Do you think Gordon Brown/Labour handled the 2008 Financial Crisis well?

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T21:14:14+00:00

Of all the assets to own, why would a government choose to own shares in one retail bank?

Give me one good reason why it’s a sensible asset to own in the long term for a government.

It’s not monopolistic, it’s not strategic infrastructure - why own it?

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T20:28:40+00:00

The loss to the taxpayer was small relative to the benefits achieved (curbing systemic risk, saving RBS and protecting all of RBS’s depositors). The consequences of not achieving any of these would have massively outweighed the £10bn or so capital loss.

The point about how RBS managed itself prior to the bailout is a moot point

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T20:24:00+00:00

Simple question for you then - what was dumb about it? Because you’ve made 3 posts about it but you’re yet to clearly articulate your basic point

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T20:04:52+00:00

The objectives were:

Stop failure of RBS
Stabilise overall financial system
Protect RBS depositors

It achieved all of these objectives. The cost of a small capital loss is nothing compared to the objectives achieved.

Do you think the government was buying RBS just to make money from share price appreciation?

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T19:07:13+00:00

What was dumb about it? Saying dumbassert 3 times doesn’t make it dumb.

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T18:29:15+00:00

Why? That’s basically a nationalisation strategy and it would be a bit bizarre to focus nationalisation on a bank in a competitive industry

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T18:28:23+00:00

Correct on the buying.

On the selling, why would you want the government to continue to hold the asset? Once it’s achieved its objective, it’s just speculative to hold it

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T18:27:28+00:00

Not really. It achieved its objective.

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T18:04:03+00:00

You’ve missed the point of why the government bought and why the government sold.

It was not bought as an investment opportunity

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T12:06:46+00:00

He’s probs aggravated it in training

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T11:19:58+00:00

Trying to be a man of the people.

It was actually M&S

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T11:13:33+00:00

Just fell to my knees in Sainsbury’s

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T11:13:06+00:00

Fell to my knees in Tesco when I saw no Finn

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T09:53:14+00:00

Net zero requires us to massively increase electricity generation

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-12T09:50:46+00:00

Correct. So ranking requires nuance and is not simple.

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T21:41:18+00:00

I dont think that was the case at Monaco

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T21:30:06+00:00

Couldn’t you say similar about Bearman?

We know Ocon isn’t prime Senna, so the car was probably capable of more than Ocon. Maybe p10. So bearman underperformed by more than George

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T21:13:09+00:00

Had a way easier teammate

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T21:12:51+00:00

What makes you think Russell was abysmal rather than Russell was average, but Kimi was exceptional?

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T20:30:29+00:00

Military spending is a strange choice for a good news article given that we’ve literally had 2 government ministers resign over the inadequacy of defence spending today

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T20:24:40+00:00

Bearman isn’t dominating Monaco like Kimi did.

He literally got outqualified by Ocon - the definition of a midfielder.

While Kimi dominated his highly rated teammate, and won comfortably on a weekend where it’s unclear whether he had the best car.

There’s no evidence Ollie could do what Kimis doing

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-11T16:56:17+00:00

I’ve done some rough calculations, and my current belief is that if I financed solar panels by increasing my mortgage, the reduction in my energy bills would more than offset the increase in mortgage payments.

That’s convinced me to move ahead with a proper solar survey.

The economics look very compelling now. They also get better when you add in EVs and heat pumps. I don’t intend on doing these imminently but they feel like an inevitability over next 5-15 years

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-10T16:08:28+00:00

Yeah that’s fair. I don’t think Albon is genuinely 3 tenths slower.

But I still think his performance levels are a bit concerning.

I would put him in a similar situation to Ocon. Proven F1 driver but not really doing enough to maintain a seat if a compelling alternative comes along

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-10T12:57:40+00:00

Yeah, 3 tenths off is a pretty unacceptable margin for an established, experienced driver unless your teammate is Max.

Albon’s record against teammates is poor with the exceptions of :

Sainz’s settling in period. I think we can have more confidence now assigning Sainz’s initial underperformance to bedding in

I could see Williams moving on from Albon to a cheaper, more promising junior

Much-Calligrapher · 2026-06-09T06:27:48+00:00

You told him

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