“I have zero evidence for this…”

Says it all really.

The Japanese branch of the Taliban.

Wages have been driven down to such low levels. Pay more then they’ll have a better chance of filling those vacancies. There was a time that one parent could support a household, now it requires two and then it barely covers the bills.

The very companies that do not want to pay a fair and decent wage yet happily throw money at the directors will wonder why they’ve gone bust when their customers no longer have surplus income to buy their goods. Pubs are a good example.

I got the name wrong instead of The New York Bagel Co.

Whether they are any good by comparison to a top end Bagel product I don’t honestly know. But out of those available generally at UK supermarkets they are the nicest.

Here in the UK the perception of the value of own-label products is mixed where some are cheap but rubbish quality (Waitrose Essential Bagels) and others that are as good quality as the big brands (Tesco Bagel v American Bagel Co.. The New York Bakery Co.) but way cheaper.

However, there does seem to be something happening where good value own-label products are disappearing through more shelf space being given to big brands and displacing own-label equivalents.

I use sensitive toothpaste and I usually buy the stuff several tubes at once. The big brand is Sensodyne which is good but at £5.75/75ml (Tesco) is expensive. The Tesco brand which was as good was way cheaper at around £1 making it far better value for money.

But here’s the issue, the big brands can’t compete with the quality and value of own-label products on pricing. Across three of the largest supermarkets (Aldi, Lidl, Tesco) the own-label sensitive toothpaste has disappeared with more shelf space being allocated to Sensodyne. All recently at the same time.

Agreed.

Expensive products are far from any guarantee of good quality. Cookers are a good example. The expensive ones invariably have identical components to the cheaper models such as the energy regulators or thermocouples.

That’s one lucky alignment shot indeed.

Judging by the way wages have dropped since 2008, at latest, it feels as if we’re heading for a new era of feudalism.

Is this the same chain of Burek King in New Jersey?

I know you are not joking. On top of that Ukraine provides a suitable test bed for weapons research.

When it was reported on the radio news yesterday they said “jumped into the engine”. I cannot find anything else to confirm if that’s true. Either way it’s horrific.

For a few years now I’ve thought that the food industry will feature as the next controversy as tobacco has been. Years ago I read an article about High Fructose Corn Syrup, its history and its negative effect on the liver. I can’t find the original but this one comes close. Ever since I’ve avoided HFCS.

We then have hydrogenated fats that are considered bad for the body.

The bottom line is that these ingredients are produced to make food production cheaper but at the expense of a healthy diet. Industry sector lobbying helps these ingredients to the market.

I heard that in the US she’s known as Moscow Marjorie.

I suspect there should be a /s on the end there.

There was a time that the UK government had China involved in the development of a new nuclear power station, Sizewell C. They corrected their mistake.

Next up is Taurus from Germany.

Competition was always going to happen it was just a question of when and to what degree. The established car makers weren’t going to sit around and watch Tesla take their market share. But the rise of Chinese car manufacturers hitting the EV market has been swift and brutal. These are huge companies that are generally unheard of in the West such as BYD.

Edit, the link is almost a year old so I suspect figures have changed a fair bit since.

Here in the UK the price of a delivered newspaper is as high as £3.40 midweek (The Financial Times).

Your typical weekly rag could set you back between £7.80 to £22 per week.

The last time I bought a newspaper was about 10 years ago and that was to light a fire! Yet I avoid pay wall as I do not feel I’m getting as much as a physical paper.

Food security

More food security

Less food

Food versus fuel

Worsening food insecurity

And they want to put solar farms on the fields that grow food.