GBR48 comments

Posted in: Why are so many voters frustrated by the U.S. economy? It's home prices See in context

Increasing interest rates on spurious fakenomics grounds hammers the middle classes with mortgages. America has plenty of empty properties, but they are slums or derelict in areas where no sane person wants to live. How about fixing up these areas? It's a huge country with a healthier economy than the RotW and largely impervious to war. Why are developers not building properties? I guess there is more profit in more expensive homes. Doesn't America have housing associations?

Unmentioned is the variance in price, which is relevant in most countries. Too many people want to live in an expensive area where they can barely afford a shoebox. If they moved to a cheaper area they could afford a decent home. You could buy two or three houses where I live for the price of one in the South East. You could buy four or five for the price of a house in London. Just accept your financial circumstances and move.

One benefit of WFH is that you can work from a much cheaper H.

In the UK too many people have made themselves vulnerable to interest rate increases by buying larger homes than they need - one or more spare bedrooms for visiting family. You are buying a house not a hotel. Idiots. Never take out a mortgage that pushes you too close to the edge.

The person in the article is 67. It's very difficult to get a mortgage at that age.

I expect politicians will eventually blame all this on AirBnB and levy a tax on their properties to cover up their own decades of failure in the provision of social housing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan business lobby chief hopes for gov't efforts to end deflation See in context

Governments cannot control inflation or deflation, but inflation takes down governments. In Europe, inflation from energy sanctions, supply chain damage and Brexit are ending regimes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Spouse-seeking market saturated with fraud See in context

Go to night school, do a uni course as a mature student, get a hobby, go on a cruise, volunteer. Mix socially with people. Opportunities to date and mate will occur.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: FA Cup thriller as Man United beats Liverpool 4-3 to ease pressure on Ten Hag See in context

That was good to watch. Two teams playing a fast game, both a bit loose with the ball. Utd were more direct attacking whilst Liverpool were sluggish and shot shy in the first half. Then Liverpool dominated but were profligate in front of goal. With multiple options they kept choosing the wrong one. I was watching it with a very nervy Utd supporter - it hasn't been a good season for them and Rashford missing a couple of good chances didn't help. But the game was so open there was always the chance of another goal at either end.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: TikTok devotees say platform unfairly targeted for U.S. ban See in context

US politicians, average age 'old', are completely out of touch with young Americans.

People not using something as they think they use it too much is a personal choice.

The state banning everyone from using it is fascism.

If Biden signs off on a TikTok ban, on top of what is happening in Gaza, he is likely to gift the presidency to Trump, and will deserve to lose.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: AI supercharges threat of disinformation in a big year for elections globally See in context

Shocking. The only disinformation and lies you should believe are the ones in the politicians' official manifestos.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Climate protesters under fire in Europe: U.N. expert See in context

There is an art to protesting, but most activists are young, inexperienced and have tunnel vision. Inconveniencing and generally pissing off large numbers of people is hugely counterproductive to convincing them to change their minds. Delaying emergency services and soaking up police resources also goes down badly in countries with so much unsolved crime. Iconoclasm is also a bad move. Whilst most attacks on art haven't damaged paintings, attacks on statues have, and copycat attempts will go wrong. Attacks on sports events are regarded as juvenile 'attention whoring'.

In the UK, people are stretched financially and generally quite angry, as the UK has gone down hill rapidly since Brexit. In many cases, the police have had to step in to protect protestors from drivers who might simply drive over them or tug their hands off whatever they have glued themselves too. People have short fuses here now, and it is a really bad time to upset random members of the public.

Some environmental groups in the UK have long since changed tactics, as it was clear even to them that they were merely alienating people.

If it helps the UN guy, British prisons are so full that they are letting people out early - even earlier than the usual chunk they get off a sentence for not behaving badly inside. Given the time, cost, paperwork and legal backlog, you have to be quite high profile, persistent and unlucky to get banged up for protesting. Typically it is a ticking off and a fine. The ban on mentioning 'climate' as a reason relates to one guy whose behaviour was unusual enough to get him into 'Private Eye'. That's not how most cases are handled.

