Bad beat/Moaning/Venting thread - Lockdown City

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

You both *can* identify value when choosing a home that means it also has investment value, and should as its a taxfree gain if its your principal residence. Mad to think otherwise. Its pure marketing guff this idea of thinking exclusively about a 'home'. Its your largest non-pension life investment, only a crazy person wouldn't put a huge amount of effort into trying to maximise the value.

I'd imagine as a rough guess that house price is 60% location, 30% hardware (size, garden, apartment vs house), 10% software (fixtures and fittings). My guess is that a lot of people have decent knowledge about the value of hardware, get deceived by the value of software, but make massive mistakes on location. We probably buy based on name recognition so overvalue 'the classics' - Blackrock, Howth, Dalkey, and current values, but ignore where future value is going to be. I wouldn't say its rocket science, but in a market with a lot of uniformed buyers (the "why are you treating your property as an investment" types) there must be very decent value to find out there.

[Raoul Duke III]

Why can’t it be both?

Is not not reasonable to view the biggest and most valuable asset you are about to buy from the perspective of wanting to get the best return on it if you do decide to sell?

What are yourself and RD3 suggesting? That you buy this asset and just ignore the fact that it could appreciate or depreciate in value? Does that seem sensible?

Let's try a little case study.

Say an up and coming academic and his family purchase a new house to live in some up and coming area of Dublin. Meticulously researched of course.
Let's say they have 150k of a cash deposit and take a mortgage out for 450k (fairly standard 2021 scenario there btw).
They move in and get on with their lives.

Fast forward to 2026.
Two scenarios:

1. The Irish economy is roaring ahead in President Biden's second term. FDI flows are at all-time highs. Our now senior professor could sell his gaff for a million
2. The Irish economy has collapsed after President Trump's triumphant return to power and subsequent order to all US firms to return their offshore operations to home. Our now senior professor could sell his gaff for 200k which would still leave him in serious negative equity.

Let's assume for the purposes of argument that interest rates are fixed, personal taxes are fixed and our hero's salary is guaranteed to rise by 3% p.a. He's happy in the house and the kids are doing well in local schools.

What difference does either scenario make to him?

[Guest]

Speaking of financial advice - that money doctor guy prints the same article every January “100 ways to save and make money in the new year”
one of his tips is - enter more competitions, buy scratch cards- somebody has to win

[V for Vendetta]

Hitch likes moonshots.

He’s got an accelerated accrual DB scheme with a well paying job, pretty much guaranteed for life as long as he’s doesn’t go completely off the rails. He hasn’t really been bagging wealth for the first 25 years of his working life but his investment in his career has paid off to a decent extent. Not sure if the plan to get a gig with a hedge fund worked out but the professorship did. It’s going to be hard for him to end up in poverty from here (divorce, drug habit or some other type of unfortunate derailing event not withstanding).

Punting on high risk/high return opportunities gives him a chance to make the few million he’s always fancied. Bitcoin, hedge funds, spouses career etc.

Buying a property that he’ll live in isn’t exactly the biggest risk. It’s just a hoped for rise in value where the timing of any sale is decided by him. Not a huge punt in the scale of things.

So what’s the harm? It’s different for folk working in the private sector with no pension promise, no job for life for those folk so they have a lot more risk to contend with so need to take a different approach to their wealth accumulation. Therefore they should probably buy a more modest property (assuming they have the luxury of choice) if they can and save a bit more in a pension pot to spread the risk. So I agree with your approach RDIII in your situation but I can’t say I fundamentally disagree with Hitch on his PPR plans.

Hitches points about leverage in property and the tax break around your PPR is fair too. The theory of diversification and equites is all valid BUT it ignores tax and leverage on personal savings in Ireland. Very hard to make real wealth in Ireland except via private equity or a big leveraged punt. Whether that’s wise depends on if you can afford to take that sort of risk.

[Theresa]

Let's try a little case study.

Say an up and coming academic and his family purchase a new house to live in some up and coming area of Dublin. Meticulously researched of course.
Let's say they have 150k of a cash deposit and take a mortgage out for 450k (fairly standard 2021 scenario there btw).
They move in and get on with their lives.

