Member Info for skier1

The UK's Challenger 2 just won NATO's annual tank competition for 2023, beating the German Leopard and American Abrams.

A Challenger 2 tank holds the world record (in Iraq) for taking 70 RPG rocket hits and still drove away.

A Challenger 2 tank holds the world record (in Iraq) for the longest tank-on-tank kill ever recorded in battle anywhere on the planet, at 5km.

No Challenger 2 tank has ever been destroyed in open battle.

A quite awesome bit of kit.

Challenger 3 is coming in 2027.

As always, it's important not to buy into the artifical hysteria of misery whipped up daily by bitter Remainers who lost the referendum and continue to carp about their losses every day in the Remainer-led, hard-Left, mainstream media.

The reality is, the UK is the world's fastest-growing G7 economy for 2 years in a row, the UK is outgrowing Germany and the Eurozone in 2023, EU exports sit at a record high, everyone who wants a job in the UK has one, while UK wage growth is very strong, at its fastest growth rate this century.

The UK is much better than you realize.

Latest GDP-per-head stats place France at $41k, and UK at $46k, at the end of 2022.

Agree with Gate. Prigozhin must've been on crack to stay in Russia. Or some kind of bizarre "death before dishonour" death wish. He should've quietly fled to the US or Canada embassy in Poland and offered up some intel in exchange for a safe house. The US could've treated Prigozhin like Russia treated Edward Snowden.

Yes, well done to India. Very clever move. Spent just a tiny $75m on a rocket made from Lego -- and now has owns half the Moon. You can't even buy a posh house in London for $75m.

Some say the lunar economy will be worth $100 trillion by 2150, a century from now. India can now claim half of it. A very clever move.

As predicted, yet again -- 2 years ago -- JMAT is plunging down toward the £10-15 range.

Charts look very bearish here. Plunging an astonishing-60% in 5 years.

The battery mess in 2021, mixed financial results in 2022, and soft EBIT guidance for 2023-24 are weighing heavily on the shares.

NS&I stats says an astonishing 62% of all UK Premium Bond (PB) owners have not won a single penny or prize for the past 2 decades. Two in 3 people win nothing.

The average winner has £39k stashed in PBs. The average loser has £106.

Putting £39k in the Nasdaq in 2004 would now be worth around £300k in 2023.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/bonds/over-half-premium-bond-savers-no-winnings/

The FTSE has 2 major problems.

1. No tech firms

2. The most miserable stock analysts in the world live in London

The FTSE is trapped in a chicken-egg situation. Where the UK has literally zero big tech firms left -- because they have all been sold off abroad. And FTSE cannot attract large foreign tech firms to list in London, because they know the local stockmarket analysts and journalists will do a hatchet job on them and wreck their brand.

Take the upcoming ARM float, for example. Most US media is calling for a $50-100b valuation, lots of AI future hype, and an optimistic mood. By contrast, the main UK media is calling for just $20-50b, looking only at the past 5G slowdown, and there is an overwhelmingly pessimistic mood of doom, gloom and misery. You can see -- immediately -- why New York was chosen ahead of London.

Until we see a change in analyst and media culture, from misery to enthusiasm, the UK stockmarket is going to continue shrinking.

What started out as a nervous dip here has become full-on market panic!

That HFEL all-time record low of 180p is now looming ominously on the charts.

As predicted, months ago, ANIC plunging under the 10p level. The firm's investments and navigational direction are starting to feel a bit rudderless.

China's golden era is drawing to a close. Its population and exports have begun to decline. Its importance has peaked.

As predicted, yet again, the HFEL share price is plunging under the 220p level. The market may be signalling panic here. Crashing -20% in 6 months, and nearly -10% in the past month alone. Sentiment is extremely bearish now. China's 3 Ds of debt, default and dwelling problems may be (much) worse than official figures show, and that is dragging down the whole region.

Japan has been up and down like a yo-yo since the 1990s. Nothing new about that.

Only one economy in the world that really matters now, the global engine, and that's the US. Which is on track for whopping 3-6% YoY GDP growth in Q3 2023. Housebuilding, manufacturing and retail looking strong.

With China cratering, and the HFEL shareprice a plunging knife, and the rumours on here of (alleged) possible dividend-stripping, one has to question just how sustainable that 11% divvy really is for 2024.

And a 5-12% divvy in recent years has not stopped the HFEL shareprice collapsing a huge -45% in 4 years...

As predicted -- weeks ago -- UK inflation plunging down below the 7% level.

The worst of UK inflation is over.

UK is looking much stronger now, as Brexit starts to bed in.

Outgrowing Germany, Netherlands and the Eurozone, inflation plunging down, wages soaring at their fastest rate this century, making everyone richer, and England in the women's football World Cup final.

Let the good times roll.

Am keeping a close eye on this one. It could become good value at the 100-150p level. Need to see first how bad China gets. Its property, export and employment markets are cratering bigly, and dragging down all of Asia with weak sentiment.

Latest polling -- last week -- shows the economy is currently the no.1 thing on all voters' minds. The exaggerated "cost-of-living crisis" dominates the zeitgeist.

Immigration is the no.2 big issue for Tories and Brexit winners. Environment is the no.2 big issue for Labour and Brexit losers.

NHS is overwhelmingly the no.1 area where voters want the state to tax the people more and spend / waste more cash.

As predicted, yet again, HFEL plunging under the 230p level. Share price is now lower than it was 17 years ago, two decades past! Looks ready to re-test the 200p mark. China is Japanifying and dragging down sentiment in the whole region.

UK is in for a truly terrifying few years.

Labour will start the "wealth" tax theft at £2-10m, and then swiftly ratchet it down, until it gets to the poorer middle classes and the £0.5m or £0.1m level. Before you know it, your bog-standard ISA, LLOY shares, pension, family savings, they will all be fair game for a 10-40% instant and unpredictable state raid. Decades of saving ready to be snatched in a flash.

Red Tories have all but exhausted income and cashflow taxes.

Red Labour is coming for the people's assets.

A truly terrifying rest-of-decade lies ahead :-(