India, growing in confidence, and for historic reasons, will never be subordinated to China's political goals. Historically, the two have had little to say to each other beyond a narrow trade.
Common culture and community. Believer in manufacturing & interested in productivity. Trade should be balanced & energy should be renewable.
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India, growing in confidence, and for historic reasons, will never be subordinated to China's political goals. Historically, the two have had little to say to each other beyond a narrow trade.
1/2 If the courts rule out Trump's tariffs, it might force Washington to consider a more rational, less chaotic, approach to rebalancing US trade, for example by focusing on the role of the US capital account in absorbing global savings imbalances. www.ft.com/content/f3c7...
Ok, this makes sense. LVT by rebadging existing taxes so the mechanism is closer to LVT. I like this approach.
Cool Hand Luke is a great movie btw.
I'm also sceptical that a wealth tax can be made workable. I dont understand why people don't simply campaign for capital gains to be taxed like income tax. LVT is interesting, but there too I haven't seen a good explanation how it would be assessed or different from a revamped council tax/rates.
This maybe the first time I disagree on the message from Gary. Winning the debate means communicating the outlines of a policy. While the Youtubers may not create it, they should have a clear idea of how it works and communicate that in simple terms so people can make a judgement.
I sincerely hope they publish performance and efficiency figures for this each year. It could convince many towns and cities to promote it.
China dominates the solar PV supply chain simply because Western policy has said that trade deficits and national origin don't matter. So if China subsidises its supply chain then we ought to gorge on cheap panels. The tech is well-established, and there should be multiple global sources.
This is an extremely important point and has been reported on multiple occasions. Solar panels degrade, but their degradation is so slow that they remain entirely operable for decades after their warranty life.
“Almost nobody in Ukraine believes that handing over additional unconquered territory in the Donbas would satisfy Putin’s imperial ambitions or remove the threat of future Russian invasions.“ Another good piece from @mykolabielieskov.bsky.social www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrain...
You all need to stop whatever you’re doing and look at this!
Ian Dunt is an advocate not so much for immigrants, but immigration, as an economic system (the consistent theme in his articles). The problem isn't really Trump, or X (most people aren't on it), it is due to a political system that won't act on an a public concern, even to save itself.
In Britain, we avoid the bother America's got itself into by insisting the head of state be liberally smeared with holy oil FIRST. If you'd done that...
If imports were matched with exports this would be a good thing, but mostly they are not, so it is a disaster. Manufacturing is the only viable route for economic take-off, so this route is being blocked off for African nations.
Tbh, like most PMs, I suspect he finds world affairs simply much easier to deal with than the most intractable parts of domestic politics.
For the UK to have an ideal population profile implies perpetual population growth. The birthrate in immigrant families drops almost as precipitously as for native Britons. So this is not a workable, long-term solution, especially as global pop growth slows.
Previously, it was said immigration could not be reduced because of the EU. Leaving the EU was far more consequential than leaving the ECHR. We're going to have the entire modern UK constitution, including the old parties, ripped up unless immigration comes down. I despair.
This is the reason I believe Farage is going to end up in power. I live in the West Midlands, deepest Brexitland and, source of the street flag movement, so I can only speak for what I see and sense.
If Reform get into government, even in a coalition capacity, the boat crossings will be at the forefront, and the refusal to recognise and deal with what is an eminently solvable problem that did not exist a decade ago, will be at the heart of.
chatgpt applies for a job
Apparently the hardest question for a writer to answer is "Why do you write,"and I have to say this has never been a hard question for me: I write because I like money and all the other ways I might make money are not as much fun www.aol.com/hardest-writ...
Farage will almost certainly attack the NHS, but to say that there cannot be a functioning NHS without high immigration is simply not true. The NHS existed for many decades with immigrant labour on a scale far below today's. Many nations manage with lower levels. It is simply a political choice.
Most politics is performative. Doing nothing while those numbers go up is political death, not just for Labour but the political system. It is very evidently an issue people want resolved, regardless of the real economic impact.
And the really unacceptable thing about that is not the immigration policy itself (although it is a very extreme one, as you say) but that they simultaneously said that immigration was bad and they were cracking down on it. Together this has created an insanely disoriented public mood on this.