Fast forward to 2026.
Two scenarios:

1. The Irish economy is roaring ahead in President Biden's second term. FDI flows are at all-time highs. Our now senior professor could sell his gaff for a million
2. The Irish economy has collapsed after President Trump's triumphant return to power and subsequent order to all US firms to return their offshore operations to home. Our now senior professor could sell his gaff for 200k which would still leave him in serious negative equity.

Let's assume for the purposes of argument that interest rates are fixed, personal taxes are fixed and our hero's salary is guaranteed to rise by 3% p.a. He's happy in the house and the kids are doing well in local schools.

What difference does either scenario make to him?

I'm missing your point.

"Personally I think an individual property is one of the dumbest forms of investment decision you can possibly make."

You need it (Unless you want to rent for ever, and then you get into the rent and invest vs downpayment and buy argument)

So with that premise, why is thinking of this thing you need in terms of getting the best ROI from it not a reasonable position?
and is the alternative, buying a house and totally ignoring that it is an asset that can, and likely will, appreciate/depreciate, a reasonable position?

[Raoul Duke III]

I'm missing your point.

"Personally I think an individual property is one of the dumbest forms of investment decision you can possibly make."

You need it (Unless you want to rent for ever, and then you get into the rent and invest vs downpayment and buy argument)

So with that premise, why is thinking of this thing you need in terms of getting the best ROI from it not a reasonable position?
and is the alternative, buying a house and totally ignoring that it is an asset that can, and likely will, appreciate/depreciate, a reasonable position?

You are missing the point - we were talking about investment property.

So two things:

1. I see buying an investment property and becoming an amateur landlord as being a highly sub-optimal investment decision. If I loved property so much as an investment class, I'd buy REIT shares.
2. Buying your PPR is a completely logical thing to do. But as Wombatman says, it is first and foremost a utility, not an investment. Hence my attempt at a case study above. Hitch is arguing it can be both.

[Raoul Duke III]

Liking the V analysis and the point about PS job for life tenure is valid (not sure the pension point is though - depends what has been accumulated in his stints abroad. So maybe he's only got half a DB entitlement to look forward to if he sticks it out in DCU until age 68).

Mostly though I enjoyed the musing on the multiple ways Hitch could prospectively go off the rails.

[ComradeCollie]

Mostly though I enjoyed the musing on the multiple ways Hitch could prospectively go off the rails.

Yeah, I'd expect him to be on his 2nd wife in 10 years time. Probably want to live within commuting distance of the gaf for when he gets to pick up the kids every other weekend.

[Raoul Duke III]

Yeah, I'd expect him to be on his 2nd wife in 10 years time. Probably want to live within commuting distance of the gaf for when he gets to pick up the kids every other weekend.

That's assuming he's passed his driving test by then.

[Raoul Duke III]

Research suggesting 12m (one in five) have already had covid in the UK. Presumably similar here.

Kinda assume this is a good thing as it means it's less lethal than previously assumed and also that herd immunity might be closer than we think?

[limpwhacker]

yeah theres just something fundamentally broken about the website. is there no chance the offer of funding external help could be taken up?

I presume you are talking about this site but the site has become so difficult to navigate it's impossible for me

[Wombatman]

You are missing the point - we were talking about investment property.

So two things:

1. I see buying an investment property and becoming an amateur landlord as being a highly sub-optimal investment decision. If I loved property so much as an investment class, I'd buy REIT shares.
2. Buying your PPR is a completely logical thing to do. But as Wombatman says, it is first and foremost a utility, not an investment. Hence my attempt at a case study above. Hitch is arguing it can be both.

The main problem is that quality of life and quality of investment are tightly coupled.

Think about liquidity. You need cash or you are presented with a better investment opportunity. How does that play out when the rest of the Hitchs have an attachment to the home.

The 'family home' has a special place in law and again is tied in with family law for obvious reasons. Nobody should expose 'the whole' of an investment to the strength of their marriage.

Plenty of professionals out them active in the real estate game. Stick to what you are good at. You are a fish here.

Your primary concern in identifying a good home is the impact it will have on your quality of life vs price. There is a massive crossover between the quality of life enhancers and investment potential anyway. But imagine a scenario where a sh1thole area has been tips to transform into up and coming in five years. Might be a great investment but do you really want to expose your family to 5 years in hell.

If you manage to luckbox a capital gain when it it time to sell fantastic, but it shouldn't be your raison d'etre when selecting a home.

