Phlegmatic

"We can all put aside our partisan differences for a moment and agree that this Trump-Clinton “Dirty Dancing” duet is the best thing to come out of the debate."

Don't trust "factcheckers". Maybe it’s just my innate cynicism and a background as a professional sceptic that always makes me doubt someone who claims to be “unbiased” when giving you “the facts”.

Why Truman fired MacArthur. Fascinating account.

Weaker Sterling is (on balance) somewhere between good and very good for the UK economy.

...and another article making a similar argument.

Tolkien might not have been too impressed by the current trend to concentrate on the ethnicity of science fiction and fantasy authors rather than the quality of their work.

There is no such thing as trickle-down economics.

This is the best explanation of why so many people will vote for Donald Trump that I've seen.

Ched Evans is Not Guilty. Here's ten myths about the case that need to be busted.

Who is winning in Labour and the Liberal Democrats' race to be the most anti-semitic party?

Dennis Byrd didn't deserve to die in a car crash.

Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' slowed down is amazingly good. (Thanks beckyc)

18 Game of Thrones moments improved by quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Given the dearth of available options, who should American conservatives vote for in the presidential election?

Are we seeing the beginning of a political realignment in the UK? Interesting lecture.

Here's a particularly unsubtle example of simple corruption from the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Political map of Europe, year-by-year from 3650BC to 2016AD.

70-year-olds play D&D for the first time.

The third most likely person to become the next President of the United States, and how he would do it. OK, it’s beyond unlikely, but not impossible…

You don't need this laptop.

Trying to understand the EU's actions against Apple and the Republic of Ireland.

It's not shocking that professional employers judge applicants for client-facing roles partly on their appearance and their dress. What is shocking is that not only do state schools not teach this stuff, they sometimes don’t like it when employers try to do it instead.

Useful smartphone test. When I last bought a smartphone, I read lots of reviews, but one question that was never asked was “How good is it at making and receiving calls?”, that is “How good is it at actually being a phone”"?”

According to the latest Rowntree Foundation definition, someone in the top 0.32% of global incomes is now "in poverty". Muppets.

British WW2 propaganda posters.

Think you're good at Lego building? This guy is better.

If you were an American games company raising funds on Kickstarter for a new family card game "that combines speed, hilarious gestures, and your silly side for 2-6 players, ages 6+", and you weren't that familiar with politically incorrect British playground slang, what's the worst name you could come up with...?

"Nobody ever got sacked for buying IBM" …but maybe in this case, someone should have been.

When I was an auditor, this sort of clever statistical analysis was called a logic check. This is a good logic check on why American police might treat certain groups differently. (Hat tip to ford_prefect42.)

Archaeological evidence of a major bronze age battle in northern Germany c.1250 BC.

A useful summary of how many types of people disapprove of Pokemon Go. (Christians, muslims, moral guardians, leftards, gaming purists, conspiracy theorists, nanny-statists, more leftards, SJWs, puritans…)

Remember when the Democratic National Convention used a photo of Russian warships by mistake? No? That's because it got very little coverage over here.

I love these Game of Thrones posters that HBO did. One per episode (almost)!

The plot of all three major Tolkien works in a single haiku.

Pretty much how I feel about both babies and cats.

The IMF was wrong and I was right. (I feel smug.)

Some clever statistical analysis of the EU referendum.

"How did the language of politics get so toxic?"

Considering the impact of cheaper Sterling.

Clare Short is responsible for a lot of the bad things that have happened in Zimbabwe.

Geeks versus Nerds

Wales Euro 2016 Singalong

Every TED talk ever.

Real archers never used fire arrows.

25 Old Comics Without Context that are Beyond Disturbing.

From free trade to agile trade.

Baron Saatchi on not wanting to Leave, but hating Remain.

14 Things Everyone Should Understand About Guns.

More great journalism from Britain's greatest newspaper...

The latest target of the PC police - Gilbert & Sullivan.