Although not a national sport as in France, protesting can be popular in the UK (eg anti-poll tax protests in the 1980s, anti-hunting, anti-migrants, anti-broadband poles). The hard right tabloid media will go after protestors as they are easy targets. But if you want to be a popular protestor in the UK, just do your research. Not about your issue of concern, but about the general public. They were easily conned into supporting Brexit, so they aren't the brightest. Learn how to manipulate people. It's the first step on the ladder to becoming a politician. Then you can tell your angry parents that your protesting and fines are improving your CV.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Jail terms of up to 7 years for 12 who stormed Hong Kong legislature in 2019 See in context

American politicians were broadly supportive of the pro-democracy gatherings and some even encouraged them, despite the inevitable consequences for anyone identified. Then something very similar happened in the US. The Democrats saw a chance to go after Trump and called it an insurrection. That threw the HK protestors under a bus. American politicians inevitably run with 'America First'. They can hardly complain about the puppet regime in HK locking up protestors when they are doing the same to a group of people who did something so similar. Anyone expecting support from the US or encouraged by their messaging should be aware of this. Don't place yourself in jeopardy or become a martyr by publicly protesting when all you are doing is IDing yourselves to a dictatorship. If you can, escape. If you cannot, make like the Chinese and learn to dodge the rules as you need to through discretion, bribery and networking. If you want to damage a dictatorship, do it silently under a veneer of acceptance, and don't get caught.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Solar power occupies a lot of space – here’s how to make it more ecologically beneficial to the land it sits on See in context

This is great stuff, but the biggest problem is the UK is not the ecological hit. A whole swathe of solar farms have failed to obtain planning permission, as the locals think they will spoil the view. 'Visual impact' is not just wrecking the growth of solar farms, offshore turbines are suffering too. They require pylons to move energy to the national grid, and the locals don't like the look of those either.

We could create artificial trees with leaf-like solar panels, but they probably wouldn't like the look of them either. They may be less picky after a few dozen power cuts, but the transition needs to be smoother than that.

Solar farms have a bad press all round at the moment. Ideally they would be sited on poor quality land. But in the UK, post-Brexit, farmers can't access migrant labour to harvest crops, so they are first in the queue to switch good agricultural land (that they can't now use so easily) to solar panels. This is causing concern, as it is a bad idea to lose good crop-growing land.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Apple to pay $490 million to settle allegations that it misled investors about iPhone sales in China See in context

Although originally brought against Apple by the US city of Roseville, the lead plaintiff became Norfolk Council, on behalf of their pension fund. That makes this the most impressive win for Norfolk since Norwich City beat Bayern Munich, away, in 1993, Jeremy Goss's volley being an absolute beauty.

Parents should note the settlement split and encourage their kids to become lawyers.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: McDonald's apologizes for global system outage that shut down some stores for hours See in context

Consider stuff like this as a warning to be heeded. 'Digital' is less resilient. One tiny piece fails and you can't buy a burger or get cash from your bank or receive a quake warning.

Every commercial and government entity should be legally obliged to have a tested, workable Plan B that can maintain basic functionality when the tech falls over. Because at some point, the tech will fall over.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Posted in: Kate's been the reliable face of a modern monarchy; now she's at the center of a media backlash See in context

Not the splash it would have been in the 80s when the tabloids led the media narrative and royalty was a primary theme. Like everywhere else, social media in the UK has replaced print media, internationalised and changed the stories that dominate, relegating listed celebrity and increasing the reach and spread of stories about ordinary people that go viral.

