Member Info for nomlungu

JD Vance trolled:

https://x.com/ArthurDelaneyHP/status/1958206024239747565

How can you ever become President when people heckle you about your private life with your couch?

Veggie-flation strikes, with a warning for grocery prices

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/14/inflation-vegetables-ppi

That is brutal for poorer US consumers... And will have a knock on effect onto all consumer spending. From the article:

Zoom in: A 38.9% increase in prices for fresh and dry vegetables from June to July was the major driver of a higher index for "final demand goods" (things that are done and ready to be sold to a consumer, as opposed to things that go into a later production process).

That was the biggest month-on-month increase for fresh vegetables since March 2022.

Stunning stat: Per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it's also the largest monthly increase ever recorded in a summer month (June-August), in figures that go back to 1947.

PREM - some bought at 0.45 this morning; 0.28 to sell at close of play. 40% down on a one day spike on a share that ends up 18% must hurt.

Share price jumps on Monday; placing at 20% discount on Wednesday.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/PLSR/fundraise-of-up-to-gbp-5-million/17194033

Trebles all round for the BOD

PREM - from the RNS: 'the plant at Zulu has achieved Saleable Concentrate on numerous occasions with grades up to 6,2% Li2O, and the result of ongoing optimisation is expected to be that this is achieved consistently.'

So another way of saying that is 'most of the time the plant has delivered defective concentrate which we hope will be fixed after spending more money optimising the plant; we are exploring options to raise the required funds for the optimisation'.

Call me a cynic...

The Rise and (Upcoming) Fall of Donald Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHivxW3iCOY

The video ends with him saying: Uh particularly what he's doing in Washington, guys. I don't if you're watching this, he he's going to bring the National Guard into Washington now and he's going to militarize the city. I can't tell you how dangerous that is from a perspective is once he militarizes the city, how are we going to get him to leave the city? Okay, see see what he's doing. I know what he's doing cuz I know the son of a

Soybean Farmers Warn Trump of ‘Financial Precipice’ Over Tariffs

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-19/soybean-farmers-warn-trump-of-financial-precipice-over-tariffs

---or---

https://archive.ph/oEWE7

'China hasn’t purchased a single cargo of soybeans from the next harvest, which starts in September. In typical years, the Asian nation ordered an average of 14% of its estimated purchases from the US before crop gathering began...'

How much pain will rural America be prepared to take for the MAGA dream? Failing farms and a collapsing rural hospital system seems a steep price to pay.

Archive link

https://archive.ph/8cTWh

Trez Capital Halts Redemptions Across Five Real Estate Funds

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-18/trez-capital-halts-redemptions-across-five-real-estate-funds

Is the panic spreading from Hong Kong? If you thought you might need to redeem some Canadian property investments and Trez is suspending withdrawls because of 'elevated unitholder redemption requests, ongoing loan funding obligations and completing active loan workouts' would you wait much longer?

Runs start when queues start growing... Are forced sales on the way? Disorderly markets will cause fire sale prices that wreak havoc on RIET valuations and force banks to realise the bad debt they have been pretending they do not have. But the day of reckoning should have happened years ago so who knows... Maybe falling interest rates will save the day?

0.56 still means that the SPIVS are getting 12% profit on conversion [maybe they even sold some in advance]... It means that the HE1 BOD know there are a bunch of mugs who will willingly buy whenever they need more cash. There is little incentive to look after shareholders... and once they have had enough funding they will probably need to issue options to management at even cheaper prices.

Trebles all round [as the Private Eye would write].

I did not know that HE1 had gone for a CLN

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/HE1/notice-of-conversion-of-advance/17190018

Troajan,

Something to put a smile... 2 YouTube Geezers 'Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been writing, broadcasting or podcasting about music since 1975.'

https://www.youtube.com/@WordInYourEar/videos

Over 750 videos with a range of UK musicians as guests... New to me; I expect you will find some of their guests up your street.

The new Tecan?

You learn something new everyday: 'During tulip mania, however, the most prized varieties of all — those with variegated streaks of color against a solid base — were not the result of fortuitous breeding, but rather viral infection. The pathogen responsible, the Tulip Breaking Virus, interfered with pigment production in the petals, causing the streaking. Buyers believed they were investing in reproducible beauty, but bulbs from these tulips didn’t reliably yield the same patterns.'

https://www.asimov.press/p/the-flower-designer

Tulips are a bit like ramped AIM shares... the most toxic are the most valuable for a while until the bubble rots. Asimov Press is home to many fascinating articles if you like scientific writing.

Zelensky Trump Meeting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfv1drqZW8Y

Steve doing his thing...

Why is Donald Trump refusing to release the Epstein files? | 60 Minutes Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMIP4RIoCHc

Trigger warning - may require consumption of red pills

Beyond the Noise #78: RFK Jr.’s Plan to Eliminate Vaccines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpXSITnTN04

Trump is continually trying to 'flood the zone with...' to displace media coverage of the Epstein scandal so he may be happy for RFK to cause catastrophic damage to the vaccine industry in the US which will do immense harm to GSK. The risk / reward ratio seems too high for the dividends, so I am out until more clarity emerges [RFK has said that the US GOV will know by September what 'causes' autism...]

It is a disgrace that science is being abused for politics and personal grievances.

Trump CAUGHT ON CAMERA as Plan IMPLODES IN PUBLIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuSNmjqY2d0

Some shocking footage... It really seems to me that they are trying to provoke a deadly reaction against ICE jackboots and then declare some sort of State of Emergency and suspend the midterm elections. I doubt that this is good for the US economy or the strength of the $. This Bloomberg story will be worth keeping an eye on: "What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-14/cardboard-box-sales-fall-in-worrying-sign-for-us-retail

---or---

https://archive.ph/VHc4v

Cardboard sales are an elastic leading indicator; any further softness will be of serious concern.

Eric Topol - Chronic Lead Exposure, a Risk Factor for Heart Disease

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L47wmycdqJg

Another episode of his Ground Truths podcasts; I find them interesting.

Trek,

Both China and Russia are facing developing banking crises. In Russia, the state has forced toxic debt onto banks to deflate the costs of Putin’s war machine and war economy. These debts cannot be repaid, and lending to the real economy has largely ground to a halt. In China, the liquidation of Evergrande is accelerating the moment of asset price discovery, bringing the era of “extend and pretend” closer to its end. This Financial Times article illustrates how severe the fallout could be once banks are forced to recognize impairments in collateral values: “HSBC flags 73% of Hong Kong commercial property loans as risky.”

https://www.ft.com/content/352f58a4-ee6d-4cc4-bd3e-b0398abfb376

People tolerate a lot from their GOVs but losing the little cash they have is often a bridge too far.