China, The EU And Power Over Tech Companies
I just love this confluence. The manner in which Inman, at The Guardian, licks his lips over the power the European Union will – or should – have over Big Tech. As compared to what actually happens with that power over Big Tech when someone has it, as in China. Inman: In the twilight years of the Obama presidency, it seemed that…
How Poor Are The Poor, Really?
From our Swindon Correspondent: I’m a big fan of the comedian Doug Stanhope, and there’s a routine that he once did which is about people’s poverty being their own fault. From Wikiquote If you listen to anyone bitch about the economy for long enough, just let them talk, cuz you’ll eventually hear why it’s…
It’s Worse To Be In Council Care Than To Be Abused At Home
That is one of the statements in an official report into the care of children in council homes in Lambeth. That to be in one of the homes was worse than to remain at home and be abused: Although most of the children had been taken into care after suffering violence and neglect at the hands of family members, the report noted that for some…
Electric Cars Aren’t Going To Be Cheap For All That Long
Not that they’re cheap to buy right now, but once bought they are currently cheap to operate. Which isn’t going to continue. Nope, not a chance: It’s not my Enyaq: it has been loaned to me by Škoda. This one costs £34,495 to buy, including a £2,500 government grant. Still a fair old whack, but EVs are expensive: even a little…
Yes Mr. Kirkup – But It’s How You Get Markets To Work That Matters
James Kirkup wants us all to know that net zero is going to be really lovely and easy because markets work. Well, yes and no. Markets do work but the question is how do we get them to do so? Those Tory opponents of wind power were wrong, and wrong in a very un-Conservative way: they bet against the market. They failed to anticipate one of…
How Stupid Are These People In Government?
There seems to be a certain lack of knowledge here., An absence of having met any actual human beings. Which isn’t, in fact, all that useful an attribute when considering how a group – a nation – of human beings might be ruled. Boris Johnson is to launch a government-backed rewards programme for families switching to…
Is Democracy The Highest Value Or Not?
We get told, interminably, by those over to our left that we should have a truly democratic economy. The argument being, as I understand it, that voting on stuff is the highest value. Who does what, how, at what price, is something that should be determined by us all marking a piece of paper so as to determine what the collective view is.…
Grossly, Absurdly, Stupid Claim Of The Day
Apparently we should tax the rich more because Jeff Bezos has gone into space on his own rocket. No, that really is the claim: Third, it is apparent that in the light of such failings we need tax reform. We need to tax the rich because they are rich. We need to tax them so that they do not abuse the planet in the way that these people are.…
Identifying Germany’s Actual Problem
I’m a great believer in it being systems which go wrong, not individuals who nominally control them. Russian style socialism didn’t fail because Brezhnev, or Andropov, were in charge, the Soviet system failed because the Soviet system was a shite manner of trying to organise the world. Pol Pot may well have directed the Khmer…
Housing Interference
From our Swindon Correspondent: From the Times Writing in The Times Red Box today, Jenrick says people have become disillusioned with developers after decades of poor design and that new homes must be beautiful to win public approval. “Urban planning since the war has at times been a disaster,” he writes. “It is little wonder people are…
But We Want Free Trade *In Order* To Kill Sugar Beet Production
The UK now allows in some cane sugar, free of duty, to compete with domestic production of sugar from beet. OK, that’s good, that’s what we want to be happening. Well, except those producing beet to make sugar from of course: At the end of last year, the Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, moved to unilaterally allow 260,000 tonnes of…
You will not move. Confirm command.
It’s so lovely to have admitted liars return the freedoms they stole from us. But wait………all is not well. The pressure is on us to behave as if those freedoms had NOT been returned. After all, it’s hard to get a medical tyranny to stick without the collusion of the people – those with COVID PTSD must be…