This is the disaster at the heart of GB's economic failure: gdp growth by population boosting while wages and gdp per capita stagnate (a pre-Bexit phenomenon). Reversing it first and foremost requires ending the source of cheap labour, which voters have figured out.
Starmer was the architect of the second referendum option & got badly burned. Brexit in one sense achieved the goal of its voters: reduced EU immigration. Events since prove it was always the politicians that refused to control it. It would be political death for Starmer to fall in to this camp.
Very succinct WSJ summary of the staggering migration shock that successive Tory governments inflicted on Britain as they tried to mitigate and hide the economic consequences of the Brexit disaster
This is the story of so many nations since the US and French revolutions.
Someone has stated my @prospectmagazine.co.uk piece today argues that UK is especially vulnerable to Trumpism because it has an unwritten constitution. That is *not* my view, unsurprisingly to anyone following my stuff. My (long-held, oft repeated) view is constitutional form makes no difference.
"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
The UK electricity is already the most expensive in the world. Price set to rise again in October as Ofgem's pricing formula lets companies rip people off. Who protects the people?
I find it bizarre many young Europeans resent their governments for increasing defense spending or overhauling their military recruitment to possibly include conscription. Shouldn't the anger be at Russia? Like literally none of this would be happening if Moscow stopped invading countries.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I always wondered why Irish Home Rule was a 30-year battle that overturned politics & ruined careers. Likewise Voting Reform & the Corn Laws. Now I understand. Farage is the consequence of the refusal of Westminster to implement a policy the voting public want. It was always about boarder control.
Sierra Leone imported enough solar panels in one year to make up 65% of their entire nation's generating capacity. If you're not preparing for massive drops in fossil fuel demand, you're not paying attention. electrek.co/2025/08/25/c...
This is not how housing markets work. Landlords don't see high rents (for plush newbuild flats with private gyms etc), decide to raise theirs and magically find a tenant willing to pay it for the shabby old terrace. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This would be my question too. Populism never arises when things are going well. As far as I see, it is a consequence of economic difficulty, or more precisely keenly felt economic inequality. Trumpism and Brexit were the response to real economic distress which wasn't felt in well-off areas.
An important point made here about current skewed capital flows that don't serve productive growth. Checkout the whole thread for its clear explanation of the problem with unfettered capital flows.
2/9 I am not sure this is actually happening—it's not what the BoP data suggest—but if it were, it would be a very good thing. Capital should not flow from fast-growing, capital-poor economies to slower-growing capital-rich economies. It should flow in the opposite direction.
Understood, thanks. The UK equivalent might be non-trading.
Vincent's Bedroom in Arles - 1889 #artbots #vangogh https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14707
Tomorrow's article is on African plant domesticates and their spread of African crops across the world during the pre-modern period
I'm not suggesting people should be compelled to stay anywhere, I am simply highlighting that the emigration of the young can be a problem, as it often has been in Ireland and as it was in Romania at the time of EU accession, for example. We cannot think only in terms of recipient nations.
1/15 Very good Bloomberg piece on Beijing’s recent push to curb overcapacity through an “anti-involution” campaign. It is important to remember in this context that while excess capacity has been... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The global population will likely peak in our lifetimes. What then? Every country will have need of their young; why should Scotland have priority for the young of, say, Ghana?
Criminal prosecutions for fraudulent patents. (Like the guys who attempted to patent the use of Turmeric for pain relief when it has been used as such for over a millennia). NO SOFTWARE OR ALGORITHM PATENTS. Shorten patent duration, and require a mid term paid re-registration.
I agree with most of these, especially no software patents but would exclude business processes too (Amazon 1 click) However, I dont think patent lives should be shortened. 20 years is reasonable. What are non-practicing entities? Third parties that buy patents? If so, i agree.
This is your daily reminder it’s Russia who invaded Ukraine , and it’s Russia who can stop the war by just getting the fkc out .
I suspect that many of the people who voted for Trump neither like nor admire him. They wanted things done which the established parties simply refuse to do: address the US's huge and damaging trade deficit, and reduce immigration. The dynamic is the same for Farage or Le Pen.
