Cover Page, 08 October 2020, Issue 250 Welcome to our latest edition. We hope you enjoy its articles and features. We’d like to introduce new writers, so if you’d be interested in contributing to the Shaw Sheet on either an occasional or regular basis, please contact the editors at johnW@shawsheet.com for the writers’ guidelines.
08 October 2020 The Price of Renewal Retiring the 747. By John Watson If you are looking for a symbol for the effect of the Covid virus, you could do worse than take the fate of the Boeing 747. The giant aircraft, originally built by Boeing for Pan Am, was introduced almost exactly 50 years
8 October 2020 The Swerve from Left Field. By J.R. Thomas As we have remarked here before, always expect the unexpected. Any good thriller has the event that comes from left field to throw every assumption up in the air. Last Friday we certainly had a humdinger, when President Trump was taken to hospital with
8 October 2020 Lies, Damned Lies and Coronavirus The second wave by David Chilvers There is now a view that the UK has entered a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. As we have reported previously*, all metrics related to COVID-19 began to increase in the latter part of August; this was initially related to
8 October 2020 Guilt-free Gilts Green UK Government Bonds by Frank O’Nomics I never had you down as an arms dealer. I didn’t think that I had the remotest involvement either – but it turns out I was wrong. Many of us have tried our best to salve our consciences by ensuring that our investments
8 October 2020 Diary of a Corbynista Ed and the Pope in tune by Don Urquhart 30 September The Proud Boys – Stand Back and Stand By. Trump’s call to arms for white supremacists should the electorate fail to put him back in The White House? Or an invocation to make sure the electorate knows
08 October 2020 What does a billion or a trillion mean to you? By Richard Pooley Here is an extract from a BBC Business report of 19 June this year: “The borrowing splurge sent total [UK] government debt surging to £1.95trn, exceeding the size of the economy for the first time in 50 years.” And
8 October 2020 View from the Cotswolds Good news for a change: The Chinese Puzzle By Paul Branch Good news at last, and absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump’s medical issue (we wish him and the missus well). But from an unexpected quarter, China no less. In the midst of the unseemly wrangling and
08 October 2020 Democracy Abhors A political vacuum. By Neil Tidmarsh Mr Nikolai Loktev, a member of President Putin’s United Russia party, recently stood for re-election as the head of the central Russian rural district of Povalikhino. He was the only candidate. With Alexei Navalny blaming his near-death experience on the Kremlin, it was perhaps
8 October 2020 It isn’t Fair ! And the Secret of Happiness by Philip Throp Reading Frankonomics’ article on sportsmanlike gestures this week made me reflect on a couple of things throwing light on his subject which had come to my attention just in the previous couple of days. Firstly a kind of antithesis to