[Trippie]

Update on white privilege. Turns out its a real thing. Walked through customs without ID. Border patrol agent asked where it was, then a next time you need to have it or it'll be a big problem.

It's also snowing in Texas so the locals are losing their mind and roads are more dangerous than mad Max

[V for Vendetta]

Liking the V analysis and the point about PS job for life tenure is valid (not sure the pension point is though - depends what has been accumulated in his stints abroad. So maybe he's only got half a DB entitlement to look forward to if he sticks it out in DCU until age 68).

Mostly though I enjoyed the musing on the multiple ways Hitch could prospectively go off the rails.

Professors get accelerated accrual to compensate them for having to move about to invest in their career and learning. Very nice system. Plus he has past service.

I’d be confident Hitch gets a full DB pension promise if he works until 68. As for the affordability and potential sneaky means of reducing the real value of it that is unknowable and been debated here before so no point in going over that unless we want to just annoy Lazare.

As for Hitch going off the rails that’s something none of us should get too smug about. I’ve seen a fair bit of if over the last number of years. Navigating the 40s and 50s is quite a challenge from what I’ve seen and that was pre the head fuck that is COVID.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Top analysis there V on multiple accounts. And as you rightly point out, I was doling out an investment perspective from my own pension situation. while you would expect a finance prof to be cognisant that not everyone has the same pension situation.

I'm below a full pension at the moment, but going to top that up with additional contributions, in due course. Apparently, I can buy up to eight additional years of contributions.

[Denny Crane]

Research suggesting 12m (one in five) have already had covid in the UK. Presumably similar here.

Kinda assume this is a good thing as it means it's less lethal than previously assumed and also that herd immunity might be closer than we think?

deja vu

I find it bizarre that you can read all those smart-sounding books and still have such glaring mental flaws.

Irish property did indeed have one of the worlds worst property corrections in history - and has now recovered all those losses. That tells you precisely how resiliant the asset class is.

The fundamental issue here from an investment perspective:

- Ireland should remain a very rich country due to network effects that are very hard to break
- There are going to be millions more people living here over the next few decades, all well paid
- You can get a return on a much larger asset base than you can in other investments due to leverage being built in

Demographics and wealth are the two core determinants of property value.

On the other hand, your diversified portfolio is excessively reliant on a declining investment story - I'd say that maybe 90% of your portfolio is in developed countries and so is going to miss the whole rise of asia and Africa over the next few decades.

The idea of a diversified portfolio is used as a handy rule of thumb because it tells the common person how to make broadly correct decisions. You're reciting the story that finance profs came up with in the 1960s and then marketed in A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Its the core of all Finance 101 courses. And indeed it is fundamentally correct. But its not wrong to take on more risk for higher return through lack of diversification providing you feel you know the risk you are taking on and can manage it.

Leverage, population demographics, constrained supply, ZIRP, all working for you.

Raoul correct too though. I think we all underestimate how much can happen over time, and how much risk we're exposed to. Find Dalio's cycle book good for putting things in prospective.

[Denny Crane]

What ramifications do you foresee?

Denny made a comment a while back about individual stocks maybe being a better route than ETFs or index trackers. Assuming you have some sense of how to value a company that might still hold.

Course one could be accused me of not being a pro and so I should stick to ETFs.

There's so much passive money now that in theory there should be more potential for active money.

index holders were front run for billions when Tesla was added to the S&P
You've just a huge wave of predictable money

Add in all the dumb money in retail now and the opportunities should be huge. It's a dream for the likes of SIG.

[Denny Crane]

Speaking of investing, something very strange will be occurring over the next few years I feel.

You have the common Joe with unprecedented and cheap access to the markets in the US and Canada (Ireland still miles behind in this regard it seems) with things like RobinHood, Schwabs fractional share product, Questrade/E Trade etc.

You have an uptick in this investment choice since Covid since there is nothing else to do (Sports were all cancelled and this was an outlet).

Then you have a crash in March 2020 and then an incredible rally, still going.

Putting your money in any random stock since then has seen massive returns.

Then you have Bitcoin and the money made off that.

All this boils down to a demographic of people that have taken their first shot at investing and will feel invincible, a demographic with no reason to feel that way but ignorance.

I wonder how that’ll all play out in the long term. But surely something there is exploitable.

Hitch is the expert here. But history suggests people's investing profile is massively affected by what market they grew up in.

