A number of people commented, with consideration and concern, because I felt unable to post here on Wednesday this week, almost certainly because I had an adverse reaction to two vaccinations on Monday.
Leave aside, for a moment, the good news that this shows that my immune system is working as it should, and let me focus on blogging instead.
John Warren said:
What are you doing, Richard? I didn't expect that comment to appear, perhaps for days. I couldn't do what you try to do. Take some rest. Go bird watching, if well enough. Take more time off. You will burn yourself out the way you are going.
Alan Peyton said:
Irrespective of jabs etc…..look at your workload & your work/life balance…the “life” bit needs addressing? – take nowt for granted…reduce your blog output to say 3 or 4 times per week concentrated on getting your ideas into the political domain...
Both viewpoints are interesting.
John's is right. I have hardly taken a break since March. An invitation from a friend to go bird watching in the next week on the Norfolk coast and maybe some more local reserves arrived in my inbox almost simultaneously with my vaccination. I have decided to take a week off the day jobs. Trips out may fill my time instead. There will, for example, be no Taxing Wealth Report posts next week for this reason. Many of them take a lot of time to prepare. I will have a break from them, as I will also do from other work commitments.
But then there are the current affairs posts. This blog may be unusual in mixing these items, and I am not worried about that. The truth is that these smaller posts are often written or dictated in a few minutes (hence the typos), and I enjoy writing them.
These posts make me think about the day, what is happening, why that might be the case, and what, if anything, might be done about it. This is the almost perpetual narrative of my life. I explore that narrative in writing here. I find it hard not to do these posts because writing them lets me address an issue and then move on. It is almost a release to do them.
Nonetheless, is Alan Peyton right? Would I be better off posting on just one issue a day and push just a few themes somewhat harder?
The readership data suggests not. For example, important as I think it is, the work on taxing wealth is not promoting a lot of additional traffic. It is much more likely that something else is better read on any day. That is normally the case for my policy-related posts. But should I ignore that and the fact that on the days when I post more items, I tend to have significantly higher traffic on the site, with the multiple postings appearing to cross-fertilise interest in others?
I would value your opinions. So, some initial questions on the number of desirable blog posts. You can only pick one of these options:
How many posts a day are desirable on this blog?
- As many as you like, but feel free to take time off (79%, 296 Votes)
- I don't care as long as you post something interesting (10%, 37 Votes)
- 2 (4%, 15 Votes)
- 1 (4%, 14 Votes)
- 3 (3%, 13 Votes)
- 4 (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 375
Loading ...Then, some questions on what blog posts you find most interesting:
Which type of post do you prefer to read?
- Anything that seems to be of interest (70%, 248 Votes)
- Anything related to economics (13%, 45 Votes)
- Comments on the days news (9%, 33 Votes)
- Policy / campaigning related blogs in general (5%, 18 Votes)
- Anything related to tax (3%, 11 Votes)
Total Voters: 355
Loading ...And finally, some questions on how to decide whether a post is worth reading in the easiest possible way and some other blog-related questions. You can answer as many times as you like here, and it would be good if you did. Please note answering positively to each option means agreement whilst disagreement or no comment is signified by not answering:
Some blog related questions: answering yes means agreement. No answer is disagreement or no comment
- Do the comments on posts add value? (35%, 276 Votes)
- Would a short bullet point summary of longer posts be of use? (22%, 171 Votes)
- Is the glossary of use? (20%, 160 Votes)
- Is the daily email, summarising blogs posted here, of use? (17%, 133 Votes)
- Should I permit more comments on posts from those who are rude or abusive but have something to say? (5%, 39 Votes)
- Is there anything that might make posts easier to read/more attractive? If so please use the comments section (1%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 315
Loading ...If anything needs elaboration, please leave a comment.
Finally, thanks for reading. Despite what trolls suggest, no one on earth would write a blog if they wished for their ego to be flattered because that is certainly not what happens, as 17 years of experience have proved to me. A battering of the ego is what you actually get. I do, however, appreciate the fact that there are around 15,000 reads of this blog a day at present, and I do not take them for granted.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Richard, your work is excellent. For me, the taxing wealth report is an important piece of work. I skim the blogs but am basically waiting for the book. Your wide interests and ability to connect cultural, political and economic themes with basic humanity and glimpses into your personal life weave a tapestry for our times. Your work is one of the few sources of opinion I consider essential regular reading. Keep it up!
Thank you
Appreciated
This is one of the few places where substantive comments are allowed. The Guardian closes down comments far far to quickly & many are trivial in the extreme. The Indy .. the less said the better. I will pass over the rest (of the Uk meeja) in silence.
