iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Quite. This is precisely how money works, I believe that the technical term is "fungible"

Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 13h

I am not convinced that a homeland defined in racial, ethic or religious terms is a good idea (for anyone). For example "England for the Anglo-Saxons" does have feel kinda racist to me.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 16h

I mean I get why they are doing it, but I'd prefer that they were following Canada's example and standing up to a bullying USA rather than copying them because protectionism will, in the end, make everyone poorer.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 16h

The EU's 'Made in Europe' proposals are not about labelling. They are protectionist proposals to mandate EU content in public procurement. Likely to be illegal under WTO rules, but the EU, like the USA clearly thinks that big players can ignore the rules.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 18h

"Made in Europe" is a protectionist thing. It may be more reasonable and 1000 times more polite than Trump's "America First", but at root is the same protectionist stupidity that caused the depression of the 1920s (indirectly leading to WWII). I wish the UK was still in the EU and able to veto it.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21h

Weren't we all applauding Canada for walking away when it told the US to do one when it tried to dictate what sort of trade policy it could have with respect to third parties? But it's OK when the EU does it?

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22h

We should join the Single Market, but NOT a customs union. That would give as us close as possible a relationship with Europe without us having to do stupid protectionist things like deny our citizens affordable Chinese made cars.

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Reposted by Tim in Bath

Hilltoppilgrim @vitalogy54.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

They were more likely looking to steal gas. But that headline is nowhere.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pushing for a "broad but shallow" Union was the UK's diplomatic strategy to block deep integration it did not want whilst still offering something constructive and forward looking to the project.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Partly true. But the UK never blocked enlargement. In fact it was an enthusiastic supporter of enlargement (even for a while including Turkey in this) instead of deeper integration. We were often in opposition to other members who had a different vision of a smaller more deeply integrated Union.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

But am I wrong? The impact of Brexit was almost all felt on the UK side. The EU27 might have been annoyed by it but it didn't substantially effect them very much and the idea that it thwarted their plans in any serious way is nonsense.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What is the "European Project"? What parts of it were stopped by Brexit"? I ask because the overwhelming sense I get is that the EU muddled on as before more or less unchanged by us leaving.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Not quite true. There are parliamentary conventions (which are part of our constitution and therefore definitely have legal meaning) which mean that things in manifestos have an easier time getting through the Lords.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Only 14% of Luxembourg employees have a private pension.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Agreed, but averaged over several years, I don't see much difference. What usually happens is that inflation rises and then average wages catch up a year or so later. The problem with the triple lock was it was tied to both so pensions got a double uplift whilst prices and wages got only one.

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Andy, the Maintainer @spreadsheetmonkey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The activities in Fairford appear to be an overconfident, poorly planned, operation to steal large quantities of fuel oil. But enough about the US Military

static.klipy.com

Ben Elton's Politics Bit

Alt: Early 1989s Ben Elton,with long hair, making a joke about a little bit of politics

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It was a WMD plot (Wholesale Misappropriation of Diesel).

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This doesn't actually prove what you think it does. Per capital wealth and the cost of living in Norway and Switzerland and Denmark (etc.) is higher. When scaled for that, the UK figure looks unremarkable. Only Luxembourg is startingly more generous, but they contribute 25% of salary.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My first thought was badger baiters or quadbike thieves, but the lads were clearly involved in some kind of WMD plot (Wholesale Misappropriation of Diesel).

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I suspect that the were stealing fuel. Maybe even stealing it from RAF Fairford. Or maybe a member of the USAF was stealing fuel from the base and selling it to the guys in the vans. Whatever, it ain't terrorism (although these days of course anything can count as terrorism).

