Observations on the world and its inhabitants
The High-Mileage Dilemma There is a specific kind of internal negotiation that happens when you own a car with 123,000 miles on the clock. My Citroën C4 Grand Picasso has been a faithful servant, but the years and the motorways haven’t been kind to its face. The bonnet was a constellation of stone chips, the ...
The Rotten lemon Back in 2022, when Elon Musk finally closed the deal on Twitter for a staggering $44 billion, the world didn’t just frown; it did a collective spit-take. Wall Street analysts were calling it the “overpayment of the century”, and honestly, they had a point. Musk was paying $54.20 per share for a ...
We live in an age of information overload, where one crisis instantly buries the last. History doesn’t so much vanish as it gets drowned out—washed away in the relentless noise of breaking news, hot takes, and algorithmically churned outrage. It takes deliberate effort to dig up a story, hold it to the light, and say: ...
Digital newspaper pricing usually follows a race-to-the-bottom logic, with publishers vying for volume in a saturated attention economy. However, recent data from the Caribbean reveals a counter-intuitive trend: a high-margin, aggressive pricing strategy that appears to decouple local news from the domestic economy. This analysis examines the pricing trajectory of the Trinidad Express and compares ...
Before I get into the numbers, I need to be entirely clear: what follows is a record of my own personal experience over the last fifteen years. It is not a professional recommendation, and I’m not suggesting everyone should go out and override their car’s handbook. I’m simply sharing the data I’ve collected from my ...
The following exploration is not intended as financial or strategic advice for any specific individual or entity. Instead, it serves as a platter of food for thought regarding the mechanics of the digital landscape. Most people view advertising as a simple, static transaction: a result is purchased, or it is not. Nearly every business has ...
Executive Summary The global economy stands at the precipice of a labour market transformation. This shift is unprecedented in its velocity and its scope. The integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and advanced robotics into production and service delivery represents a major structural change. It is comparable to the mechanisation of agriculture or the electrification ...
For those who are curious to step out of their zone of comfort, and do not have Netflix waiting on them – then a lot of terminology is broken down. If you know that you spotted the headline and can’t be bothered, simply move on. You won’t understand anything here. You have been warned. Introduction: ...
Publishing a first book on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) can feel overwhelming. This guide consolidates practical lessons learned from the self-publishing process. Whether publishing fiction or non-fiction, these insights will help avoid common pitfalls. If you’re one of those people who will go, “Why would I want to publish a book, let alone use ...
Headlines often proclaim that rising business rates are “killing the high street,” forcing businesses to close their doors. This narrative frames the tax as a singular, destructive force responsible for the decline of retail and the loss of jobs. While business rates are a significant financial pressure, a deeper economic analysis reveals a more complex ...
In a dénouement that echoed with the inevitability of a wilting pink carnation, Adrian Mardell, the captain who steered Jaguar Land Rover through last year’s bewildering “Barbie pink” storm, is stepping down. It’s a stark reminder that even the most audacious visions can shatter against the unforgiving wall of public mockery. Mardell, in a move ...
I can fully expect to be most hated and called various names for this article. Flick through any social media feed on a Friday night and you’ll be met with a familiar sight: artfully arranged plates of food, clinking glasses, and grinning faces bathed in the warm glow of a trendy restaurant. Here in the ...
Someone on a forum asked for assistance with putting in a complaint to a regulatory authority. I gave them my tips. So I put them up here as well to help anyone and for my ease of reference. This is absolutely not a ‘one size fits’ all. Read that again – slowly this time – ...
The tranquillity of a sunny afternoon can quickly transform into a scene of chaos when a wildfire erupts, engulfing homes and livelihoods in its path. Recent events, such as the devastating fires in Los Angeles, serve as stark reminders of the ever-present danger of tail risk. While cutting costs might seem prudent in the short ...
No – this is not about mania caused by coffee. You spotted some words and something jumped into your conscious mind, driven by the Labyrinth of your unconscious! This post is about the cost of coffee. In a previous post I am so cheap, I made some calculations based on price of a cup at ...
I show what it costs to wash some clothes in a my washing machine.
Right – so I moved out of Northern Ireland a few weeks ago. That was not an easy decision. Eventually the ‘pain’ of staying in that job exceeded the ‘pleasures’ of Northern Ireland. Calm down – in case your imagination based on some script begins to run wild. Overview on NI experience Northern Ireland is ...
Apparently – as I’ll be told – people must always work hard 9 to 5 to earn their food. Oh – but many are oblivious to people in managerial positions who have no fixed hours and who rake in tons of dosh. Some of those – the likes of Elon Musk – can decide their ...
Well, in solidarity with everybody who is struggling with energy and food bills, I decided to give English Heritage the chop – thus saving £66/yr. Some will not understand. I should attempt some mind reading, of those who would judge me. I’ll call for help! Here comes ‘help’. Stupid: Oh come off it! You can ...
Wow! I’m just loving Musk for what he is doing with Twitter. It is world changing! See what the WSJ says (link may not survive forever). Of course not everybody will understand or appreciate. My bias has always been for freedom of expression. I nor Musk never said unrestricted free speech! FFS! So what happened? ...
I can bet a few quid and I’d win that some who click on these videos below will go, “Who he? Never heard of him. I’m not a financial analyst. I need to get back to Netflix – sorry.” That’s lovely! Your world is being ruled by forces that you don’t have time to know ...
The following email was sent to Amazon tonight. ============== I got this message tonight on the Amazon.co.uk platform. (2022-09-01 around 23:00). >>We apologize but Amazon has noticed some unusual reviewing activity on this account. As a result, all reviews submitted by this account have been removed and this account will no longer be able to ...
‘Everybody’ believes they are organised. Well, not everybody obviously. There are some people who go, “I’m so disorganised..” – and they wear that badge proudly, expecting everybody else to work with or around them. I can tell you now, they’ll have a hard time being around me. The tip below is for a simple android ...
Right so this post looks into how ‘nice’ Amazon points are compared to cashback on PayPal’s business card. At the end is an interesting twist. Somebody is now scrolling to the end – I just know it! Human nature – it is so easy to tell what the humans will do next. Amazon says each ...
It’s a new year and there will be new developments. Walker is breaking out on Substack! Interestingly, Substack blogs can accept paid subscriptions quite easily when linked to Stripe. Everybody calm down! This blog will remain in place and continue to be posted to at the usual average frequency. Several Substack blogs will develop in ...
If someone declares that they have a mental disorder, most other people know that they’re to respond with sympathy. Of course, I expect to hear ‘Not necessarily‘, ‘It depends‘, and ‘not everybody‘ etc etc. Well stuff it – when anybody declares that they have depression, I know the reactions I see. Nobody has authority over ...
This post is of an anonymised online chat conversation I had on 14th October 2020. It went on for over 3 hours. I was doing other things in between. I was determined to learn something, though I knew I was dealing with idiots. The problem is that these idiots had a power structure around them, ...
I’ve explored money before. Some say, “Everybody knows what money is.. so why ask stupid questions about it?” For simpletons, money is coin or cash in hand, or credit in the bank – end off. If that’s you, then kindly depart now. This is not a tutorial on money or how to make money. If ...
What people immediately ‘understand’ is that this post is about understanding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Well, it isn’t! This is the math behind or under Bitcoin: https://www.coindesk.com/math-behind-bitcoin You could spend your life understanding it – and it wouldn’t help anything. Preamble In this post where I say ‘Bitcoin’ I include all cryptocurrencies as a concept. This ...