I understand an argument has been made about why to stay on the former Twitter. Here is my counterargument: It's a miserable fucking place run by a fascist catering to fascists, and I've been much happier not being on it, so there
There will be some painful restructuring of the economy, but productivity growth will return. The day the immigration number comes down is the day it disappears from politics. The English get very quickly comfortable with existing immigrants, but have rejected immigration as an economic model.
I wasn't born in Britain, but I know enough UK political and social history to say with confidence that Ulster is not a good yardstick for English or GB political behaviour and never has been. Nothing will break without large-scale immigration.
The UK population will continue ageing, as will the global population. Systematically stripping poorer nations of their young is not a long-term solution. The discussion preceding your comment was civil. Little need to be patronising.
Every one of these is true. And in all that time, the economy grew in absolute terms but not in per capita terms, which Westminster deemed sufficient. That mechanism for growth needs to be brought to an end before they will address the underlying failures.
It is not a smokescreen. All those other problems exist, but UK taxation is the highest its been in 70 years. The housing stock is insufficient for the population. Public services are stretched. These are very real consequences of population growth with zero government planning for such growth.
Cheap Chinese solar panels are fueling a bottom-up energy revolution in Africa.
England has always been more tolerant and generous to outsiders than any of the other UK nations (the ethnic percentage is far higher in England). It is not xenophobic to reject many of the arguments (esp economic) made for immigration which has clearly strained social and economic resources.
It's not simply a refugee issue. They are a small percentage. It is overall immigration which governments, tory and labour, have used to boost GDP and disguise their manifest economic failures. Without reducing immigration, the economic problems will not be addressed.
It likely won't go down until the overall numbers go down (legal and illegal). The level of immigration has real economic and social consequences that go beyond media discussion.
Great chart from the FT showing the French nuclear fleet is now routinely flexing down, to accommodate rising solar generation (People often talk about how some reactors CAN flex; but it's often assumed that they WON'T, due to economic incentives)
In the 1970s, UK discovered oil/gas in North Sea. Thatcher onwards, money squandered on tax cuts for corporations/rich. Now ... crisis. Norway heavily taxed oil/gas. Now, $1.9trn sovereign fund. Its income funds national budget. Appeasing rich/corporations costs the future.
Neoliberal destruction of the NHS UK has 2.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people Germany 7.6 OECD average 4.6 Worse in many places. Hackney in London 0.9, lower than Mexico. Bedfordshire 1.7, same as Colombia. Sick people can't work. Can't boost GDP & productivity without better healthcare.
No retaliation was necessary unless one believes that the EU was entitled to a permanent trade surplus (something Trump was elected to resolve). What matters is that trade should be balanced, not that rates should be equal. Trade balance is the barometer that the EU should watch & act against.
"Just make it exist first, you can make it good later" - it's a good mindset for an artist to have #NieR
This is where I thought the challenge was. Kenya has historically struggled for export earnings which have relied on cash crops, tourism and some remittances. I dont believe they export sufficiently in any of these categories in USD (let alone RMB) so will be compelled to buy RMB on the market.
The puzzle remains how the Kenyan gov will go about earning RMB to repay a loan denominated in RMB. In practical terms, will it not be repaying in dollars hastily converted to RMB. Yes, interest rates might be better, but it comes with a political cost.
A few decades ago Hodgkinson's generational performances would make her a household name in the UK. It's a shame athletics is now so far from the national spotlight. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...
Some aspects of the US political system I hold in very low regard. Outright gerrymandering is legal & accepted. "We are allowed to draw congressional districts on the basis of political performance, as recognized by the US supreme court in Rucho v Common Cause." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Came of age, 18, when Thatcher in the UK was elected. She and her soul mate Ronnie, allowed the predatory capital to run loose and today they rule.
We ship 11 billion tonnes of stuff around the world and 40% of that is fossil fuels.
