregation -which he proposes. But what struck me about his paper was the proportion of the "lost " £850bn in FTSE value attributable to the era of QE and loose Monetary Policy. Notably the fictitious £250bn of accounting "liabilities" produced by low interest rates , which required corporate contributions.
The real history of the damage done by the decade of ultra low interest rates , and Central Bank ramping of the Gilts market has yet to be honestly written. Actually, the problem started long before 2008 or even 2006. It actually started when the accounting standards people decided [1] that company contributions to their pension funds had to be based on the assumption that the pension funds were wholly invested in Gilts, because these were risk-free (if the UK Government cannot repay its borrowings, we are in much bigger trouble than just with pensions). In the 1990s when Gilt yields were still relatively high, this led to companies being forced into taking 'pension holidays' because HMRC would otherwise tax them for overfunding their pension funds. After 2000 when Gilt yields fell (partly as a result of an otherwise good decision to make the Bank of England rather than the Chancellor set interest rates) the companies were then faced with having to make large contributions to their pension funds, leading to companies closing their defined benefit pension funds and introducing defined contribution pension funds in their place. This all happened well before the 2008 crash, indeed even before 2006. The era of QE and loose money policy only made obvious something that was set in train a couple of decades earlier. As Warren Buffett famously said "it's only when the tide goes out that you can see who has been swimming naked". [1] There was a quasi-sensible reason for this in that people like Robert Maxwell had plundered their companies' pension funds by using them to invest in their own companies. EDIT There isn't anything in the report that is actually wrong, but if it went back to 1990 rather than 2006 and looked at the decisions then and by New Labour in 1997 it would make it clearer, why what has happened was a consequence of what seemed reasonable decisions at the time.
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pjw1961
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
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Post by pjw1961 on Dec 31, 2023 15:01:55 GMT
New Focaldata MRP poll reported in The Independent. Also on Best for Britain web site. The full data tables are here (but difficult to read). The main takeaways (Ind): Nationally, the Labour leader is the ahead of his Tory rival by 32 per cent to 22 per cent. Only Braintree, Castle Point, Clacton and North Bedfordshire put Mr Sunak ahead of Mr Starmer and undecideds. The 10,000-person MRP poll by Focaldata also revealed a high level of interest in tactical voting, and widespread dismay with Brexit. Some 52 per cent, potentially representing 16 million voters, said they would consider voting tactically. The MRP poll also found that Labour lead the Tories nationally by 35 per cent to 19 per cent. (I think this may be before excluding don't knows). The Electoral Calculus analysis of these results point to Labour winning 415 seats – a huge majority of 180 seats for Sir Keir. The Tories would lose around 200 seats and be left with just 151 MPs.(B4B) Poll of 10,006 GB adults by Focaldata commissioned by Best for Britain Limited conducted between 22 November 2023 and 29 November 2023. Typical bloody Braintree!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2023 16:24:20 GMT
Actually, the problem started long before 2008 or even 2006. It actually started when the accounting standards people decided [1] that company contributions to their pension funds had to be based on the assumption that the pension funds were wholly invested in Gilts, because these were risk-free (if the UK Government cannot repay its borrowings, we are in much bigger trouble than just with pensions). In the 1990s when Gilt yields were still relatively high, this led to companies being forced into taking 'pension holidays' because HMRC would otherwise tax them for overfunding their pension funds. After 2000 when Gilt yields fell (partly as a result of an otherwise good decision to make the Bank of England rather than the Chancellor set interest rates) the companies were then faced with having to make large contributions to their pension funds, leading to companies closing their defined benefit pension funds and introducing defined contribution pension funds in their place. This all happened well before the 2008 crash, indeed even before 2006. The era of QE and loose money policy only made obvious something that was set in train a couple of decades earlier. As Warren Buffett famously said "it's only when the tide goes out that you can see who has been swimming naked". [1] There was a quasi-sensible reason for this in that people like Robert Maxwell had plundered their companies' pension funds by using them to invest in their own companies. EDIT There isn't anything in the report that is actually wrong, but if it went back to 1990 rather than 2006 and looked at the decisions then and by New Labour in 1997 it would make it clearer, why what has happened was a consequence of what seemed reasonable decisions at the time. Yes it certainly did start in the 1990s. www.trustnet.com/news/13391349/pension-funds-should-be-forced-to-buy-uk-stocks-like-they-were-in-the-90s#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20money%20leaving,less%20than%202%25%20of%20assets. But as you can see from the first chart in the article linked above , equities were probably overweight then . And the gross imbalanced overweight in bonds exploded in 2006 It is argued in that article ( as with Hutton's) that regulation can simply be used to reverse the trend. But I am much more persuaded by Schroders head of strategic research Duncan Lamont who is quoted as follows :- "UK pension funds are the popular and convenient whipping boys for a range of woes hampering Britain’s financial fortunes,” “This is unfair and unhelpful." “If something makes sense from an investment perspective they should and, in my experience, will consider it. But they are not piggy banks to be raided for whatever happens to be the political priority of the day. The suggestion that it could be reversed by a wave of a regulatory wand is misguided.” "“Pension trustees’ efforts to build more diversified portfolios, both within and across asset classes, have been a major contributor to less money being allocated to UK equities,-None of this was regulation-driven and most people would surely agree that diversification is a good thing.”. I suppose that at the end of the day Pension Funds are there to protect pension fund members and pensioners-not to increase risk by state dictat to fund UK plc. And there are other sources of capital-Banks for example ! And there are Governments -with the proceeds of the bonds they sold to pension funds and the power to facilitate UK economic growth via sensible industrial, economic & fiscal policy.
