finance ← the digital glebe

Peter Lilley MP: the Voice of Sanity 3

Apr

2013

Westminster Hall Thursday 18 April 2013 [Mr Andrew Turner in the Chair] Hansard debate UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ‘Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. One of the early signs of madness is an indulgence in compulsive displacement activity, which could not be a better description of the whole ...

Know Thy Enemy 3

Apr

2013

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” John Maynard Keynes Almost to a man, the four main parties in UK politics -Lib Lab Con SNP- all repeat the following mantra with little deviation: “Climate change is the greatest threat faced by humanity and the most important political issue of ...

Boom & Bust 3

Apr

2013

Climate scientists struggle to explain warming slowdown Reuters Apr 16, 2013 article Carbon Falls Most Ever After EU Parliament Rejects Surplus Fix Bloomberg Apr 16, 2013 article Clean Energy Investment Falls 22% as Subsidy Cuts Stall Projects Bloomberg Apr 15, 2013 article Michael Liebreich, Chief of Bloomberg New Energy: “For investment in clean energy to ...

Booming Bitcoins 9

Apr

2013

Woah! That’s one serious hockeystick. “We are in a manic adoption phase. Where does money go if it can’t stay in banks or fiat? Bitcoin can NOT absorb much money without it drastically increasing in prices. It is quite stunning to see $200 having been at $15 a few months ago. Who knows? If I ...

Trust 7

Feb

2013

Trust is just so fragile! By Motm – About once a month I have a meal with a long term ex-work colleague It turns out to be a general discussion about putting the world to rights, but one thing is a common thread, that things seem to be getting worse! Trust seems to be like ...

The Game is the Game 8

Jan

2013

So, you’re the head of a major corporation -let’s call it EnormoTech Inc. You’ve had a good run -as far as business longevity goes- you’ve been a player for twice the average lifespan of a top-500 UK company, therefore you’ve just hit 25 years of age. Success came when you were young and hungry; now ...

Cable Tied

Dec

2012

Orkney Islands Council is calling for urgent talks with the UK and Scottish Governments after the announcement by Scottish and Southern Energy that a new grid connection to mainland Scotland is being postponed until 2018. A new cable running from the west coast of Orkney Mainland to Caithness had been expected in 2016 – and ...

Bean Counters or Has Been Counters

Dec

2012

We seem to be totally inundated by bean counters! By now everyone knows the banks are broken and we, the public, continue to pick up the tab. The same applies to the EU, the Continental Banks and the Euro. Of course there is also the Libor fiasco, not to mention the manipulation of energy and ...

The Missing Third 13

Dec

2012

Electrical Energy — Where is the missing 30%? By Motm This week has been a busy week for our misguided energy decisions and was blessed with a DECC Energy Bill set out here with numerous .pdf’s linked to consultations etcetera. We have also heard that around 20 gas generators are to be built to support ...

Product Entropy 8

Dec

2012

Red diesel isn’t what it was, anyone working farm machinery these days will tell you so. A loaf of real bread -as opposed to the standard supermarket muck- will cost you almost double. Over the course of this year, I’ve noticed a marked reduction in the quality of rolling tobacco, scotch whiskey, car tyres, coal, ...