Adrian Buck > Recent Status Updates

But the Labour Party is not a company, and the government standards imposed on it by the Electoral Commission are not as onerous as those of the Companies Act. pg 300.

"In the new labour formulation, all [stakeholder] meant was 'anybody can have one of these' but there was no associated philosophy of governance."

"Or, to put it another way, the system of benchmarking creates fund managers who, by definition, are unfit owners. "

"However in a world where innovation and technology has allowed a lender to insure against the risk of a loan going bad, it is no longer so important for the arranger of the loan to make such a meticulous assessment of the credit-worthiness of the borrower."

"...Tombstone's silver mines struck water. There was so much water the pumps couldn't keep up with it. the mines had to close." cf wikipedia "the silver mines penetrated the water table and the mining companies made significant investments in specialized pumps. A fire in 1886 destroyed the Grand Central hoist and pumping plant, and it was unprofitable to rebuild the costly pumps"

Two nickname problems in the Las Vegas section, known as the city of lights (sin city?) and 'cowboy' Vic is actually Vegas Vic.

Nice to catch up with another installment of the M&S corporate soap opera, but it still reads like reheated financial journalism rather than a serious attempt to identify a difference in the nature of the British retailing establishment. OK they say 'fuck' a lot, but after Hugh Grant did, everyone does :-(

"...the value of a business over the longterm should not - in theory - be affected by how it's financed in respect of the balance between debt and equity." Yes, it should - a business financed by debt is inherently more risky than one financed by equity.

Perhaps more dangerous for democracy would be the potential mischief-making of bored offspring of those who generated the great fortunes.

who is the intended audience? The guide to the exercises is more demanding than the exercises themselves.

Did he base his treatment of the 'wild west' on the plot of 'Little Big Man'?

The place was filled with staff passionate about Thomas Hardy and Oliver Cromwell and isosceles triangles. These were teachers with a vocation... pg 2.

"Whites killed buffalo for their skin and for sport". Maybe but what about for farming and for railways?

Great men have invariably failed to 'deliver the goods'; but because we admire their qualities and envy their success, we continue to beleive in them and submit to their power. pg 149

But what is crucial to the dispute in its modern form is the significance to be attached to the historical fact that certain conduct, no matter what, is prohibited by a positive morality. The Utilitarian denies that this has any significance sufficient to justify its enforcement: his opponent asserts it has.

"A totally unmystical world would be a world totally blind and insane." Well now we know what we are up against, I think mysticism is escapism.

This harnessing by evil of the power generated by goodness, is one of the principal and most tragic themes of human history. pg 45

Consciously emphasising and disguising the particular phenomenon under scrutiny... represents the fundamental difference between mechanical exercises... and awareness exercises...

Since what the mouth can say and what the ear can hear exert a reciprocal influence on each other, it follows that there cannot be a purely listening or a purely speaking lesson. pg 172

One craft after another eliminated by industrialisation :(

In England, rule has to a great deal substituted itself for nature. The greater part of life is carried on, not by following inclination under the control of rule, but by having no inclination but that of following a rule. pg 205 What would make of Hungary's relationship with rules?

"...increasingly, the majority of Hungarians had most of their contact with gypsies through music. At the same time, Gypsies pursuing other professions gradually became marginalised."

"Like a man when he chooses a profession, so, when a woman marries, it may in general be understood that she makes choice of the management, and the bringing up of a family, as the first call upon her exertions..." pg 185 - JSM stumbles at the last hurdle in arguing for the equality of women.

...by 1893, the ratio of traveling Gypsies fell to a mere three percent of all Gypsies. pg 10

"Some have inherited wealth dropping into their lap, unother unintentionally stumbles upon an enterprise that proves most profitable, a third attains financial success through some fortuitous encounter..."

"But in history, as in travelling, men usually see only what they already had in their own minds; and few learn much from history, who do not bring much with them to its study."

"...today's Hungarian youth who, instead of listening to those who would lead the lost sheep back into the splendid realm of ideals, prefer the path of corruption, nepotism, and of democracy even."