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[takeiteasy] 04/11/2024 09:36

All this talk about US politics has scared all the OXB punters off today - they must read into this BB that the die hards have lost interest and are bored :)

[gareth jones] 03/11/2024 20:22

Time to let politics go and concentrate on our favourite subject, dear OXB. Til the morning, yn y bore! Looking forward to fireworks this week!!!!

[harry s truman] 03/11/2024 19:55

I promise to get back to OXB tomorrow and shut up about current events (or at least give it a try).

Last anecdote from the Winston Churchill school of study history because it's all happened before.

I honestly don't know if this story is true or just a good story, but the way I was told it was this:-

William Randolph Hearst is sat in his newspaper office and calls his top roving hack and photographer.

WRH "I want you to go to Cuba and cover the war"
Reporter "What war?"
WRH "The one which is going to start when our ship is attacked"

The reporters go to Havana and and an American warship explodes in the harbour starting the Spanish American war which got the USA the Philippines and lots of other goodies in the Caribbean whilst marking the end of Spain as a world power.

Is it true? Who knows. Would a country blow up their own ship and want the press on side to gain assets to make it a world power? Would it surprise you?

[steeplejack] 03/11/2024 19:07

I have never looked to political leaders to be examples of moral rectitude or providers of moral guidance.From feted heroes of distant history,to the likes of Lloyd George and JFK,flawed individuals have achieved power.I don't even expect to learn the complete truth.Russian missiles in Cuba in 63 but no mention of US missiles in Turkey,weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ,we are drip fed selective information so we will conclude what powerful lobbies,political and military,want us to believe.I'm not a conspiracy theorist but i do believe that the powers that be,invariably connive to keep the general public pretty much in the dark,exaggerating this and underplaying that,according to their agenda.A benign dictatorship seems increasingly acceptable in my advancing years :)

[harry s truman] 03/11/2024 16:44

sj,

I actually know somebody who is basically in the process of planning their return from Portugal right now. I think 15 great years but they want to come home now. The tax incentives to get them out there were fabulous and it's an extremely cheap place to live (apart from buying cars - though there is a dodge to take one with you I think), but the downsides are the weather (great most of the year but 3 months of just too hot) and the fact that though you can pick up some conversational language, for anything official you are usually relying on the kindness of strangers.

I know a few Brits who have emigrated to the US and made a go of it. Pick one of the states without state income tax (9 of those I think) and you get to keep quite a large lump of what you earn. The major downside of course is the healthcare costs - especially regarding insurance as you get older. For the very wealthy you can simply wing it but for mortals then insurance is essential and very costly.

I'm not sure there is any perfect place - but my compromise would have to be somewhere "nice" i.e. I wouldn't be living in the middle eastern desert to save a few quid on tax.

[dr biotech] 03/11/2024 15:41

This is just a bit of oversimplified misinformation that is popular on twitter and actually stands up to very little scrutiny.

The covid lockdowns actually had a very marginal effect on overall CO2 output. They reduced the CO2 output by about 5% for one year. You can see the graph here

hxxps://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2023/emissions-grew-in-2023-but-clean-energy-is-limiting-the-growth#abstract

The problem is that CO2 production is roughly twice what is in an estimated sustainable level. So for 2021 the CO2 output was still c190% of a sustainable level. That would only lead to to a small to negligible effect in the rate of increase of CO2. It would not be enough to reduce the CO2 level let alone have any effect on the temperature.

The NOAA CO2 measurements can be seen here

hxxps://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

I'm not sure what you mean by
I know it could detect no change, but what perhaps might help others is that every climate scientist in the world cheering on net zero was saying that the Mauna Loa Observatory lasers were going to prove their science.



Can you give me some references to back this up?






Harry S Truman1 Nov '24 - 13:05 - 9064 of 9086
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Jez,

I get your point. For me the most important issue of our time is the new religion that we can control the weather if we try hard enough.

The costs of this are astonishing and of course we had a planet-wide experiment of much larger restrictions (no flights, confined to home, travel restrictions) during covid and the best instruments on the planet for measuring atmospheric CO2 (on Hawaii) could detect no change.

I know it could detect no change, but what perhaps might help others is that every climate scientist in the world cheering on net zero was saying that the Mauna Loa Observatory lasers were going to prove their science. Since then there has been silence.

So if we couldn't alter atmospheric CO2 with the covid lockdown and we therefore have no proof for the theory of our CO2 emissions controlling the weather, it's just basically economic suicide for reasons of mass population control really isn't it?

