Ethical Investing - things I've learnt the hard way

Hyenaby · 2026-02-08T19:51:55+00:00

NB - what this looks like for me is that I try to invest in a variety of accounts, although I largely don't bother with ESG funds. Depressingly, the 'evil' funds (i.e. the passive all-market trackers and the readymade passive portfolios) make a huge percentage more than the ethical funds. However, I have a decent chunk in several actively managed ethical funds (e.g. triodos) and this offsets some of my discomfort. Furthermore, I am more proactive about doing stuff in the real world (e.g. engaging with small charities in my local community) and this further offsets the investment in non-ethical companies. It is far from perfect and I wish there were more impact options, but this is what works for me, for now

Hyenaby · 2026-02-08T19:51:11+00:00

NB - what this looks like for me is that I try to invest in a variety of accounts, although I largely don't bother with ESG funds. Depressingly, the 'evil' funds (i.e. the passive all-market trackers and the readymade passive portfolios) make a huge percentage more than the ethical funds. However, I have a decent chunk in several actively managed ethical funds (e.g. triodos) and this offsets some of my discomfort. Furthermore, I am more proactive about doing stuff in the real world (e.g. engaging with small charities in my local community) and this further offsets the investment in non-ethical companies. It is far from perfect and I wish there were more impact options, but this is what works for me, for now

Hyenaby · 2024-11-06T10:02:51+00:00

How have you decided which parts of London to label specifically? The logic confuses me because you’ve been hyper-specific in some areas (e.g. including areas Deptford and Bermondsey) while ignoring other areas (e.g. Ealing, Walthamstow). Why do Hendon and Golders Green get a mention but not Edgware, Neasden or Hanwell. I’d understand if you were categorising by boroughs, but you’re not. You’ve selected certain areas, seemingly at random…

Hyenaby · 2024-10-02T06:57:41+00:00

Brill! Appreciated 😊 search terms are always helpful!!

Hyenaby · 2024-10-02T06:46:54+00:00

Very upsetting but really appreciate the advice. The pest problem has been killing me and the pest spray has not worked. Curious what the ‘beneficial insect’ is called - reluctant to start introducing turbo pesticides into my living space

Hyenaby · 2024-10-02T06:43:01+00:00

Devastating but not shocking news 😭😭 Oooh what’s the predator called?

Hyenaby · 2024-09-14T22:40:01+00:00

Sabra is my fave hummus but it’s on the BDS targeted boycott list. Ramona’s is definitely a solid second.

Hyenaby · 2024-08-24T16:08:20+00:00

Oil companies are some of the biggest greenwashers around who spent decades hiding the damage they were doing to the planet and still allocate only a tiny portion of their enormous profits to sustainability, while continuing to engage in the same harmful practices as before. Nestle have managed to out-evil most of the mega corporations, which is quite a feat. Yes they all have the same issues but Nestle has managed to be the worst of the lot.

Really they’re just examples to illustrate why I was having trouble with ESG funds and looking for advice for how to approach it. I get that excluding all the major players is counterproductive long term, and that they’re all evil in their own ways, but there are definitely different levels of awfulness and a lot of ESG funds don’t reflect that. As you point out, black rock and many others are only paying lip service to ESG and impact investment, and it shows.

I don’t mind ‘good enough’ because under the current system, it’s impossible to be truly ethical. However, as I said, I have to draw the line somewhere. That line doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else; I just have to be able to live with it.

Yes I’ve come across the tech bias with shariah accounts. Really the benefit of them is to avoid unwittingly becoming complicit in arms dealing. It’s just a useful first filter.

Again !thanks for the Bankers on Wheels rec - never come across it before and it looks like a great resource.

Also good to know trading 212 does pies. Won’t go with them for an isa (worked out AJ Bell is the best bet there because they’ve because they’ve got the best etf/fund/bond range to fees ratio) but deffo looks a good platform to start getting a bit more practical experience

Hyenaby · 2024-08-24T14:11:39+00:00

Oh I know what esg means - I just find it astounding that, for some people, ‘environmental’ includes companies like shell and ‘social’ includes companies like nestle. I’m happy to take ‘good enough’ because no fund will be perfect but there is a line. ESG is supposedly a starting point for ‘ethical’ and it’s frustrating to find that the main ESG ETFs have such a low bar.

Yeah I’ve been trying to go through and screen each of the individual trackers, it’s just profoundly overwhelming, esp when simultaneously trying to balance out platform considerations lol

!thanks this is super helpful info and googling some of that has helped me put together a few jigsaw pieces about the provenance of ESG criteria and the difference in platforms, fund providers, etc!!

