Malcolm von Schantz

Both of these points are now facts. Government revenue is down 7% on excise receipts since the change and wine businesses are spending a lot more on “managing” the new system, which everyone I talk to describes as a nightmare. Once again none of this needed to happen with zero benefits achieved.

Alcohol Bulletin commentary (May 2025 to July 2025)

Now here is the link to the actual data. This data show as i forecasted and warned several times that the fundamental changes and increases would damage not only government revenue but would place a further unworkable burden on wine imports forever. www.gov.uk/government/s...

For those that have followed me from Twitter you will recall I put out many threads on the lunacy of the plan by Rishi Sunak to make the excise tax system for Alc be based on the strength rather than volume. This subtle change was devastating for the wine industry with yet more UK Brexit red tape.

Absolutely no contest.

Mit Eifer hab' ich mich der Studien beflissen;
Zwar weiß ich viel, doch möcht' ich alles wissen.

White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.

Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure. /W @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/4hqBNiU

U.S. Banks Are Hunting for Collateral to Back $20 Billion Argentina Bailout American banks are looking for assets or guarantees from the U.S. government that would back a private-sector loan to support Argentine President Javier Milei.

Exclusive: A group of big banks is struggling to put together a $20 billion loan to Argentina without leaving themselves on the hook to the virtually bankrupt country

Oh my GOD.

This is extremely troubling news for those of us who conduct human subjects research.

I know he admires Harold Wilson, but the figure he most reminds me of is Frank Spencer

Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Putin’s terms or be ‘destroyed’ by Russia US president tossed aside maps of Ukraine frontline in volatile White House meeting

NEWS

Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms for ending its war in a volatile meeting on Friday, warning Putin had said he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree.

The meeting between the two descended many times into a “shouting match”, with Trump “cursing all the time.”

Pilots and flight attendants are sending free food to air traffic controllers. They're not getting paid during the shutdown. Airline pilots and flight attendants are sending food to air traffic control towers around the US, as workers aren't getting paid during the shutdown.

Pilots and Flight Attendants Sending Free Food to Air Traffic Controllers During Shutdown - Business Insider www.businessinsider.com/atc-air-traf...

The Pope tweets: "The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate. Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice. Yet, there are those who still presume to make this claim, thus revealing their own blindness and cruelty. #DilexiTe" Someone replies: "I was so hopeful I could be a Catholic again after the disaster that Francis was, guess we just get Francis 2.0 now and I am heartbroken. How do I stay a Catholic now...I don't want to lose faith but I am. You belong to someone else, not God."

heartbroken to learn the pope sympathizes with the poor. how can i continue to believe in god

[Exit King.]

I still have no idea what Number 10 was thinking intervening over policing. If they ‘win’ the standoff, Keir Starmer personally owns any incident that happens around the match. And he’s broken the precedent of interfering in operational matters, and so will be asked to do so relentlessly.

Intent upon my workmen, especially my joyners, who will make my dining room very pretty.

Lotte Lenya in The Threepenny Opera.

Happy Lenya's birthday to all who observe!

The most interesting vote of the night imho and one that foretells a potential apocalypse in the suburbs of the south-east for the Conservatives. More liberal Tories go LD, more reactionary ones go to Reform.

They're selling regular index cards, but because they call them "analog cards" it's $100.

Binge watching White Lotus Season 3 on the plane. Struck by how odd it is that the camera lovingly lingers on sensual image of every water drop, flower, lizard, candle, and wine glass — but how odd how every one of the many servings of Thai food that are being consumed is being blurred out.

A robin I met, who has just downed four cans of Red Stripe through a straw and is now eating some cheese and talking to me about a new, better-thought-out kind of communism that he claims can rescue everything

Right now, all over Britain, drunk robins are dismantling the system and making up their own rules.

Ach, Ihr versteht mich nicht!

Confirms what I’ve been telling Strangers On The Internet for years - the idea that Sweden is a super expensive place is a 90s hangover. It isn’t.

The unification of the English kingdoms was, largely, a mistake.

journal that took 16 months to review your manuscript when it wants something from you

After the West failed to stop Israel from bombing all of Syria's armaments and withheld support early on for the new government, Syria is now normalizing relations with Russia in an effort facilitate the handing over of Assad and revive preexisting trade & military agreements.

The more one knows about this case, the more confusing it becomes. The CPS insists on further evidence it does not require, and the government insists it could not give that evidence, even though it could. Neither side makes sense, and together they make no sense absolutely.

NEW

Trying to make sense of the nonsensical decision to drop the Chinese spying prosecutions

How the positions of neither the CPS nor the government stand up to scrutiny

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

I suppose it's essentially the same distinction as "Frieden" versus "Ruhe" in German. Only done rather more elegantly with a single vowel change.