It's a different world. Hollywood stars and estranged royalty have to rifle through the skeletons in their closets to bag attention and short-lived PR now amongst a world of crowd-sourced viral clickbait. The triumph of the democratising effects of the internet is that anyone can go viral.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Study raises questions about plastic pollution's effect on heart health See in context

Activist scientists with questionable claims can be syndicated as often as they like. It won't make any difference. Plastic is fundamental to peoples' lives and isn't going anywhere until someone innovates alternatives that work, scale and cost less. Then it will rapidly vanish from use. Manipulation and propaganda won't work. Innovating alternatives will.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: In climate push, German chemical maker swaps oil for sugar See in context

Sanctions on Russian energy may well finish off Germany's industrial sector (and much of the rest of Europe's). Regardless of the CO2 savings, these processes only scale if enough alternative raw materials can be obtained, and they simply may not be there. With the US carving out a second cold war divide, the bulk of raw materials, both fossil and biomass, may be on the other side of the fence. And whilst the US has options, Europe and Japan may come up short.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Biden opposes plan to sell U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, citing need for 'American steel workers' See in context

Unwise to try this in election year (read the air, etc). But might actually be a lucky escape. Washington will probably nationalise it as a war asset and happily run it at a loss.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: A blood test for colon cancer performed well in a study, expanding options for screening See in context

$895 seems to be rather pricey. Does this figure have any relation to the actual costs involved?

In the UK the NHS sends out stool testing kits to higher risk folk. I had one last month. You post them back. It was free.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: The noise problem in conflict averse Japan See in context

Japanese walls are usually quite thin, and after working long days, many watch TV rather loud into the small hours. That was annoying, but beaten by the individual who played his piano at 3am one morning.

Japan doesn't zone as strictly as some countries. It's common to find workshops and small manufacturers alongside residential properties. Regular circular saw use can't be pleasant.

Anime TV is often very bizarrely shouty.

Trains are deliciously quiet as most people are buried in their device screens or putting on make-up.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: Kishida questioned over scantily clad dancers at LDP party See in context

That was the funniest thing I've read in ages. How could Tetsuya Kawabata resign? He clearly has a future in politics. Bonus points for the photo of Kishida with his 'the go go dancers have arrived' grin.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Man arrested for cutting high school girl’s skirt with scissors while on bus See in context

Seifuku (school uniform) has been fetished globally for at least a century, but this is really about the cutting. Skirt cutting features in 'Your Name' and Keyakizaka46's 'Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta'. I haven't seen it extend into popular culture anywhere other than Japan. Has anyone else?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Posted in: U.S. lawmakers say TikTok won't be banned if it finds a new owner See in context

quote: Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.

And how many backdoors do you think the NSA have in US operating systems? You may recall those plans for Fed scans of data your device backs up to the cloud.

TikTok isn't just social media, it is part of peoples' livelihoods. If they ban it, its users will punish them at the polls, and ultimately, it will be Biden that signs off on it, and faces the biggest backlash. Banning TikTok may tip the scales and hand Trump victory.

Or they could just wait until a different service becomes trendier.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Posted in: Led by Musk, Silicon Valley inches to the right See in context

This is because the political left have switched from supporting speech free of state restrictions and an open internet that empowers people in oppressive societies to demanding censorship and state regulation of the net in the West. Woke activist tactics are poisoning the political left.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Posted in: Storm clouds gather over EU's Green Deal See in context

The Green Deal and the Paris Treaty are badly flawed by being tribal. Each country is expected to reduce emissions in its own country.

Consider this: Europe has done the industrial revolution and consumer economy, expanded its middle class, is increasingly moving to a service economy, recycles quite a bit, has loads of turbines and is shifting to EVs.

The global south is on the cusp of much of this development and emissions from there will increase exponentially. But it has little cash to do anything about it, and global south regimes are notoriously corrupt. Additionally, most of the ecosystems we need to preserve are in the global south.

Climate change is global. It doesn't matter where on the planet you reduce emissions, you just need to reduce them as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

For £15m in the UK you can build a cycle path between two villages that hardly anyone will use. No real emission savings.

For £15m in the global south you can modernise an entire town with minimal emission technologies. Huge emission savings on the ad hoc, unregulated development that would otherwise take place.

The G7 should be spending their cash to reduce emissions where they can get the most emission reductions for the least cash. And they should be scored on each one of them, not on what they do within their borders.

