Today, Liam Fox’s Department for International Trade has released figures claiming to show that sunglasses, swimwear and ice-cream are all big exports – and that means Brexit is going to be a success.
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Aug122017
Aug122017
Police Community Surgeries in the West End #dundeewestend
The next West End Police Surgery takes place at Blackness Library on Monday – details below :
Aug122017
Writer in court over ‘one mistake one thousand yuan’ pledge
A Chinese writer is facing a bill of over 172 thousand yuan (almost US$ 26,000) after making a promise five years ago to pay a thousand yuan for every mistake found in his book, reports Beijing News.
Zhang Yiyi published his book in February, 2012. A month later, he posted on the Weibo social media platform that “anyone who finds a mistake in my book will receive 1001 yuan.”
In his post, Zhang said that various media insiders were “witness to his words”.
Recently, Bai Ping, a professor of the College of Liberal Arts of Shanxi University, announced that he had found 172 mistakes in Zhang’s book, which included factual errors, grammatical mistakes, and wrongly-written or mispronounced characters.
After negotiations broke down, Bai decided to sue the writer for 172,172 yuan.
The case was accepted by a court in Beijing, and received a first hearing on August 10, 2017.
During the session, Zhang’s lawyer argued that the reward offered by Zhang had a time limit, albeit “not clearly stated,” and suggested that the so-called 172 mistakes were too “subjective,” or lacked evidence.
Bai’s lawyer said his client would accept a discount of 20 percent, but Zhang’s lawyer said only 10,000 yuan reward was on the table.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement in court.
A similar “One mistake, One thousand yuan” dispute occurred in 2010, when Bai Ping spotted 909 errors in a book written by Chinese writer Yan Chongnian, and demanded an 850,000 yuan reward as a result.
The case collapsed after the court decided Yan’s words made during an interview were meant as a “joke” rather than as a “promise”.
Aug122017
Cyclone kills 5 in N. China
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| At least five people were killed and 50 others injured after a cyclone swept through parts of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. [Photo/CCTV] |
At least five people were killed and 50 others injured after a cyclone swept through parts of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local government reported Saturday.
The cyclone wreaked havoc in four villages of Hexigten Banner and Ongniud Banner at 4 p.m. Friday, said the emergency response office of Chifeng City, which administers the two banners.
The casualty report was based on assessment as of 1 a.m. Saturday while the loss of properties is still being calculated.
Many houses were severely damaged, the office said.
The injured were taken to hospital while relief work is underway.
Aug122017
Damage to the car market
The latest industrial output figures for the UK are disappointing but not surprising. In part they reflect a general decline in industrial activity, which was more pronounced in France and Germany last month than here.
They also reflect local matters that are longer term and more worrying. A strong domestic car market up to March 2017 has been transformed into a weak one in the four months since by a combination of higher taxes and tougher regulations. The new levels of Vehicle Excise duties for dearer cars has hit that part of the market badly. The new messages against diesels with the longer term threat to both diesels and petrol vehicles has also had an impact. More people are waiting for further clarification, and to see if electric cars are going to become cheaper and easier to use. Meanwhile the Bank of England is tightening the availability of credit to buy or lease a new vehicle. One of the recent successes of the UK economy in increasing car sales and output has just been damaged by a combination of an attack on the idea of the purchase, and tougher controls over innovative ways of financing it.
Those who dislike cars, wrongly seeing them as the source of all the pollution that matters, may be pleased. They usually ignore the pollution coming out of the bus, train and household boiler. Those who fear any kind of borrowing by anyone to do anything may also rejoice. I think it does matter. I see no special dangers in more people leasing a vehicle. All the time they have the income they will make the lease payments and all will be well. If someone loses their job or struggles to meet the payments then the lending institution will take the car back and sell it on to someone else second hand. They will get something for it, and if they have run a sensible business may even get all their money back on that customer. None of this need be bank threatening!
The UK now has a strong car industry with some excellent factories, products and employees. The fact that these are in foreign ownership does not affect the important underlying reality that the factories, jobs, ideas and energy for these businesses are here in the UK. They export a lot to non EU destinations as well despite the absence of EU trade deals with the main markets. Public policy should look after the industry in a sensible way. Working with them to produce greener and better products is fine. Taxing too much and stifling credit is not such a good approach.