Hi Bryn, as I understood it, by default a low grade steel is produced by recycling at the moment, but Julian Allwood (interesting name in the circumstances ...) was saying that if the same energy that is currently invested in producing steel from iron ore, were put into producing high grade steel from recycling, no new steel would be needed.
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I didn't think Javid was much of a reader - he certainly didn't make much of this during his brief time as Culture/Heritage Secretary.
If he is a 'Randite', it would be consonant with his free market beliefs - witness his statement that ticket touts were 'classic entrepeneurs'.
I believe he has made a multi-million pound fortune as a hedge fund manager. As the product of a 'working class' (though I'd be suspicious of that) immigrant family (or was he adopted?), this probably makes him a totemic figure for the modern right.
Personally, I enjoy Ayn Rand's novels - The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and Anthem are great provocative reads, whatever you think of her politics.
Actually, Javid is not the first prominent Randite in UK government. Former Utilities Regulator Stephen Littlechild was another Objectivist Free Marketeer.Comment
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Why are you suspicious of Javid's background? I thought it was reasonably well documented that his father was a bus driver in Rochdale, and I've never seen it suggested before that he was adopted. I would guess that being the son of a bus driver makes him just as working class as Sadiq Khan, whose father also drove buses.Originally posted by Conchis View Post"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Bracknell The importance of Being EarnestComment
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Sajid Javid and other Tory leadership candidates should be questioned on their current enthusiasm(or otherwise) for the very rightwing ideas of the late American philosopher & novelist Ayn Rand.
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What if they tried them 20 years ago when they were journalists, before they had any intention of going into politics?Originally posted by Jazzrook View Post
As a host I fear I shall live to regret setting foot in this thread, even in jest
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Dont know about Rand or Sajid but R4 "Today" presenters don't understand taxation, or perhaps just basic arithmetic.
They reapeatedly said Johnson's proposed tax changes are for the benefit of those between £50,000 and £80,000 ( such as deputy headteachers according to Bozzface) as he's going to take these out of the higher tax bracket. Any schoolboy/girl could work out that it helps those on £80.000 and above the most, as you have to earn at least the higher amount to get the full benefit.
PS BBC finally got it right on the six oclock news. Tax cuts for high earners - people who earn over £50,000Last edited by burning dog; 10-06-19, 17:15.Comment
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I'll have a laugh on your behalf anyway...Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostWhat if they tried them 20 years ago when they were journalists, before they had any intention of going into politics?
As a host I fear I shall live to regret setting foot in this thread, even in jest
Oh damn. I'm a host too.
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I tried it in fine weatherOriginally posted by ardcarp View PostI'll have a laugh on your behalf anyway...
Oh damn. I'm a host too.
I didn't in hailComment
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One Randian wheeze that’s never (so far as I know) been tried is impose punitive taxation on the ‘most incompetent’ (ie, the lowest-earning). This will automatically incentive them to earn more, so that their tax burden will be reduced accordingly. People will literally become millionaires from a desire to avoid being taxed to death.
Trump might have a go, of course.....Comment
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Can’t resist this clip about Boris in today’s bGuardian:
The whole “Boris” persona – carefully careless hair and linguistic prestidigitation – is a vaudevillian trick that Johnson plays on British politics, manipulating debate away from his lying incompetence, idleness, philandering self-obsession and intellectual vacuity.
The Guardian today.Comment
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What was amusing (or notOriginally posted by burning dog View Post
) was the folks trying to argue that people earning £50,000 and more weren't "well off"
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£1,000 per week is "JUST ABOUT MANAGING" in Johnson's mindOriginally posted by MrGongGong View PostWhat was amusing (or not) was the folks trying to argue that people earning £50,000 and more weren't "well off" 
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Not totally OT I hope but I've been hunting for a quotation, possibly from a film. Scene: an opium den. Hero(?) looks behind a bead curtain at a near-corpse and speaks: "That an Englishman could sink so low, and a Balliol man at that!"Originally posted by Jazzrook View PostMore from 'The Guardian' on the "Boris" persona:
JR
No success via Google and I haven't yet dared to ask the college office!I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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