Here to share views and discuss the latest perspective's on the world going to hell in a handcart!
I don’t know if you have seen these action figure designs yet anywhere on the internet or more specifically Facebook but people have been using AI to design there own action figures I had a go with Chat GPT. I used a template to fill out a description of what I wanted and then after a few minutes the design was created, very clever and lots of fun. The face does not look like me but I think my character definitely comes across in the image.
Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars – a favourite song to sing
Holly sh*t what the feck just happened in my bank account it is leaking cash faster than a Trumpian Bull breaks ceramics in a China shop!
Along time ago in a bank account far, far away I started to dabble in buying a type of UK bank account called an ISA (Individual Savings Account). ISAs are seen as a tax-efficient way to save and invest your money. That means you’ll pay no tax on any interest, gains or returns you make. What a great idea I thought. I also thought I could turn a little pot of money into a little bit bigger pot of money with me chipping some in monthly and also with the interest earned on the ISA. The only problem was that at the time I had decided to do this some 15 years or more ago interest rates were so low that in relation to inflation the interest earned was not keeping up with the low inflation rate so it felt like for every year you kept money in a regular ISA it was still in fact degrading over time in real terms.
So like everyone I was looking for a way out of this slightly silly system and so about 5 years ago or longer (I forget how long ago I decided to invest in a type of stocks and shares account with a online stocks and shares company. Again kept my little ISA ticking over to not earn interest on but also started saving into a type of stocks and shares account, again it was small potatoes and did not really have any major success but also did earn a little bit more than when putting money into an ISA so no big wins but no losses either still quite dull I thought really.
But then after a recommendation from a family member I consolidated my many minor pension schemes and cash ISA all into one company in the UK that had a steady higher rate of return for my money than any think I had tried in the past and low and behold I soon started to take interest in the interest and start finally seeing the benefits of my savings whilst at the same time as the stocks market would be stable and go up so would my stocks and shares ISA.
It was all going so well, I would pay a small amount in every week into my account and each week the money as well as the interest would grow. I thought I had finally become an adult without responsibilities that could and was planning for my rainy days and saving for my future. But then comes along President Trump like a bull in a China shop, who after many years of nonsensical speeches and stupid opinions was finally able to put those two things into practice with no less than a trade war with the rest of the world – a literal economic DO NOT DO under no circumstances economic policy. Oh my the bigger they are the harder they fall kind of economic suicide that he has chosen to inflict on the globe and the US – its quite literally the top number one dumbest thing he could think to do and not only did he think about it he went ahead and did it and now will not back down and spend the next four years saying how it will be other countries and politicians and policies fault for the very dump policy that he implemented all on his own. You wonder how a person can even bankrupt a casino in their lifetime and we now know and start to see just how his logic did that and start to say ahh thats how, that’s why.
Finance and the direction of flow of money, shall always have a flow, an economic flow, it is not personal, it is not prejudicial, it simply flows from what it is able to make from money to who it then able to buy with money, simple economic rule really on a micro and macro scale.
The barriers Trump is attempting to put up might well speed up or damage even more severely the things that Trump was in fact trying to protect and solve. China has a wall of businesses, bureaucrats, financial clout and desire to beat the US and where as Trump is dismantling the US government machine, China is only getting started with facing its machine up against the US in the trade war of all trade wars that Trump is initiating. Trump put quite simply this is a trade war you cannot and could never win. Just as Brexit saw a painful divorce for Britain from Europe, in a most likely irreversible circumstance so to is Trump trying to divorce himself right now from the economic flows of international finance and trade and oh boy have his shenanigans kicked my savings down right into my stocks and shares! No one can predict where this will end for global stocks or shares or for the US, China or rest of the world just yet. But my money is on the fact that this will not bode well for Trumps Tariffs’ philosophy at all.
It really is a taboo to talk about taxing the wealthy or super rich, let alone electing political officials that introduce such measures. Most people with millions and billions of pounds can not only afford to hire great minds and accountants to ensure they pay the bare minimum in taxes, they can also afford to fund political interests in both the left and right side of the mainstream political establishment to stand up and enforce a no tax policy for the super wealthy to such an extent that it is never mainstream enough political idea or policy that might be adopted by governments across the global mainstream of wealthy or developed economies and countries where such policies could truly save and enhance lives.
In the US wealth is good and talking about taxing wealth in some way makes you a communist ,which is just nonsense, but again the propaganda painted like dirty mud on a wall it sticks backed up by both mainstream republican and democrat parties.
