Recent content by Saracen

If you build in-house, you not only have the cost of the build, but of all the support issues. You'll wind up with a complete mish-mash of hardware and software configurations, and a nightmare of lack of consistency. You might be able to select a better blend of components, but at the price of...

True enough, but if Barroso et al get their way with eurobonds, it'll still end up with the German tax-payer footing the bill, because they'll be the ones back-stopping it and politically, it's akin to giving your bankrupt neighbour your credit card and telling him to have at it. In my view, the...

The problem Merkel faces is that she knows what needs to be done to stabilise the situation. She does just doesn't have a clue how to get re-elected after she does it. So she probably won't do it. The core problem with the eurozone is that it's "stability" is based on Germany's strength. If...

Remember that that TARP money that went to European banks, like Barclays, RBS, DeutscheBank etc were loans. According to the Fed, funding went to "support funding markets that were global, and agencies and branches of foreign firms were significant participants in lending to U.S. households and...

The critical bit, though, is the single word at the end of the first sentence in the quote that you missed out in your paraphrase .... "forever". I dislike the credit card analogy because there are significant differences between government finance and credit cards, but it's pretty apt in this...

I don't believe the majority of them care what our views are. They will say what they think will get them elected in order to get elected then ignore the hell out of us until they next want to be elected, and at least round here, history suggests that them saying something before an election is...

Even if things go the way of far tighter integration, that won't necessarily mean the EU is stable. For a start, as was pointed out above, only 17 of 27 states are Eurozone members, and at least some of those that aren't, notably the UK,l do not want to be, now or in the foreseeable future. So...

She certainly isn't one of the richest in the world in that a lot of "her" wealth is hers as monarch, not hers personally. But she is also very wealthy indeed, in her own, personal right. A very large amount of wealth may be in a form of trust, but a very substantial amount isn't. One of the...

Caviar Blues aren't noted for being the quietest drives available, but I have two (640GB) in this machine, and I struggle to hear them if I've got my ears 6 inches from them, at the side of the case with the cover off. I know, 'cos I just tried it. I can hear a very quiet clicking if I do a full...

That's an issue that causes a lot of confusion. A lot of the notional wealth of the Queen is hers in that it belongs to her, but it belongs to her as sovereign, not personally. When the sovereign changes, the ownership of those assets (about £7 billion / US$11 billion) changes too. The point is...

Well, the UK does not have a commander in chief as such, not in the sense that the US does anyway. For instance, who has the ultimate power in the UK to order the country to war? The Prime Minister does. And right now, without reference to Parliament or the Queen. Who holds the power to order...

Many might not, but survey after survey, over several decades, suggests the majority do, and do not want to get rid of the monarchy. One of the problems is what you replace it with and whether it'd be an improvement. There are many good reasons for keeping the monarchy. One is that it, and the...

That was exactly my take on the implications drawn from the survey. I wish it were true that perceptions of reality were always correct. We probably then wouldn't all be in this mess.