Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Dr. Commuter Helps Out ... the BBC


This is one of those questions that keeps on coming up, especially at this time of the year with so many unwanted or unsuitable Christmas presents being given. I can give a totally unequivocal and direct answer to this one - NO.

If you have any questions for Dr. Commuter, do please let us know at the usual address.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

What Every Man Wants For Xmas

Any bloke would be pleased to receive a decent pocket-knife for Christmas. So you can imagine I was well chuffed when Mrs C. handed over the following piece of hardware:


Ignore the pencil, that's only there to show the scale. What you may not realise is that this apparently keen piece of kit, with its embossed handle and serrated edge (perfect for scaling fish or something) is actually made of chocolate. Quite delicious, in fact, and we finished it off whilst watching Rowan Atkinson (as Maigret) sleep-walking his way through "Montmartre" (or a studio looking something like it) on TV. Seems like a good way to see in the festive season to me.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

The Red and the Blue

The decision by the Government to scrap our EU-compliant passport design in favour of the traditional British blue is a slap in the face for those who decry our glorious national history. At last we can say goodbye to the jackbooted symbol of Euro-bureaucrat oppression and the hated red covers that had every true-blue Englishman spitting with rage each time they had to be produced. No more, my friends, no more. Henceforth at airports we shall bound like gazelles over the queues of swarthy, unshaven foreigners as they frantically hold aloft their red  badges of shame. We shall merely gesture to the slight bulge in our pockets. "British, old chap. That's all you need to know" and surely the gates will open, the officials will touch their peaked caps in deference and customs men politely usher us down the "No questions asked" aisle and out into the bright air of freedom.

But why stop there? Why do we have to produce a passport at all? It should be enough to say, loud and clear at the frontier "Look here my good man, I'm a subject of Queen Victoria Elizabeth". And any insolence will be rewarded by either a sound thrashing with a bullwhip or a letter to the Times. And why, when we leave these hallowed shores, should we Brits have to pay foreign taxes that only go straight into the pockets of some greasy, sweating overweight man in a smoke-filled cafe? Duty-free at at all times should be the watchword, nay, our birthright. We should have the right to demand the lowering of all foreign flags as we go by, and hats to be doffed in our presence. For we are a proud nation (©N Farage) and what is the point in being proud if you can't get proper respect from the lesser breeds?

I see a bright future dawning, my friends. I can also see an unmarked ambulance arriving outside and two men in white coats consulting clipboards. I wonder what they can possibly want with me?

Friday, December 22, 2017

A Bit of a Problem

You've got to laugh. Only a few days ago and Bitcoin was being launched on the Chicago Futures market with a rocketing price. All the people making money from dealing in it predicted that it could only go up and people should buy, buy,buy. This column, in the company of bankers and economists around the world, thought otherwise and warned of the perils.

Today, thanks to the BBC website, things don't look so rosy for the "investors" who may have been stupid enough to buy recently.


Predictably some are scoffing at the downturn on the grounds that the price is still way above what it was at the start of the year. True enough but not the point. Anyone who has bought recently is now nursing a whopping loss. If those people decide to cut their losses and sell, then to whom are they going to sell? Not to those waiting for the price to drop just a little more. Not to those who can no longer afford to buy any more. And not to those who like drawing graphs by extending trend lines as a means to make financial decisions. And if there are not enough optimists to outweigh all these non-buyers then the price will plunge on downward until sentiment changes.

There is no science in any of this, other than the social psychology of mob behaviour. Humans hate to stand out from crowds and are always worried that they are missing out on something that everyone else knows about. Buying Bitcoin seemed a one-way bet for so long because everyone else was doing it. Now it looks just another oversold speculation in which the ordinary bloke, who always comes in late to such things, has got his fingers burned once again.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Shock! Taxi firm "operates taxis" say Judges

This amazing headline will have lawyers scratching their wigs in bafflement as they haul down musty old books and pore over long dead court cases to determine if anything more blindingly obvious has ever been the subject of a prolonged judicial review. The top judges in Europe have decided that if you book a taxi using an app then the people you make the booking with are running a taxi service. Naturally the decision is contested by the lawyers for said taxi firm. Just as naturally they are American. These guys would go to court claiming copyright over the use of the word "copyright" if they thought they could get away with it.

And in other news ....
  • Sky is that bit of stuff over our heads, say boffins
  • Football ruled eligible as a "sport" by Dept of Culture
  • Supermarkets are retailers of food, not packaging and price information intermediaries, a tribunal rules.
  • A kiss is still a kiss (Sam)