Who's gonna step away from the table when the FED is backstopping every bet.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

deja vu




Leverage, population demographics, constrained supply, ZIRP, all working for you.

Raoul correct too though. I think we all underestimate how much can happen over time, and how much risk we're exposed to. Find Dalio's cycle book good for putting things in prospective.

I really want to read loads by Dalio. He seems the master investment strategist.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Hitch is the expert here. But history suggests people's investing profile is massively affected by what market they grew up in.

Who's gonna step away from the table when the FED is backstopping every bet.

Thats this paper and loads that cite it (not particularly worth the read imo as it dissolves into pointless academic crap fairly quickly) https://www.nber.org/system/files/wo...813/w14813.pdf ugh, its a slightly depressing idea. Luckily in Ireland we grew up in a place where everything was always getting better, albeit slowly.

[Hectorjelly]

There's so much passive money now that in theory there should be more potential for active money.

I've heard several people argue exactly the opposite. Active fund managers are at a disadvantage because the stocks that ETF's tend to buy develop a momentum of their own divorced from any fundamentals.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

"Must stop looking at the ethereum price" is something I can imagine putting on my gravestone at this point. €8k forgone profit at this stage. And it was literally just three months ago I sold. Never sell anything is maybe the motto from now on.

[V for Vendetta]

I've heard several people argue exactly the opposite. Active fund managers are at a disadvantage because the stocks that ETF's tend to buy develop a momentum of their own divorced from any fundamentals.

But it's the active managers job to know that and to front run the impact of that. I think the next 5 years will be decisive for the future of active management in listed equity markets. They either start nimbly outperforming passive money given its incredible scale or they fold their tent and stick to private markets.

[Denny Crane]

Yeah anyone saying that just hasn't adjusted to the new game.

[Raoul Duke III]

Let the homeschooling commence!


(heeeeeeeeelllllppppp)

[DeadParrot]

yeah theres just something fundamentally broken about the website. is there no chance the offer of funding external help could be taken up?

Desktop browsing experience should be much improved. Mobile is proving finicky.
We've a few ideas so stay tuned.

[DeadParrot]

Let the homeschooling commence!


(heeeeeeeeelllllppppp)

Our Day one set up is pretty robust with lesson plans, named desks arts and crafts set up etc.

day 10....

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

Desktop browsing experience should be much improved. Mobile is proving finicky.
We've a few ideas so stay tuned.

It's the waiting time that I'd say is mentally putting off people. Where it has 'working' or some weird error message.

[Raoul Duke III]

Our Day one set up is pretty robust with lesson plans, named desks arts and crafts set up etc.

1. 9 year old has already done everything for the day and awaiting her Zoom call at 1. Need to invent some extracurricular activity now. Notice that her spelling is absolutely terrible.
2. 12 year old doesn't know where anything is and has lost the shit I printed out for him yesterday
3. 14 year old refusing to get out of bed and get dressed

On the positive side, it's an absolute A1 excuse for getting out of work meetings.

[V for Vendetta]

Let the homeschooling commence!


(heeeeeeeeelllllppppp)

Our childminder is happy to look after little Miss V for the full days that we need cover and to deliver the home schooling. An absolute result for the incredibly good value of an extra €150 a week.

It's been a long Xmas break for us all!!


Just doing up my list of work projects for 2021. Unreal. Need to add another experienced member to my team asap....but that will still take a few months for them to land.

[DeadParrot]

It's the waiting time that I'd say is mentally putting off people. Where it has 'working' or some weird error message.

Running the site with the web console open should give you an idea where the issue is.
For the record, I 100% share the pain on this, I've found my usage dwindling a little as I can't be dealing with waiting times as I alt+tab as working mostly.

What I generally do is scrub the sites cache as often as I can, when I notice the slow down. The vbulletin engine has changed significantly and it polls almost constantly instead of statically waiting for input.
It's a weird design that, to be honest, I don't 100% understand.

On the mobile front, there's one or two options that's I still need to commit time to investigating.
Dom has a few ideas of his own that we have discussed and hopefully with Kev's vital technical input we can get it sorted

[Raoul Duke III]

Our childminder is happy to look after little Miss V for the full days that we need cover and to deliver the home schooling. An absolute result for the incredibly good value of an extra €150 a week.

Ah, so you are in the 'essential services' bracket?

