Dragonfly Drones

On top of persecuting our farmers today feel sad for our fishermen & women. People voted not to take orders from Brussels or to have to give away our fish or pay another country to take over ownership of an island the uk has sovereignty of! I suppose having grown up in Plymouth surrounded by fishing & farming folk I know many this personally effects 😔

David Gilmour & David Bowie - Comfortably Numb (Royal Albert Hall 2006) Absolutely magical. How classy and respectful of Bowie to step back from the mic and the spotlight whenever Gilmour is singing. Class act through and through. What two legends.

We just learned that the world’s most powerful person, Donald Trump, has a boss: the bond market. He may not have acknowledged this to himself, yet, but the global financial tumult he caused - and has temporarily eased - has locked him in a fiscal prison. Because, as I have been saying for 24 hours, he came perilously close yesterday to having caused such an extreme fall in the price of US government debt that it would have become prohibitively expensive for his administration to fund a large deficit - more than 6% of GDP - and also to refinance the almost $8 trillion of government debt that matures in the coming year (almost a third of America’s sovereign debt). The point is he is totally in hock to the good will of bonds investors. And when he announced his reckless roster of massive tariffs eight days ago he alienated them, because they feared he would tank the economy such that tax revenues would plummet and the deficit would balloon. So they sold US government bonds, Treasuries, and the yield on the bonds - the de facto interest rate - soared. Which is why Trump blinked, and put on hold the more extreme tariffs, except for the 140% on China, for 90 days. You might think the worst part of this is the uncertainty he has created for businesses and investors for the next 90 days. Since no one in their right minds would make a major US investment till the final tariff determinations are made. But the cancerous uncertainty is not the worst of it. The worst of it is he has shredded any respect that overseas governments and investors might have had for America’s economic and fiscal competence. Shades - you might say - of how Truss and Kwarteng’s unwise unfunded tax cuts undermined the perceived fiscal competence of the UK. But unlike Truss and Kwarteng, there is pretty much no mechanism for removing Trump. All of which means that bond and stock markets will remain fragile and volatile - fearful that Trump will regain his mojo and engage in some other fiscal extravagance. He has also handed a loaded gun to his perceived enemy, China, and his supposed ally Japan. This matters in both cases, because he is engaged in the mother of all trade wars with China - and Japan wants a trade deal with him that would see it escape mega tariffs. The loaded guns they have are their massive loans to the US government. Japan owns more than a trillion dollars of US Treasuries and China not much less. If they were to sell those bonds, or even if they chose not to refinance maturing bonds, that could be a disaster for Trump. Because it could cause another potentially crippling spike in bond yields. Here is the measure of Trump’s debacle. He may well have trashed America’s single most important financial competitive advantage, namely that investors have traditionally bought the dollar and US Treasuries at a time of economic and political uncertainty. No more - because he personally has become the world’s source of economic uncertainty snd anxiety. So, as I say he, is now in a fiscal prison. And if bond investors, including Japan and China, see him imposing tariffs or cutting taxes in ways they don’t like, they learned yesterday they have the means and power to stop him.

My Johnnie @piratejw may have passed 3 months ago - but he still manages to be Pick of The Day/Week - which is a fantastic achievement! And on his 80th Birthday too. Thank you @RadioTimes @thetimes and @tvtimesmagazine. And to @Dr_Paul_Thomas, @lizziebarn and @BBCRadio2 ❤️

Former Bush Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Donald Trump: “I believe Mr. Trump is beyond repair. He is stubbornly uninformed…he is unqualified and unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.” RETWEET if you stand with Secretary Gates against Donald Trump!

Feb 1st early morning flight & view from above Wolf Rock of Port Gaverne, N. Cornwall 🦅

Donald Trump. An Apology. The new Private Eye is out now

We couldn’t have bettered a thing about ⁦@piratejw⁩ ‘s send off yesterday. Beautiful music, fab readings & SO much laughter. He left with Born To Run blasting! I’m sure he loved it. 🙏 ⁦@GrumpyOldRick⁩ #Palidachoir #paulvenables #janetreays ⁦@HolmesAndFamily⁩

@tempest_books Had it gotten the Thin Wing, it would have been a truly awesome beast, perhaps negating the need for an RAF Buccaneer...

A big thank you to @PenzanceHeli ATC who provided permission to fly in their airspace earlier today to complete an urgent insurance roof inspection to assess storm damage to this building in Penzance 👍✈️ #dji #penzance #cornwall #aerial #drone #insurance #inspection

#OTD 50 years ago, the very first episode of The Sweeney first aired on television. With its gritty realism, dry humour and shocking violence, ‘Ringer’ marked the beginning of what was soon to become one of the best police crime dramas in televisual history… #TheSweeneyAt50

Your moment of calm at Doubling Point Lighthouse @StormHour @ThePhotoHour

What does a new widow do on NYE? She listens to @BBCRadio2, opens a bottle and toasts her amazing husband. Courageous, wise, strong, creative and never dull. They didn’t call him the Pirate for nothing. Above all - the most devoted loving husband. Pls raise a 🥂to Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker’s final radio broadcast was two months ago. His final words: “Walk into the future with our heads held high, and happiness in our hearts.”

Have a great evening everyone!! #2025 #HappyNewYear2025 #HappyNewYear #Hogmanay #theprofessionals

Windy down in Praa Sands. 12°c Quick pint in The Welloe Cornwall Sunset Weather