Yeah, this amused me. Noel wonders what’s going on then takes over and gets into it:

If Noel sings DLBIA will he do it in C like the original or B as he does with the high flying birds? Better in B IMO which means down tuning the guitar a step or capo 4 (IIRC) and changing the chords.

When Noel does Oasis songs with the High Flying Birds there’s much more feel to the songs than when Liam sings them, you can tell Noel wrote them and sings from the heart. He’ll sing soft and loud as appropriate and make sublte changes of voice to sound happy or sad or angry. He sometimes changes the key to suit his current voice such as DLBIA in B and Whatever in A. In fact having got used to the newer versions the originals sound flat and not just because they’re down a step.

A siesta, or better still une sieste crapuleuse.

Whatever was sung by Liam originally but I put prefer when Noel sings it in A rather than G:

You decide, I’ve chosen performances that are both pretty good.

Germany has the same problem as the rest of the world, China. Watching German TV news last night there was a report on VW not being able to compete with Chinese EVs either on quality or price, and being faced with laying off and even closing plants in Germany which it’s never had to do before.

When a country is dumping protectionist retaliation is in order. The EU is heading that way, the UK needs to too.

Excellent news, Kelvin. Small step – right direction. Nothing the Tories weren’t already doing though.

One Christmas in the early sixties we sat down to watch a film about a train which as a kid had me captivated. The images stayed with me and it was YouTube that provided the answer to which film it was. Buster Keaton’s the General.

Vazaha gets the film that’s no doubt most influenced my life. Working at Welsh Water I used to go to the Aberystwyth uni film society which showed mainly arty foreign films in VO. Subway intrigued me to the point I somehow got a copy on VHS and spent hours listening and transcribing to brush up my French – also bought a slang dictionnary that helped . A couple of years later I took the Metro with a French girlfriend through Châtelet – les Halles to see another great film: L’Insoutenable légèreté de l’être. Live your dreams.

There are half a dozen rapids and half a dozen fast in Rhodes according to Chargemap. They take the Chargemap RFID card (in theory, it often doesn’t work IME) but other forms of payment aren’t mentioned. They’re run by PPC Mobility but their site blocks my computer. I suggest contacting the rental company and asking where and how to charge.

Zelensky so long as all the money went to building drones for him.

Most expensive gig I’ve been to was Slade at Birmingham Town Hall, £2 was many weeks of income at the time. ;) As was the Slade Alive album, also £2. For years gigs were about the same price as an album.

and then if that’s out of balance and there’s still stuff that needs funding that can’t wait then a decision will have to be made on borrowing as a last resort.

Or printing rather than borrowing. Both have consequences. If you borrow (issue bonds) and there isn’t much market appetite for them then the effective interest rates determined by how the sale goes will be higher. Higher perhaps than is healthy for the economy. If you just print the money you are diluting your currency which sends a negative signal to the markets and the central bank will probably raise rates to prop up the currency which will be as bad – but at least there’s nothing to pay back.

In fact most governments that have their own currency and need money do both.

I quite like your healthy sceticism and cynicism with regard to economists, Ernie. :)

And sorry, Rone I have no more desire to read some of those authors than Ron Hubbard. ;)

Good work all, a politics thread I hesitated to join but have quite enjoyed, night night. :)

I’ll ignore the 19C examples because there was th egold standard and I agree with Chew, conditons were different.

Because of less money in the private sector as the government has taken too much back via taxation.

In the case of Clinton it was done hand in hand with Greenspan at the Fed. Greenspan, a prudent monetarist could have dropped rates in anticipation. Greenspan had a habit of making self-fulfilling prophecies because he was the one directing where things went. If you really think the economy is slowing you drop interest rates rather telling people the economy is going to slow.

Even if a government runs a surplus the central bank can make money available to the private sector at attractive interest rates thus stimulating growth and avoiding recession. The limit was tested in Germany with negative interest rates and a surplus, check out the pre-Covid period in Germany.

Several countries have in the past or currently run a budget surplus without any dire economic consequences. However that doesn’t mean that other countries should try to imitate. They probably wouldn’t have the oil reserves, tech boom, industrial might, social injustice or whatever has made that surplus possible.

In Germany I found it shocking that the government was running a surplus while a part of the population was working mini jobs below the minimum wage and living in abject poverty. A surplus at the expense of social injustice.

