Sunday, 5 January 2025

Nice Country, How much You Want For It?

In 1868 the USA offered Denmark $5.5 million for Greenland and was told it wasn't for sale and they came back again in 1946 and slapped a cheque for £100 million on the table and were buffed again and when Donald Trump mentioned it in 2019 he was told in no uncertain terms to keep his teeny tiny hands off it but they are expecting him to come back again with another offer during his second term and the Washington Post did a calculation based on what America had paid for land previously and came up with a bill of $1.1 trillion.
Land has been bought and sold by nations for centuries, the Unites States paid France £15m for Louisiana and the Russian Treasury was bolstered by £7.2m dropping into their bank account when the USA bought Alaska off them and Mexico could buy a lot of Taco's with the £10m the USA paid them for present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
Denmark may have no plans to sell Greenland to America but they took £25m from them for the Virgin Islands which was more expensive than the £16m the USA paid Spain for the Philippines.
Hudson’s Bay Company sold Rupert’s Land to Britain for £300,000 and planned to sell it on for a profit to the USA but decided to give it away to Canada instead but England was not so charitable to France, making them cough up £5.3m for Dunkirk just after they had paid £3.3m to Sweden for St Barts.
Germany bought the Caroline, Palau, and Mariana Islands from Spain for £6.7m and the cost to Pakistan by bits of Muscat and Oman  was £1m while the Soviet Union emptied all their piggy banks to pay the £97.7m for Finlands Jäniskoski-Niskakoski territory.
The last land sale i could find was Belgium selling 2.5acres of land to the Netherlands for £30,000 in October 2024 due to the course of a river changing which left the tiny parcel of Belgium in the Netherlands.

Sticking With Labour

The Labour Party have had a bit of a shaky start, i am hoping that they are getting all the bad news out the way in the first few months and then it's all rainbows and lollipops but to be fair they were stitched up royally by the outgoing Conservative Party who knew they were on the way out and nobbled them massively to the tune of a £22 billion deficit.
They way they did it was agree to pay out billions for compensation for the Post Office Horizon Scandal  (£10bn) and infected blood scandal (£11.8 billion) and then put it on an IOU, stuck it an envelope which they locked in a drawer and delayed paying out until after the election, which they comprehensively lost.   
So all of Labour's spending plans flew out the window when they opened the drawer and hence Rachel Reeves bemoaning the Conservatives 'spending taxpayers money like no tomorrow because they knew someone else would have to pick up the bill' and her first budget was tax rises on some, including the Farmers.
Now at the start the Farmers did have public sympathy, until two moments when they slunk away with their tail between their legs.
The first was a question on Question Time which asked: 'Why do Farmers think they do not have to pay Inheritance Tax?' which bought to everyone attention that while everyone else was paying 40% on any estate worth over £350,000, the Farmers were paying £nil and were now being asked to pay 20% on anything over £3 million which still sounds a bit of a raw deal for the rest of us.   
Then big mouthed Jeremy Clarkson came stomping into the argument, setting himself up as the mouthpiece for Farmers and the 'unfair tax' until the BBC unearthed him saying that when he bought his farm: 'Avoiding inheritance tax was the critical thing' in his decision to buy land which saw him quickly retreating and stomping back off again to keep his big head down.
So i say stick with Labour, the Conservatives went down the route of increasing Income Tax and National Insurance and slashing and cutting public services whereas Labour are trying to do it in a way which fixed the mighty black hole they inherited won't see any return to the awful Tory Years of Austerity which did so much damage.

Friday, 3 January 2025

How To Build A Scientifically Perfect Snowman

Traditionally the coldest week in the UK is between the 8th and 16 February but the most likely period for snow is between 24 January and 25 February so the snow forecast for this weekend is a few weeks early.
The MET Office have issued yellow warnings (meaning it is likely to happen) for snow for most of the UK from Friday evening to Monday morning with temperatures around 5C below the 7C average which means its going to pretty nippy out there including here on the South Coast where we generally miss out on the white stuff.    
As the temperature outside drops and snow layers the streets you may find yourself tempted to run outside and build yourself a snowman but not so fast because science has studied snowman building and can tell us how to build a perfect one.
First, so say the scientists with way too much time on their hands, you have to decide where to put your snowman and somewhere in shade is preferable so it doesn't melt too quickly.
Next, make sure you’ve got the right kind of snow so you want between 3%-8% moisture so the snow sticks and doesn't just fall apart when you shove a carrot in it's face although how you can guess the moisture of snow is anybodies guess.
So you got the right place and the correct moisture of snow so you need to roll three snowballs, one of 30cm (11.8 inches) for the head, one 50cm (19.6 inches) for the upper body and the last one of 80cm (31.4 inches) for a perfectly proportioned and stable height of exactly 160 cm (5' 2") which is the standard height for a snowman apparently.
Happy with your hard work it is now time for the finishing flourish with branches in his sides for arms, wrap a scarf around his neck and plonk a hat on his head and add three buttons equally spaced for the snowman’s chest, a carrot nose and more buttons for eyes.
Obviously if you have an enchanted silk hat knocking about then use that and enjoy the laughing and playing before he melts away otherwise you will have to do with a stationery, but a scientifically perfectly built  snowman.
Finally, a word of advice, snow is very cold so before you say 'Duh, obviously Lucy', it is easy to forget that when you are out in the stuff and making snowmen and snowballs so make sure you wear gloves or take a break when your fingers are numb and going a funny blue colour and one more thing, snow is pretty heavy so aim that snowball at your brother/sister/neighbour a bit higher for a decent head shot.

