CygnusX1

My "assets" are towards the larger end - oil tankers, bulk carriers, aircraft and rolling stock - with capital expenditures to match, and global location. When I worked in banks we tended to have relationship managers in situ in various geographies …

My understanding was that he thought the end of the second world war would see the end of "the old democratic order" with either a "Fascist coup d'état from above or via Socialist revolution from below". In the end there was no revolution, as such …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four For me, 1984 has always been the most influential novel. It was a set text at senior school. Without this compulsion to read it, I am sure I would never have thought to pick it up, so I have my …

Good point. I believe it is common in German industry for corporate boards to have a certain number of seats allocated to shop floor workers on a rolling basis. Indeed, I did some work with a Norwegian ship yard where this was also the case. This …

The first to willingly submit to enslavement by technology!

The first one certainly rings true! I would like to think I am quite adept at mathematics, but I still cannot do mental calculations at all well. Mind you, this weakness probably saved a youth that would otherwise have been wasted playing darts!

Yep. Me and my youngest daughter are all over this. It feels more faithful to the books than the Golden Compass (which was the first big screen adaptation of the first book in the HDM trilogy). The BBC and HBO seem to have worked well together on …

Indeed it is. The position I describe is exacerbated by the low tax rates enjoyed by the holders of capital. In some respects you could argue that low taxes and (at times) loose bank lending practices enabled the holders of capital to obtain an …

I have posted around this subject on a few previous occasions. The essence of the problem society is facing is the declining share of labour in economic activity. Whilst some try to reassure by drawing a parallel with the industrial revolution …

Speculative activity per se is not bad, but you cannot allow people to behave speculatively with anything that approaches a basic need (e.g. water or housing). I remain surprised that there is not a widespread tax on people holding properties or …

Sounds dreadful. In George Orwell's classic book, "1984", he posits a world where the "proles" are kept obedient by the sinister method of progressively reducing permitted vocabulary. This was designed to prevent "thought crime" because you …

Staggered to hear that a successful business owner could be so off target. Its the generalisation behind his statement that really irritates. Sure, some older people can suffer from a lack of creativity, but they are not the ones you typically see …

> This conversation is what I always dreamed Cake would become Cake does seem to be gathering momentum, doesn't it? Interesting posts are coming in thicker and faster, from my perspective....

I am surprised nobody has noted the link between "rights" and "obligations". Generally speaking, rights are not absolute, but are earned by fulfilling relevant obligations. For example, the right to liberty is predicated on the obligation to …

Well done @Chris - a very engaging talk. It's not easy to use personal history to make a wider point; the balance has to be just right for the wider point to stand out. On a personal note, you are now more than just a name tag to me, which is …

Thanks for the tag @StephenL . I subscribed to a course a few years ago that looks similar, so I will probably pass. The first step towards better, wider, thinking is the willingness to do so.

Bloody hell!!

I was unaware that the smaller KLT-40 reactors were involved. You make a valid point; the LGD aspect has to be diminished as a result.

The banking comparison is only an analogy. For "bank" substitute "local society" and see if the risk tolerance still stacks up. At the end of the day this is entirely subjective, and I fully appreciate you may have a different viewpoint.

Once again, it is amazing to see how prescient some early science fiction has been. Alcubierre suggested warping space time as a propulsion method in 1994. However, Star Trek had coined the term "warp drive" as far back as 1966. What, I wonder …

Risk assessment in banking depends on two main aspects, (1) Probability of Default ("PD"), and (2) Loss Given Default ("LGD"). PD assesses how likely a default is, whilst LGD assesses how serious the loss to the bank will be if a default arises. …

Love the Douglas Adams quote. I think our thinking is basically aligned. My comment on body image frustrations was a little frivolous. The weighty point, where maybe we agree, is that by isolating people more and more - to the extent that physical …

I have the standard reaction: just because we CAN do something, it does not follow that we SHOULD. It all depends on whether, as a species, we are expecting to tend towards more or less "real" social interaction where parties are physically …

Iain M Banks' Culture series are my favourites. The humorous names he gives the sentient spacecraft are brilliant. "Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall" and "Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality", to name but two.

The mention of coal stirs a childhood memory in me. Much of my childhood was spent in the north west of the UK, just north of Liverpool, and my grandparents had a curious New Years' Eve custom. A family member (different each year) stood outside …