🇺🇦 Pour Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Poutine est un "ogre" qui "a besoin de continuer à manger" pour survivre. Le président français appelle les Européens à "ne pas être naïfs" face à la Russie qui sera "durablement une puissance de déstabilisation". ➡️ u.afp.com/SQ7o
🇫🇷 Macron: "We know what the lack of security guarantees means. It happened in Georgia in 2008, and it also happened in Crimea in 2014. There is complete certainty that if a peace agreement is concluded without security guarantees, Russia will never keep its word."
An extremely important point made here on US public and political acceptance of Trump's tariffs. Trump ran explicitly on tariff protection, twice, and won. That mandate is the source of his political power.
As I argued for @financialtimes.com, this sparse and skewed congressional protest puts courts in a very difficult situation: they're being asked to second guess the political branches on a major foreign policy question... when Congress' revealed preference is "it's fine!" www.ft.com/content/0ede...
Those who've worked in construction know that complex, prestigious, grand construction projects are always done by well-paid, highly skilled labour. I expect it has always been this way.
The ancient Egyptian pyramids weren't built by slaves as commonly portrayed. Instead, they were actually constructed by paid laborers and skilled artisans. These workers were also provided with good food, housing and the best medical care that was available at the time.
I want you all to explore and celebrate all the communication options Bluesky has to offer, and with that said, if I never have to see Nazi shit from X that some of all y'all screencap just to dunk on it here, I would be so happy, I left X so I wouldn't have to see that Nazi shit you know
There are structural reasons that the City can't deliver long-term growth. The government needs a more regionally distributed growth strategy.
Analysts once scoffed at 3 TWh of grid storage by 2030. But reality is sprinting ahead: 3 TWh by 2027, 10–12 TWh by 2030. Batteries aren’t backup anymore—they’re the backbone, powering AI, firming renewables, & igniting a lithium supercycle. The age of battery supremacy has begun. Read more 👉 #BESS
What a shame. Those buildings could easily be apartments.
Record salaries for FTSE 100 CEOs, pay up for third year in a row. Median pay £4.58m; £58.9m at Melrose; £18.9m at Person. 122 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker. 16m Britons live in poverty. Millions rely on food banks and charity. 37% of Universal Credit claimants are in work.
I'm not particularly a basketball fan, but that documentary is one of the best I've ever watched.
These stories are always so frustrating especially for someone like me who thinks solar farms and wind turbines look great.
Blue whales return to Seychelles’ seas after 50 years! The largest animal worldwide, which makes a bull elephant look like a cub, it can reach lengths of up to 100 feet (30 metres) or more.
What are we missing when we talk about the arbitrariness of African borders and their economic/political impacts: kenopalo.substack.com/p/on-africas...
If we take this to be like france just before 1939, it's not a good sign. It's very difficult for a divided society to pull together in the face of external threats.
🇹🇼 "They are prioritizing defeating one another over defending the nation… Taiwan’s parties may respect... the results of contests. But they do not respect one another, and neither do their supporters." By @lnachman32.bsky.social and Wei-Ting Yen in @foreignaffairs.com:
Look at this badass heat pump! LOOK AT IT!
He's a hump trying to bring back the Soviet Union. Hey, loser. The USSR failed. Move on with your life.
This beautiful. I hope one day you'll share a time-lapse of your technique.
Demo from this afternoon.
It's rare that I agree with Simon Jenkins, but this piece on GB's university sector makes some good points. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
On this day in 1913, Sheffield metallurgist Harry Brearley created what’s widely regarded as the first stainless steel — an alloy that resisted rust as well as wear. Tasked with finding a longer-lasting gun barrel, his experiments with chromium steels produced a metal so resilient it
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2/2 What is more, private flows seem to be much more speculative and destabilizing to developing-country financial systems. Capital controls are not a panacea, but it is hard to justify the unfettered flow of capital to low-income countries.
Wheat Field behind Saint Paul Hospital with a Reaper - 1889 #artbots #vangogh https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14710
Origins and Development of Swahili Architecture (ca. 500-1900 CE) www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/origins-an...
I'm familiar with marginal pricing, I've read the piece, and I'm still not convinced. Gas could quite reasonably be excluded and have its own tariff. Otherwise we all pay gas prices until gas falls to the tiniest proportion of supply. The only argument I see in the article is the status quo.
😂