@210de87f@5a8e4fea The terrifying thing is, these people don’t give up. And, while we have to defeat them every time, they only have to win once and the rules will be changed to keep them in power for ever.
It’s exhausting!
@43d7c4ea My suspicion is that the two options suit different personalities. Whenever I’m asked to advise budding entrepreneurs, I always focus on the psychological traits needed to enjoy such a career path. It’s certainly not for everyone, but for me it was probably the only way I could have lived my working life gainfully.
@c242de9f ‘A fish rots from the head down’. The biggest reason for underinvestment is Government policy. Why would one expect private industry to invest, when ‘austerity’ is the official mantra?
@43d7c4ea On the other hand, many people discover that working for others is not always as secure as it may appear. For them (people like me), being master of your own destiny is a *more* secure option.
@43d7c4ea
A perfect example!
A very different example of how ‘letting people off the leash’ enables progress is the BBC’s support for innovation in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, which gave us Colour TV cameras, Teletext and the BBC Microcomputer, amongst other things. That last example led fairly directly to the development of the ARM microchips, which now power 99% of the world’s premium smartphones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Research_%26_Development
@43d7c4ea My guess is that funding/patrons is key to the direction that human development takes in any field. That leads me to wonder what effect Universal Basic Income will have in that regard. In the Arts in particular, will there be a new Renaissance?
@43d7c4ea@b870d4c8 It’s an interesting claim, considering that Claude Monet married an artists’ model, Camille Doncieux, three years after the birth of their first child. Did he really never paint her nude, or did he just keep such work hidden? We will probably never know!
@0f342e77 This isn’t quite true. All surveys of attitudes and beliefs conclude that Britain is a centre-left country. It’s just our electoral system that favours the Tories.
@0f342e77@f037c6c5 It’s depressing how much the Left thinks it has to compromise to get elected. It is correct, or is it just running scared?
To be honest, seeing how badly Corbyn fared as a leader, the evidence suggests that Starmer is right. (No pun intended.)
@43d7c4ea@6c09e7e6 Exactly! I didn’t have room in the post to add that. Poor design, poor maintenance, it’s one or the other. The dual sins of building with flat roofs, then not looking after them is likely to be a huge contribution to this particular crisis.
@43d7c4ea@7ee28a2a My understanding is that since the pandemic lockdowns HMRC has been prepared to negotiate payments by instalment for companies suffering the triple hits of rising costs, Brexit and Covid, but maybe their patience is wearing thin. Is this as a result of pressure from a Treasury short of cash, or just HMRC doing its own thing in another case of un-joined-up Government?
@43d7c4ea@6c09e7e6 My understanding is that the main problem with RAAC is water ingress, which rusts the rebar. With normal concrete that is visible, because the rust swells and cracks the concrete (you’ll probably have seen that ‘spalling’ on the seafront somewhere). With RAAC, the swelling is absorbed by the aeration, causes lost adhesion, and never manifests on the surface, so it’s vital to fix water ingress asap, and to monitor carefully any beam that has got wet.
@43d7c4ea Apologies. I should have put “political” in quote marks. I meant politicians who twist economics to their own agenda. Poor choice of words on my part.
@edc128e6 I agree with you about the iPad Mini. I use it almost constantly, unless I’m doing a heavyweight task on my desktop Mac. The iPhone is too much like computing through a letterbox, the full-size iPad is too big and clumsy.
@43d7c4ea A cynic might also wonder whether the reason most of the RAAC schools are in Tory constituencies could be that the building stock in Labour constituencies is typically too ancient for such concrete to have been employed. If so, Karma! 😜
@43d7c4ea
Political economics. A branch of the science which ignores both reality and mainstream economic thought, not to mention common sense, in pursuit of popularity with the voters.
Why do we let our politicians govern from such a position of ignorance?
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