In the UK the super wealthy people here are often landowners and royalty, asset owners and stripers but not really in the game of working or being out of work but like many with wealth very quick to judge those out of work or in low paid jobs. It is so taboo in the UK to say or even argue that the monarchy should pay its fair share of tax or live within the countries means and have money spent on it that the country can afford or even just pay for its own affairs AND be taxed too – such views are heresy and taboo. No knighthoods for the PM that advocates the downsizing of a royal budget. Its in the interest of the wealthy of the UK to see the defence of the monarchy and the money that is spent on maintaining it and not taxing it as sacrosanct because it also keeps in line the rest of the population with the illusion that no super wealthy people should be taxed of their wealth especially the royals and their chums.
Since Covid-19 the amount of money that has gone to the super rich and already wealthy has sky rocketed and they will do all they can to keep hold of said wealth even though they will do vary little with it accept have a few more digits on a bank account or two.
When money is given an opportunity to be earned or provided to those that are deemed working class, underclass or even middle class the vast majority of that finance will be ploughed back into the consumption economy which will be good for jobs and consumer spending and retailers. But when money just becomes digits in a bank account sitting generating interest for the super rich, it has no capacity to oil the wheels of an economy like it can seeing real finance in the hands of those that are able to directly spend said finance into a consumption economy.
The UK labour government are bending over backwards at present to please people that have no interest in being pleased by them. You have Trump taxing the globe for trade arguments and divisiveness generating dollars for a US government that is presently stopping many good products and services it delivers to its own citizens as well as those around the world as a huge experiment in how to screw things up that will likely go badly wrong. You have Labour in the UK rolling out Austerity 2.0 for those on benefits in the UK there is no plan 1.0 let alone 2.0 on how to modernise the monarchy or increase wealth generation from the rich in the UK, you can in no way provide for a society by piddling around at the edges of an already failing wealth maintaining system as is the UK. Those across the globe that increase their own wealth and fortune at the expense of the spending power of others often seem more like black holes absorbing and destroying other areas of the economy and sucking out the life of all in their way without replacing the taken away wealth with a a positive generated benefit at all.
This is not just a collection of theories but an unsustainable model of consumption and wealth generation. Just as economic drivers and wealth holders do not care for the wildlife and environment that sustains us all, that their wealth generation has destroyed, shock horror they also do not care about the people damaged and destroyed in the process of this pattern of wealth creation either. Hence tax the wealth before it destroys us all and there is then nothing left to be destroyed or taxed at all.
If governments are not their to save lives and enhance the way we live then what are we voting for at all, we don’t vote for slightly better terms or existence. We vote to be given an opportunity to be alive and thrive not just to survive or slowly be chipped away at or suddenly stolen from us until we die.
In memory of those gone but not forgotten, loved and not lost
Today is 2 months to the day since my lovely father passed away and though I think often of him miss him and feel and know that he is no longer here – I do so in what I feel to be a fond farewell light and positive imprint of him on my mind and soul.
Some people I know are horrified by the death of a love one or terrorised by no longer having a loved one in their life or fear when others lose people close to them too and keep their distance from people who have recently lost or are bereaving. Depending on the circumstances of a death, I know it can be brutal to lose someone that you deeply love.
But I don’t feel we should use our own self suffering as a barometer to how much we loved someone or even how much they are now missed. There are many joys to life and being alive and living in the moment are things which my father enjoyed to do in life himself and he would wish for me in some way I’m sure to appreciate the experience of being alive and not be tied up in knots due to his death or the death of other who were loved and lost.
Years ago in university during what was possibly a sociology class I remember a lecture announcing to us that when we cry we only cry for ourselves and for what those tears mean to us. We have no empthy and emotions for others whatsoever. I was instantly enraged and engaged in this opinion and perspective and that is exactly what the lecture wanted us to do to challenge him to engage with him and ultimately gain an emotional reaction on what his statement said. To this day I have often still wondered about the concept of crying for other s or simply crying for our selves and was the lecturer trying in some way to express a simple truth of his or get us to engage in emotive intellectual debate. Who knows? What I do know is that idea still remains with me some 30 years later.
I suppose the debate will always rage, do we cry for ourselves? or for others? What we have lost or for those whom were taken away or maybe from knowing that we will one day be in the same situation sitting in a coffin ourselves and before that day comes for us crying or morning that day getting closer and closer for us as with each day that passes as well as those others that we love and have in our lives that we will one day lose. Why do we hurt for what was taken away or for what we might yet lose?
