syzygy

Comment Threads

• Greg. Tingey commented on The morning after
  Well, the CTA I know tells me that a large amount of time is taken up with ... 1] Complying with US regulations, even though the companies & people they are working "for" are not US citizens or have any business in the USA 2] Trying to make sure that the money-laundering regs are complied with 3] Trying to give a "fair & accurate report" on (whatever) & make sure no-one breaks any laws. Given the scandals that DO appear, it would seem that some "companies" ( & partnerships) are a lot less strict &/or that they have much more...
• paws4thot commented on The morning after
  FWIW I also voted yes. I'm not "opposed to violence" in all cases. This does not mean that I believe that the Yousay is "the World's policeman", or that the UK should act as the Yousay's deputy. This was on my lis of reasons for voting yes....
• El commented on The morning after
  In case anyone is still interested in the split of the youth vote, Lord Ashcroft did a poll where they looked at the split of voters by age. In his poll (of 2,000 voters) the 16 and 17 year olds split like 70% yes, 30% no. However, although he polled 2,000 total voters, (and his overall balance was about 55-45 no) there were only 14 under-18's in his sample, so the margin of error is pretty damn huge. Despite that, it's been taken as gospel and oft-quoted since that time. Source: More or Less BBC Radio 4, 26/9/14 broadcast. It's...
• El commented on The morning after
  As a fine example of politicians in the UK certainly skirting the truth, or pushing my bullshit meter beyond the point of reasonable doubt, our glorious chancellor was interviewed this morning on Today (a heavyweight political radio programme). He said he did not believe the "wicked rumours" that most people's personal finances were not improving in line with the improving economy. That could be the truth of course, he might not believe it. However, a few hours later at the Conservative Party Conference, he stood up and said that it was shocking and unsustainable that working age benefit payments have...
• Charlie Stross commented on The morning after
  Well yes, but the whole point of the Conservative Party is you've got to watch what they're doing, not what they say. They're sort of like the Republican Party in the USA -- all the god-bothering and flag-waving is basically to rally the voters: what really happens when they get into office is all about the money. With the Tories, again: the rhetoric is about immigration, lawn order -- sorry, law and order -- clamping down on benefits cheats, some judicious scapegoating, and the buzz word efficiency (which can be used to justify any private sector outsourcing atrocity you can...