allanos

American humour for sure, and not to everyone's taste. Barry is playing to a large audience so no particular surprise that he has successfully pandered to it.

What will the judge say when handing down the Ozzy's sentence? "Oh! And . . . before I forget . . . . Merry Christmas!"

I see the insidious potential for even further government control of their populace. The "problem" has already been determined by governments, especially by left of centre or communist ones, which are working on the solutions as we write. It will be interesting to see what major banking institutions will have to say if and when they are cut out of ongoing profit-making potential.

You take yourself far too seriously. You should get out more!

Did you mean nowadays? I did, indeed, mean to write CBDC's; thank you for pointing out the error. Yes, I am aware that currency transactions are digital. However, there is a world of difference between that and what CBDC's will be capable of in the future. If you think 1984, you ain't seen nothin', yet!

I suppose the question which follows, then, is where did these savvy "big investors" put their money for an above-average return and to recoup losses? Gold is going nowhere, and fiat, given the high-inflation environment, is a total loss-maker. Good yields anywhere are difficult, if not impossible, to find. Even the housing market has taken a knock, so property is not the answer, either. As to the future of money, the world is changing - and quickly. If not Bitcoin, (which both the SEC and the CME say is a commodity, and rightly so), which other crypto, which you say you favour, is the answer? Pretty much all of the 20 000+ altcoins out there are securities with absolutely no future whatsoever. All-controlling CFTC's are in the pipeline from the Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and already trialed in China. What then? I shall prefer to keep most of my cash in Bitcoin and take my chances.

When one is backward-looking, it is hard to have a vision for the future. Pretty much all investments have taken a knock in recent times, with the exception of the bond market, perhaps. Check all the indexes and the DXY - even the high-flying dollar is down. Ark Invest is positioned mainly in technology stocks, one might say stocks which will have enormous growth in the future, like AI, robotics, etc., and Bitcoin, which is the future of money. Sure, investors have taken some pain, but losses are only realised when one sells. The smart money has stayed invested, and added to positions as the stock price has fallen. Their faith will be rewarded as day follows night.

It is interesting that even the most banal of questions has to have a "never-Trumper" response. So be it! However, on to the topic. Ten years is a good investment horizon for Bitcoin if one is prepared to ride the volatility. $17 000.00 or so represents good value, currently. Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, believes Bitcoin will trade at one million dollars per BTC by 2030. So what if they are fifty percent wrong in their forecast? Like all things, do your due diligence. Perhaps split your investment between Bitcoin, which has unlimited upside potential, and the online media offering you are looking at. Make sure you understand what Bitcoin is all about, and don't listen to the FUD which is out there from people who don't know their a$ses from a hole in the ground. It is true that the price of Bitcoin can go down from here, but the downside is limited. It is possible that the bottom is already in.

Biden is very poorly advised. He is completely at the whim of a far-left agenda which bodes no good for both the USA and the world in the long term.

Timing is everything. Although the gold price is volatile, to make meaningful profits one needs to buy the dips. Essentially, the gold price today is where it was ten years ago, so not much of an investment return for someone who bought in 2012. There is an argument that it is a store of value. This may be true, but there's an opportunity cost from holding it, which tends to be forgotten about. There is no coupon on gold. Undoubtedly, there will be a price spike at some stage in the future. Best to be holding shares, in that case, which are highly leveraged to the gold price, and where the real money is made.

The link appears to be the London branch of Standard Bank of South Africa - a very reputable and well-capitalised operation. Among other banks where I have accounts, I also bank with SBSA. They are first-class, in my opinion. Have you had dealings with them and can you share your experience?

Horses for courses! There's no one size fits all. And constantly sitting in judgement of others is mentally unhealthy.

Cherchez la femme!

He could always go "commando" and spend the money saved on Christmas booze!

First, congratulations to the OP for having such a talented daughter and who, no doubt, brings much joy and pride to the family for her abilities. Second, and more importantly, perhaps, is, and given her age, will the company ensure that a chaperone is always present, in the future, should her father not be able to be with her on such occasions.

I dunno. Does the teacher seem to be on edge all the time?