They could be reducing emissions in the global south and improving lives and economies there, rather than imposing restrictions in their own countries, damaging their economies and causing political instability.

The G7 should fund low emission modernising developments in the global south, allowing their own countries to shift organically to lower emissions, as they are already doing. Green changes can continue, but with better support for those affected. As usual, governments have been insensitive and ham-fisted in their policies.

Creating political instability in the G7 with aggressive restrictions will just lead to a rise in extreme nationalism and war. Once wars start, nobody will care about emissions any more and they will rise exponentially.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: Conditions inside Fukushima's melted nuclear reactors still unclear 13 years after disaster struck See in context

They can't start sorting it out until someone invents a technology capable of doing it. That's why nuclear is a bad idea.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Posted in: King Charles' diagnosis throws UK's long cancer treatment waiting times into sharp relief See in context

The NHS has been underfunded and understaffed by the Tories for years, the software/management isn't great, many of the buildings have dodgy concrete in them, the strikes are increasing backlogs and contributing to mortality, whilst Covid repatriations, the fall of wage levels when Sterling sank at Brexit, migrant labour blocks, and Brexit-based inflation have done the rest. The NHS will be amongst those that suffer the most from Brexit. Most stuff doesn't work much here now. The decline in the NHS is just more obvious.

On the plus side, treatment is largely free. If it wasn't, many Britons couldn't afford to be treated. Especially for things like cancer. Because almost half of Britons (46%) have £1,000 or less in savings, and 25% of Britons have £200 or less. 1 in 6 UK adults (16%) have no savings at all, equating to around 8.7 million people. The term 'rich country' hides a lot of poverty. [stats from finder.com]

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Posted in: What do you think of home schooling? See in context

Lockdown schooling was generally a disaster. But it works quite well for those with mild issues that don't need specialist care, and for those subject to bullying. It has become much more common post-Covid/Brexit in the UK in areas where shortages and cuts are hitting schools and where councils are going bankrupt. There is a trend for high-achieving pupils with motivated parents to switch to home schooling, reducing the averages for behaviour/ability in public schools. Some folk are pulling their kids out over religious/LGBT and other 'culture war' concerns, although that may be more common in the US.

Whether it works better for any individual child really depends on the child themselves, the parents and the school option.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Posted in: Rumors of Aya Nakamura Paris Olympics appearance sparks far-right backlash See in context

Anything that upsets racists, xenophobes and nationalists is OK by me.

7 ( +17 / -10 )

Posted in: S Korea starts procedures to suspend licenses of 4,900 striking doctors See in context

The idiot virus breaks out in SK. Idiocy for striking over this, and more idiocy from the government, banning and delaying doctors from graduating. Grow up, all of you.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Palace releases altered image of UK's Princess Catherine See in context

Our old friend the Streisand Effect once again pays us a visit. It is obvious what the issue is. How about just being open and honest about it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: More Chinese women choosing to stay single as economy stutters See in context

China has a population of 1.4bn. So they aren't going to run out of people any time soon. US sanctions will do more damage to the Chinese economy.

Not having a child is the single most beneficial thing you can do to limit climate change.

As this is China, you have to worry for these women if the CCP decide to fight back, especially any that appear in articles in foreign media.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Posted in: Biden cajoles Netanyahu with tough talk, humanitarian concerns but Israeli PM remains dug in See in context

The tail is wagging the dog. Netanyahu knows that the Jewish American vote requires the US to back him. As a bonus, every death turns this into Biden's Vietnam, supporting Trump's bid for the Presidency. Netanyahu has the US exactly where he wants them. Before the Hamas attack he was fighting court issues and huge pushback on his legal 'reforms'. Now he is in a win/win position. He can take back control of Palestine and wipe out as many people as the IDF want to with the US ensuring immunity from UN sanction. And he can move the US closer to having Trump back in power, which would be another win for him. He is already influencing the US election more than fake news and Russia ever will. Moral: Pick your allies with care.

Meanwhile Biden is considering banning TikTok, which may be an election killer for him on its own. The Democrats may already be locked in to losing to Trump.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

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