I would tut-tut at your breach of the regs (unless you have formed a bubble with your childminder) but I know a zillion people doing the same so will rather bow my head in admiration at this effective outsourcing.

[Raoul Duke III]

Running the site with the web console open should give you an idea where the issue is.
For the record, I 100% share the pain on this, I've found my usage dwindling a little as I can't be dealing with waiting times as I alt+tab as working mostly.

we want to give you money to fix it, how do we make this happen?

[Guest]

we want to give you money to fix it, how do we make this happen?

Happy to do so too provided we can take a poll on those members who will do the interviewing process.

[DeadParrot]

Our childminder is happy to look after little Miss V for the full days that we need cover and to deliver the home schooling. An absolute result for the incredibly good value of an extra €150 a week.

It's been a long Xmas break for us all!!


Just doing up my list of work projects for 2021. Unreal. Need to add another experienced member to my team asap....but that will still take a few months for them to land.

quick question if you don't mind.
I've 30-oddk from an old executive pension from my old contracting days.
It's no longer being contributed to since I went PAYE and I'm torn between moving it to my
work pension or using it as a stand alone. The latter makes more sense to me I guess (I've 30 yeas (probably) left until pensionable age) as who stays in the one job these days and moving it will be a hassle.

Am I on the right track or talking shite?

[Guest]

It's the waiting time that I'd say is mentally putting off people. Where it has 'working' or some weird error message.

No issues here at all on an iPhone
maybe it’s time you took your favourite Irish tech journalists advice and pay for some quality

[DeadParrot]

we want to give you money to fix it, how do we make this happen?

Let me talk to the bossman. It's not as simple as throwing money at it I don't think.

[DeadParrot]

Mobile test..

Edit: zipping along atm tbf

[V for Vendetta]

Ah, so you are in the 'essential services' bracket?

I would tut-tut at your breach of the regs (unless you have formed a bubble with your childminder) but I know a zillion people doing the same so will rather bow my head in admiration at this effective outsourcing.

We're effectively bubbling with the childminder as she's got her elderly Mam living with her and going nowhere and neither are we. But yes we are breaching the regs but I'd argue not the spirit of them...

Of course my services are essential btw! I'm advising one quarter of the private sector DB pension assets in the country these days...€65bn in the market and I'm leading the advice to €15bn+ ....It seems crazy when I say it like that...

[V for Vendetta]

quick question if you don't mind.
I've 30-oddk from an old executive pension from my old contracting days.
It's no longer being contributed to since I went PAYE and I'm torn between moving it to my
work pension or using it as a stand alone. The latter makes more sense to me I guess (I've 30 yeas (probably) left until pensionable age) as who stays in the one job these days and moving it will be a hassle.

Am I on the right track or talking shite?

It comes down to fees and flexibility.

If the Exec pension fees are a lot higher than your staff plan then I'd probably switch unless you absolutely want to get your hands on the exec pension pot independently of your other pension arrangements. Exec schemes generally only allow retirement from age 60 and whereas a staff plan will allow from age 50 once you've left the employer.

Setting up a new pension arrangement in the future is relatively easy and generally better value at that time so no point in hanging on to the legacy plan to avoid the future "hassle" imo.

[Raoul Duke III]

We're effectively bubbling with the childminder as she's got her elderly Mam living with her and going nowhere and neither are we. But yes we are breaching the regs but I'd argue not the spirit of them...

I'll be honest, with this thing absolutely rampant, the bolded bit would make me very nervous indeed. No matter how locked-down you think you are, I think you're taking a chance here that you shouldn't be. You've got a duty of care here.

[DeadParrot]

It comes down to fees and flexibility.

If the Exec pension fees are a lot higher than your staff plan then I'd probably switch unless you absolutely want to get your hands on the exec pension pot independently of your other pension arrangements. Exec schemes generally only allow retirement from age 60 and whereas a staff plan will allow from age 50 once you've left the employer.

Setting up a new pension arrangement in the future is relatively easy and generally better value at that time so no point in hanging on to the legacy plan to avoid the future "hassle" imo.

perfect thanks

[DeadParrot]

I'll be honest, with this thing absolutely rampant, the bolded bit would make me very nervous indeed. No matter how locked-down you think you are, I think you're taking a chance here that you shouldn't be. You've got a duty of care here.

