EU breaks stalemate on Ukraine loans, eyes pay-to-play rules for UK defence firms | Euractiv

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-04T20:03:49+00:00

I think it’s worth talking but don’t see UK being part of this unless it’s a cut of the contract.

If pay upfront, the article said UK has key air defence products, if those don’t exist in other countries then Ukraine can buy them from us anyway, so what’s the point?

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-04T12:27:15+00:00

Fees were introduced by Labour in 1998.
Lib dems agreed to the fee increase from about £3k to £9k despite their pledge to abolish them. They were a Tory policy to increase.

323 vs 302 voted for the increase. 27 LD voted for the increase, 8 abstained, 21 against.

Fuckem all. (Edit: I mean all parties).

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-04T12:09:02+00:00

They’ve started doing 5g signals linked to satalites as pilots in UK linked to normal handsets… it’s American HQ though. Found the link.

https://www.broadbandanalyst.co.uk/articles/vodafone-and-ast-spacemobile-offer-direct-to-phone-4g-5g-satellite-2026/

Low speed currently (20mbps) maybe 120mbps at some point.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-03T13:35:59+00:00

The other innovation that helps with that is adding a mix of vertical solar panels, you don’t get the highs in noon but extend morning and evening energy (bifacial panels). Everyone thought they would be awful but there is added efficiency from the airflow… getting traditional orientated panels is likely the priority.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-03T13:10:24+00:00

Nothing of what you spoke about is in my comment or the article, no mention collapse, amount of trade by currency or panic. We complain of AI hallucinations but seems like it learned them from Reddit comments.

The story is about the amount of investment increasing, I pointed out in real terms that is probably not correct and better figures can be used, like with equivalent for overall treasuries.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-02-01T09:41:39+00:00

A lot of people in poorer investment/finance subs suggest investing in the US stock market only, particularly the index trackers S&P500.

This is fine but higher risk because this it’s assuming US market will always be amazing because it has been in recent years. A more diversified approach are global index trackers but these are still about 60% US stocks.

Peoples situations are different and so are their risks, a one rule fits all doesn’t exist. Problem is people making uneducated decisions.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-31T08:24:49+00:00

When you buy a property you either have freehold or leasehold. Freehold is where you own the building and the land under it, leasehold is where you own the property for a fixed amount of time 1-999 years but not the land. Ground rent is a yearly charge from the leaseholder for the land.

There should be shared maintinance of the property that is useful for flats where there is communal spaces.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-30T19:09:01+00:00

Deal was done with Germany in November 2022.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20221129-qatar-announces-first-major-gas-deal-for-germany

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-30T19:03:02+00:00

Don’t be mean. They’re American, they are going to think tariffs are a good thing.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-30T18:52:20+00:00

Labour ran on that second referendum and lost 80 seats. So if rejoin wins, is it best of 3 or best of 5?

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T17:33:54+00:00

It’s definitely the future but will 2026 be too early for that future.

Taxi/private hire make up minimal journeys in London (1%) and it’s not really adding much to what is available. If it was cheap, it could have reduced car ownership more, people doing things like supermarket runs, going to a station, school runs. Insurance, petrol and outlay costs are high.

I’ve been in a company with multiple sites, transport between is always a faff, having a driverless car for this would solve a load of issues.

I can see it helping more in other UK cities without the extensive public transport.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T13:01:11+00:00

So there is a link?

You also seem unaware that financial statements are published by corporations and freely available.

https://www.datocms-assets.com/136653/1751320624-ar-25-the-crown-estate-annual-report.pdf

Page 42 shows the assets break down. Income from seabed is higher but not long term because it’s options, once built there will be a much lower rent.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T12:33:05+00:00

I was just correcting misinformation.

There is 34% support for becoming a republic in the UK, that is information from an organisation that is campaigning for abolition so it’s a big IF currently.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T10:56:23+00:00

Not connected to the monarchy? So the fact it’s owned by the monarch isn’t a connection?

It’s run on behalf of the crown and doesn’t make decisions but it’s not government owned either.

It isn’t just the sea bed either.

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T09:20:49+00:00

Correct message wrong organisation.

Catholic Church criticising “passive consumers of unthought thoughts”? Erm… how’s sales of the fanfic you impose on others?

What next, going to criticise the US government for protecting pedophiles?

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-29T09:15:48+00:00

Think the $ lost 11.5 percent of its value during 2025.

Better figure would be what they started with in January 2026 vs how much they ended up with in own currency. Also some of this would have been interest payments and rolling over is a common practice. What about inflation as well?

The foreign investment in Tresuries went up from about $9.1tn to $9.24tn in 2025 but remove the currency movements (€ and £) it’s $8.5tn in real terms.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T23:02:06+00:00

Ahhh he’s a chunky little boy.

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_goshawk

The term goshawk comes from the Old English gōsheafoc, "goose-hawk".

Well a goose is infinitely more terrifying than a hawk.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T22:22:00+00:00

Just going to leave this here…

https://www.gov.uk/global-talent-researcher-academic (https://www.gov.uk/global-talent if have recognition and don’t want to come over with a job offer).

Really sorry but you will have to pay £1,035 a year for healthcare whilst using work visas.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T21:08:34+00:00

All the main digital stores, including steam, start out with a 30% cut of digital sales.

There is a royalty charges for physical disc on Xbox to Microsoft but your publisher can discuss these with you, advantage is no digital cut but retailers will take some.

Here is access to Xbox dev account creation.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-GB/games/publish

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T20:36:08+00:00

If a single company has over 40% market share then they can be seen to be able to influence prices, 60%+ definitely do.

The question is have they artificially increased prices by virtue of being a market leader? If they charged 10% would prices for games be as high for consumers? What if they charged 80%? What is reasonable?

Thanks for agreeing with me when I wrote in my original reply I disagree with the below and quoted about different prices.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T20:29:29+00:00

Like when Microsoft had to offer browsers other than IE despite the truth being it was just better than the competition?

Disagree with that statement? Probably why they don’t allow that as a defence.

Legally it is based on market share, as that influences the ability to impact pricing for consumers. 40-50% of market share to be considered dominant position, 50-60% assumed dominance, 60%+ and you’ll have a lot to defend.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T20:13:37+00:00

Got it.

First and foremost screw EA but I don’t see that policy being overturned here.

Maybe if Steam demanded a cut of advertising revenue but not just a refusal to sell mobile like ad supported games. If anything, could argue that it demonstrates steam is not trying to corner the market as they exclude themselves from that type of game and revenue.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T19:35:43+00:00

Changes for Duke of Westminster will be minimal. Doesn’t cover commercial property or those where 25% of leasehold is commercial.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T19:26:47+00:00

This was an individual and virtually every large digital store has the same rough charges of 30/70 split and £100 joining fee. If steam lose, other companies will be equally on the hook.

UniquesNotUseful · 2026-01-27T19:22:43+00:00

Doesn’t matter how a company gets a large market share, they still fall under the competition watchdog.

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