Rob McLeod

@authordlewis Did you notice the toll booths every now and then?

Eight hour drive thru France yesterday - not a pothole to be seen. Like driving on air. How are Britain’s roads so appalling, by contrast? Any suggestions?

@mnine1 The huge amount of 3 year old EVs coming off salary sacrifice lease deals artificially depresses values at that age.

I knew EV's depreciation was savage but I saw a late '23 Ionic 5 thing advertised for £14.5K. I mean, weren't them things pushing £50K new..........

@Grope_of_Big @DanNeidle Yeah and the dip in 45-54 would be consistent with the dip in 35-44 on the 2014-15 line, which I'd suggest could be down to the 2008 GFC harming careers just as they'd have typically been getting into their stride.

@RobMcLondon @DanNeidle Indeed - a single data point for 55-64 would be around 27% - the second highest point on the yellow curve. It would still leave a dip for 45-54, but one outlier data point is more likely to be well an outlier.

This is really weird and hard to explain. My first thought is that it's a data error of some kind. Any other theories?

@RobKenyonReform If Burnham wins Labour tear themselves to pieces even more…

New polling for The Times confirms that only Reform or Labour can win in Makerfield. A vote for anyone else is a vote to put Andy Burnham into Number 10.

@Big_Orrin Just like the Essex Boys did on the short side in 2020, if someone wanted to take on the market on the long side it could be tricky to fight if there’s not enough volume available. But yes it’s definitely overtalked as a small market move can attract volumes and fix the issue.

@OldknowPhilip @Anitaaaa_W @vickigregson @BBCPolitics By the same logic, if you buy your kids books, music lessons, even private tuition you’re attempting to buy advantage. And none of those are subject to VAT.

@Anitaaaa_W @vickigregson @BBCPolitics Why do parents send their kids to private school then? Surely it can’t be such philanthropy. They are attempting to buy advantage and consolidate the advantages the already have. Selfishly.

The taxpayer shouldn't be "subsidising private institutions and private schools" Labour MP Lola McEvoy defends the government's decision to add VAT to private school fees as figures show the number of pupils in private schools is falling bbc.in/4v31nQI

@MarhelmData Why are US releases going to drop? There’s plenty more mandated

Strategic oil releases set to fall off a cliff at the end of June

@Rory_Johnston Even if it’s like for like volumes - which I don’t believe it is (given STS volumes, inland inventory draws, satellite observations) - replacing sanctioned oil volumes with unsanctioned still has a material impact on traded markets.

re: Hormuz “leaking” stuff (i.e. a reported rise in dark transits) First, a general comment: I can't stand random uncontextualized transit count figures and "oh you probably aren't counting this one"isms. Show me a time series and a list of which transits your counting specifically (to cross check against my list) or gtfo. - there have always been dark transits - there has been a notable uptick, as reported by Kpler, beginning late-May - that dark transit uptick has been offset by far fewer "official" Iranian route passages - traffic remains massively throttled, headline counts little changed - also, this is still just functionally a stock draw at this stage so it doesn't change much. PS: Murmurs of some fresh loadings (which could mean *production*) are much more promising, but we're still talking negligible figures and as with everything else they're being blown out of proportion.

@LauraKirk12 Relentless. So annoying!

May God release me from AI images of Nigel Farage on Question Time

@morgan_downey The invisible hand of the market at work... (plus the initial reports were of course wildly exaggerated)

The UK had just a week of jet fuel remaining 2 months ago.

@Big_Orrin Usable on a tank by tank basis perhaps but the supply chain wouldn't operate at zero, right? (I don't disagree that focussing on comparisons with a period of bloated inventories is silly though!)

@PiQSuite The UK salary sacrifice EV schemes have got to mean there are a lot of people just rotating new to 3yo EVs, and so a lot of 3yo cars being sold off. Given prevalence of leases even on ICE cars we’ve always had a depressed second hand market, compared with the continent.

The Global Used Electric Vehicle Reckoning Some electric vehicles are losing over 70% of their value in five years. A Thread ↓

@createstreets It’s a damn sight better than it was 15 years ago…

What a mess they made of Victoria.

@ukboomers @KimBarclay4 Generous of you considering they probably caused the mould by not ventilating properly. The youth of today take for granted double glazing and a lack of draughts… 🙄

@KimBarclay4 £2000 doesn’t even get you a week on a cruise these days. We’re practically running a charity here. If you want London location your walls will be occasionally wet. They had mould last year, we gave them anti-mould spray from B&Q and they managed fine. 🇬🇧

For 2k a month I’d expect a he plumber there straight away

@Paulwheeldon9 @simongerman600 Came to say the same. Or well, replace Wales with Scotland

@simongerman600 Due to recent performances I have corrected the visual.....

In the US neither of these three sports are front of center. Still a funny visual.

@4fHepcat @afneil Like several have in Asia already, they’d reduce run rates before actually getting to the point of having to fully shut down. We’re a fair way off that for now. Europe is dependent on imported refined products, that’s going to be the first pinch point.

@afneil Most people don’t realise too, that when a refinery goes off line, you can’t just switch it back on. Some equipment will carbonise, others need extensive rework, some will need replacing. It’s a big several months project. With manufacturers now in China…

As I have written and commented on several times I am amazed that Europe in general and the UK in particular behaves as if it has no idea what’s in store for it if the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed though May (which it will).

@Beaulieu600 @afneil Our refineries should have crude supply for now but we import a lot of diesel and jet fuel and there’s not much of that on its way right now.

@afneil Sources for the refineries can and probably are being procured from the US and West Africa, and to make up for the Qatar LNG I guess additional gas getting procured for the NTS from Norway.

@MatveiZakharov_ @mynnoj @JonathanNS1685 @griffitha @TfL Personally I'd rather have a larger data set than 50 hours as the system would need to be able to deal with all sort of unusual events but I do think its well within scope of current technology. Would just have to be created in secret to avoid strikes pre-implementation.

@mynnoj @RobMcLondon @JonathanNS1685 @griffitha @TfL The software already exists. I use Pytorch + YOLO to identify when my cat scratches the sofa when I'm out. It's really not rocket science in the slightest. If I had access to 50 hours of driver cab footage I could turn it out in three days hungover.

Humanity can do this…but @TFL cannot seemingly automate an underground tube train running on two parallel steel rails.

@JonathanNS1685 @griffitha @TfL A humanoid robot working in just the same way, with the same equipment etc would be an easy retrofit - avoiding a full change of all systems.

@griffitha @TfL It would cost a huge amount retrospectively to automate existing lines. Where it has happened is mostly with new networks like the DLR. How do you suppose TFL would find the billions needed to automate the tube? This is just a fantasy, given the state of public finances.