Correlation doesn’t always equate to cause and effect, Rone.

Errrrrr… .

The government can make any surplus available through lending which at the time in the US was through Freddy and Fanny. As I remember it it wasn’t so much Clinton’s surplus that was the problem as Greenspan’s prudence.

Now you’ve changed what you mean by balanced budget, you’re learning. ;)

You still need to take into account withdrawals so will have to print more than theoretically needed just to match growth. And then you need to print a bit more to be sure you aren’t under supplying. That’s why the inflation target is never 0%. I would argue 2 is a bit too low and leads to flirting with recession.

Picking you main concern which seems to be not having a balanced budget, theotherjonv:

The balanced budget is bad because it leads to stagnation and ultimately recession and then depression. It restricts the size of the economy to what is possible with the amount of money already circulating. An economy needs more and more money in circulation as it grows because money can only be cycled within the economy so fast and when there’s a shortage growth stops.

This is exacerbated by “withdrawals” in the economic sense. Some money ends up in places it’s not working, it’s withdrawn and these withdrawals slow the economy unless conpensated by “printing” more.

If more money is needed the government can do that very easily by “printing” and spending, more fuel for the economy.

There are limits, if a government prints too much money and/or spends it unwisely then inflation rises which negatively impacts buisiness. It also erodes confidence in the currency which results in devaluation making imports more expensive but exports potentially attractive – unless the increased Wages/prices due to inflation compensate for the exchange rate changes which means the impact is more or less cancelled it’s just the numbers that change.

A lot of this can’t be managed precisely because it’s ultimately the markets that decide. Sometimes they brush off what seem like damaging moves and sometimes they bite. The US has staggering amounts of debt and isn’t adverse to monetary easing, it’s still afloat and Dollar denominated assetts highly popular.

I loved the first few years of Oasis, some great tunes and vids. The Whatever vid with the orchestra more or less defined cool at the time. Then they started having helicopters fly around and the message wasn’t so upbeat. I lost interested but smiled everytime a Crédit Agricole advert with Whatever as it’s theme tune came on in following years. Then junior got into guitar and his favourite band was Oasis, I found some Youtubes to help him learn the tunes and learned them myself while I was at it. Oasis tunes are a buskers best friend, DLBIA, Whatever, Maybe and Wonderwall work in every country I’ve played them.

The High Flying Birds work for me too, Noel downtunes or uptunes the guitare and gives the classics a slightly different feel, all good.

The ticket issue is disappointing but I hope the shows live up to the expectations of those of you who go. I won’t be going but would chose Dublin if I did.

For those who missed or didn’t understand the first time around try this, what’s not to like?

Which bits don’t you get?  I’ll do my best or answer “don’t know”/”nobody who’s being honest knows”.

Second from bottom Decathlon. ‘Tis excellent; robust, good switch, good light, waterproof enough and pretty light. Just as powerful as a Black Diamond I foolishly bought that flattens its battery due to the switch being too sensitive. Only downside is that’s it’s micro-usb rather than C.

If as you say that’s not important I’m yet to understand why it isn’t widely adopted.

A challenge for you, theotherjonv. Find me and economy in the world that has balanced books. It is widely adopted, it’s just a question of degree. You note I don’t use “MMT” because I don’t like it. It suggests a frivilous and irresponsible attitude to money supply management. I don’t expect the government to balance the books and would encourage printing money to invest in and grow the economy in an ecologically and socially responsible manner. At the same time I wish them to look at all of their departements and cut where money is being squandered or not producing desired results. And I very much wish to see a more equitable and progressive tax system that makes tax evasion on the curent massive scale imposible.

Slowing the economy does make a lot of people worse off because for the majority there will be a real and or opportunity cost. Businesses will go bust, the least qualified will pass by a period of unemployment, there will be more competition for qualified posts, saleries will stagnate and decline in real terms, there wil be less overtime available, part time working will hit some. People will spend less on goods and services, tax revenues will decline. The danger is vicious circle and downward spiral rather than stabilisation and then rebound. It’s more a question of how low can we go before the revolution or an economic breakdown. Plenty of countries have already been there through inappropriate monetary and fiscal policy.