Wonder if Laz's running outside the 5km argument would fly now?

[Raoul Duke III]

AWS have dropped that Parler app for hosting

Wonder where the hell the Trumpian message goes now that the leader is muzzled and Big Tech is (far too belatedly) cracking down on this shit. Pigeons?

[Guest]

AWS have dropped that Parler app for hosting

Wonder where the hell the Trumpian message goes now that the leader is muzzled and Big Tech is (far too belatedly) cracking down on this shit. Pigeons?

Whoever figures it out I’m sure will monetise quite well. Undoubtedly an incentive exists for playing up to that audience and providing them a platform.

Covid cases down here seems out of control in relative terms but beaches/prom are still mobbed.

A couple of local businesses that generally open for takeaway coffees took the decision to close to avoid crowds congregating in those areas so efforts are being made.

[Lazare]

Wonder if Laz's running outside the 5km argument would fly now?

I never ran outside the permitted zones. Would pivot at exactly 2km and stay within. People were annoyed because I ran 12km within that zone.

Ran a grudge match race over it

[DeadParrot]

AWS have dropped that Parler app for hosting

Wonder where the hell the Trumpian message goes now that the leader is muzzled and Big Tech is (far too belatedly) cracking down on this shit. Pigeons?

The homebase for rabid US conservatism will be hosted outside the US.
China/Russia most likely. What could possibly go wrong?

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

The homebase for rabid US conservatism will be hosted outside the US.
China/Russia most likely. What could possibly go wrong?

Its such a mad conception that you can think to drop China in there. China has zero interest in getting into a battle with the US and has largely just accepted every dodgy thing that the US has done to them. They also have enough control over their internet that they would be able to prevent anything they didn't want. We really need to think about the way we are sleepwalking into anti-China sentiment, simply because Trump said to do it. This time last year people were refusing to eat in Chinese restaurants in Mullingar so as not to catch covid.

fwiw - its far more likely to be the likes of Ukraine which has a burgeoning data centre business centred on hacking and coin mining. Plus that place is a lawless outback.

[Solksjaer!]

feeling shit the past 3 days with zero covid symptoms.
Went out for a walk and just wanted to lie down on the street .
No temp. No sore throat, cough etc.. bit of a dull headache.
debating about wasting peoples time with a test .

[Raoul Duke III]

The homebase for rabid US conservatism will be hosted outside the US.
China/Russia most likely. What could possibly go wrong?

Might as well put the hosting where most of the content comes from I suppose.

[V for Vendetta]

I'll be honest, with this thing absolutely rampant, the bolded bit would make me very nervous indeed. No matter how locked-down you think you are, I think you're taking a chance here that you shouldn't be. You've got a duty of care here.

Absolutely. We’ve effectively fully locked ourselves down for the past two weeks in preparation. We saw where things were heading and said we’d prepare for schools not reopening and that was the price to be paid. In a fortunate position to be able to do that I guess.

[Raoul Duke III]

Whoever figures it out I’m sure will monetise quite well. Undoubtedly an incentive exists for playing up to that audience and providing them a platform.

Covid cases down here seems out of control in relative terms but beaches/prom are still mobbed.

A couple of local businesses that generally open for takeaway coffees took the decision to close to avoid crowds congregating in those areas so efforts are being made.

Just in my local area, when I took the kids out for forced punishment marches (their interpretation)\gentle strolls around the neighbourhood (mine), the local coffee shops etc were doing a booming takeaway trade and the local Red Stables market was as busy as ever on Saturday, with plenty of maskless punters.
Although the cops were stopping cars and, in the 5 mins I could see of it, turning a lot of them around and telling them to GTF back to where they came from.

It's the 'it doesn't affect me' mindset. I'm as guilty of it as anyone so not being sanctimonious but I'd say if we all audited our activity, we'd all fall way short of what the guidelines say.

[Raoul Duke III]

Absolutely. We’ve effectively fully locked ourselves down for the past two weeks in preparation. We saw where things were heading and said we’d prepare for schools not reopening and that was the price to be paid. In a fortunate position to be able to do that I guess.

Worst, worst case scenario. Her mother somehow gets covid and dies.
You'll never know it didn't come from your house and neither will the community you live within. I know you're being uber-cautious but this really feels like something you 100% should not be doing.

