Simon Watkins
@simonywaking.bsky.social
Interested in finance, economics, politics, philosophy, literature and childish humour.
Well that was five hours well spent!
November 29, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Well that was five hours well spent!
I momentarily considered trying to work out the pros and cons (fees, rates, access, tax etc) of buying a gilt through an ISA provider or just putting money in a 5 year NSandI ‘bond’ account.
Decided life was too short.
Decided life was too short.
November 29, 2025 at 10:04 AM
I momentarily considered trying to work out the pros and cons (fees, rates, access, tax etc) of buying a gilt through an ISA provider or just putting money in a 5 year NSandI ‘bond’ account.
Decided life was too short.
Decided life was too short.
Quite right. But I think this relates to why more people are not investing in Stocks ISAs. Many complexities and details, but crudely:
If you are prepared to lock up equity investment for decades (sensible) why not just do that in a pension and get tax relief on your capital?
If you are prepared to lock up equity investment for decades (sensible) why not just do that in a pension and get tax relief on your capital?
November 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Quite right. But I think this relates to why more people are not investing in Stocks ISAs. Many complexities and details, but crudely:
If you are prepared to lock up equity investment for decades (sensible) why not just do that in a pension and get tax relief on your capital?
If you are prepared to lock up equity investment for decades (sensible) why not just do that in a pension and get tax relief on your capital?
The recognition of technical expertise while simultaneously signalling boredom and deep mockery has been a long-standing problem in the media (see ‘boffin’).
November 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
The recognition of technical expertise while simultaneously signalling boredom and deep mockery has been a long-standing problem in the media (see ‘boffin’).
A sensible humanities professional should recognise the huge potential of AI and should accept the expert opinion of coders who say it’s hugely powerful.
A sensible tech professional should not tell philosophers and artists that an AI is self-conscious and capable of sublime artistic genius.
A sensible tech professional should not tell philosophers and artists that an AI is self-conscious and capable of sublime artistic genius.
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
A sensible humanities professional should recognise the huge potential of AI and should accept the expert opinion of coders who say it’s hugely powerful.
A sensible tech professional should not tell philosophers and artists that an AI is self-conscious and capable of sublime artistic genius.
A sensible tech professional should not tell philosophers and artists that an AI is self-conscious and capable of sublime artistic genius.
The ‘mansion tax’ will have provided him with his subject matter with even less thinking than usual. He will earn enough to pay this tax for a year after writing the first 500 words.
It will doubtless provide easy matter on many other occasions.
He is therefore a net beneficiary of the policy.
It will doubtless provide easy matter on many other occasions.
He is therefore a net beneficiary of the policy.
November 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
The ‘mansion tax’ will have provided him with his subject matter with even less thinking than usual. He will earn enough to pay this tax for a year after writing the first 500 words.
It will doubtless provide easy matter on many other occasions.
He is therefore a net beneficiary of the policy.
It will doubtless provide easy matter on many other occasions.
He is therefore a net beneficiary of the policy.
While I entirely agree with your point, I don’t think it is the most baffling thing about this product.
November 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
While I entirely agree with your point, I don’t think it is the most baffling thing about this product.
Back of the envelope based on London house price inflation last 15 years… she would have had to have spent c. £1.2m buying the house. So she must have inherited at least this (after IHT).
There is no violin small enough.
There is no violin small enough.
November 27, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Back of the envelope based on London house price inflation last 15 years… she would have had to have spent c. £1.2m buying the house. So she must have inherited at least this (after IHT).
There is no violin small enough.
There is no violin small enough.
The last ‘grand narrative’ still standing.
November 26, 2025 at 10:46 PM
The last ‘grand narrative’ still standing.
Once, before a corp event a junior comms bod accidentally sent me the briefing notes for their CEO.
ie. Notes on me and the other journalists attending - personalities, quirks, questions we might ask etc. Not always flattering.
Panicked and tearful PR rang me to beg I kept it secret. Which I did.
ie. Notes on me and the other journalists attending - personalities, quirks, questions we might ask etc. Not always flattering.
Panicked and tearful PR rang me to beg I kept it secret. Which I did.
November 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Once, before a corp event a junior comms bod accidentally sent me the briefing notes for their CEO.
ie. Notes on me and the other journalists attending - personalities, quirks, questions we might ask etc. Not always flattering.
Panicked and tearful PR rang me to beg I kept it secret. Which I did.
ie. Notes on me and the other journalists attending - personalities, quirks, questions we might ask etc. Not always flattering.