Brits delighted in slagging off Greece which combined having inappropriate interest and exchange rates due to having gone into the Euro at an unrealistic level, having most of its wealthier citizens money out of the country and a reluctance to impose necessary but unpopular taxes on those with the ability to pay. It was proof that populism in fiscal measures doesn’t work more than the Euro problem it was cast as. Starmer is telling us he’s going to do the same.

Learn to play blind. You really shouldn’t need to look to see what strings you’re on. I still need to look to see where I am on the neck sometimes especially when making big moves up the neck but moving up or down a couple of frets is fairly automatic. When soloing the head is one reference pint and bumping into the body drops me onto fret 12 at the other end. Yeah I still look sometimes but when singing with a microphone it’s just to get to the right fret which doesn’t require glasses.

To solve your problems, theotherjonv

1/ restablish freedom of movement with the EU.

2/ reorganise education. Most current graduates can’t get graduate jobs and work in jobs they are not qualified for. Identify the needs of society and create training, reduce the places on courses with few jobs. Quotas on training for some job sectors, incentives on others. Provide government financed retraining places where there are shortages. Be interventionist.

3/ on resourses: again interventionism. Experiment structures that work elsewhere. Finance industrial coopertives based on the Basque model.

4/ tax unfair competition. If the EU can levy a 30 something percent tax on some Chinese imports so can the UK

I bet you were told that quantitative easing/helicopter money was a definite no-no which should never be considered?

There weren’t many no-nos, it was very much a cause and effect analysis with extreme examples of what could happen in extreme cases. We were taught more about the failures of the gold standard and the opportunity cost of overly tight money supply than the risks of hyperinflataion. This was in the middle of the debate around Thatchers monetarism trip and the lecturers were critical of the dogma that said bring down inflation, cut government spending, privatise and **** the consequences. One lecturer was well to the economic left of yourself, Ernie.

I consider myself an amateur economist. At uni it was only the first year course that covered general macro economics, the specialities I chose the next year were the British tax system (which obviously included a lot of macro) and Labour economics and industrial relations. From then on it’s just been using that knowledge to analyse the policies of the governments I’ve lived under.

Money supply is what were arguing about when MMT is evoked. Too little and the economy runs out of fuel, too much and inflation rises to levels where it becomes damaging. Extremes were the gold standard which limited the money to the amount of gold held and run away inflation (Geramny post WW1, Agentian, Iran etc.). The lesson of the great depression led to the US and UK abandoning the gold standard – they then economically outperformed the French led gold block that continued to use the gold standard. Countries notably the US and Germany still hold huge gold reserves so there is clearly stil a feeling that holding gold gives one’s currency credibility.

The EU and UK have chosen the arbitary number of 2% for their inflation targets. The idea is that if you have 0% inflation the money supply is obvioulsy insufficient and holding back the economy.  Modest inflation shows that there’s enough money kicking around – or does it?

Managing inflation shouldn’t be the only objective in managing money supply. Lipsey, the guy who wrote the economics text book generations of economists used also published on how meeting one economic objective can have undesirable consequences in other areas. You can manage money supply perfectly but fail dismally in other economic objectives.

This is where the “independance” of the BOE, ECB, Fed etc. can be damaging for the economy, especially as one size won’t fit all in economies the size of Europe or the US. Governments need to use money supply as an economic tool and to deny themselves that is to ignore Lipsey’s wise words.

Looking at the UK (and most of the rest of the world) I see areas of the economy that are stagnating to level that is creating major economic distortions and hardship.

Housing: the UK housing stock is in a dismal state. Ageing energy pits and too few of them. Building land in the hands of companies with the objective maximising profits rather than solving the problem. The post war slum clearances stopped and even the “homes for heros” aren’t fit for purpose. What’s needed are affordable energy efficient homes near to where there are jobs. On a recent visit to Brum I saw ageing sold-to-occupier council houses with gardens big enough to feed the family if anyone could be bothered to cultivate them pumping out steam from condensing gas boilers (in Summer) and so far from work there were three cars on the drive. The only way that will be changed is with public money and fiscal policy. Print the money and vote the policy. Insulating materials, heat pumps, solar thermal – make it a no-brainer for people to adopt them.

