Inscrutable Brits

 

Rosemarie Mallett pictured in 2016 as vicar of a church in London's Brixton district. She is now Bishop of Croydon, overseeing several suburbs on the outskirts of the UK capital. From CNN.

"The Church of England has welcomed a report that calls for it to spearhead the establishment of a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) fund to address its historical ties to slavery.

The document, released Monday, recommends that the church’s initial commitment of £100 million ($127 million) to the “Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice” should form the nucleus of a bigger initiative that would target assets of over £1 billion."

Having read a lot about Africa and visited the Portuguese Castles along the coast, I feel surprised by such British mea culpa. English protestants were the force that forbade the slave trade, and the Royal Navy patrolled the coast till it was universally extinguished. England should be proud of its anti-slave history, not paying reparations for slavery. The idea is more amazing today when millions of Africans are voluntarily risking their lives to move into civilized countries to work as kitchen help, as de-facto slaves.   

The New Brits

 

The political leaders elected in Rochdale, 29-2-24. Strong, somewhat eccentric individuals. I like them all. Rochdale has a special significance for me, for the co-operative movement was born there. That area was the heart of the Industrial Revolution. 

George Galloway (pic) targeted Muslim voters specifically with messages about Gaza and won by a large margin. Hating the Jews still works in 2024.

As of 2021, the town of Rochdale's population was enumerated at 111,261, and its ethnic makeup was 57.2% White, 34.3% Asian, 2.6% Mixed, 3.4% Black, 2.1% Other, and 0.5% Arab. The town's religious makeup was 38% Christian, 36% Muslim, 24.2% No Religion, and has small Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish communities.

Strong Shekel

29-2-24 The shekel is continuing to strengthen sharply against the world's major currencies. The shekel is at its strongest against the US dollar for nearly nine months. The TA Stock Exchange is undervalued relative to NASDAQ but it started to rise lately. The Gaza war is a public relations disaster, but our leaders seem to care not. For illustration, see the image of a stern Sea Captain.

Abolish the Water Corporations!

 

Water supply was traditionally part of the municipalities. They bought water from Mekorot and sold it for the double price. Maintenance expenses were low, so there were large sums available at the discretion of the local political chiefs. 

The idea of the corporations was to create financially attractive investment vehicles in the stock exchange. Today there are no infrastructure investments here. That did not happen: the corporations spent their profits on themselves, overinvesting in municipal water infrastructure and in personnel. 

Now the Minister for Energy Cohen (right pic) wants to dissolve the corporations and turn the operation back to the municipalities. Which would improve the situation of the local authorities. I expected this in the last ten years and now is being discussed. Good.

Back to the Middle Ages

Hundreds of artists have signed an open letter that calls on the Venice Biennale, the world’s top art festival, to drop Israel’s national pavilion this year. In continuing to mount the Israeli Pavilion, the artists say, “The Biennale is platforming a genocidal apartheid state.”

Only a century ago, Jews were discriminated against everywhere and not allowed to participate in general cultural-political events. Two hundred years ago they were not allowed to live in certain towns and areas. In Hungary, Jews had no civil rights and could settle in the cities only with special permits. Equality was granted to Jews only in the French Revolution.  

Once we were accused of having killed Jesus, the son of God. Now they have found another imaginary guilt to dislike us. 

I feel we are sliding back into our historical place of boycotted, rejected community. I am not afraid of it, we flourished mightily in our isolation.

Potash Troubles

 

The only troubled important share in my portfolio is ICL, the local potash fertilizer producer. From +100% it went to -25% and I am losing too much. International prices went down (see Rabobank graph) and Bielorrusia is having trouble getting out its product. I cannot find any reference to the Houthi closing down the only outlet for ICL potash to Asia, but I presume it is the main cause of ICL's horrible loss of worth. Geopolitical risk, they say. The Jordanian Potash company must also be suffering. But the main damage is being caused to the Suez Canal - Egypt. And Europe. A multinational force is trying to do something but the Houthis cannot be attacked from the air or the sea and no one will send troops for a land operation. Hamas is still fighting and speculating that Israel's internal turmoil is working for its benefit. Seems that 2024 will be a lost year for ICL and moi. 

Feelings