I have learned a great deal from the blog – both in terms of Richards posts and from below the line comments. It is a refugue in what I increasingly see as very dark times. It also shows that we are not alone in the ideas/thoughts/views that we hold, which for the most part are convergent, but with sufficient diversity to avoid group think.
I am curious as to who reads without commenting – i.e. what politicos, which parties & what impact, if any.
So am I!
You may not get the traffic on the more technical posts such as the taxing wealth or the accounting profession because many of us don’t feel qualified to comment in any detail, or that we can’t say much beyond expressing agreement in principle. It does not mean they are not useful and relevant.
Long term they are your more valuable work.
You cover a lot of topics and the comments will reflect the different interests of the readership.
I misread the second poll and would now say anything of interest. You do often provide a perspective I hadn’t thought of or seen in other media. I will sometimes use it occasionally in commenting elsewhere.
The quality of the work will suffer if you push yourself too hard. I don’t know if your wife reminds you that you are not a young man any more but it is, and will be increasingly, an issue and John Warren is right. To preserve the quality you may need to reduce the quantity.
Whatever you decide your readership which has stuck with you -over a decade for me-will support you.
She does remind me of that
I think it most unfair of her, now she too is in her 60s.
And thanks
The topics are always interesting, whether general news items or specific to tax and the economy, and as a result the comments are also high quality. That is a rare combination.
I used to get a good mix of comments and information from the Guardian, but not only has the newspaper itself lost credibility, the comments are now heavily censored, and the quality of discussion is consequently poor.
So I would be happy with one blog item a day, even if it’s only a poll, especially if the blog or poll generated some interesting comments.
Above all, look after your health.
Thanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCWrocU20RU
Last night’s weownit youtube. You were mentioned on it, your work on water companies. If you didn’t post on a wide range of topics, where would we be?
Another good thing about this blog is that you are willing to let us share the information we get on here far and wide. Long may it and you continue.
Thanks
Have a relaxing break and, please, take lots of pictures to post on here. Take care, and ignore comments about you being an old man. You are as old as you feel.
I feel pretty much as I did in my thirties – when I realised I really was a grown up
And I am blessed with pretty good health overall. Not a single chronic condition. Apart from excessive writing, that is.
You’re lucky. I’m 67 and still sometimes wonder what I will do when I grow up!
Growing up well is, I tjink, retaining the imagination of a child combined with the respinsibility of an adult.
It’s about not being childish, but retaining the wonder the child has and putting ti to good effect.
Well, that’s my theory.
Getting old is to give up on the imagination and wonder. Not a good idea.
Without wishing to sound morbid Richard do you have a succession plan in place?
We desperately need thinkers like you and it would be a tragedy for your life’s work to just fade away.
Perhaps some sort of foundation?
No. Nothing of the sort. I do need a plan for keeping this site going if I pop off though….
I’d 2nd George Roberts’ & Mike Parr’s comments especially.
Regulars accessing your site are grateful for what you do, a voice of sanity.
Easier said . . just don’t feel obliged to post.
From someone here who rarely takes own advice, look after yourself & don’t spend
long periods sat down at computer (Buy a 30min sand timer?, even 2 min breaks . . ).
The arguments & resources you provide are so important.
The dethronement of neoliberal economics myth is the essential precondition to
seriously addressing the climate & ecological emergency at any pace; so much social & economic investment is now needed – the Tories have trashed this country.
Could say far more. Thanks again.
PS. Not relevant but Ella Baron’s cartoon in yesterday’s Guardian was ‘bob on’.
I am very good at leaving the computer, taking breaks, going out for a coffee, and so on. I could not be productive if I sat down for long periods. Most ocffee shop around here know it’s a black Americano as I walk in. I drink
And thank you.
This is my first comment, although I’ve been reading your admirable blog for several years now. It’s a daily priority for me and I look forward to its arrival just after midnight every night.
Its appeal is the breadth of subject-matter, combined with your depth of knowledge and ability to write coherently across a wide range of topics, integrating subject areas and disciplines. I’m ex-Revenue amongst other things, and particularly enjoy the tax knowledge you include in your economic and political mix.
It’s not just about what, but how you write too. You write with warmth and genuine concern for the human condition in all its admirable and despicable manifestations You aren’t afraid to reveal your feelings or nail your colours firmly to the topical mast of the day.
