Alan McGregor

Founding Partner at AVC Advisory, Views my own, RT ≠ endorsement, etc etc

[Alan McGregor @mcgregoravc]

***** NIC voluntary contributions! ****

As of 12/6/23, the HMRC announced that they will extend the deadline to pay Voluntary contribution NICs 2006-2016. Instead of the deadline being 31/7/23, the new deadline is 05/04/2025!

https://t.co/RzwV6JyrK6

[Peter Mallouk @PeterMallouk]

A reminder as IPO activity heats up:
Even the most successful companies often have painful starts.
After its May 2012 IPO, Facebook (now $META) fell 54% peak-to-trough and finished its first year down 31%.
The broad stock market was up 31% over the same period.

[Dr_Gingerballs @Dr_Gingerballs]

@charliebilello @toiletkingcap We are all slowly becoming professional ass wipers for our aging parents who hoarded everything.

[Cold War Steve @coldwarsteve]

@JDVance

[Parody Jeff @Parodyjeffx]

I just heard Albania is weeks away from building a nuclear weapon.

[Charlie Robertson @CharlieTTEcon]

Does Europe want better paid jobs in Morocco, paid for by China, creating more African demand for European goods?

Or do they want to see Moroccan labour move to Europe instead?

Europe has to decide

But if they want to see industrialisation in Africa, it will involve China

[Alan McGregor @mcgregoravc]

@Reptile924150 @PutlerFullOfIt @ConorGallaghe_r @TomClonan @punknafo @Galwaybaywatch @OckersM @GhostOfKyiv_ @RealJakeBroe @P_Kallioniemi @CallItMedusa @EastVeterans I'm guessing you will pushing for sanctions against these EU companies?

https://t.co/gXTSLhXjTV

[Russian Market @runews]

Interesting

[Alan McGregor @mcgregoravc]

@Reptile924150 @PutlerFullOfIt @ConorGallaghe_r @TomClonan @punknafo @Galwaybaywatch @OckersM @GhostOfKyiv_ @RealJakeBroe @P_Kallioniemi @CallItMedusa @EastVeterans Maybe Germany, and other EU nations could stop buying Russian gas and LNG first? Then maybe the Russians wouldn't be able to afford Irish alumina?

[Alan McGregor @mcgregoravc]

Wow.

[CJ Werleman @cjwerleman]

🚨 New study shows the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, CNN, Politico, USA Today and Axios collectively used the term "savage" 16 times for the killing of Israelis, but never for the killing of Palestinians.

Likewise, "slaughter" appeared 120 times in relation to the killing of Israelis, but only once for Palestinians.

"Massacre" was used 344 times in relation to Palestinians killing Israelis, but never for Israelis killing Palestinians.

"Barbaric" was used 14 times to describe the killing of Israelis, but zero times in relation to the deaths of Palestinians.

The cable coverage displayed a similar pattern.

MSNBC, presenters and guests used
"massacre" 177 times, "barbaric" 46 times, "savage" 23 times and "slaughter" 102 times in relation to Israeli deaths.

They never called the killing of Palestinians "barbaric" or "savage". In relation to Palestinians, they only used “massacre" eight times and "slaughter" four times.

References to "savagery" and "barbarism" echo the logic of settler colonialism, identifying the uncivilised natives as a problem to be solved.

Credit: ‘How to Sell a Genocide: Media’s Complicity in Genocide’ by Adam Johnson.

[Alan McGregor @mcgregoravc]

@Geoffreytsmith @nexta_tv Football stadia are great though..

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

The couple in this video are Wesam Mekdad, a Palestinian from Gaza, and his heavily pregnant German wife.

Police were called after Wesam broke his TV — he had just learned that 'israel' murdered his brother. The couple were cooperative. They explained the situation. The wife wanted to ask the police if she can accompany her husband.

The police responded with brutality.

People from Nationaal Protest (an anti‑immigration group) are so outraged by how a pregnant woman was treated that they have offered to help the couple file a complaint against the police.

The wife gave birth earlier than expected. A baby girl. Healthy, thank God. Her name is Reem. 🤍

[Parody Nigel Farage @Parody_PM]

Idea for a GB News programme - Neil Oliver snogs six ebola patients to prove it's all a hoax.

[Peter Mallouk @PeterMallouk]

In my opinion, this is the most compelling chart for being a stock market investor.
Over the last 50 years:
-US Inflation: up 6x
-US Treasury Bills: up 8x
-S&P 500 total return: up 271x
Over the long run, stocks trounce inflation and protect your purchasing power.

[Peter Mallouk @PeterMallouk]

There were 505 actively managed US equity funds ranked in the top quartile of performance at the end of 2021. 3 years later, not a single one of these funds remained in the top quartile. Picking active funds that can beat the market over time is borderline impossible.

[Peter Mallouk @PeterMallouk]

Nearly $27,000 a year for family health insurance premiums, up from $6,000 in 1999.
And that’s before deductibles, copays, and surprise bills.
The system is fundamentally broken.

[DaddyNeedsCoffee 🇺🇦 🚴‍♂️ 🎨 🇪🇺 @DaddyCoffee73]

The press are quite rightly discussing a man who used money that wasn’t his to buy a PlayStation, biscuits, a telescope and a campervan.
But absolutely fuckall about the criminal @Nigel_Farage who accepted a £5m bribe - laundered by buying houses - to subvert our democracy. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Brad Setser @Brad_Setser]

China -- via its massive stockpile -- is the new central bank of oil, replacing Saudi Arabia ...

Helped save the US and Europe from a much bigger oil shock

[Laurie Macfarlane @L__Macfarlane]

For all Tony Blair’s talk of being “radical” on the future, this essay feels remarkably familiar. Strip away the buzzwords and it boils down to: deregulate, liberalise, shrink the state, trust big tech to fix stuff, ignore the climate crisis, and align with whatever the US wants. It’s back to the future with AI sprinkled on top.

There’s little recognition of the forces driving public discontent — insecurity, inequality, hollowed-out communities, a broken public sphere. Many of these proposals would intensify those divides, not heal them. There’s some sensible stuff in it, but overall it’s a recipe for turbocharging public discontent, not addressing its root causes.

[Nathanael Miller @nathanaelmils]

Mearsheimer's opening statement deserves to be heard in its entirety.

"Unliteral sanctions by the United States resulted in 28 million deaths. This is what you get when you turn into a Crusader State... the United States tries to promote like-minded democracies and fails!"

[Megatron @Megatron_ron]

🇺🇸🇮🇷 The war explained in 10 seconds

Venezuelan oil is extra-heavy (very low API gravity, around 8-10° or less), thick like tar/resin, with a high percentage of sulfur, metals and asphaltenes.

It does not flow easily, is difficult to transport by pipeline or ship without heating, and requires expensive refineries for processing. Without dilution, production and exports are limited.

Iran produces light oil (Iranian Light ~34-36° API) and gas condensate (very light and volatile).

This acts as a diluent: it reduces viscosity, increases API gravity and makes the mixture easier to transport and refine.

Typical ratio: 3:1 (3 barrels Venezuelan heavy + 1 barrel Iranian light/condensate) → produces Merey 16 or a similar blend (around 16° API), which is popular with Asian refineries (especially China).

This is what China used to do by importing both of them. Mixing.

This is what the US is now trying to do, huge profits.