Galway oysters A fixture on any Valentine’s Day menu: oysters. Savoured in Britain since Roman times. Protein & mineral-rich, oysters were plentiful until 1800s over-fishing & polluted waters depleted stocks. Since 1954, the world’s longest-running Oyster Festival in Galway, Ireland is on the last weekend in Sep. From “poor man’s food” to luxury prices –…
Tag: poor
Gentrify Better to gentrify an area, or not gentrify? Affluent professionals moving into poor areas are blamed for rising house prices, forcing others to re-locate & changing the city’s character. But their money brings more jobs, better schools & less crime. Ruth Glass’s 1960’s term ‘gentrification’ outlined the gentry’s move into London as it evolved…
Leave In UK & US, poverty has flipped from Reason to Leave to Reason Not to Leave,despite widening opportunity gap between dynamic & struggling areas. Should policymakers re-vitalise poor areas? Or incentivize people to move? Fewer Americans moved States in 2017 than in any of the previous 50 years Guessed the Word? …
Rival Pincered by a rival: US lobsters face 8% tariff, but Canada lobsters get into Europe duty-free. A Maine lobster lands on a Beijing dinner plate in 2 days, via Canada – avoiding China’s 25% tariff on US live lobsters from 6 July. Until 1800’s, lobster was low-class food, eaten only by the poor. 2017 US live…
Laffer curve An optimum tax rate maximises tax revenue – Arthur Laffer, 1979. Above that rate, no more revenue is gained (and may even fall), as tax avoidance, disincentive to work and “brain drain” impoverish the rich & the poor Guessed the Word? Series 20 (2/6) [pic: Michael Gaida]