Thursday, 2 January 2025

Trump Was Wrong About Everything

The problem with voting for a spanner is if they actually then go on and win the election, you then have a complete spanner running your country which is why America has the incoming Donald Trump due to land his ample backside in the reinforced Oval Office chair.
Hours after the horrors of 15 people being killed in New Orleans, Trump's teeny tiny little fingers were working to send a message out on Social Media that went: 'When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true' and then went on to blather about the crime rate and how his heart was with the victims.
I can only imagine that Trump, being a nasty fat racist saw the name of the terrorist, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, and what passed for his brain under that mop of weirdly coloured hair went 'That's a foreigners name' and sent out the wholly incorrect message that  it was perpetrated by johnny foreigner migrant  who had arrived in the USA.
As it turned out to someone born and raised in America, someone who had served in the US Military was a bit awkward for him, especially as he MUST have been told it was done by an American, but not one to make himself look a tool once when he can do it twice, he then went on to reiterate the points he made earlier when he was wrong about everything saying: 'Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World' which to be fair, it is when a big orange moron like him is judged the best man to lead them but anyway, he then went on to bleat about Open Borders and finished with: 'only strength and powerful leadership will stop it' which isn't a great line from someone who is widely considered a fascist.
The issue i have is the same one we had over here following the Southport terror attacks where right wing loons such as Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson put out messages blaming migrants which led directly to the hard of thinking attacking migrant hotels and rioting for a week and ignoring the fact that the attacker was not an immigrant, but Welsh.
Unfortunately, it is where we are now with dimwits with social media accounts sending out inflammatory posts trying to make a link between the awful events and migrants to justify their own racist and hurtful agenda because they know their 'fans' will believe anything they say and will not fact check for themselves and then just shrug and move on when it turns out they were 100% wrong.

Wednesday, 1 January 2025

The Journalist's View Of 2025

Journalists are at the heart of the News stories so who better to ask what they expect to happen or at least keep an eye on in 2025 and they are expecting a bumpy year, so let's do that.
First looming on the horizon is Donald Trump will become America's 47th president on 20 January and although he is known to say one thing and then following through, he has pledged some dramatic changes with numerous presidential 'executive orders' which will undo as much of Biden's legacy as possible and set the direction of America for the four years ahead with new immigration policies, mass pardons and probably going after those who tried to take him down as well as withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accords again.
Two of Europe's big beasts, France and Germany, could very well have new people at the head of Government following elections and the simmering tensions between Serbia and Kosovo will remain high and look out for flashpoints in Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
In the Middle East Israeli will continue to collectively punish Palestine and with a friendly US President now in charge, could resist the calls for a ceasefire and begin the emptying of the people from it's devastated neighbour into neighbouring nations to claim the land for Israel which will only further isolate Israel who's international reputation will continue to suffer as the International Court of Justice pushes on with its accusations of genocide.
Netanyahu could be tempted to strike a target he has long had his eye on, Iran's nuclear program, where the elderly Iranian Supreme Leader's health has been the source of much speculation which could have implications if the man who has been there for 30 years is replaced, probably by his son.
Syria's new leaders face a civil war unless they can bring together the many different factions in the country and if Trump puts his trade threats into action, it could spark a global trade war and economic meltdown which could force even closer relations between China, Russia, North Korea and Iran diplomatically, militarily and economically.
In the UK, after a tough first 6 months where they seemed to get all the bad news out immediately, Labour policies should begin to bear fruit but much of that will depend on whether any upcoming trade war and subsequent recession derails his plans in which case, he will be spending 2025 fighting for his survival as Party Leader.

Oi Farmer, Get Off The King's Land!

