The end of academic publishing
It has been clear to many analysts (including myself) for years that publishers of academic journals were facing the slow death of their business. Despite the view of publishers and the more optimistic analysts that peer reviews journals were irreplaceable, the evidence continues to emerge for a slow, but certain, decline. (more…)
You, investor, are a sucker: part 2
Richard Beddard’s response to my previous post, is not the end of the argument, although I will go along with his approach and answer his questionnaire.
My view of what it takes to out-perform is not very different from Richard’s, but it is an arithmetical necessity that most investors will not out-perform. I am very skeptical of anyone who claims that they are in the minority who can reliably do so. (more…)
The City and the tax haven
Richard Murphy has a good definition of a tax haven, but I disagree with his idea that having a large financial services sector is an important characteristic, although I do agree with his view that the UK and Ireland are both tax havens. (more…)
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Will equity returns stay high?
The fascinating information on the drivers of returns on equities between the fifties and the nineties dug up by Richard Beddard, has a worrying aspect. Much of the gain came from one-off changes, so returns may not be as good in the future. (more…)
Switching back from (K)Ubuntu
I used Ubuntu and Kubuntu for over an year, but I recently switched back. Ubuntu has its strengths, but its fans forget its weaknesses. Software installation with Synaptic is superb (the best on any OS), as is the range of packages available. However, other admin tools are lacking. (more…)
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Moneysupermarket IPO and web business valuation
Whenever there is a website IPO, those of us with profitable websites pay attention. While a small, privately owned website will need to be valued at a steep discount to a large, listed business, it is a useful indicator of value. (more…)
Web metrics are insane
To be precise, trying to find a single set of metrics to compare the audience of different types of websites it insane. That is why Nielson/Netrating’s decision to measure time spent on websites, rather than page views, does not really matter much. Those looking for a single measure across all websites are reducing a mistake of the dotcom boom. (more…)
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Don’t eat killer fruit!
One of the reasons given by The Guardian for the failure of a scheme to encourage children to eat more fruit, is that schools are reluctant to give children fruit with stones because they might choke. What is even more amazing is that the journalist writing it could let this idiocy, and the disturbing reasons for it, pass with absolutely no comment. (more…)
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Tax and government
I sympathise with the Tax Justice Network’s aims, but I think their latest publication may have got the relationship between tax and good government (found via Richard Murphy’s blog) wrong. I also think I can explain why there is so little pressure to improve tax collection. (more…)
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Fixed rates will not make housing affordable
I find it hard to believe that encouraging long term fixed interest mortgages, as the government plans to, will really make housing more affordable. Here is why: (more…)
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