I sat down to write this as a way of saying I’m ok and hello and its also ok to not be ok. But it appears to be more and deeper than that as the words flow out. What I’m trying to say is to me I want to love those that I have lost, appreciate them in this living alive world and show little signs of respect and love for those I care about where I can by how I live, whether that’s by being a little kinder at times, older and wiser at others but definitely not feeling sad for sadness sake or hurt for the sake of being heartbroken sake.
The people that I have and love in this life I have enjoyed their company at their highs and lows and mostly enjoyed being with them at their highs when they too enjoyed their life. I aspire to enjoy my life and honour theirs.
This time last year me and Dad were on holiday in Ireland for St Patricks day, thanks to a bet that I won on the horse the day after Christmas 2023. It was an unexpected win for a number of reasons and so when the bet paid out I shared some of the money with my mum and dad as the money did not really feel like mine anyway.
Dad said that rather than have the cash he wanted to go on holiday to Ireland and so that is exactly what we did. I paid for the accommodation and flights and we shared the costs of the meals and drinks. It was so much fun and went to some new places that I had not visited before as well as some tried and tested places. We initially got a ferry over from south Wales, which very nearly did not happen to County Wexford, then stayed in lovely hotel there and then travelled to Cork where dads Nan was from. We then went up to Limerick and onto Galway where we spent a weekend and was in St Patricks day for the Sunday. Finally we headed back to Dublin for a few days and then caught a flight back home. I love Ireland; I love my family and feel like although I am missing my Dad now that he is no longer with us I am very grateful for the time we shared together.
I feel like I am counting my blessings at present rather than counting my curses and there are many blessings. Though I hoped and thought he would live longer the time we all shared with him was special and I feel honoured to have known him and had him as part of my life.
Stopping the flow of money & watching some rivers of finance run dry, all for an experiment that will fail and a crash and burn to the US economy.
If we were still in George Orwell’s 1984 novel then the great trade war has begun and if it was up to Trump no matter what damage he does he will be reporting this war as a victory. No matter how many jobs are lost he will be reported as improvements and gains and no matter how much money people loose they will be reported as having increased and gained.
The normal rivers of Economic trade being blocked and dammed by Trumpian probable failing economic policies will cut deep. Damaging both economic systems across the globe and Trumps ego and people’s perception of him as an intelligent and knowledgeable business man. Trump likes to see himself as a brilliant business man and an assumption of this brilliance should be a keen understanding of international economics and trade is unravelling before his eyes and stock markets around the world and recessions are on the horizon while his attempt to block flows of trade fails for the USA and rest of the world. Trade and flows of trade will likely find a way even if this is further away from the USA rather than directly to it. Yes, Trump it will be a painful transition for many but what no one can really predict with and clear insight is what the change will look like and what that change ultimately leads too. Will it result in more or less jobs and money in the USA in the long run is yet to be seen.
Economic policies and trade from country to country can be viewed as flowing of goods and services to and from places across the globe. These flows are natural and part of economic cycles. Where there is financial clout to purchase goods and services and where there is an ability to produce and design, market and provide excellent goods and services and then transport them across the globe then these flows of products and services are natural economic eco systems that take place. It’s a consumers market and Trumps policies go completely against the free flow of consumption and he fails to allow the flow of trade and consumption and in my opinion Trumps policies will ultimately fail just like many of his other policies.
But the fact that he sees himself as such a great business man means that this failure will likely hurt him the most as well as his own country the place he is in fact trying to make great again. With the shocks to share and trading markets and likely continued break down in flows of trade and consumption this will be a damming of the river of financial, goods and services trade. Jobs will be lost, goods will go up in price and business will go out of business.
Trump says that the USA has been treated unfairly, what he is really stating is he does not agree with the economic flows of finance and he is conducting a global experiment that will likely fail for him and cause more damage to USA and global business than good for goods and services. Trump cannot buy rivers of flow and Trump can not force the USA consumer or businesses to by USA goods and services. Freedom of consumption is natural to human markets and trade he’s peddling ideas and views that will fail and meddling in economic markets and trade flows he simply just does not understand. Like a bull in a china shop its likley there will be a crash or two of the economy.
