Back to the coal face

Holiday over; new life commencing. As the twitter updates might testify, I now have an Australian flat, bank account, enormous selection of IKEA furniture, etc (not quite a driving licence yet, due to bureaucratic stupidity, but it's on the cards). This should (both in the moral sense and in the predictive sense) mean a return … Continue reading Back to the coal face

Reversion to the mean

The BBC has an article based on an interesting House of Commons report on alcohol consumption... well, more accurately, it's a very bad report on alcohol consumption with some interesting data. The data shows that, before the global descent into miserable puritanism around World War I that led to prohibition in the US and draconian … Continue reading Reversion to the mean

I’ll drink to that

An excellent piece on CiF on the neo-puritans and their efforts to wage class war on the poor through banning and taxing booze. Killer quote: The 19th-century temperance movement was defeated by an alliance of liberals and the working class, and it looks like a repeat performance might be required. A prohibition bill was squashed … Continue reading I’ll drink to that

Quick Icelandic banking redux

Just for the avoidance of doubt: 1) the democratically elected Icelandic government, under EU/EFTA financial regulation equivalence rules, agreed long before the crisis even began that it would guarantee compensation of the first EUR20887 of deposit to retail depositors in Icelandic banks from other EU countries. 2) the Icelandic banks, with explicit permission from the … Continue reading Quick Icelandic banking redux

Obvious scam is obvious

The usual suspects are in full-on froth mode about the non-news on Goldman Sachs allegedly moving to somewhere godawful to escape a small, one-off tax on salaries. Obviously, like nearly all right-wing frothers nearly all the time, they're talking complete and utter bollocks. US culture site the Awl nails it on why: Goldman Sachs “is … Continue reading Obvious scam is obvious

A cock and ball story

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, and/or plough through the Twitter updates that get posted here instead of actual blogging, and/or know me in real life, you might be aware that I've been a bit out of sorts for the last couple of weeks. By "a bit out of sorts", I mean, … Continue reading A cock and ball story

The public get what the public deserve

This rings bells: During the 1990s boom, the public favored expanded social spending and tax cuts over paying down the national debt. Today, by overwhelming margins, they favor an immediate balanced budget, even in the face of economic catastrophe. That is, of course, insane. But Republicans have taken full advantage of the public’s fiscal insanity. … Continue reading The public get what the public deserve

Profiting from the right kind of idiots

Gambling companies draw a lot of stick for profiting from people with psychological or emotional problems and people with learning difficulties. At their worst, they can offer vestiges of hope to the damaged that lead them into a spiral of addiction and ruin. However, not all attempts by gambling companies to profit on the stupid … Continue reading Profiting from the right kind of idiots