I think there may be another caveat. The father may be British, but there are different kinds of British (such as British Overseas Citizen) which do not confer an automatic right upon a child who was fathered by such a person. Moreover, the father may be British, but not himself born in the United Kingdom. I think that might also obviate the child's claim to British citizenship.

In this era, eighty is the new sixty! A wise person will always plan for the future. Only God knows on what date an individual's demise is ordained for. How were the biblical patriarchs able to live for hundreds of years before the Flood? Modern science and biology is working on anti-aging technologies, and increasing longevity, feverishly. It is within the realm of probability that a lifespan of hundreds of years may again become attainable for those who are prepared to embrace it.

There are 8 billion people on our planet, and counting. The majority are dirt-poor, leading hard-scrabble existences and are pretty much doomed to keep on living this way until they die. They do not care a fig for fringe groups chanting about net zero, LGBTQ++, fossil fuels, global warming or the green revolution. These things are a million miles away when it's all they can do to stay afloat and support their families, let alone get ahead in their miserable lives. When you don't know where your next bowl of rice or crust of bread is going to come from, or even if it will come, there is not much else of importance to be concerned about. Change, hopefully toward a better world (but in whose image?), is best left to politicians, where, in those countries lucky enough to be democracies, direction is guided by the popular vote; the "silent majority", let's say, and not a vocal activist minority clamouring for much which is unattainable in the short run.

"Look at the workers from south Asia as one example. If you see the video of workers living in terrible conditions in 50 degree heat, stuck like sardines in a room, no showers so they bathe with a bucket and water from the one or two toilets available for many men, it makes it all a bit real." The world we live in is far from perfect. Wouldn't it be terrific if it was Utopia and not dystopia! Instead, we make arms, fight wars, fly to outer space, the moon and beyond. Are our priorities in the right place? If South Asians are happy to come to the Middle East to toil in boiler room temperatures for meager pay, what does it tell us about the countries they are from, and the kind of governments they have? Upwards of 600 million Indians, over half of them women, are forced to defecate in the open each day, lacking self-respect and dignity on the back of it. There are billions of downtrodden people all around the world. It is heartbreaking and shameful. But where are the activists who should be decrying it? And where are the governments who should be uplifting their people, or the rich governments who should be doing their utmost to alleviate it?

Caffeine irritates the bladder, so, on doctor's orders I abstained from coffee, (including "caffeine-free", which nevertheless contains a small amount of caffeine), for a period of eight weeks. Instead, I drank rooibos tea, which has no caffeine. Initially, when cutting the coffee/caffeine, I suffered from intense headache, which lessened over the next 7-10 days, and which I attributed to "withdrawal symptoms". Did I feel any improvement during my period of abstinence? Nope, and I missed my morning cuppa Joe (usually 2-4 cups with a small amount of fresh milk added; def no sugar). I have returned to drinking my habitual French roast arabica, brewed using a cafetiere, and life is good once more.

There are creative answers with nuclear waste disposal. There is already a shortage of uranium, and fast-growing! Are you aware of just how long it takes to bring a new mining project of sufficient magnitude to production? I think not.

Nuclear is safe, clean and cheap when costs are amortised over a project's life, with none of the problems associated with renewables, like lack of wind for turbine generation, or lack of sunlight for solar. This is being recognised the world over. Germany is bringing some shuttered plants back online, (partly through need, it is true) and the majority of Japanese people are again in favour of nuclear energy, despite the Fukushima catastrophe of eleven years ago. Hence, the price of uranium, where stockpiles are diminishing and demand is outstripping supply, is rocketing.

I am visiting the United Kingdom currently and have been exposed to the country's television broadcasts for several weeks. Black people seem to feature on screen or in commercial advertisements, or in background voice-overs, out of all proportion to the percentage they hold in the population at large. Asians (especially those of Indian or Pakistan origin), despite being a larger ethnic proportion of the whole population (I believe), only seem to figure marginally in the set up. My remarks also apply to the BBC website, which is left-biased, and woke, and subscribes to this "new normal". I remarked to my daughter that, based on what one sees on television, if I were a visitor from outer space, I would believe that Britain was an African country rather than a largely caucasian one. And whilst certain apologists, or "wokists", might deem this post to be "racist", in its orientation, it is simply my observation and is not intended to confront or offend.