The title is purposely ambiguous because I feared this would be a rant about ‘The Poles’ as in Polish people, (one of whom particularly is a friend)! In fact I’d written to my local councillor about telegraph poles – she replied with this succinct title. I discovered that BT is actually allowed to put up… Read more
Category:
Society
Money is abstract not physical
There is an interesting piece from Joanna Montgomerie of King’s College London, on Storytelling about Debt in which she calls out the: …£1.64 trillion of private debt [86% of GDP]. This enormous stock of debt must be fed a steady stream of present-day income, flowing from households… and she shows that this private debt is almost… Read more
Thinking like China
There is a very interesting piece in the FT about China building a road in Montenegro, to link the Adriatic port of Bar to Serbia’s capital Belgrade. The Montenegrin government’s borrowing from China to finance the road’s cost, estimated at €1.3bn, has sent the country’s debt soaring from 63 per cent of gross domestic product… Read more
Universal Basic Services (UBS) and also UBI?
There is a very interesting article ‘Can we have UBS and UBI?’ on what appears to be a new site devoted to Universal Basic Services (UBS). UBI is of course Universal Basic Income. It says: When we think about how to transition to a 21st century future that will deliver a larger life for the… Read more
European Elections are on the way – legally at least
Even, it seems, when we are told there is a ‘democratic deficit’! The below is clearly government legislation – and it has to be hoped that this is also government intention: So I have to agree that the: The Tories seem to have encouraged absolutely anything but unmuddled thinking……. Read more
Gardeners’ Question Time – New Left International edition
Amid all the general gloom I found this exchange rather encouraging…… Read more
Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once…
Perhaps I should not be calling on the aid of Lady Macbeth, but to me it seems singularly and desperately appropriate. Our Prime Minister, who, I see Ian Dunt descibes as “quite simply, the worst British prime minister of our lifetime, and quite possibly of anyone else’s” managed yesterday to write a letter pleading for… Read more
A metaphor for Brexit…
This wonderful picture of a ParcelForce Worldwide van (surely symbolic of ‘Global’ Britain) teetering on the edge of a 200foot drop at er…..Tintagel, is irresistable (and just in case you may wonder – fortunately, no ParcelForce employees were harmed as a result of this photograph). The problematic dilemma is emphasised in this lovely article… Read more
Corbyn’s Engagement
First, it is worth noting that the government is so divided that, at the eleventh hour, it has been forced to call upon the opposition for help. I suggest that indicates that the government and the Conservative Party have collapsed. The UK Prime Minister, who has been so intent on putting party before country, has… Read more
Rent to prosper – or not?
There was an interesting item buried in the ‘Next’ retailer’s annual report (click to read it!) It expresses some optimism on their shop rents. Their leases run on average for only six years (which actually seems short to me) but at a 25% reduction on their current costed basis. That is very good news for… Read more