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Running things by a self-interested bureaucracy is not good

The thing about all this, which I am sure that others know all too well, but which I am now experiencing on a personal basis for the first time, rather than as an observer, is that urgent does, in the case of the NHS, have a very different meaning to that which it has in any other context. It implies a need for speed and conveys a sense of stress, neither of which is reflected in the actions taken.

What I am also discovering is that the NHS is excellent at sending information without explanation, whilst providing no opportunity to ask the most basic questions to secure understanding.

But of course that is not what Spud will conclude now, is it?

It would be all too possible in this circumstance to blame the NHS and state care, but I am not persuaded that that is appropriate. I think the depersonalisation of what is described as care, but which should properly be described as process, is deliberate and is a consequence of the medical-industrial complex.

Nope, he ain’t, is he?

This is not true

The reality is that, at present, UK pension funds enjoy overall tax relief worth more than £70 billion a year, making the cost of this subsidy one of the government’s largest expenditures in any year,

People saving for their pensions gain a tax deferral. The pension funds don’t gain that tax benefit. The savers do.

Just an aside

I’ve been known to say “Jobs are a cost, not a benefit”. And I’ve assumed that I picked up the idea – and phrasing – through osmosis. Something I’ve seen somewhere, perhaps slightly differently phrased, and then it just stuck.

My assumption, as so often with good and pithy economics, is something from Thomas Sowell. Seems likely at least.

So, in a spare moment this morning, I put the phrase into Google. Now, we all know search isn’t as good as it used to be. But the first few references all do seem to be to me. ASI, Forbes, Washington Examiner – hey, never underuse a good idea, right? – but that’s not a proof of anything. For given that search isn’t as good as it used to be I have a feeling that “my” search results might well be biased in favour of me.

So, can a few try it? That phrase, stick it into a search engine and see if it gives references to other than me? The concept is obviously true – as AI itself states – but that phrasing, hmm, would be fun to know whether – and who from – I have copied it.

Nationalisation, eh?

Trains across parts of north-west England have ground to a halt after a power failure hit the signalling centre controlling the railway in the region.

Passengers awaiting Northern and TransPennine trains have been advised not to travel, with widespread cancellations and other services delayed by more than an hour already.

Climate change demands

How does one know when a government is in actual emergency mode? From my studies of past mobilizations, real emergency action has certain distinct markers. Governments in genuine emergency mode:

Tell the truth about the severity of the crisis and communicate a sense of urgency about the measures necessary to combat it.

Spend what it takes to win.

Create new economic institutions (state enterprises and public programs) to get the job done.

Shift from voluntary and incentive-based policies to mandatory measures.

Commit to leave no one behind.

Climate fascism here we come, eh?

This doesn’t work

For this, I take inspiration from the famous science fiction author from last century Isaac Asimov. Foreseeing a future in which intelligent robots would be commonplace, he proposed that every robot be irrevocably implanted with Three Laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law; 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.

Asimov’s imagined challenges are with us now. Incredibly powerful AI is being built into humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles and software agents, each of which will make us more efficient but have the potential to wreak enormous harm.

Only the one company could make positronic brains. It was a monopoly. Far from having an AI monopoly we’ve got open source models where any such code could be stripped out – and would be. By teenagers for sport if nothing else.

Sure, sure, maybe it would be nice if this were not so but it is so. Thus we cannot comfort ourselves with this sort of solution. We need another – or to just accept there isn’t one.

A Worstallite – but sans Worstall – trip to Imber perhaps?

From Norman of this Ilk:

Imberbus 2026

If you think the idea of a row of Routemasters running from Warminster to the abandoned Salisbury Plain village of Imber hilarious, it’s happening next Saturday 15th August. Details here: https://imberbus.org/imberbus-2026/

Departures approximately every 10-15 minutes from Warminster Station to Imber from 9.30am onwards, with buses returning from Imber at regular intervals until 5.30pm. No pre-booking: turn up and pay a tenner, cash. Buses serving Tilshead, Chitterne, New Zealand Farm Camp, West Lavington, Market Lavington and Brazen Bottom at least twice an hour throughout most of the day.