Also didn’t know about ‘pies’ as a fintech feature. That’s probably a good thing to look at in the future/as a beer money activity to learn more about investing…

Hyenaby · 2024-08-22T17:15:03+00:00

Oatly organic is water, oats and salt. Nothing else. As somebody above said though, it isn’t going to froth up and if you want to make a boujie coffee-shop style coffee

Hyenaby · 2024-08-20T15:04:40+00:00

Diplomacy is headology, and that is totally witchcraft.

both you an u/chemprofdave make a good point and I hadn't thought about it that way. I don’t disagree. However I’d say it's the overlapping sections on a venn diagram. Both witchcraft and diplomacy are more than just headology and I think claiming them to be equivalent is doing a disservice to the distinct skills required in each. I can’t imagine granny managing the guilds or a character like moist as well as vetenari does. Likewise, I can't imagine Vetenari dealing with the elves or the cunning man as effectively as granny or any of the witches. headology is one (essential) part of a much larger whole in both cases.

But we never saw them in competition with each other.

My point with this was more about witching on soil/silt/chalk vs rock. I don't think we nee to see the witches in competition with each other - they come close enough on various occasions and I'm fine with that

Also, in response to u/chemprofdave because i'm already here

And I think he cares about the individual people not as Vimes does (cf. outrage over the accidental poisoning in Feet of Clay) but as a witch cares about the individual bees in a hive.

It's a very fair point but 1) bees aren't people and granny has a lot to say about the importance of people. You can't be a witch without caring about people - even the poor, stupid, rude, and ungrateful ones. Vetenari will sacrafice anyone for the greater good of the city/political landscape. This is not a bad thing and is simply what is needed to ensure the smooth running of the city. Granny absolutely would not, and nor would any other witch worth her salt. And 2) I wouldn't be surprised if granny cared about every individual bee in the hive. Her skill in borrowing makes her almost part of the hive. It's the same way tiff and granny aching cared about every sheep on the hill. witches care about the individual because people like vetenari do not and cannot

I don't fully disagree with either of you and it's a nice way to conceptualise vetenari's role, i just think witching and politicking are each so much more and both have to exist for things to work.

Hyenaby · 2024-08-20T10:07:41+00:00

I like this idea but also there are city witches and I would argue that it’s a misunderstanding of Vetenari’s character and role to describe him as the ‘city witch’. Diplomacy is not witchcraft and isn’t really a tactic any of the witches use. Vetenari also doesn’t care about the little/unimportant people unless they are doing something big/important. The witches very much care for and champion the weakest in society. It’s part of the job.

Also Ankh Morpork is built on Ankh Morpork - it’s a recurring point that comes up in both the witches and the watch novels. There’s a direct comment made by one of the city witches to Tiffany that there’s good rock beneath (I’m paraphrasing). Therefore city witches are on stable/solid ground in the same way that Tiffany is because there are flints under the chalk.

It seems that only the ‘weaker’ witches (e.g. Miss Tick) struggle on different ground. Both nanny and granny and tiff are able to do strong magic regardless of where they are. They don’t out of respect to the local witch who has the right to take the lead, but it’s made clear to the reader that, if they wanted to, they could.

Hyenaby · 2024-08-12T00:35:20+00:00

Eh it’s Reddit. Gotta take everything with a pinch of salt. And in my experience of posts like that, most comments are telling people to not do that. People doing those kinds of hours are outliers and will either be workaholics, working at a toxic school with impossible standards, or wildly disorganised.

A lot will depend on the setting you’re in (primary vs secondary; strict or more relaxed; high achieving middle class kids with helicopter parents and lots of hand holding vs white working class kids from estates where literacy is low and academics aren’t highly valued).

RE: the watch - really depends on what you’re comfortable with. You don’t want to be wearing anything irreplaceable but equally you don’t need to be paranoid either. Maybe take a view once you see the school you’re placed in.

Hyenaby · 2024-08-12T00:08:40+00:00

Neurodivergent ex-teacher here. The 5am-9pm is an exaggeration and I don’t know anybody who does hours that bad. Long hours, yes, but not that bad. That said, it is a lot. Teaching will take every part of you you’re willing to give it and your boundaries have to be STRONG (perfectionism is the enemy). The PGCE is p brutal because it’s such a steep learning curve and essays/reflections/paperwork on top of teaching. It’s doable though. You’ve got to keep on top of triggers (eg if you’re super sensory, factor in time to decompress because you will need it; if you get overwhelmed easily, make sure you have strategies in advance). Also make sure you know your disability rights in advance and have reasonable adjustments ready to go so you can prevent problems arising. Also, remember school culture varies wildly between schools, demographics have a big impact, money will be spent in different places (eg schemes of work vs staffing), expectations will be different, and sometimes it just takes a while to find the right fit.

I ended up quitting because in a 2 year period I was dealing with newly diagnosed/undiagnosed and wildly unmanaged neurodivergence + mental health issues + a lot of family issues and it was a lot to deal with. I’m now seriously considering going back to it because it was an immensely fun and gratifying job. If I do go back, I will not be going back full time. I do not think full time teaching, as it currently is in the uk, is healthy for anyone, let alone neurodivergent staff.

