This cant be right.
Mrs P_Fâs Daffodils coming up. Hyacinths too.
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Definitely unseasonably warm today. The bird put on a sweatshirt, and sweltered all the way round Makro. I had a t shirt on and that was warmer than I needed, also had to drop the shower thermostat this morning.
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I turned the AC on at 2 in the morning because I was dripping like a roasted pig.
Admitedly I was in Malaysia but what the hell 
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Last time I was in KL, I had a steamboat on Christmas Day 
Note for @Cobham-Saint , thatâs a meal, not a sexual practice.
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I did automatically think the worst tbf 
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To be fairâŠ
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I snorted into my beer looking up the Hot Carl and Cleveland Steamer 
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Could be a meal and a sexual practice at the same time. So Iâve been told. 
.
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Nailed it
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Secretary General AntĂłnio Guterres was speaking in New York ahead of a major climate conference in Egypt.
âThere has been a tendency to put climate change on the back burner,â he said.
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Was going to happen sooner or later
Fascinating piece in the FT. What actually happens to the economy when a country gets fullâŠ
https://www.ft.com/content/4c56c9b2-f4ad-4956-9216-655acebd845d
Paywall 
The other morning I cycled around the Dutch town where I grew up. Behind our old house, the field where I spent half my childhood is now covered with homes. So is my old football club. My high school is now in a built-up area. At the local train station, the bike shed was full on a Saturday afternoon. When I got to Amsterdam, the business-traveller economy appeared to have broken down: endless waits for Ubers, nobody at hotel reception, restaurants closed at lunchtime for want of waiters.
I know over-construction and understaffing are now global problems, but they are particularly acute in the Netherlands. The country has run out of space and staff. Sure, a recession may temporarily loosen the jobs market, but the problem was acute pre-pandemic and will simply resurface whenever growth resumes. The Netherlands is probably the first country to hit the limits of economic growth.
Other overdeveloped places such as the Bay Area, New York and Singapore may follow, running out of room for new workers and businesses. This raises the question: can a rich place be happy if its economy stops growing?
With hindsight, the Netherlands was too well-suited to the era of globalisation. The trading nation with Europeâs biggest port experienced 26 years of unbroken economic growth until 2008, then a world record. Now it tops ETH Zurichâs KOF Globalisation Index as the worldâs most globalised country.
And so its population mushroomed. When the counter hit 14 million in 1979, Queen Juliana said, âOur country is full.â In 2010, Statistics Netherlands said the population would probably never reach 18 million. Today itâs 17.7 million and rising. The country has 507 people per sq km, nearly five times the EUâs average. Worse, the quantity of liveable land will shrink due to a paradoxical mix of rising seas and droughts damaging the foundations of houses.
But the Dutch economyâs demand for new workers seems insatiable. Eighty-four per cent of employers report labour shortages, one government study found. Recruitment signs are almost standard in shop windows. Employers even offer new recruits free holidays.
One constraint on growth is that the Dutch enjoy the developed worldâs shortest average work week, at just 30.3 hours. Six workers in 10 â predominantly women â are either part-timers or temps. The government is planning a bonus for anyone going full-time, but many people prefer daytime cappuccinos in the local cafĂ©, assuming they can get served. Why give up your relaxt life and permanent contract to alleviate understaffing in old-age homes? Importing more migrant workers isnât a popular idea. In June, the far right shouted down the minister who suggested recruiting youths from poor French suburbs.
And so every growth opportunity hits capacity constraints. I recently queued for three hours at Schiphol airport, global aviationâs second-biggest hub, because it cannot find enough security guards. The foreign students flooding Dutch universities cannot find housing. Amidst an energy crisis, the Dutch are closing Europeâs largest natural gas reserve because, in a packed country, drilling-induced earthquakes upset the neighbours.
Or take ASML, the global leader in chipmaking equipment. Based in a small town in the relatively quiet Dutch south-east, itâs a pillar of the western alliance in the budding confrontation with China. ASML hires hundreds of new employees every month, but just try finding them homes and babysitters. And local treehuggers have delayed ASMLâs dreamt-of bike path to its headquarters.
Fantastically productive Dutch farms have made this tiny country the worldâs second-largest agricultural exporter. But many of its 15 million pigs and cows live next to protected natural areas, so their nitrogen emissions break EU laws. The government is enraging farmers by closing farms. In theory, that frees space for new homes, but who will build them and where would the builders stay? In short, to use Liz Trussâs language, Dutch reality is an anti-growth coalition.
Even automation wouldnât fix sectors like old-age care and construction. Eventually the country might have to target âstabilisation of population sizeâ by limiting labour migration, advised the head of the Dutch labour inspectorate. The new State Commission Demographic Developments 2050 â and Dutch state commissions shape policy â may agree.
Does a rich country need more carbon-emitting growth? âWe focus far too much on purchasing power, but extra purchasing power barely makes us happier,â says Sandra Phlippen, ABN Amro Bankâs chief economist. However, she notes, weâve seen in recent years how people in stagnant economies âbecome angry and unsatisfiedâ. If the limits of growth are in sight, watch out.
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I thought you were an âampshire nipper?
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Fucksake 
On reflection, I suppose @BTripz ought to have been consulted before I copied and pasted that lot. Donât want the FT on his back for breach of copyright 
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I suspected the closest youâd been was a dutch oven.
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Probably a Dutch Cap
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I have been to Amsterdam, just the once. It was fucking freezing.
However, I did stumble quite accidentally on a tiny bar which served their own home distilled flavoured spirits, a schnapps of some sort. It was like someoneâs lounge, and absolutely rammed with customers. When we got back I mentioned this to my Dutch neighbours, who looked stunned and said theyâd spent years trying to find this almost mythical bar and never seen it. Theyâd lived in Amsterdam most of their lives.
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