High time to join the euro
When I moved to Scotland five years ago, all the newspapers were full of stuff about whether the UK should replace the pound with the euro, but nobody seems to mention it any more.
I have the feeling people are quietly feeling happy and smug that the UK didn’t join, but I really don’t understand it.
The interest rate in the Eurozone is 3.75% at the moment, while it in the UK is 5.25% and about to rise. Ever since the euro was introduced eight years ago, the highest the euro interest rate has gone is 4.75%, so it’s definitely not just a temporary glitch.
The pound seems to follow the exchange rate of the euro quite closely, so the higher interest rate is not compensated for by a more export-oriented exchange rate.
Why not just ditch the pound and get cheaper mortgages?
Alas, Gordon Brown is no friend of the euro, and I wouldn’t bet the Tories introducing it, either, so I fear its introduction is at least a decade away. 
It’s cold!
What is it about Scottish people that makes them believe the sea won’t be cold in April? They all seemed to jumping around in it, not just Phyllis.
It’s Arran on the horizon, btw.
If we hadn’t abolished the gold standard
My recent posting about the gold standard was perhaps a bit theoretical. I’ve now tried to work out exactly what the pound, the Scandinavian crown and the American dollar would have been worth today if they had still followed the link to the price of gold:
| Gold standard | Modern pound | Modern Danish crown |
|---|---|---|
| 1£ (pound) | £87.32 | DKK 953.50 |
| 1s (shilling) = 1/20 £ | £4.37 | DKK 47.75 |
| 1d (penny) = 1/12 s | £0.36 | DKK 4.00 |
| 1g (guinea) = 1£ 1s | £91.69 | DKK 1001.25 |
| 1 crown = 5s | £21.83 | DKK 238.50 |
| sixpence = 6d | £2.18 | DKK 23.75 |
| 1 farthing = 1/4d | £0.09 | DKK 1.00 |
| 1 Scandinavian crown | £4.41 | DKK 48.00 |
| 1 Scandinavian øre | £0.04 | DKK 0.50 |
| 1 American dollar | £16.45 | DKK 179.50 |
| 1 American cent | £0.16 | DKK 1.75 |
In other words, a PlayStation 3 would have sold for 4£ 17s 4d in Victorian times. 
Pretty macro photo
Isn’t this just beautiful? I find it amazing how different many things look when you see them up close.
I just wish I had a super-macro lens to enable me to take photos like this!
Svensk for danskere
Jeg ser i JP, at mange danskere nu er begyndt at lære svensk.
Det glæder mig, at illusionen om, at danskere og svenskere (og nordmænd) bare kan tale deres modersmål og forvente at blive forstået, er ved at forsvinde.
I min gymnasietid skulle vi læse en bog på norsk (et Ibsen-skuespil) og en på svensk (Fröken Julie af Strindberg), og vores lærer brugte måske en halv time på at lære os svensk, men det var jo slet ikke nok til at gøre det sprog forståeligt for os jyder. Konsekvensen af denne sproglige strudsepolitik er, at unge skandinavere i dag i meget høj grad taler engelsk sammen.
Jeg håber derfor, sprogskoletilstrømningen vil føre til, at norsk og svensk til blive taget seriøst som obligatoriske fremmedsprog i skoler og gymnasier fremover.
No new windows
I was getting annoyed that Firefox opened some links in new tabs, but then I found this page. Perfect!
Republik nu!
Så fik Danmark endnu en prinsesse.
Hun ser da meget sød ud, men hun ligner da mest af alt en helt normal baby, hvad hun da naturligvis også er.
Men et normalt liv kan hun jo aldrig få, og da slet ikke, hvis hendes storebror skulle komme noget til.
Tiden er i den grad løbet fra monarkiet. Det strider mod alle demokratiske principper om lighed, frihed og broderskab, og jeg fatter ikke, befolkningen (for slet ikke at tale om kongehuset) finder sig i det.
Støt kampen for republikkens indførelse på Jeppes hjemmeside for danske republikanere!
Rucksack days
We bought a back carrier in Mothercare yesterday. They had two identical ones in different packaging. It turned out one was the old packaging and the other one was the new one, and they sold at the old price of £29.99 (DKK 329) and the new price of £39.99 (DKK 439), respectively. No prize for guessing which one we bought!
Pudge was a bit sceptical at first, but he quickly learned to love it because it gives him such a good view (although he found it difficult to sleep in – see Phyllis’ Flickr page for some cute photos!).
What shall I make your browser do?
I’ve been reading up a bit on how to write Firefox add-ons.
It doesn’t seem to be too hard, but in order to write one myself, I need to find out what to write. There are so many out there already that I really have problems thinking of anything useful that hasn’t been done already.
Has anybody reading this got any ideas?
Negative campaigning
Compared to Danish elections campaigns, the British ones are typically very negative. I can understand it makes good sense in a two-party system using first-past-the-post.
However, I fail two see it really works when there are more than two parties with a chance of getting elected, and in particular with a proportional system like the one used for the Scottish Parliament. Just look at the photo here: It’s quite clear that something horrible will happen, and if you read the text underneath, it’s also clear that the intended culprit is the SNP, but it isn’t underlined very strongly that the suggestion is to vote Labour instead. One could quite feasibly see this and decide to vote for the Tories or the LibDems instead.
I don’t understand why people don’t go on study tours to countries with proportional representation to get some ideas about how to campaign instead of continuing with the old-style negative campaigning.