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  This week I've been mainly reading, no. 307. Sabahattin Ali's novella, Madonna in a Fur Coat (1943/2016) is a tale of obsession & retreat that may (I'm not entirely sure) be a metaphor for the relations between his native Turkey & Europe in mid-C20th. It purports to be mostly the found journal of a Turkish man who spent a momentous year in Berlin obsessed with a night club singer/artist. It is a melancholy story suffused with woe, but remains a compellin...

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  @RaymondPierreL3 No, you're fine; you seem to have it all understood... we're on the same page

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  @RaymondPierreL3 Indeed, its the old (and more general) problem of uncounted externalities - a perennial problem in capitalism that seeks to profit from exploiting nature & shoving the costs into the future (see climate change as the biggest example)

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  @Talia Agreed; part of the green transition has also to be a transformation in the way markets are governed

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  @nini yes, I think that's the very real danger that we have seen again & again - extremist groups look to the lonely as key prospects

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  @alex_p_roe indeed it is....

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  Friends & colleagues, I have been advised that my instance has been over-run with Russian chatbots & so this afternoon will be transferring to a new instance. As a result later today (and possibly into tomorrow) there will be a hiatus in posting while I work my way through the transfer protocol. I will post from the new instance when the transfer is complete - you should find there is no need for you to do anything if you want to continue following my posts. More on this late...

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  @GeofCox Indeed; the phrase is a mask!

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  @audunmb Aha, interesting; I don't really follow Norwegian politics so took the story at face value; but really appreciate the context & likely explanation for how the story appeared.

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  @h4890@merovingian.club The instance is about to go onto a ban list & to be frank I've been contributing a small subscription to help with moderation etc. & it now appears that money have been just pocketed (as the admin ac/c is seemingly inactive).... so I'd been meaning to change to a UK base instance anyway to rescue confusion & now seems like a good time to do it.

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  @tompearce49 ha ha, me too....

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  @xerge yes, there's an old economists truism: If it cannot go on forever, it won't

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  @ReggieHere Indeed; the degradation of Wikipedia will be a global social tragedy of major proportions

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  @nini so it seems - the admin a/c has been apparently dormant for over a year (I didn't notice)..... and in any case I had been thinking of moving to a UK instance - so this was the prompt I needed, really

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  @PoliceStateUK Well I have the feditips instructions.... I'll see how it goes; but I have heard similar stories

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  @alantperry ha ha, great comment

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  @rmblaber1956 @vfrmedia @EF Head trauma is a much more widely experience life changer than is often appreciated (especially among those who have been in a relationship patterned by domestic violence)

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  @alex_p_roe @ReggieHere @AlexanderKingsbury Economists & theories are rooted in an econoworld - a world which has never existed but is easily mathematically modelled - often it seems economists are not trying to describe the economic world but rather trying to get policy makers to make it look more like econoworld

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  @ReggieHere @alex_p_roe @AlexanderKingsbury hence its name?

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  In the next weeks we will see an intensification of attacks both on Zack Polanski & the Green Parties, as the Right media realise actually both GPEW & the SGs represent a real challenge to their man Farage delivering the country to the Far Right. We can expect lies, distortion & extrapolations all intended to demonise the Greens, but given the new social networks the progressive left increasingly uses (like this one) unlike previous campaigns this one may be less successful. #polit...

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  For long-term renters, the Govt. may be about to save them from fixed-term tenancies & no-fault evictions, but by turning all tenancies into 'periodic' or indefinite tenancies has expose renters to a yearly stamp-duty calculation. While this doesn't become payable until rent has reached a cumulative £125k, a yearly tax return *is* required.... and in London its likely only to take six years to reach the rent threshold (longer elsewhere, less time for shared housing). #renting #...

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  @amokura@mastodonapp.uk Hmmm... well on a quick look the FTs point seems to centred on SDLTM14060 but there's a lot here & even a search for 'tenants' brings up stuff I'm not so clear on

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  @bjn@mstdn.social because housing policy was in Angela Rayner's portfolio, and you know, she's a woman.... it needs a man to say these things! /s

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  @ReggieHere@mastodon.social @riggbeck@mastodon.social But its worth noting that Adam Smith's overall position was that markets could & should be regulated, and that political norms had a role to play (often missed in the popular accounts of Smith's free market credentials)

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  As Nesrine Malik argues, whatever other problems there are with AI & its associated technologies, in the end one of its most corrosive aspects may be its destruction of trust in what people write; the widening suspicion that AI has been used to write all sorts of things (previously penned/typed by humans) is leading to a decline in trust in communication more generally.... with who knows what long-term consequences? #AI #communication #books #media https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr...

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  The Mayor of London's Office has blocked the Metropolitan Police's procurement of Palantir software to aid investigation(s).... partly due to concerns about the standing of Palantir & partly as the Mayor's office believes that the Met have colluded with Palantir to avoid a clear open procurement process. The Met call the intervention 'disappointing', many others will see this a judicious & sensible. #London #Palantir #politics h/t FT

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  The truism 'justice delayed is justice denied' is becoming an ever wider depiction of how the legal system works across England & Wales. So news that workers & employers are waiting up to five years for an employment tribunal on claims for unfair dismissal is both no surprise & a confirmation of the shocking state of the legal system. Respect for the rule of law depends on it efficacy in actually delivering judgements - no wonder its being lost! #RuleOfLaw #politics http...

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  You'll have seen quite a lot of commentary that the yield profile of UK public debt is rising swiftly making the UK an outlier in the wider context of states raising loans through the bond markets. However, Daire MacFadden (FT) argues if you *combine* yields with swap rates (which indicate market player's assessment of future currency & interest rate moves) what you see is the UK is back in the pack alongside other countries public debt. So, the UK's public debt...

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  Meanwhile in music.... in a time when music streaming & normal record company double dealing have depressed the income from recording for many musicians, large scale touring has become one solution to making money from music.... There have always been acts whose live profile was better/higher than their recorded one, but now BIIRD are joining the small/select group of musicians who have made their reputation (and income) entirely on the basis of playing live. #music https://www.bbc.co...

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  This weekend is demonstrating an unwavering truth of political reporting... Media commenters & analysts decry the chaotic psychodrama of leadership challenges & churn in the top job (with tales of its negative impact on UK politics & economics and the UK's international standing)... yet; they find it hard to hide their glee at filling their papers (and online presence) with speculation, profiles of possible contenders & argument(s) around 'new st...