If we’re going to have a Worstallite get-together and a laugh, I reckon we either agree on a convenient departure time from Warminster and meet there, or sort out a pub to meet at afterwards. I’d rather like local knowledge to prevail here. I’ll be there in my daft orange Panama with my Japanese wife, so should be easy enough to spot. Weather forecast is good. I’m looking forward to it.

I approve. Given that I’m 1500 miles away I won’t be there. On the other hand, seeing that village the MoD has stolen from the inhabitants this 80 years is something that should be seen, no?

You’ll enjoy it more without me there anyway…..

Being this crazy is fashionable now

As tellingly, the framing around support for Israel is significant: this reveals the real issue in US politics, which is whether the US should be a sovereign state, or one run for rhe the benefit of Benjamin Netanyahu’s factions in Israel.

Spud’s never less than fashionable now, is he?

Enough about the disaster of the policy

I do not care to examine the quality of Arday’s scholarship, research or life story beyond what has already been written elsewhere. What concerns me is how little space remains for a genuinely progressive critique of institutional diversity practices – one capable of scrutinising how for many organisations and corporations symbolic representation has been a substitute for deeper reform, leaving it vulnerable to just this kind of backlash. It has also meant that the right has enjoyed a near monopoly on criticism of DEI, leaving it to frame it entirely on its own terms.

But what if the entire idea has been shit and we should care then?

Err, yes?

As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them

Democracy is about politics, not business, no?

showing the cover of his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. The book’s central argument is that big tech is no longer our friend, as many of its billionaire owners have seized economic and political control and are steering the fate of the planet towards their own bizarre, apocalyptic visions.

And, of course, fascism worked the other way around. Business kept the imagery of independence but was, in fact, controlled by politics.

By extension, he says, Silicon Valley is fascist “because they have wholly aligned with a fascist movement. That’s their vehicle for gaining power.” Few could dispute this alignment after seeing the bosses of Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon and OpenAI line up behind Trump at his second inauguration, or Musk’s now shuttered “department of government efficiency” (Doge) being given free rein to conduct mass firings of federal employees, or Palantir’s AI-driven surveillance technology enabling deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ah. A nutter then. Ho well. How odd that he gets an outing in The Guardian.

The question now, he says, “is how we turn the momentum in our favour and against the billionaires. Because they have a plan to win. They think they’re going to succeed.” This could be a radicalising moment: “In fighting against billionaire power, we find the key to all of our problems. Every moment is an important opportunity to wake people up and to start to fight back.”

If not, he says, we’ll find ourselves in a situation where “we don’t have democracy, we don’t have an economy and we don’t have a future. If that doesn’t radicalise people, then we deserve what we’re going to get.”

Organise the Proletariat, Comrades. How did we know it was going to end with that?

Seems fair and reasonable

Restore Britain scarcely acknowledges that history. Instead, it assumes that Britain’s current problems arise because government has become too large. That is the central proposition on which everything else in the paper depends. Cut spending. Cut taxes. Reduce regulation. Withdraw the state. And, it claims, prosperity will follow. That is an extraordinarily simple view of how an economy works.

Works for me.

Perks, innit?

Freight drivers are allowed to take free passenger journeys, using a so-called Freight Travel Duty Pass, if they are on their way to collect a goods train. They must also carry documentary evidence proving this is the purpose of their trip. Other journeys for work purposes must be paid for, with NTS covering reasonable travel expenses.
Fake duty rosters used
However, some of the 160 drivers – who work for a subsidiary of NTS, Direct Rail Services (DRS) – were supplied with fake duty rosters suggesting they were travelling to pick up a train even when they were not, allowing them to make free journeys illegally.
Whistleblowers have told The Telegraph that the practice was widespread, endorsed by some managers, and went on for decades – potentially cheating taxpayers out of millions of pounds.

You know, dues, traditional, like. It’s not the worst ever Spanish Practice. Probably has a net cost of zero – the marginal cost of the one extra train journey is in fact zero – but still…..

Ah, George actually believes this, does he?

