Today's discussion about the news
Comments
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I think investing in PE is more about investing in ones best interests, Vs taking a moral stance that will make no difference whatsoever other than make the investment worse.
I do not think a financially praclgmatic approach should be seen as confirmation that PE is considered to be a good thing. It is more akin to investing in oil and gas, or tobacco, stocks because those give a good return.
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Off at a bit of a tangent, but one of the Big Cheeses at Baillie Gifford was in the news today talking about the issue they had earlier this year with some leftieprotestors in respect of their sponsorship of literary festivals.
The protestors were demanding that BG dumped all their fossil fuel etc. holdings, with BG's response at the time being to withdraw from sponsoring the festivals as that was the easiest option.
The BG guy today was highlighting that they have responsibilities to their investors and they can't simply cast those aside to score points with pressure groups.
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How many of those people have workplace or private pensions that include such investments, I wonder?
How many have chosen more expensive green energy tarrifs for their homes?
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The article did point out that the protesters also take issue with Alphabet yet organised their campaign via Google functionality, which was quite ironic.
Personally, I try and live my live by these principles:
- Abide by the law in general
- At a personal level, treat people how I would like to be treated
I'm confident that suitable levels of morality are achieved via the second of these, but I can't get overly excited if by living to the first of these, someone thinks I'm doing something immoral as a second order effect.
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Why did you call them lefties?
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A wild hunch based on the campaign group being called "Fossil Free Books" and their cause being backed by, amongst others, Book Workers for a Free Palestine, Greenpeace UK, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Queers for Palestine and Art Workers for Palestine Scotland.
But I'm happy to consider arguments that Fossil Free Books is actually made up of rapacious capitalists.
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😄
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Also, it's a very leftie thing to do to just "demand" that a commercial enterprise changes its way of doing business at the drop of a hat . Non-lefties would appreciate that this would likely be unsuccessful and even counter-productive, as was the case, as BG complied with the "We don't want donations from those invested in fossil fuel" by no longer donating rather than by no longer investing in fossil fuels.
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It is a bit ironic that the people who make these types of demands of businesses usually don't have much of a clue about how businesses work.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I don't think lefties are behind the phrase "go woke, go broke" and the accompanying boycotts.
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right wing doesn't equate with capitalist
these days it's a closer match with populist, and often quite hostile to capitalism
witness all the maga hordes who expect business to do what they want and on-shore low-cost manufacturing at high usa labour rates, fantasy
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Indeed not. But I think this is a separate issue from the literary festival sponsorship / Baillie Gifford / Fossil Fuel Books situation.
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Fair point. Sub in "right-leaning types" for "rapacious capitalists" and my point stands.
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wonder what'll it be like when ernie arrives
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Won't be this year - it will be Eowyn when we get to E.
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Well that's a shame.
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Thanks, that's cheered me up.
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You are not alone.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
All good thanks, pretty bad around here yesterday but we're OK in that type of rain. When we flooded back in May it was the classic 15 minute summer storm that gets used in drainage design - the rain simply came down in a higher intensity than the drainage around the house could cope with. As everything ran into a low spot in front of the house and couldn't get away the water level rose above the threshold. Providing the drain doesn't get blocked it can cope with the longer duration, less intense stuff with no issues.
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Up the Severn near my mum's place.
This is a road that floods regularly so really daft to get a bus stuck in it.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Presumably it has a wheel in a ditch? It needs poles marking the road. It's like the whole build on stilts thing that you're not a fan of - other countries have solved these problems.
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There's a depth gauge just around the corner. In any case everyone local knows it floods to a couple of feet at the drop of a hat. The bus had no business trying to drive through it, marker posts or not. Not sure other countries have eliminated stupidity.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
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MPs' hysterical media comments about assisted dying is getting tiresome. It is virtue signalling that bucks the overwhelming majority of the electorate. It also fails to appreciate that modern medicine is now capable of providing long term misery and that we offer more humanitarian compassion to Tiddles the cat than we do to Esther Rantzen.
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I think even the more reasoned arguments pretty flimsy. The idea that this amendment to the law will lead to flood of murders passed off as 'what they wanted' seems to overstate the protection that the current law provides. I note Kathleen Stock is also trying to make it a GC argument 🙄
Also can we dispense with the idea that a couple of days of semi-conscious organ failure while dosed up with morphine represents 'dignity'.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
And the religious people coming forward, saying that polling that consistently shows about 2/3 people in favour of both assisted dying and improved palliative care means that people only want, "more investment in palliative care".
No, they want both, you condescending pillocks.
Anyway, allowing people to die with dignity at the precise moment of their choosing *IS* palliative care.
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