Because of that I would always vote for whoever was brave enough to meet the climate puritans head-on, which means if I was an American I would vote Trump.

[keymosaby] 03/11/2024 11:20

Yes GJ , it's amazing that anyone with 34 felony convictions and a rape conviction, who incited an insurrection, sold "Top-Secret" files to foreign nations, and an inveterate lying thief could EVER be considered a candidate for POTUS. I guess we live and learn...🤔

[gareth jones] 02/11/2024 22:07

The office of President of the USA should be greater than the President who holds it. Many poor presidents have at least held the office well. Others have demeaned the office they serve.

[reddirish] 02/11/2024 18:50

Harry,Yes, I did watch the videos of the riots, and they very much confirmed all that I had read and seen before.Some people acted in what appeared to be almost bemused good nature, but others were out for blood. However, five people died, so it was serious, but Trump thought not. That sums him up. I'm a full blooded right of center libertarian, but could never support a man like that, even in the face of a Harris shaped alternative.And yes, you are right about the risks of Greece: like many previously communist led countries, it has history of expropriation! My (half hearted) musings have everything in excess of living expenses simply moved straight away from the SIPP into Overseas Bonds, domiciled in Guernsey, which would remove that risk. (Anyone else here got experience of those vehicles? SIPPs and ISA's have pushed them off the radar, but with labour in power I think that may change).And yes too to your observations regarding European migration: almost (?!) as much a mess as in the UK. At the moment, Greece (Crete) is home to a huge number of (illegal) migrants from Albania, Morocco, and Georgia. Everyone else moves on, hoping to get to Germany, Sweden or the UK, which are seen as the easy touches.

[harry s truman] 02/11/2024 18:21

red,

Just out of curiosity, when they eventually (and reluctantly) released the CCTV footage of the Jan 6th "riot / insurrection" at the Capitol Building, did you see any of it? If not then worth a look in comparison to what is considered "mostly peaceful" when it suits. Very stiff sentences handed out for the former / no bond bail for the latter.

I would be cautious about moving money to Greece. You may find out that ends up being a much worse decision than leaving it here. Appreciate you will have a long think before you do anything and technically Euros are Euros, but what if Greece decides that the only way out of some future problem is for everybody to chip in, or worse, decides to squeeze "the rich".

Did you hear the German leader the other day with his latest proposal to solve mutty's open door migration mess? Basically Germany and the northern states will take the Ukrainians who have come via the northern route and all the others (Africans, etc.) who come via the med route with be "allocated" to the southern states.

You might say "oh he can't do that", but what if all the major contributors to the EU (the northern states) decide he can?

Extended holidays for as long as it's pleasant and suits you would strike me as the best compromise.

[luminaire] 02/11/2024 16:54

Good to have so many supporters of Mr Trump here. He is a hero. He will round up all the immigrants and liquidate every last one of them.

[jezmundo] 02/11/2024 12:47

Steeplejack, glad to here you think Trump is a marginally preferable proposition.
Having watched alarmingly the slow but steady deterioration of the west from my wonderfull free capitalist home in SE Asia for the past 20 years (arriving here with just a back pack)
It it clear to me, and frankly should be clear to any hard-working individual that Europe and the US need to veer to the right.

[dominiccummings] 02/11/2024 12:18

... and her husband is a senior Civil Servant.

[steeplejack] 01/11/2024 23:36

"I believe he's the least worst option for America"Interesting stuff Harry.When you have a Kennedy endorsing Trump,the Democrat camp remains,at heart,disorientated.Trump does address electoral concerns as he sees them.He might repeat everything twice but he gets his point across while Kamala H.simply avoids the pressing issues.

[philh75] 01/11/2024 22:47

Impressive alternative narrative Harry.

[dominiccummings] 01/11/2024 21:47

Which serious journal are you writing for Mr President, sir? I would take a subscription to that in double time. Many thanks.

[steeplejack] 01/11/2024 17:11

Winston Churchill-Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time....The calibre of the two presidential candidates is deeply disappointing.Thats the dilemma.

[dominiccummings] 01/11/2024 16:37

#9066 I certainly couldn't support a government that weaponises the judicial system as the Democrats have done.
Although our own government are headed the same way..... 'riot'ers guilty, 'Tommy Robinson' must be guilty (but we'll not look because he is clearly not the sort of person we like).