UAE beating Uruguay and doing it with a swagger

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The dustup began Wednesday, as Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City games, said there were "disconcerting" signs in the days before this year's games.

"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging," he told NBC News.

Cameron soon rebuked Romney. "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere," he said.

"Mitt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive.

His derisory comments questioning Britain's preparedness for the Olympics in an interview with NBC were a strange way to build bridges with a country that he says should be restored as the umbilical ally of the United States, and a strange way to demonstrate the persuasive qualities needed as leader of the free world."

He is now claiming he has met the head of MI6, which is the equivalent of Ed Miliband claiming he'd been briefed by the head of the NSA. Not. Gonna. Happen. But hey, good luck with that.

He's also miffed David Cameron with a slur on the UK's readiness for the Olympics, who responded with "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world.Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

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video at bottom of page

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Monsanto-DuPont Trial Over Roundup-Ready Crops to Start - Bloomberg

DuPont Co. (DD)'s Pioneer seed unit said in 2005 it would make herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn within five years to challenge the dominance of seeds with Monsanto Co.'s widely licensed Roundup Ready trait.

According to Monsanto, DuPont couldn't live up to that pledge and added Monsanto's technology to its experimental seeds, in violation of licensing agreements between the companies. The world's largest seed company sued DuPont in 2009, accusing its biggest competitor of patent infringement and breaching the 2002 contracts. DuPont countersued. A jury trial is set to begin today in Monsanto's hometown of St. Louis.

Anyway, this is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18978352

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The UK is the Saudi Arabia of wind, and the other countries of Europe laugh at us. We come fifth in terms of installed capacity and seventh in terms of the amount of power we get from it. Germany, Spain, Italy et al don't mock us because we're lagging at something they're making such a success of - we lag at everything - but because we should be winning so effortlessly.

Yet the outlook remains mixed for UK renewables, which is market speak for "screwed"; subsidies have been cut, albeit only by 10% rather than the proposed quarter. It's up for grabs again in a year. The coalition covers the whole spectrum of belief on the environment, from climate change denier to deep green. It is impossible to predict who'll be in the ascendant next year or even next week. All you can say for certain is that this must be the worst system imaginable for the long-term planning of a nation's energy needs: hand the decision over to a group whose only uniting principle is that they want to keep their seats in parliament.

Subsidies command a huge proportion of the wind conversation, despite the fact that the wind industry itself looks forward to a time when it doesn't need them ("what self-respecting business wouldn't?" asked Robert Norris, head of communications at Renewables UK). The anti-windies complain bitterly about subsidies, which came to £0.7bn in 2010, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. That same year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, oil, gas and coal received £3.6bn, while nuclear, from figures released by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, will cost £2bn in decommissioning between 2012 and 2015.

So we have these other sources that are either depleting or damaging the environment or, let's face it, both, and we plough seven times as much into them as we do this energy that will ultimately be free. It just doesn't make sense, except in the context of a conversation that is totally irrational.

One way to think about the euro's future is to look at its past, and to go back to the origins of money. There are two leading schools of thought about this. The first was set out 120 years ago in a paper* by Austrian economist Karl Menger. In Menger's theory buyers and sellers agree on a common commodity to use as the medium of exchange. Something small, valuable and divisible is best. It helps if it doesn't rot. Gold, spices and shells are all good examples. This money is highly "saleable" so everyone accepts it, and this means that traders don't face the costs associated with barter (the time spent having to scout around looking for the rare person that both wants what you have, and has what you want).

...

The second theory places great emphasis on the role of government, as Charles Goodhart explains in a 1998 paper. This group--the Cartalists, who Mr Goodhart refers to as the "C team"--argue that currencies become money due to the active involvement of the state. Examples include setting up a mint to produce coins, demanding taxes are paid in state money, and stamping notes with the head of state's image. And while the M-theory is backed by history's superstar economists (Locke, Jevons) the C-theory has much stronger evidence based in anthropology and history.

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The logical conclusion from this is not a new idea: the euro area needs greater fiscal integration. But the reason is different. It is not because Greece and Spain spoiled a perfect plan with their profligacy. It is because the euro enshrines the divorce of fiscal and monetary power. If you are a member of Mr Goodhart's C team this never made sense in the first place.