We went for a New Years Day walk through the beautiful South Down's today and as you walk around the rolling hills and winding pathways you see notices nailed to walls and fences everywhere saying Private Property and generally telling you to keep out of this bit of the land else you can expect to be chased by an angry farmer telling you to get off his land and i wondered who decided what bit of the country is free for everyone to wander around and which parts are no-go zones?
Apparently it all goes back to 1066 and William the Conqueror who decided as he was now the English King, he should own absolutely everything in the country and declared himself absolute owner of the entire country and set about making the laws which stated that land cannot be owned by anyone except the Monarch.
As the chief landlord, he then began distributing vast swathes of it to his supporters giving them rights over the land, but not ownership but as they could hardly manage a county-sized chunk of land on their own, they would create lesser tenancies who paid him rent and these sub-tenants could then create their own sub-sub-tenancies, and so on so there was soon a whole chain of nested tenancies paying rent to each other, from the king at the top to the serfs toiling the fields at the bottom.
To answer my own question about the South Downs then, a bit of digging found that the vast majority (95.8%) of the 402,040 acres of land is owned by 3 Viscounts, 2 Dukes, a Baron, 2 knights and a couple of families and the remaining 4.2% (16,951 acres) owned by the National Trust after it was bequeathed to them on the death of the former owner.
Ultimately then, next time you enter a field and some angry inheritance dodging farmer runs across the field waving a stick at you and telling you to get off his land, you can politely explain to him that it isn't his land and unless he is King Charles, he can go stick his head in a cow pat.

Hopes For 2025

The Ipsos Predictions Survey is a 33-country study which looks at people’s expectations and predictions for the year ahead so what are people expectations for 2025?
Two-thirds (65%) say 2024 was a bad year for their country which isn't great but it is the lowest figure since 2019 but seven in ten (71%) say they are optimistic 2025 will be better and are positive that the global economy will be stronger than in recent years with Indonesia (88%) and China (86%) leading in this category and Japan (38%) and France (25%) the least positive.
47% of people think there should be greater regulation of the tech industry and fear technology leading to AI-driven job losses (65%) with Sweden (46%) and Great Britain (46%) and the USA (45%) more skeptical on such a reality. 37% are intent on reducing their social media usage and 35% fear significant disruption caused by technology.
Fears of another Global pandemic are subsiding (47%) but 49% fear the threat of nuclear conflict with Indonesians (79%) and Malaysians (67%) feeling particularly worried and resolutions to the wars currently raging around the Globe are down on the previous year, with only 27% expecting the Ukraine/Russia war to end and expectations for peace in the Middle East during 2025 are even lower (22%).
Environmental concerns persist with 80% expecting global temperatures to continue rising, 72% anticipating more extreme weather events while 52% are skeptical that World Governments will introduce measures to reduce carbon emissions.
Hopes for gender pay equality remain with 49% globally believing it will be achieved in 2025 and 33% of people believe their own countries will become more tolerant of one another while expectations for a four-day working week are low, with only 32% globally predicting its widespread adoption.
Taken as a whole not a brilliant assessment of hopes for 2025, most think the current wars will continue, the growth of Ai will lead to unemployment and Mother Nature will kick us around yet again while the people who could do something about it, continue to do nothing.

Happy New January 1st

Today is the first day of 2025 so Happy New Year and hope this year brings everything you wished for but January 1st has only been the start of the year for a few hundred year, at various points it has been 25 December, 1 March the 25 March and whenever Easter fell in the year.
The original Happy New Year celebrations were conducted as per the Babylonian Calendar and the cheer would go up as the 20th March turned into 21st March but then the Roman's and their 10 month Calendar took over and declared the 1st March as when the New Year began but then they jiggered around with the Calendar and tagged on January and February and decided to make the 1st day of the new year in the new January as it was the day they elected public officials to the Roman Republic anyway so as they were all getting tanked up and holding orgies to celebrate that, they killed two birds with one stone.
Medieval Christian Europe, in an attempt to move away and distance themselves from their Roman origins tried celebrating the new year on 25 December in honour of their small baby Jesus and 25 March in honour of the conception of the even smaller Jesus and on the movable feast of Easter but as everyone was confusingly celebrating it on a different day, the Catholic Church decided that the first day of the year was to be January 1st and would become official with the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.
Nations slowly changed their calendars and would do the Auld Lang Syne on 1st January but as usual the Brits and American Colonies had the draggiest feet and carried on having New Years Day on 25th March until 1752 when they decided 170 years later that having a different calendar and being in a year 3 months longer than the rest of the World was a bit of a drawback and began their Calendars in January and we have been both making New Years Resolutions and breaking them on 1st January ever since.