But renewables are already cheaper, and better for us, than fossil fuels in almost all situations.

He then links to Max Roser. Who is a lovely chap but not actually correct on all things.

We can indeed say that generating electricity can be cheaper by renewables. Which is a different statement from running a nation on renewables is cheaper. It’s that second which is important of course and it’s also that second which is not true as yet.

But it’s not just him, and it’s not just journalism. The radical right moves as a pack, and Heath is just one of many now insisting that climate catastrophe is something we should simply suck up.

How weird. Absolutely everyone says – no, really, everyone – that we’re going to have to do some adaptation. Which is what sucking it up is, adaptation.

George does seem confused on this subject.

OK

At the start of the film, there is no guilt in Gilligan’s pleasure walking into a chicken shop (“Bring on the wings!”). Growing up in a low-income household in London, a bucket of KFC was a family treat. He’s even done voiceover work for a Nando’s advert; “It’s just chickens, right?”. What works so well in the film is that Gilligan’s shock as he digs deeper into the industry doesn’t look manufactured for the camera. The UK rears one billion chickens a year and, in Lincolnshire, Gilligan meets animal welfare activists in balaclavas (“This is like Call of Duty. I’m scared!”). He learns about the environmental harm to rivers that chicken farming causes, and explores racist ideas around black people and fried chicken.

Fair enough. No one will learn these things unless they’re told them, obviously.

Gilligan speaks to a psychologist who explains how ultra-processed foods hook us, making us feel great – and then comes the crash. You can see the difference in Gilligan, who is lethargic and grumpy. It might not kill him, but his chicken diet is doing harm.

The obvious objection to all this is that of course you’re not meant to eat fried chicken every day. But, as he finds out, half the calories in people’s diets in the UK come from ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed? Fried chicken? Whut?

This is fried chicken is bad, u-p is bad, therefore f c is u-p, right? Which is bad logic let alone bad observation or classification.

Sure

In a study published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making, 1,682 adults were asked to read one of six short stories, three of which were written by humans and three by ChatGPT. Each AI story had a similar theme to one of the human-authored works.

The team told participants whether their story was written by a human or AI, but this information was not always correct. The researchers then asked participants to rate how absorbing and engaging they found the story, and its quality.

Participants who read an AI-generated story rated it as more absorbing and of higher quality than those who read a story written by a human. However, participants gave higher ratings to stories they had been told were written by people.

AI is more competent than most. At most things too. It’s not – so far at least – better than the best.

Also note that the human preference still seems to be for the human production. Seems fair, given human desires etc.

So, stock trading platforms

Who recommends what?

Some cash is turning up. No, I am not going to be wildly stock trading. I’ve written about stocks for a couple of decades now and my hit rate is not that great. A few, proper, conviction trades have worked. But no, I am not about to be playing with junior miners and the like.

So, boring dividend stocks, capital making an income. Fags, booze, life assurance companies, that sort of stuff.

But, I need a platform to do this on. IB seems to be much more for traders looking for leverage. Schwab maybe? US and UK would make sense to me – don’t know enough about Europe to get involved. And slightly worried about that US thing of interest and dividends paying 30% withholding.

But, which platform then?

Best would be to have US, UK and Oz (for the occasional junior miner) on the one account. And maybe Jersey etc?

Blimey

Our YouTube traffic in July was only around 1.1 million views, when at present something closer to 2 million is more commonplace,

A quick look at ad rates for creators says $1 to $5 per 000. It would surprise if Spud were at the top end of that.

£1500 a month income?
£3,000? Out of which he’s got to pay the staff?

I doubt this

The aim of the day is not to deliver a series of lectures, but to offer an opportunity for discussion, chaired by John Christensen, with me introducing each theme. Each session will then be open to Q&A, discussion, and a focus on finding solutions to the problems our economy and society face.

Discussion, eh?

This meeting is not about defining the issues, as the meeting we held in Cambridge earlier this year was.

How Trotskyist. Anyone who ever did student politics knows this one. No, sorry, we cannot discuss this issue, that was at the last meeting….