"Controversy as Chester Zoo opens 'Wrexham Scally Enclosure'". (I should point out that Homo Wrexhamius Scalliensis Chavus is pretty much confined to the southern part of Wrexham, not the nice bit where I’m from…)

Why Gandhi is such an asshole in Civilisation.

The Curious Case of the (Medieval) Weapon that Didn't Exist

Why you can't just have more quantitative easing to get rid of the national debt.

This is not a 512gb microSD card.

The worst football kits of all time. They’re all bad, but Colorado, seriously…?

This month's best headline is from an astronomy website.

"A lousy, stupid, no good, bad, law is being proposed."

Star Wars Episode IV in a single image. (OK, it’s a very big image, but still…)

Minimalist, anonymous rooms are probably not a good place to do teamwork.

"We all owe a significant debt to Richard Murphy." No, really.

I'm an only child, so I can't really relate to this. Nevertheless I thought it was a sweet film about growing up being “Player Two”.

Woman accidentally joins search party looking for herself.

Today's most widely misinterpreted piece of economics, from the IMF. There are two arguments put forward in the paper. The first is that there are risks associated with capital account liberalisation (allowing money into and out of the country with less regulation). The second is that although high public debt is bad for growth and welfare, for countries with excellent records of debt repayment, like the US, the UK and Germany, a “credible medium-term fiscal consolidation” makes more sense than a “fiscal noose today”. In other words, slowly bringing down debt as a percentage of GDP, not slashing everything to balance the budget as soon as possible. Now that’s pretty much what the UK’s current fiscal policy is. Still I suppose “IMF economists broadly agree with George Osborne” isn’t quite as good a headline as “You’re witnessing the death of neoliberalism – from within”. Seriously, this is a paper that says “There is much to cheer in the neoliberal agenda. The expansion of global trade has rescued millions from abject poverty. Foreign direct investment has often been a way to transfer technology and know-how to developing economies. Privatization of state-owned enterprises has in many instances led to more efficient provision of services and lowered the fiscal burden on governments”… and Facebook (and one of our less reputable newspapers) is full of idiots claiming that “we are witnessing the death of neoliberalism”.­

• How Porsche was briefly the world's most valuable company


• Notes on the 2009 G20 Summit


• Bad Economics. This is really the start of the educational posts.


• Opportunity Cost (Part 1) / Part 2


• Opportunity Cost Part 3


• Economics is all about curves, but does it have to be?


• Opportunity Cost Part 4


• So what is 'economics'?


• Risk


• BIG numbers


• Different breeds of economists, or 'How salty is your economic adviser?'


• How and why different economists react differently to a combination of high government debt and a recession.


• What do 'progressive' and 'regressive' mean?


• Supply and Demand


• Elasticity Part 1


• Elasticity Part 2


• Keynesian Experiment Part 1


• Keynesian Experiment Part 2


• Keynesian Experiment - The Explanation

The Russian Navy is a LOT smaller than the Soviet Navy.

Someone asked me the other day if we had any "politically incorrect" board games in stock in the Shop. I had to admit that we didn't. I'm all for tweaking the sensibilities of the terminally politically correct, but I think even I would draw the line well before this point.

Bill Gates's philanthropy will achieve more than Mark Zuckerberg's. Why? Because while Zuckerberg is just giving money away, Gates is using his skills and his contacts to get things done.

"We are all Jews here." The US soldier who led a revolt against German prison guards.

Fitness advice: How to Lose Fat.

Reports of 'Giant Rats' in London leads to increased sales of Chainmail and +1 Longswords.

What does the galaxy need most after the destruction of the Second Death Star? A Central Bank. (I would actually love it if this is the plot for Episode VII, but then I liked all the stuff about taxation of trade routes in Episode I…)

McLaren's idea of what F1 cars might look like in the future.

The genius of Tusk. (And isn’t Christine’s hair truly tragic in that photo?)

The Stop the War Coalition's Greatest Hits.