Cars: A huge part of the British economy. 2-3 million sold each year of which less than a million are made in the UK and only 313000 were EVs in 2023.  The Tories made wild claims such as 80% of EVs by 2030 whilst having no plan as to reach that. Labour could and should invest massively. Don’t rely on Tata for a few batteries or oil companies for a few charge points, throw money at it. From fossil fuel free energy production to a charge point to fil up a UK built car with a UK battery that should be the objective. And tell people that the ICE they buy today won’t be allowed in any town over 50 000 inhabitants in 2030.

Money that’s printed and stays in the British economy wil be used, cycled and reused. Print it, spend it wisely.

I’m sure you can al theink of many other areas where public money would be well spent contributing not only to the well being of the population but also to UK business, manufaturing, exports… .

I had a built in Miele which was slow to warm up, consumed lots of leccy and did a better job of heating the kitchen than the food. It clearly lacked insulation. Replaced with a Rowenta which does a pizza in 17min from switch on for me and 24min for Madame who insists on a longer 14min preheat whereas I use 8/9min preheat.

Could people name and shame the induction hobs that manage to fry phones, turn everything up to max when wet, have unreliable touch controls or whatever other failing.

I’ve got a cheap FAR. It’s never done anything it’s not programmed to do. The touch controls have been faultless. I couldn’t fry my phone without placing it on the hob then going through a sequence of three touch commands  – on, select zone, select power level. I’ve got a few old pans that aren’t induction specific but if they’re iron or steel they work fine.

The whole idea of voting in a representative democracy is that we vote for people who we hope will/trust to understand the issues and act in our best interests. Then there’s the hopefully independant civil service to maintain a certain order, continuity and respect for the law whatever the government.

Where that’s broken down is that the hope has gone because the trust has broken down. The post truth world we live starts at the top. The higher the office the bigger the lies, we’d be mad to believe a politician after Blair, Brown, Johnson, May, Truss and Rishi.

So where do people go for truth? Working in science I was appalled at how corrupt some very qualified scientists were – completely sold out. The civil service is far from neutral, 9000 irregular appointments I read somewhere. The universities and research institutes just scrabble for funding and publish hundreds of garbage papers for one that’s really a worthwhile addition to our collective knowledge – quantity not quality, just think about the funding. A forest in which you have to hunt for trees. There’s so much well-promoted disinformation out there you have to go looking for stuff that ain’t misleading cherry picked something washing worthless bollocks. Even where there  are some solid healthy trees the Daily Mail will favour a rotten one lying on the ground.

So is it any surprise that the Net is riddled with SM rabbit holes for people to go down. With no trust in the “establishment” (and who can blame people),  any pied piper with a hint of credibility and modicum of charisma can string people along behind them. A woman peeved by an increase in the price of diesel stuck a gilet jaune on her dashboard and made a few SM posts that escalated into France grinding to a halt. Jordan Peterson has roughly double the number of Twitter followers that Starmer has, Tate more than five times.

Politicians have never had a reputation for being the most honest of people, over the last decade they have trashed any credibility they had left. They did it all on their own with us as apologists. We still vote for rich, self-interested liars that really don’t have our best interests at heart – and this is where I disagree with you , theotherjonv, they aren’t worthy of our votes, trust admiration or faith and we have every reason to be displeased with them. They are shit: they have hood-winked, u-turned, mislead, bullshitted and disappointed their way into the pits of the opion polls – all on their own. I have no reason to think Starmer is any different, he’s already neck deep into all of those.

So who do I trust?

Wiki ain’t bad

Stop oil tells it like it is

Insulate Britain has part of the solution

LGBT rallies versus the dark ages

MeToo versus machist misogyny

Greta say it like it is

Fridays for future have a point.

Thomas Picketty can be relied on for economic sense

In fact when I see/read something that follows the science/social science/common sense/humanist values it’s all to often those railing against the government that have the facts and arguments on their side while the government panders to the money/lobbyists and their propaganda lies.

Induction: fast, responsive, easy clean, safe and doesn’t fill your kitchen with toxic fumes.

Do you need a photo of me holding a random item you specify before you’ll trust that I have some relevant insight?

You on a mountain bike, at least 50cm off the ground, with no wires. ;) And fusion power stations won’t happen. :)

And it is obvious that big hitters like yourself have no issues personally attacking me at every given opportunity, ironically.