The is only suggestion I have – and I’m not teccy so there may be a way of doing this already that I’m not aware of – is that a date-listed index of your daily blog’s headlines (to enable easier access to specific articles, subjects or responses) would be really useful. I read a lot of articles daily and have difficulty remembering where I read interesting information after a few days. However in order to try not to miss anything you say that’s of particular interest I now type out all the headlines of your daily blog in date order and put my key titles in bold. It can take a while as I don’t remember do it every day! Although I do print out the odd article from elsewhere I don’t do this regular listing for any other material – it’s just that your blog is so comprehensively wide!
As an active member of a small Scottish political party I need to keep up-to-date with ‘everything’ because we engage with the general public (and each other, conferences, new members etc) regularly.
I join all the others in giving you three cheers for all the work you do, Richard. We all appreciate the importance and value of your unique contribution and voice.
We also wish you the best of health so you can continue for many more years.
Please look after yourself!
Shirley
Thanks for this – I really appreciate your comments
There is a daily directory, somewhere far down on the right hand side – but I like your suggestion and will see if that can be changed to reflect it
Best
Richard
“An invitation from a friend to go bird watching in the next week on the Norfolk coast and maybe some more local reserves arrived in my inbox almost simultaneously with my vaccination. I have decided to take a week off the day jobs. Trips out may fill my time instead. There will, for example, be no Taxing Wealth Report posts next week for this reason”.
Very smart move, if I may say.
It will be an early start tomorrow….
I can only echo what Mike Parr wrote: I have learnt a lot from you posts and the comments they elicit. Thanks to all!
Thsnks
Great article and simplification of the frequently asked questions!
I too second the appreciative comments here. All power to your elbow Richard, but take care not to overdo things.
My replies to your poll are in line with the majority view. But the percentages quoted in response to the third question are beyond the comprehension of this simple mathematician for whom 111/119 = 93%. Maybe the fact that today is my 82nd birthday explains my bewilderment !
I will look
But it is not my software
Is that, perhaps, because there are 119 voters, many of whom voted ofr more than 1 option?
Indeed, it’s clearly related to the fact that for this particular question (but not the others) you could agree with for several of the statements offered.
Which means the % agreeing with each statement do not have to add up to 100%. If 111 of 119 voters agree with a statement, then that’s still 93%. Presenting it as 37% makes no sense (37% of what?).
37% of all votes cast.
Thanks for the votes, everyone. Appreciated.
I always value your posts. I may not understand half of them, but the half I do get are useful in framing my thinking about this country.
Thanks
“For example, important as I think it is, the work on taxing wealth is not promoting a lot of additional traffic. ”
I am a US viewer of this blog. I read your blog to compare what is going on in the US, Asia and EU with what is going on in the UK. The US, EU, Asia and UK are different but we are all linked for better or worse; take your pick for point of discussion.
I have yet to see your complete dissertation on “Taxing the Wealth in the UK ” in one place. I would love to see the complete document. Where may I find it for download and in printable format.
Please take care of yourself as you economic intelligence and commentary are much needed.
It is only half way there yet
Then it will need compiling….
November, maybe…
Richard, Thanks for the update.
I have not commented before but your work – blogs, tweets – has been for some time a source of hope. Such thoughtful commentary in the desert of partisanship and the sheerly mendacious is very, very welcome. But do keep an eye on your health!
Thanks
And I definitely will
Thanks for all your hard work. I read your blog post first in the morning before anything else.
I read all the comments on each post and am amazed at the depth of knowledge shown.
I also appreciate that you cross post to Mastodon as I now no longer use that bird site.
Today I will have been living in Finistère, Brittany for 17 years. The plan was for it to be temporary whilst I ran a cycling holiday business. On retirement I decided not to return to the UK. I may have if Corbyn had won or if a left leaning government ever comes to power. From here it looks like an authoritarian failed state. Sorry to be blunt. Most expats (immigrants) here agree.
Thanks
“From here it looks like an authoritarian failed state.”
From here, in Ille et Vilaine, Brittany, it looks like that to me too (almost 40 years in France; retired in rural Brittany), and getting worse all the time. Very sad.
This blog and The Guardian (much maligned but still worth supporting IMO) are my first reads daily.
Thanks
In response to John Despard and anrigaut, I wholly agree that, viewed from an overseas perspective, UK looks like a failed state. I’ve worked on 4 continents and have seen a variety of governmental structures (including a military dictatorship) at first-hand, but am now permanently resident in Scotland, and the bad news is that I have to say it looks like failed state from here too.