So we said fairwell to Dad on Friday 7th March, his family would just like to say a huge thank you to all of you that have shown how much you care for him and us. Me, Shamen and mum have been so grateful for the love and support offered to us at this difficult time. It’s sometimes hard to make a call or show people, if you care due to already full up and busy lives, there is always something else in life to distract you that steels your time away. With that said it has been so very heart-warming and reassuring to know that in our time of need you were able to offer us your love and support.
Whether that was in the way of a kind word or thought, or a call or text to see how we are or for those that made time for us and also for those that were able to see us and Dad in Spreyton on the day we just can’t thank you all enough.
With the decisions to hold the ceremony in Spreyton Village Hall and have the burial at crossways site in Cheriton Bishop, I was a little nervous prior to the day, as to whether we had chosen the right words, locations, hymn and ideas for the day. But with all of those that attended and helped us I do believe we did dad proud and showed him how much he was loved. The whole day and event was a wonderful celebration of Dads life and thank all so much for the time you spared for us prior to the service and also on the day and evening too.
I also want to share Dads poem for those that might want to see it again and also for those that could not make it on the day.
Love the ones you Love by Neil Edwards
Love the ones you love. Don't assume they're fine,
because you haven't heard from them in a while.
Assume they're not - and call them.
Make sure they know you love them.
That can be difficult to say,
but tell them, in whatever words,
in your funny old way.
Take every chance that comes
to do an act of lovingkindness
for those who live in your heart.
These things are powerful voodoo,
because they work for them as well as you.
The only thing we know is true,
is that we don't know what's to come.
Don't just keep them in your heart.
Turn up, and talk, and be with them.
Thank you, dear God, for this good life,
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.
And forgive us if we forget to love the ones we love.
P.S. Don’t beat yourself up. Even if you do all these things, some of us will slip away.
We are good actors and take great pains to keep you off the scent. It’s nothing you did or failed to do. Don’t beat yourself up.
Next week is the Cheltenham horse racing festival in the UK – it is the BIG celebration of horse racing in the UK and for those that enjoy watching horse racing and having a punt and putting a bet on that is the week to do it. But there are so many horses at so many different odd to bet on that it’s very easy to not know which horses to bet on and see who will win or who will lose.
There are websites out there that have people that recommend the horses that they think are most likely to win on the day of each race, but even when you follow the tip of a good tipster there is no guarantee that any horse they say might win a race will win. The Cheltenham festival is a week when if I try to have a bet I make sure I set a limit to how much I bet because chances are I will lose most bets and it is likely I will lose money and so it’s important to only bet what I can afford on my budget to lose. Betting should really be looked at by me as a bit of fun, a challenge a gamble and not in a any way a way of making money or profiting from.
I tend to place 1 or 2 £3 bets on four horse known as a lucky 15, 10 pence each way bet, each day during the Cheltenham festival and use sites such as Oddschecker.com to help me decide which horse to bet on. Last March in the week before the Cheltenham festival the Oddschecker.com website started charging people £10 to view all the tips on it’s website concerning which horses to bet on. This was incredibly annoying at the time as this service has been free for years with tipsters such as Andy Holding recommending which horses to back during the Cheltenham festival. I kind of assumed and hoped the site would always be free to view tips on.
So to start charging the week before the the Cheltenham horse racing gold cup festival seemed really harsh back in 2024 but I though £10 a month to pay to see what horses Andy Holding recommended was not too bad. So I paid my money and took my chances and placed my bets. I don’t remember if I won or lost last year which meant I did not have a big win but likely did not loose that much either and probably broke even betting for the fun of it and not for the win.
Well it’s now Sunday 8th March 2025 and my subscription to get bets for £10 a month has just today stopped working suddenly even though I’m still paying Oddschecker.com my subscription of £10 a month for what now appears to be a complete waste of money and no tips. Oddsecher.com are now asking for a subscription charge of £34.99 per month for what was once £10 if I still want to get tips from Andy Holding for next week’s Cheltenham festival, which does feel extortionate.
Considering I normally only spend £3.00 to £6.00 a day on bets and there now asking me to pay an extra £34.99 a month to see tips so as to be able to place a bet. It feels like an excessive rip off and out of my budget and will not increase the amount of winners I back if I start paying £34.99 for a subscription tipping service that was recently completely free. I would like to cancel my subscription of £10 month but they also offered me a share in a horse called Unknown Journey so I am going to decide later whether to cancel my current subscription of £10 a month for what now is just for a share in the owning of a horse with no horse racing tips with it and the tips were my main reason for agreeing to a subscription in the first place.
