Thank you

I started this blog in July 2010.  I felt I had something to say about economies and economics, about politics, and about the environment, and not enough people to say it to.  When I first started, you had to use HTML to write the blog (you still have to use it now, sometimes, to fix mistakes), I had no idea how to post graphs to the blog, and I didn't even have a Twitter account to promote the blog.  I've learnt a lot since then.

In the first month, I got 3 views.  In August, 1.  In September, 17.   Talk about exponential growth!  By July 2012, this had grown to 247.  Last month, May, nearly 15 years later, there were 39,950 visits!  I wonder how many of them are from AI scrapers, though.  Am I too cynical?

So I wanted to say thank you, to all of you who read my ramblings.  My interests are my own, and I'm sure many people aren't interested in the things I am.  I find the world fascinating.  It's interesting to see connections, to understand how things work, to consider how public policy should shift to make the world a better place.  I'm more interested in good policy and good government than in any left or right view of the world, though I incline leftish.  It's just so happened that most of the damaging policies and laws have come from the Right and oligarchs since I started this blog.

15 years ago, I had become convinced that neo-liberalism was wrong, and that it would lead to greater and greater inequality and division, and I was right.  

I was wrong about action on climate change.  I kept on hoping that, given the inescapable logic of the impending climate catastrophe, we would (collectively) act to slash emissions.  But there was organised and cynical opposition and lies from powerful and wealthy interests; there was hypocrisy and greenwashing from politicians and elites; and too many ordinary people felt helpless in the face of the fossil fuel juggernaut.  But I am not giving up.  We must keep fighting.  Every 0.1 degree of heating avoided is absolutely worth it.  If I have played some small part in galvanising ordinary citizens into action,  I'm glad.

What will the next 15 years bring?  

Well, I think neo-liberalism is in its death throes.  Covid showed conclusively that governments can do some things better than the private sector.   And China's success in creating new renewables industries from scratch shows that government-driven industrial policy can work.  The triumph of Trump and MAGA in America shows the perils of ever rising inequality, and may yet galvanise the Democratic Party to become a real workers' party.  Will they ever support a rising minimum wage?  A wealth tax?  High taxes on billionaires?  Taxing companies like we used to in the 50s and 60s?  We'll see.

Will we make it to Mars?  It would be an extraordinary achievement.  I know the Left thinks it's a waste of money, and that we should fix up Earth first.  But as I have argued on these pages, I am convinced that setting up even just a scientific outpost on Mars will engender a technological revolution which will improve our lives right here on Earth.  Will it be Elon who gets us there?  Doesn't look like it right now, as he visibly disintegrates.  Yet, until his lurch into far-right lunacy, he had transformed EVs and Space.   Maybe he's the only one driven enough and rich enough to make it happen.  The Trump administration is too corrupt and inept.   He made EVs cool.   And others followed his lead.  Will others follow the path he's created to cut the costs of space?  

Will we cut emissions by 90% by 2050?  Probably yes.  Battery and EV and solar costs will just keep on falling, despite fossil fuel companies and half-witted and corrupt politicians.  And big majorities everywhere now accept the reality of climate change and its likely catastrophic consequences.   So as costs fall, and awareness rises, we'll get action.  Hopium?  Again, we'll see.

I'll keep working on my sword and sorcery fantasy novels and short stories, which I don't normally talk about here.  Eight novels and counting!  I'll keep on learning languages or refreshing those I already know.  This year it's French and Italian, and I'm relearning Ancient Greek.  I'll get back into music--I play the clarinet and the saxophone, but need to practise more. 

And big news (I think so!) is that I'll be starting a linked YouTube Volewica channel soon.   And you can follow the blog on Bluesky or on Mastodon.

Anyway, I hope I'm spared for another 15 years.  The odds are low, but I'll keep going as long as I can, convinced that my informed 99% vegan diet has extended and will continue to extend my life.

Thank you all, again.