Recent posts

#11

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by HisMajestyBOB - Today at 12:09:00 PM

I don't get the infatuation with an organization known mostly for being supported and run by a bunch of losers.

Agreed, but like it or not, they are the legitimately elected government of Mississippi.

#12

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 11:54:38 AM

Yeah I drop some money into a spousal RRSP, but don't actively contribute to an RRSP for myself.

If my government-run pension plan goes tits-up I'd be completely screwed.

#13

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Gups - Today at 11:37:00 AM

Thought you guys would be interested in this LinkedIn post by Chris Young KC who is a leading planning silk, particularly on new settlements and urban extensions. (NPPF = National Planning Policy Framework). As he says point 6 is the key to overriding local authorties in thrall to the NIMBY vote. If Labour can do this, it will be a quick and cost-effective way of unblocking planning for house building.

The Labour Party has said it intends to make changes within weeks of taking office. So how do they do it?

Answer - Through the NPPF and appeal decisions.

People responding to yesterday's post asked "can a new government amend planning legislation that quickly. Doesn't it have to go through Parliament etc?"

The answer is no. National politicians like to think everything is about legislation. That's because it's their day job.

God knows we have enough of it in the planning system. Endless reform. Politicians keep producing new legislation. They tell us changing it will fix everything. Only it doesn't. Most of it just creates uncertainty.

The real answer lies in the NPPF. The NPPF is what drives housing delivery.

So what is needed is:
1. Mandatory housing targets which properly reflect need.
2. Mandatory targets for the delivery of affordable housing.
3. Every local authority required to meet its need.
4. Review Green Belt, to stop it being used as an excuse not to deliver homes
5. Local plans to be produced on time with the right numbers.
6. Serious sanctions if local authorities do not do all of the above.

It really is as simple as that. And Labour plan to do this.

There needs to be housing targets which properly reflect need. That means higher targets across the country. Not just piling it all into the biggest cities, where there is no hope of it being delivered.

Don't get me wrong, I promote lots of tall buildings in London and other major cities. And I see the merit in Build to Rent, as a vital way of addressing the immediate housing needs of younger people.

But more housing is needed in the shires. It is this which best delivers affordable housing. Labour will change the standard method, so it delivers 300,000 effectively.

But the real key to all of this is No6 in the list.

There have to be effective sanctions.

Only yesterday Tory MP Simon Clarke described the penalties for a local authorities not having a local plan as "trivial". He's right. It's just a shame he didn't say that when he was the Secretary of State for Housing.

How will Labour get their message across?

The NPPF was issued in 2012, when the Government really did want to boost significantly the supply of new homes. To back up it's message, Eric Pickles issued a series of dramatic recovered appeal decisions, including 350 homes on a greenfield site at Worsley in Manchester. The Inspector recommended refusal on the basis it would "seriously degrade" the character of the area (para 21). But Eric rejected that, concluding housing delivery and an up-to- date plan were simply more important.

He then reversed his own previous decisions to refuse permission for both Richborough Estates and Fox Land's big greenfield sites at Sandbach in Cheshire.

Appeal success rates then shot through the roof.

Labour Shadow Ministers know about this.

Expect to see decisions like this from October.

#14

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by viper37 - Today at 11:36:13 AM

Zack Snyder Has Plans For at Least 6 'Rebel Moon' Movies

The first one was a success.


Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Part One quickly became a hit despite mixed reviews, setting the stage for a potential cinematic epic.



I guess at some point, I will have to see that.

#15

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by viper37 - Today at 11:34:19 AM

So I've actually heard it argued that RRSPs are in some ways not a great investment vehicle.

So any money you put into an RRSP isn't taxed - but is taxed as income.  The RRSP is taxed though when it is withdrawn - again as income.  But if, while in the RRSP, the value of your investments say triples, you'd eventually be paying three times as much tax once you finally withdraw it.  (There's all kinds of calculations about the time value of money and the like, but the basic point stands).

The thing is, for people my age (and Josephus' age), RRSP was all that was available to us when we began saving.  The idea was that you would max out your RRSP, then you would seek out other investment opportunities.

People with a pension fund usually had an equivalency factor, so they had less to invest in a RRSP.


Nowadays, you have TFSA and at least in Quebec, the employer is obligated to offer a collective retirement plan.

So you do have something when you retire, other than your government pension (CPP or RRQ).

For people like you, on top of this, you have your employer's pension fund, probably quite generous since your entire career was as a public servant.

When you retire, you will have a significant taxable income.

As such, maximizing your RRSP now is not the wisest move.

You could still invest a little to drop your tax bracket by a notch, but not too much because it is added to your significant retirement income.  Or for any remaining amount, taxable to your heirs (not your spouse though).

The wisest move is to maximize your TFSA.  And for the younger generation, to mazimize their FHSA along that.

Once that is done, you can invest in RRSP.


If you maximize all of these every year, you should seek a financial planner.

#16

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 11:25:54 AM

He's had the whip removed. And has also been suspended from his role as an "unpaid trade envoy to Colombia"....

Colombia 

#17

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 11:13:05 AM

They're already doing it, so it must make sense.

Presumably using AI prompts to generate 500 "books" on different topics, uploading them, and using botnets to push them to the top of search rankings is something that is relatively easy to automate.

At which point the money from suckers buying any of those "books" (that it costs pennies to generate) is pure profit.

Yeah - and it's similar with online content.

You have an increasing long tail of the internet which is made for advertising sites (often AI generated, and nonsense) but with sellable ad inventory and that attracts clicks. Ad sales are often priced best for the ad slots that have the most personalised/developed profile of the individual at the end and allow the most functionalities (both of which require intrusive tracking). That means that at the minute the industry is spending money on sites with basically no compliance with any privacy laws, that are just created for the purpose of attracting eyes on adverts and just a churn with no permanence.

Admittedly this is possibly the logical end point of online advertising given that it is an industry which is largely based on fraud which is now being accelerated by AI. But it is not good for individuals, not good for publishers of real content and not good for advertisers. And ultimately as long as the things that agencies really prioritise (because it's what advertisers insist on) are targeting and functionalities, it's very difficult to move it in a different direction.

And obvioiusly those sites are being scraped and included in future models - particularly ones reliant on webcrawlers that quality media companies are increasingly blocking because they want to get paid for their content.

#18

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:32:48 AM

If I'm not, you know, lawyering, but have to just sit in a courtroom for some reason (say I'm waiting for my case to be called, or I'm just observing) somedays it can be hard to fight nodding off.  It can be pretty boring if you're not directly doing something.

#19

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Syt - Today at 10:31:51 AM

Why is it a money loser?

I assume insufficient sales to cover publishing.

Publishing on Amazon or Smashwords doesn't cost you anything, and if you generate all content yourself, it only costs you time - and with AI generating the content for you, you just need to format it in the ebook format of choice and upload it.

#20

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:31:07 AM

Why is it a money loser?

I assume insufficient sales to cover publishing.

I believe the books in question are either e-books, or print-on-demand books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_on_demand

So even if you sell a handful of books you're still profiting on each one.