There are other sites to consider in order to be able to gain tips from tipsters that are good at picking horses that sometime win. The best site that is still free for tips is attheraces.com Hugh Taylor is a person I follow on this website that offers good tips but there are disadvantages to following his tips. Firstly he does not always have tips every day and also when he backs a horse the odds then narrow and so you don’t always get good odds on the horses that he backs because lots of other people are tipping the horse too, so you don’t get good odds on the horses he chooses and just because the odds are lowered does not increase the chances of a horse winning. On the attheraces.com website there is also Lawrence Taylor’s speed ratings tips and I like theses as these are six good tips everyday on race horses that he recommends to put a bet on, but one downside is you do not know what the odds are on the page and have to go to a new page to look up the odds for betting on his choice of horses.
If you are able or willing to want to pay for tips then there is also another Andy Holding website that is expensive it’s called andyholdingspeedfigures.co.uk and costs £39 per month to see the horse he recommends placing bets on. To be honest I signed up years ago on a trial discount rate for Cheltenham week festival tips and it looked and felt like they overly gave you lots of stats about horses to back but the site was very confusing and complicated and did not help me know which horse to pick to place a bet on. It’s too expensive for me to have a yearly subscription but I am tempted to try it for a month when the Cheltenham Gold cup week takes place and just see what the site looks like now.
My final thoughts are if you have an addictive personality, a small income or gamble money that you cannot afford to lose, please just don’t do it. Betting on the horses is no way to make, earn or win money. Know your limits and if you not betting to play a game or you try to chase money you have lost or need it’s potentially dangerous and just not worth it.
I bet you don’t make money or win a lot but the fun of watching the races and betting small amounts on bets you can afford to lose is a lot of fun. I don’t think the paid sites are worth there subscription fees and just because you pay a company website to tell you which horse to place a bet on does not guarantee that a horse will win. Best of luck though whatever you do.
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Trump is an isolationist at heart. There are many things which Trump does not, cannot or has no will to understand when it comes to his world view and he views others as being weak or insignificant, if they do not think and feel the same as him and his outward reaction to those who do not share in his world view is divisive and in the short, medium and long-term extremely damaging to the US, it’s allies and enemies alike. No good will come from Trumps actions and inaction as he seeks to impose his world view on all of us.
With great power comes great responsibility normally and Trump is not responsible to anything or anyone if anything he is a reckless bully or reckless bull in a china shop. His actions and lack of political accountability when signing of executive order after executive order is mind boggling. His overstepping of his executive power with the sacking of state employees, shutting down of government programs is done on a whim and not with any true political oversight judgment or accountability.
With Trump offering trade wars to break up years of stable trading relations and treaties with Canada for what appear to be petty reasoning’s in response to complex problems for the USA e.g. Trump wants Canada to become part of the USA to be used as a strategic asset and profit from this and is punishing Canada for not being part of the USA. Trump is only able to do a lot of the negative things that he is doing because his country the USA is the most powerful trading nation in the world and he is using that power as leverage. If the UK or any other nation in the world tried to do this they would be punished by others and time will see if the US will be punished and how.
His cruel turn on Canada a historic partner and ally is in complete opposition to his views on Russia – Russia really does have an elusive hold over Trump. Not that any conspiracy theorists talk about it but I do wonder if Trumps first wife or current wife could be Russian sympathizers or even agents infiltrating Trumps inner circle and making him a bonified follow of Putin’s Russia as he really does love and respect Russia’s way of doing business and has an affection for Putin.
It’s not just Putin that Trump shows support for he likes and is attracted to the political perspective of authoritarian leaders across the globe and one most damagingly supporting is that of Netanyahu in Israel he does not force a peace deal on Israel and continues to offer them an open-ended offer of arms and a blank cheque to fight against those that wish for autonomy and self governance in Gaza. So he is a man of peace when it suits him in Ukraine but also a man of war when it suits him and the politicians he shows favor to and supports when seeking war in Gaza.
Just a final thoughts I am in no way mad at or wish to upset American citizens the reasons that brought people to vote and not vote for Trump are complex and diverse. I aim to respect and understand what drives people to resort to needing a leader like Trump to vote for whilst at the same time wholeheartedly hating and fearing what Trump is capable of, what he has already done and what he will do next he neither has a moral compass nor proven limits on his power yet.
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