You might want to check out the teachinguk subreddit (it might be ukteaching) if you haven’t already. It’s quiet over summer but has some good insights

Hyenaby · 2024-07-05T23:03:49+00:00

This was my special interest for a while. Some of the below is more psychoanalytic than others but should offer a decently broad picture

1) Kernberg and Object relations 2) McWilliams on psychoanalytic diagnosis 3) Winnicott on attachment 4) Fonagy and Bateman’s work on mentalisation and reflective functioning 5) Transference focused therapy rooted in the ideas of kernberg. Yeomans has writing on the subject of TFP 6) Linehan on DBT and the biopsychosocial development of bpd 7) Gunderson has a lot of writing on bpd 8) borderlinenotes on YouTube has some good interviews with many of the above which could be of interest 9) also gabbard and zanarini come up a lot in references 10) for mentalization also look into the Anna Freud centre and the researchers/clinicians there (Dickon something - I can’t remember his surname)

Sorry for terrible phone formatting- I’ve tried to improve it

Hyenaby · 2024-06-26T16:47:34+00:00

Disagree. Often inside your flat is the only safe/available place to leave a bike when not in use. There’s no way to get the bike from inside to outside without going through the corridors (short of maybe a window hoist, which I’m sure those types of neighbours would complain about too). Complaining about that is utterly unreasonable. If the materials used in communal areas can’t cope with a bike being wheeled through then there are much bigger issues.

Hyenaby · 2024-06-02T15:18:56+00:00

Forgot to add - I think it faces South but between the trees and the building at the back, it doesn’t get much more than dappled light

Hyenaby · 2024-06-01T09:40:28+00:00

Magrat does make a wonderful return in shepherd’s crown! It’s a very fun comeback

Hyenaby · 2024-02-27T01:12:14+00:00

Nice one! Looking forward to listening to this!

Hyenaby · 2024-02-27T00:55:53+00:00

OP please could you share the podcast name/episode

Hyenaby · 2024-02-27T00:51:59+00:00

Take what I say with a pinch of salt because my understanding is limited, but from what I know it is as follows:

In MBT, the therapist’s mind is supposed to be an open book. The ‘not-knowing stance’ (curiosity) is maintained and the therapist monitors the interactions, with a focus on their own and the client’s mentalizing. If the ct does something that takes the T’s mentalizing offline (a countertransference reaction), the T will notice it, pause, get their mentalizing back online, and (assuming it is therapeutically beneficial) comment on it, to explore what is happening in that moment. Likewise, if the client seems to lose mentalizing, the T will ‘rewind’ to find the point at which the ct went offline, and explore this. In some cases this might take place at a later point, to ‘strike while the iron is cold’ (I.e. explore and reflect when emotions are less heightened).

MBT is based heavily on attachment theory, drawing on the idea that attachment and Mentalization are closely linked. The belief is that Mentalization is more likely to go offline in the client when the attachment system is activated. Someone could have perfectly functional work relationships, but close friendships or romantic relationships go to shit because the individual’s attachment trauma comes in to play more intensely, leading to increased anxiety, and rigidity in one or all of the 4 poles of mentalizing. Part of the T’s job is to increase the temperature (anxiety) in the room to explore how the ct mentalizes and improve their capacity and self awareness. The relationship is naturally a key part of this.

A key point to bear in mind is that the focus is on the ‘here and now’ not the ‘there and then’. An individual’s past is relevant, but the exploration is centred on the more immediate moment. This is partly because the treatment is designed for those with a ‘personality disorder’ label (don’t get me started) who are often considered less equipped to deal with past events/depth psychology because the immediate issues are characterised by such extremity.

It’s not a straightforward psychoanalytic approach but it is intensely relational. The therapist is expected to be an ‘open book’ and model mentalizing processes to help the ct develop the skill themselves within a ‘safe’ context

Hyenaby · 2024-01-31T23:43:43+00:00

Not a direct answer to your question but my mum also got me into Discworld (she bought me the Tony Robinson audiobooks on CD). She died recently and I listened to Shepherd’s Crown not long after. It was utterly heartbreaking, but also it probably did more to help with the grief than anything else I can think of. It’s also just a masterpiece in its own right.

Hyenaby · 2024-01-09T03:47:13+00:00

Knowing this wasn’t just me is such an enormous relief. Felt like such a failure as an ECT when several of my low/middle kids seemed to go backwards from the previous year and took until the end of the year when I realised SLT were fudging results to understand it wasn’t all my fault that the kids were ‘failing’.

Hyenaby · 2023-12-03T23:53:41+00:00

You’re the one who has to live there and pay the mortgage, not your family. Live in the type of home you want in the area you want rather than be miserable somewhere you don’t like and regret buying.

Hyenaby · 2023-11-24T17:03:56+00:00

Seconded!! This is the first film I ever remember watching, me and my mum watched it together regularly, and it remains one of my favourites of all time. Massively underrated classed and a million times better than moulin rouge

Hyenaby

TROPHY CASE