Panicked and tearful PR rang me to beg I kept it secret. Which I did.
Not a musician myself. My understanding has always been that a *few* scores were impossible and so performances involved a compromise until instruments changed. I would happily stand corrected.
November 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Not a musician myself. My understanding has always been that a *few* scores were impossible and so performances involved a compromise until instruments changed. I would happily stand corrected.
Haha! I will abandon search. Probably would have been a futile experiment anyway, because while I like Bach (and music in general) I have to confess to not having the most refined ear.
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Haha! I will abandon search. Probably would have been a futile experiment anyway, because while I like Bach (and music in general) I have to confess to not having the most refined ear.
Ooh. Thanks for the pointer. I am a Bach fan, but not really massively knowledgeable and would not have known which pieces this applies to. I suspect I am now going to spend some time trying to find versions using period and modern instruments in order to compare.
November 26, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Ooh. Thanks for the pointer. I am a Bach fan, but not really massively knowledgeable and would not have known which pieces this applies to. I suspect I am now going to spend some time trying to find versions using period and modern instruments in order to compare.
Echoing a long standing debate about Bach, who wrote some music scores that were unplayable on the instruments of his time but which, as instruments have evolved, can now be played as written.
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Echoing a long standing debate about Bach, who wrote some music scores that were unplayable on the instruments of his time but which, as instruments have evolved, can now be played as written.
This censorship is shocking in what it tells us about the world we are in. But it is entirely understandable.
We all know Trump is utterly corrupt. Our Government won’t say it. Business won’t say it.
For-profit media won’t say it.
But somehow the BBC is expected to charge the machine guns.
We all know Trump is utterly corrupt. Our Government won’t say it. Business won’t say it.
For-profit media won’t say it.
But somehow the BBC is expected to charge the machine guns.
November 25, 2025 at 12:42 PM
This censorship is shocking in what it tells us about the world we are in. But it is entirely understandable.
We all know Trump is utterly corrupt. Our Government won’t say it. Business won’t say it.
For-profit media won’t say it.
But somehow the BBC is expected to charge the machine guns.
We all know Trump is utterly corrupt. Our Government won’t say it. Business won’t say it.
For-profit media won’t say it.
But somehow the BBC is expected to charge the machine guns.
Not an quick fix but with the supposed capabilities of tech surely this is the basis for a comprehensive revaluation.
Land Registry has all transaction values; it can see actual prices at a particular date. And has the raw data to assess house price inflation at a pretty granular geographical level.
Land Registry has all transaction values; it can see actual prices at a particular date. And has the raw data to assess house price inflation at a pretty granular geographical level.
November 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Not an quick fix but with the supposed capabilities of tech surely this is the basis for a comprehensive revaluation.
Land Registry has all transaction values; it can see actual prices at a particular date. And has the raw data to assess house price inflation at a pretty granular geographical level.
Land Registry has all transaction values; it can see actual prices at a particular date. And has the raw data to assess house price inflation at a pretty granular geographical level.
Dark Star is Carpenter’s best film, by a country mile.
It’s the film Samuel Beckett would have made, if had decided to go into comedy sci-fi.
It’s the film Samuel Beckett would have made, if had decided to go into comedy sci-fi.
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Dark Star is Carpenter’s best film, by a country mile.
It’s the film Samuel Beckett would have made, if had decided to go into comedy sci-fi.
It’s the film Samuel Beckett would have made, if had decided to go into comedy sci-fi.
Isn’t your question itself an example of a possibly flawed nostalgic assumption? ie. Is it true that people in the past were less likely to expect government to solve things?
(Genuine question and I am open to hearing evidence that this is so.)
(Genuine question and I am open to hearing evidence that this is so.)
November 23, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Isn’t your question itself an example of a possibly flawed nostalgic assumption? ie. Is it true that people in the past were less likely to expect government to solve things?
(Genuine question and I am open to hearing evidence that this is so.)
(Genuine question and I am open to hearing evidence that this is so.)
Ah, so it doesn’t even mean what I thought. Yoinks!
November 22, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Ah, so it doesn’t even mean what I thought. Yoinks!
But I recognise that the Simpsons may have made it more cromulent.
November 22, 2025 at 10:41 AM
But I recognise that the Simpsons may have made it more cromulent.
I feel old because that for me is an exclamation (albeit in the plural ‘yoinks!’) that is used by Shaggy from Scooby Doo (70s cartoons).
November 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM
I feel old because that for me is an exclamation (albeit in the plural ‘yoinks!’) that is used by Shaggy from Scooby Doo (70s cartoons).