In a proper democracy the primary role of any government is to act in the interests of the people, not just those of the same political persuasion as the governing party. With a significant percentage of the population dependent on food banks and with fuel poverty rife (to pick just two of the multiple failures we’ve been subjected to), that is demonstrably not happening in the UK. We also don’t appear to have a functioning opposition party. How can Labour pledge to retain Tory policies if they’re elected, when it’s those policies that have caused the scandalous inequality, and expect to be seen as an effective opposition? It’s all very reminiscent of Brasil 1970. A sham democracy, a failed state, and probably destined to disintegrate.
I have to agree
Except I have had a great day out…..
As others have said, just make sure you are paying enough attention to your health Richard.
I started working in the IT industry in the 1970s and we were told that most manufacturers of VDUs advised that you should not work more than 40 minutes at a keyboard and screen before taking a break.
A warning understood but like the well known dangers of smoking almost entirely ignored in the smoke filled offices in which we worked.
I suspect I very rarely spend that long looking at a screen.
That’s partly because when I am writing I take frequent breaks to walk around whilst working out what to say next. Nit doing so would considerably reduce my productivity. Ut also considerably increases my number of steps per day.
I’m a relative newcomer – a couple of months – and find the breadth of topics covered really informative. I read your email first thing every morning and enjoy the comments as well as the blog. But I shy away from commenting, firstly because I don’t have the knowledge that you all do. But also because I don’t want to be called out as a troll for having a perspective that you don’t agree with. I’m one of the few that voted for you to allow a wider mix of comments in the hope that – if treated with compassion – we can all learn more from each other.
Disagree by all means – feel free
But a) don’t be rude and b) set all the red flags for a troll (and if you don’t know what they are you probably won’t)
Richard, I’m a bit late but also wanted to thank you for educating me on tax, economics and policies. I read your posts almost every day. I’ve never commented before because I don’t have a good grasp yet. But I usually read all or most of the comments because they are so interesting. Also love the music and poetry posts and I listen to you on the Echo Chamber podcast. I live in Spain so it’s interesting to compare with what’s happening in the UK and Ireland. Enjoy your bird watching! Would love to see some photos. Take care and thank you again.
Many thanks
Editing photos after a day out riught now….
Like many who visit this site regularly I came here to improve my understanding, initially of economics, but became engaged with wider topics because Richard’s analyses are so well-thought through. I was also attracted by the high quality of comments by regular visitors here, many of whom have invaluable experience in fields I know/knew little about. Through the Covid years especially, this was a haven of sanity and positive thinking as we watched an ill-prepared, imprudent government making catastrophic errors. So I thank Richard for his fastidious scholarship, astounding output and, like everyone else here, hope he’ll listen to his body and to the advice of his wife and contributors here (many of whom have had health issues due to overwork and stress in their day) and ensure his work/life balance is beneficial.
Re yesterday’s blog voting I’d add personal comments on question 3:
1. Bullet points: My mind seems to work in sentence structure and find that bullet points often don’t provide the clarity needed to form a sensible understanding. Richard’s sentence structures provide that clarity without patronisingthe reader.
2. Daily email of topics: an unnecessary extra task. I look forward to the daily surprise of reading Richard’s texts and frequently getting an understandng of a topic I’m not familiar with.
3. Making posts more attractive: from my perspective also an unnecessary task. This is a forum for serious consideration of important topics. That, and exercising our brains, is why we’re here.
6. Allowing rude posts: Richard is not afraid of different views and is very tolerant until the line into trolling has been crossed, so no change of policy needed.
Many thanks Ken
I had a great day birdwatching today
Do please keep blogging i look forward to reading you every day but I also feel that you need to look after yourself and achieve some balance.
Thanks
And I promise there is more Balkan E in my life than most people here seem think.
I think you should be as flexible as you need to be; I can’t really provide much advice because I have to take each day as it comes, so I don’t work to any regular schedule, and that’s worked well for me.
Receiving the daily email as a reminder to pop in is beneficial. I’ve found your blog to be very educational, and it’s helped me grasp many things I have been concerned about but needed to understand better. It’s provided me with the ‘whys’ to a lot of questions that go round in my head, particularly all the financial info.
Thank you
I am a year older than you and as I have never studied economics your blogs (and book which I am having to read oh so slowly) are my education on the subject. A summary by bullet points would be of help to me. Commentary is also of great interest, as to whether you should extend it to show those who need to be abusive to have their say………..well, I can imagine some of it. Do I want to read that? I don’t have to thus including those responses is a matter for you. Thank you for developing my education. Take as much time out as you wish.
Thank you
Noted