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Dec 31, 2023 16:36:22 GMT
The FTSE 100 index grew well up to 1999, then (like the USA) there was a dip but the recovery from it only brought the index back to where it was in 1999, unlike the USA's Dow Jones Index that continued to power ahead. In the quarter-century since 1999 the FTSE has only risen by ~10% (in money terms - in real terms it has declined) and this has caused our pension funds to invest more of our money abroad. So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. are you sure this isnt the other way around? BECAUSE UK industry is floundering, the stocks of such companies arent doing well. Therefore money is leaving the country to invest where companies are doing well? Most wealth represented by eg stock values has never had any bearing on the ability of companies to actually invest in what they do. Its more a consequence of their doing well. Microsoft, apple, are vastly valuable companies, not remotely because shareholders invested in them except maybe a few at the outset. But won't proceeds from those foreign investments be paid out to people here and then circulate in our economy? Until they drain back to China to buy the goods we use.
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Post by somerjohn on Dec 31, 2023 16:46:04 GMT
Interesting and refreshingly non-partisan and rancour-free discussion on the Will Hutton piece.
The rather shocking point that hasn't been followed up here is the massive sell-off of UK businesses to foreign owners (as opposed to the switch of UK pension fund investment to overseas assets). While this does indeed mean that the profits and increased capital value of these once-British businesses end up overseas, that wouldn't be a problem if what we were seeing was mature, slow-growing businesses being sold off for inflated prices, while dynamic, fast-growing new businesses were taking their places. But as Hutton points out, that simply isn't happening on any scale any more.
Presumably the money flowing in to buy these assets (aka selling the family silver) has in the short term helped prop up our economy, but the point comes where all the best assets have already gone, and all we're left with is the outflow of profits. A bit reminiscent of selling off council housing stocks, and not replacing them, which works well until you've sold nearly all of it off and that income stream dries up, while the housing shortage chickens come home to roost.
At one point it looked as if the silver lining to this black cloud was that we were actually doing well out of flogging off decrepit UK businesses and spending the proceeds on investing in more dynamic and profitable foreign ones. But I recall reading a while ago that the sheer size of the discrepancy in investment flows has now outweighed that effect. Downhill all the way from now on?
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Post by robbiealive on Dec 31, 2023 17:03:10 GMT
Interesting and refreshingly non-partisan and rancour-free discussion on the Will Hutton piece. The rather shocking point that hasn't been followed up here is the massive sell-off of UK businesses to foreign owners (as opposed to the switch of UK pension fund investment to overseas assets). While this does indeed mean that the profits and increased capital value of these once-British businesses end up overseas, that wouldn't be a problem if what we were seeing was mature, slow-growing businesses being sold off for inflated prices, while dynamic, fast-growing new businesses were taking their places. But as Hutton points out, that simply isn't happening on any scale any more. Presumably the money flowing in to buy these assets (aka selling the family silver) has in the short term helped prop up our economy, but the point comes where all the best assets have already gone, and all we're left with is the outflow of profits. A bit reminiscent of selling off council housing stocks, and not replacing them, which works well until you've sold nearly all of it off and that income stream dries up, while the housing shortage chickens come home to roost. At one point it looked as if the silver lining to this black cloud was that we were actually doing well out of flogging off decrepit UK businesses and spending the proceeds on investing in more dynamic and profitable foreign ones. But I recall reading a while ago that the sheer size of the discrepancy in investment flows has now outweighed that effect. Downhill all the way from now on? There is a disappointing lack of grammar policing on the site these days. May I congratulate you on yr rare, precise and gratifying use of the humble hyphen in compound adjectives. However, there appears to be one missing in the last line of the 3rd para. I also wondered whether "council house stocks" required one in the 4th para. Best Wishes
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Post by somerjohn on Dec 31, 2023 17:14:35 GMT
robbiealive: "May I congratulate you on yr rare, precise and gratifying use of the humble hyphen in compound adjectives."
Well, thank you. But without wishing to be churlish, is that a plaudit or a piss-take?
FWIW, I've always seen punctuation as a way to achieve clarity and a natural flow. Not so much a set of rules, as a useful part of the rich toolbox of writing.
