Quicken

So back on topic, loads of broadband and mobile phone contracts are set to be hiked by 9.3% in March/April. January CPI 5.4% plus 3.9%. Personally heard over the last 2 days that this applies to our broadband (voda) and my mobile phone contract (EE). That adds some fuel to the fire: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/01/big-uk-broadband-isps-can-now-confirm-huge-2022-price-hikes.html

He's the poster boy for the SNP too.

The Torygraph diatribe above is not powerful. It's a weak-arsed defence of materialism, consumerism and business as usual. Well it turns out consumerism is really bad for the environment of the only world we have. Mass extinction bad. Not so long along, slavery was was a great and essential engine of economic growth enriching the lives of those perpetrating it. Then some woke people came along and said it needed to stop. They were pilloried in much the same way as green activists today. Every trip does count, and so does every burger.

I already got there thanks. Retired years ago on my mad gains.

Probably. I don't gamble, but if I were to put money on it I'd say we will get the first commercial fusion reactors some time in the 2040s. The funding is there. The advances in superconducting magnets are stellar. It's time to push on.

I only said a bit of progress. Too slow to help in the next decade.

Further monetary policy reponse has been required for years. About damn time. Keep asking for the big pay rises folks!

Indeed, the supply will tend mathematically towards zero since the supply is finite and there will always be losses - lost keys, broken storage, floods, fires, deaths.

Nocoiner? Nope, but I'll get there this year with another little peak. It was Scott that brought in the internet as a comparison. Very very different from Gold or Bitcoin. Keep drinking the Kool Aid kids.

A bit of fusion progress: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60312633

Technological advances like the internet, computers, cars, or electricity all got cheaper over time enabling mass adoption. Spot the difference.

Unhappy, proceeding as expected

I do indeed regard it as a shoe-shine moment. I remember the dot com bubble and remain highly sceptical of new paradigm talk. IMO it is still very largely just speculation. Cryptocurrency has risen in value entirely within the period of emergency near zero interest rates post GFC. Also, always remember that the government decides what currency you pay taxes in. My prediction: there might be a BoE digital pound they will allow, but it will be a stablecoin locked to the GBP.

The Haber Bosch process used to make ammonia for fertilizer combines hydrogen with atmospheric nitrogen. The main climate problem here is that currently nearly all the hydrogen comes from fossil methane, with associated carbon dioxide waste. "The Haber process consumes 3–5% of the world's natural-gas production" It is perfectly possible to create green hydrogen, and this should be one of the green hydrogen priorities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process Of course, you also get nitrous oxide emissions downstream, and other environmental problems like eutrophication.

For me, it isn't the arrogance but the blind cultish faith that is a warning signal. I regard NFTs as another major red flag. Also people in my family and sports club asking me about bitcoin and other crypto. All very bubbly. I still have a little crypto, but I'll sell it all this year if it hits my target price. YMMV

More on that DoJ “largest financial seizure ever”. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency The Verge adds: https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/8/22923772/doj-irs-bitfinex-hack-bitcoin-recovery-encrypted-files-razzlekhan

I agree here. The Government have targets, but little in the way of strategy let alone any detailed plans. Take home insulation and heating. No credible plans here, and that's what insulate britain have been protesting about. I suspect where we differ is that I think the government should be making every effort to hit their own targets. To be fair, the Scottish government has a 2045 target and isn't making much more progress.

Stolen Bitcoin worth more than $5bn (£3.7bn) has been seized by the US Department of Justice - the largest ever confiscation of its kind. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr said the seizure was proof the government "will not allow cryptocurrency to be a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60310783

The UK's main baby boom was later than the US. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/ukpopulationpyramidinteractive/2020-01-08

As I said elsewhere, it's turning all of us into Klarna customers for energy. Can kicking.

OK, the logic of Boris defenders is that these aides quitting is actually him taking charge and cleaning up the number 10 culture. Judge, jury, execution. Hold on a second though. Aren't these same people saying everyone needs to wait for the results of the police enquiry, and maybe the publication of the full gray report, before passing any judgement on Johnson. I trust these former aides are going to be extra-cooperative with the police enquiry.

Battle lines being drawn. Understandably, the unions are less than impressed, but the treasury steps right in with support: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60252340 So much going on. The NI hike feels really poll-tax like, hitting in the middle of soaring energy prices and general inflation. Meanwhile, the energy bill rebate is basically making everyone go Klarna on their bills - nice can kicking. And then you have multi-millionaire elites telling the little people not to ask for pay rises. He might as well have said plebs or proles.

No kidding. Just read this article on the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60206564 "Mr Bailey said that while it would be "painful" for workers to accept that prices would rise faster than their wages, he added that some "moderation of wage rises" was needed to prevent inflation becoming entrenched. Mr Bailey said: "In the sense of saying, we do need to see a moderation of wage rises, now that's painful. I don't want to in any sense sugar that, it is painful. But we need to see that in order to get through this problem more quickly." In the year from 1 March 2020, Mr Bailey was paid £575,538 including pension." All in it together, Andy?

Knock me over with a feather. I think he'd like to see interest rate rises banned permanently.

£290m in consequentials to spend. Live thread on the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-60229188