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

..and capping rent (and building more council homes) would reduce tax payer's money being handed over to private landlords as housing benefit.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

That's a good reason not to do it al at once, but a gradual phase in with support and training to improve productivity to pay for it would work.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I live in Bath and would support this, but we first need to get rid of First Bus who have overseen a 25 year decline in the quality of the city's buses (and if anyone still thinks "at least private companies bring competition" they also run our trains). Absolute shysters.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Yep. Our Lib Dem MP was actually a member of the Tory Party until 2005. The Lib Dems exist to make "nice" middle class educated white people feel less bad about voting Tory. That is their purpose and they are very good at it.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Reform is a fascist political party in the UK. A "skip" is what Americans would call a "dumpster" - a big container for rubbish/garbage.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My view is that ownership is entirely a legal issue and should therefore be assessed by a judge. Who actually gets possession of the Marbles is a moral/artistic/political matter and can legitimately be negotiated by politicians.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The audio on the video also appears to show that the dinghy was attacked because it had a Frenchman inside it. I would have thought this ought to make the offenses racially aggravated.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There are good reasons to carry a knife on a boat (cutting lines etc). But regardless, as soon as you start using it in an illegal way it becomes an offensive weapon.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The cynic in me think that perhaps the Hampshire plod have been leant on to act here not by our supine government, but by the French authorities because a French Coastguard officer was on the boat being stabbed.

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Reposted by Tim in Bath

BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Two Tier Policing. Just Stop Oil got 21 years for planning to block a road. The Far Right block emergency vehicles they don't even get arrested.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Brexit introduced lots of problems with rules of origin requirements, but we have a FTA which AIUI eliminates tariffs on car exports/imports to/from Europe. It is not tariffs that are the problem, it is non-tariff complexities and rules.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There was a Frenchman on board so lets hope that the French also take this seriously.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Well slashing the boat could constitute offenses ranging from criminal damage through "endangering another during a journey by sea" all the way up to attempted manslaughter or murder.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Data is not the plural of anecdote.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The figures I quoted were means. About 60% of people reach those ages because the median is higher (82M, 86F). The numbers for life expectancy /at retirement age/ are higher still.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Average UK life expectancy is 79 (M) or 83 (F)

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Money in private pensions (beyond the 25% tax free lump sum) is taxed on the way out, because it wasn't on the way in. The real problem is that the income tax thresholds are too low. We have had decades of this "fiscal drag". Raising those would target help on those who are "poor" rather than "old".

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Cultural genocide. I imagine Boris will be along any moment to do a stunt like this "in defiance of the barbarians".

Boris Johnson unveiling a replica of the Palmyra Arch destroyed in Syria by ISIS

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Poland is the only European countries that has lowered the age back down to 60 (for women, 65 for men). The overwhelming global trend is for the pension age to creep up in step with rising life expectancy.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

You are right. It is 3% for most people (but 4% for some and a bit more complicated). 5% is what employees now must contribute which gives total contribution of 8%. For the average worker this would yield a pension of about £12,000 pa at 67, roughly the same as the state pension.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"it would be cheaper to have paid tax on it before it went into a private pension than when we receive said pension ." It generally wouldn't, but if that is what people think, ISAs are available and that is how they work.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

That is an argument for better disability benefits for working people. You would have my full support there.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

People complain that private pension payments attract income tax, but they forget that when they were working & paying into their pensions, their contributions came off their payslips before tax. We can argue what the tax limit should be, but it seems reasonable for it to be similar for everyone.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The elderly have been treated far more generously than younger people. There is no triple lock on unemployment benefit, disability benefits or working people's tax credits. The young get unaffordable homes and student debt whilst pensioners get the triple lock.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Have you every been to Norway? Everything in the shops is at least twice as expensive as the UK. But that is OK because Norwegians are on average twice as rich as Brits. That might explain why their pension is twice the UK's.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Only 19% of the French have private occupational pensions. Compared with 82% of UK residents. Both countries require retirement contributions from workers and employers. The difference is that in France those contributions go to the state whereas in the UK they are paid into a pension fund.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

But rises in old age pensions have outstripped rises in working age benefits.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The state pension is not a savings scheme. It is paid out of general taxation which in the UK tends to be lower than most of Europe.

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Tim in Bath @timinbath.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

To be fair this has now changed. Uk employers are now required to pay 5% of salary into a pension for their employees. Admittedly this is not very much, but it is certainly better than nothing.

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