Says one of the rare big hitters to have survived the culls, Brexit, metoo, Friday Kylie and religion threads. You are the biggest hitter by a country mile on politics threads Ché Ernie. Indeed the only member I’m aware of with a poster revolutionary as his STW pseudo. (this is meant as friendly teasing not getting personal – the Brexit stuff was as you note personal and something I still can’t get my head around because your personal situation makes your views unfathomable)

What pisses me off about that BBC headline is the underlying statement whether from Starmer or the government “get worse before they get better”. FFS don’t do stuff you know will make it worse. Is there absolutely nothing they can think of that will make things better for the people who voted for them as of now? Austerity hasn’t worked so ditch it. Leaving the EU hasn’t worked so go with the majority of those who voted for you and paint out those red lines which will allow a Norway or Swiss deal. Fill in all those legal loop holes that mean the richest pay next to no tax. Put an end to all the fiscal niches and financial arragements that amount to legalised tax evasion. Give up on “net zero” lies and invest in an energy transition that will cut CO2, reduce reliance on imported energy and create future jobs/businesses.  How about some nationalisation, protectionism… selling off public assets hasn’t worked, it’s led to shitty services at inflated prices; reverse the trend. And some education, its all very well having universities handing out degrees to those (foreigners) who can pay but making it worthwhile for young people to learn skills that are actually needed in the modern world should be the priority.

More of the same won’t work, dare to do something different. Disease, want, squalor, ignorance and idleness – do something.

You must be fun at dinner parties. Do you flounce out halfway through the starter when someone says something you disagree with? FFS man get a grip. Someone offering a different opinion on a political thread is no reason to cancel your membership.

A different opinion is not what theotherjonv is getting at, it’s the lack of tolerance of it, and the kind of personal insult you’ve just posted that’s the problem, Dazh. He has a grip, he’s probably really good at dinner parties and cancelling his membership because posts such as yours aren’t moderated seems reasonable. Getting insulted for free doesn’t bother me but I wouldn’t pay for the privilege.

I don’t think Starmer is instinctively to the left of many in the labour party. And he’s instinctively to the right of most Labour voters which is why he’s polling so badly. People didn’t want the status quo which is why they voted Labour, they’re getting the status quo from a leader seen more on expensive but freebie jollies and in the lap of luxury than alongside anyone likely to have voted for him.

Just been out on the Brompton for long enough to remind me the problem with Brompton brakes is not the power but overheating. Happily the tyres are a (rediculously) tight fit so unlikely to blow off the rim. Discs as mentioned by ktache would be a better upgrade.

Paul needs to learn to adjust brake blocks, too high in the top pic and too low in the next. Bromptons have their place, mainly on the luggage rack in a train but we’ve also cycle toured with them. The original brakes are fine. The gears however are shit, that Sturmy sucks the life out of the bike. I’ve replaced with a 7-speed derailleur from Ali whilst Brompton now offer a four speed – but why when after market 7s works perfectly?

I suggest a career change, Kramer. Think of your own health and well being. The best GP I’ve had quit when a member of his family and also a GP got cancer. He decided to live a bit.

Of the things others do that impact me in order:

1/ ICE cars (EV owner)

2/ stagnant water mosquito breeding grounds; water butts, ponds, flower posts, badly maintained gutters… .

3/ Wood burning ( I own and use a stove and will stop when electricity is zero fossil fuels)

4/ cleaning products, perfumes and the chemicals used in shops, banks administrations etc.

5/ dogs: shit, noise and dangerous off lead.

6/Cats, shitting pissing stinking things.

Smoking and vaping just don’t register despite living in a place with a lot of smokers. They’re generally very considerate.

Space for a car. Hooks on the roof for hanging three or four bikes over the bonnet.

And we’re off again: singing along with the tunes, delightfully joyful atmophere.

Being an immigrant gets very easy with time – it becomes normal. After 37 years the UK feels odd and France comfortable.

Junior, born in France,  has always regarded the UK as a foreign place. I asked him if he’d ever consider living there – no way. But he’s quite at home in Berlin so long as he can Winter in France.

All that to say that the stress of being an immigrant adult has to be balanced with making a child an immigrant who will then have to integrate – for better or worse because no two kids are the same: as with adults some rise to the challenge of a move whilst others feel lost. If a change is to be made anecdotal evidence around me says the the younger the kids the better. Older ones we know have struggled and ended up with their arse between two chairs.