Once this thing is over and people can breathe again, I think there'll be a lot of lingering blame and resentment directed at people who flaunted guidelines. Anectodally you hear about people who had parties that led to very serious clusters with multiple deaths resulting. Those people are going to have to live with that within their communities for a long time (and we know what Ireland, especially rural Ireland, is like for folk memory of this kind).

[DeadParrot]

Its such a mad conception that you can think to drop China in there. China has zero interest in getting into a battle with the US and has largely just accepted every dodgy thing that the US has done to them. They also have enough control over their internet that they would be able to prevent anything they didn't want. We really need to think about the way we are sleepwalking into anti-China sentiment, simply because Trump said to do it. This time last year people were refusing to eat in Chinese restaurants in Mullingar so as not to catch covid.

fwiw - its far more likely to be the likes of Ukraine which has a burgeoning data centre business centred on hacking and coin mining. Plus that place is a lawless outback.

Oh give over yourself. Hyperbolic comparisons should be beneath you
If you cannot see any strategic advantage, no matter how small, in china hosting that platform you are either being wilfully ignorant or just plain ignorant.
The single superpower environment we have grown up in is coming to an end, it's in the other players benefit to facilitate that end.

[Raoul Duke III]

The single superpower environment we have grown up in is coming to an end, it's in the other players benefit to facilitate that end.

Interesting to note that Mueller left a lot of strands open to pick up again once the Trump presidency ends.

Before last week, I would have bet that the Biden administration would have soft-pedalled on any investigations into Trump. Under the Nixon-Ford precedent of just hoping to draw a line in the sand and move forward.

That's all changed now that he is quite evidently a huge threat to national security - I'd expect to see all systems go into Trump investigations once Garland is confirmed and not just the criminality within the Trump organisation, but also and more interestingly Russian collusion. It would now be in everyone's interest to fully expose that to its maximum extent (and thus destroy Trump).
The recent Russian mega-hack should also be fully exposed and the most severe sanctions possible undertaken. Biden's incoming team already talking very tough in that regard.

The most shameful day in recent US history (well before last Wednesday) was when Trump stood alongside Putin in Helsinki and rubbished the unanimous conclusions of the entire US intelligence community. Now we might find out why.

[DeadParrot]

Interesting to note that Mueller left a lot of strands open to pick up again once the Trump presidency ends.

Before last week, I would have bet that the Biden administration would have soft-pedalled on any investigations into Trump. Under the Nixon-Ford precedent of just hoping to draw a line in the sand and move forward.

That's all changed now that he is quite evidently a huge threat to national security - I'd expect to see all systems go into Trump investigations once Garland is confirmed and not just the criminality within the Trump organisation, but also and more interestingly Russian collusion. It would now be in everyone's interest to fully expose that to its maximum extent (and thus destroy Trump).
The recent Russian mega-hack should also be fully exposed and the most severe sanctions possible undertaken. Biden's incoming team already talking very tough in that regard.

The most shameful day in recent US history (well before last Wednesday) was when Trump stood alongside Putin in Helsinki and rubbished the unanimous conclusions of the entire US intelligence community. Now we might find out why.

Yeah they need to step on the neck of the GOP.
The Dems will never have a better chance to force a split in their opponents base and vote.
Every single bit of ugliness needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the sun

[Dice75]

Who the fuck teaches cursive writing to 5yo's, this is great craic altogether. Daddy is a cursive "g" a hanging, standing or sitting letter? Fook knows says I.

[Elshambles]

Yeah they need to step on the neck of the GOP.
The Dems will never have a better chance to force a split in their opponents base and vote.
Every single bit of ugliness needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the sun

They want to hurry up with this... Need to get back to the comfort of calling Biden a baby murdering cunt

[Raoul Duke III]

Who the fuck teaches cursive writing to 5yo's, this is great craic altogether. Daddy is a cursive "g" a hanging, standing or sitting letter? Fook knows says I.

it's the Gaeilge that's the real killer. My kids went to a Montessori that did everything through Irish and they're all still fairly fluent whereas I'm battling to understand WTF their homework means.

[Elshambles]

Who the fuck teaches cursive writing to 5yo's, this is great craic altogether. Daddy is a cursive "g" a hanging, standing or sitting letter? Fook knows says I.

When it comes to fractions get them to do their homework in the style of a lucky 15 with a 15% bonus

See what the teacher thinks of that