Somewhat prematurely (because I'm nursing the aftermath of a dislocated shoulder and fractured humerus, so won't be up late), may I wish eveyone a happy and good-tempered new year?
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steve
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Post by steve on Dec 31, 2023 17:41:22 GMT
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Post by robbiealive on Dec 31, 2023 18:16:55 GMT
robbiealive: "May I congratulate you on yr rare, precise and gratifying use of the humble hyphen in compound adjectives."Well, thank you. But without wishing to be churlish, is that a plaudit or a piss-take? FWIW, I've always seen punctuation as a way to achieve clarity and a natural flow. Not so much a set of rules, as a useful part of the rich toolbox of writing. I agree good writing needs a clear structure and a fluent style & both are promoted by accurate punctuation. The British tend to use their language for ironical purposes. Hence, I cannot answer yr question as it would give the game away. My guess is that many other European nationalities are less prone to ironical language. You speak Spanish. Are they great ironists?
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Post by robbiealive on Dec 31, 2023 18:34:36 GMT
Will Hutton in The Observer on pensions and economic growth: Britain is stuck in a doom loop: the system is rigged against growth. That needs to changeThe British corporate sector is dying in front of our eyes. Corporate decay and the lifelessness of our stock market, now ranking a mere 10th in the world, affects everything: jobs, careers, good wages, pensions, tax revenues and vibrant public services. Worse, Britain is rich in the research and intellectual knowledge on which successful 21st-century economies will be founded: the opportunity is being squandered. Decisively addressing what is happening must be at the forefront of the 2024 electoral debate.As someone who has a private pension pot as well as a State pension and a Civil Service pension, this is something I have been aware of since the mid-2000s. The FTSE 100 index grew well up to 1999, then (like the USA) there was a dip but the recovery from it only brought the index back to where it was in 1999, unlike the USA's Dow Jones Index that continued to power ahead. In the quarter-century since 1999 the FTSE has only risen by ~10% (in money terms - in real terms it has declined) and this has caused our pension funds to invest more of our money abroad. So money is leaving our economy rather than circulating within it and this is a major cause of our poor growth rate for more than the last two decades. As usual, Will Hutton gets to the heart of the issue in an incisive article. At a tangent. Britain in terms of wealth distribution is said to be the most unequal of the rich nations, after the US. The cause is a taxtion system which favours the rich and well-to-do, esp among the retired. I think I should pay at least 10% more of my income in tax. I see inheritance tax, inter alia, as retrospective taxation to pay for the high cost of medical care and post-65 benefits which I will hv received while alive. I think it is mythical that inheritance tax inhibits enterprise and stymies economic activity & that, in contrast, by promoting a more equal distribution of wealth it actually promotes not just better public services but also a lower level of wealth concentration: leading to a higher level of economic participation and hence wider economic growth. But I am repeating myself, A sure sign that I need a to recuse myself, ha ha.
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Dec 31, 2023 18:38:34 GMT
As we go into the new year a stark reminder that population decline isn't just a problem in the West
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Post by bardin1 on Dec 31, 2023 18:47:38 GMT
At a tangent. Britain in terms of wealth distribution is said to be the most unequal of the rich nations, after the US. The cause is a taxtion system which favours the rich and well-to-do, esp among the retired. I think I should pay at least 10% more of my income in tax. I see inheritance tax, inter alia, as retrospective taxation to pay for the high cost of medical care and post-65 benefits which I will hv received while alive. I think it is mythical that inheritance tax inhibits enterprise and stymies economic activity & that, in contrast, by promoting a more equal distribution of wealth it actually promotes not just better public services but also a lower level of wealth concentration: leading to a higher level of economic participation and hence wider economic growth. But I am repeating myself, A sure sign that I need a to recuse myself, ha ha. I agree with every word of that, Robbie We live in an era of collective selfish madness which sees an entitlement where none should exist.
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pjw1961
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
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Post by pjw1961 on Dec 31, 2023 19:08:13 GMT
As we go into the new year a stark reminder that population decline isn't just a problem in the West Population decline is not a problem; it is what urgently needs to happen in all countries, together with a universal change in lifestyles away from unsustainable consumption. .
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Post by crossbat11 on Dec 31, 2023 19:15:27 GMT
somerjohn
Hope you recover from your injuries as quickly and painlessly as possible and, on the basis that you may be repairing to your bed a little early this evening accordingly, I wish you a Happy New Year.
Without ranker and akrimioney too.
😁👍
P S. Will robbialive-o spot my cunningly concealed deliberate spelling misteaks,I wander?
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Post by bardin1 on Dec 31, 2023 19:37:58 GMT
Heading off soon to Aberfeldy where I will pick up my son and daughter after the Hogmanay bash. Every year there is an anticipation amongst the youth that the headline act on the open air stage may suddenly change and Ed Sheeran will appear. He has a house ocally and turned up one New Year in a local pub, so hope is not entirely unfounded.....
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