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@MerrynSW UK is a small country, so train times don't matter as much as on the continent. All we need is fast, reliable wifi on all trains, then we can use the time productively.

Took train from Naples to Rome a few days ago. 300km/hr most of way. V quick. Now on LNER east coast. Train top speed is 200 kmh. We are going 170. At 300 could do Edinburgh to London in 2 hours. Which would be nice/transformational.

@laurence_hulse @in_mavericks Thanks, I'll have a listen to that.

@EquityActive We first came across Tony 3 years ago on this @in_mavericks podcast open.spotify.com/episode/0ZKS0G… - well worth a listen in hindsight 3 years on

Likewise (LIKE) the obvious beneficiary from Headlam's (HEAD) headlong plunge into almost certain insolvency, judging from alarming (worsening) performance in today's TU from HEAD. LIKE poached its best salesmen a while back, and is wiping the floor with it.

@7Kiwi Similar moves in other countries Govt debt yields, so this has little to nothing to do with domestic matters. It's actually due to Iran/oil getting worse in recent days.

The bond market is not taking too kindly to Andy Burnham's proposed tax grab.

I'm hoping for a vertical move (am thinking to 40-50p) in LIKE [I hold] when HEAD finally unravels. It's the ultimate revenge company - Tony Brewer was long-serving HEAD CEO, left under a cloud, so got his own back by creating LIKE and has gradually destroyed HEAD.

Interesting article, saying AI is not all it's cracked up to be! Very much my current opinion (subject to change) too bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@TheSecretAcct Don't you think it's time to change our national anthem? It should be about Britain, not about the King. Needs freshening up, and a more upbeat tune. My suggestion - Land of Hope & Glory, and hold a competition to modernise the lyrics!

Every England player should sing the national anthem passionately. No excuses.

Guess who's back ⚔️ Kingmakers is playable for the first time ever at #BilibiliWorld And yes, the game is REAL! Gameplay deep dive coming soon 👀

Sad to hear of the death of Ann Widdecombe. I disagreed with some of her outdated/religious views, but she was a fearless and eloquent advocate for what she believed in. And she always made me think.

@HJB_News__ It was the same after the Arsenal celebrations a few weeks ago. Took the council 3-4 days to clear up all the mess everyone left behind on Essex Road.

London streets after the LGBT+ Pride parade this weekend.

@aakashgupta Brilliant idea!

Taiwan solved tax evasion in 1951 with a trick so cheap it should embarrass every tax authority on the planet. The problem was an all-cash economy full of small shops. A merchant pockets the cash, skips the receipt, and the sale never existed. Auditors can't catch what was never recorded, and hiring enough of them to watch every noodle stand costs more than the missing tax. So finance chief Ren Xianqun flipped the incentive. Print a lottery number on every receipt. Draw winners every two months on live TV. Top prize today: NT$10 million, about $310K. Suddenly the customer and the shopkeeper want opposite things. The merchant wants the sale off the books. The customer wants the ticket. And there are millions more customers than merchants. Every transaction now carries a built-in witness demanding the paper trail. Year one, reported tax revenue jumped 75%, from NT$29 million to NT$51 million. Seventy-five years later, roughly 70% of Taiwanese still play. Convenience stores redeem the smallest NT$200 prizes at the register, so even a coffee receipt feels like a scratch card. The elegant part is what the audit force costs. The prize pool runs about NT$7 billion a year, roughly $20 million. In exchange, the government gets 23 million unpaid auditors working every checkout line in the country, forever. No inspector general on earth delivers that coverage at that price. Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Slovakia all copied it. The most effective compliance tool ever built looks like a game, and that's exactly why it works.

@rhomboid1MF There seem to be far too many incidences of this ilk where the police clearly go beyond what is reasonable, into repression. I blame the Blair era tinkering with the law: hate crimes, non-crime crimes incidents, etc. All needs repealing.

police priorities are somewhat askew…again

@charliecombe True. We're embarrassed by VNET profit warning, but these things happen, just Sod's Law. Business model is intact. 6% yield.

Barclays does seem to be doing some good things to begin rebuilding its shattered reputation: telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsby…