I was a student when these loans started back in the 90’s. The interest rate was only - ever - inflation only. Who changed that and when? And why isn’t it changed back?

Until quantum computers land AI will be out of date or too unreliable for anything serious without proper checking. Once quantum computers do land however all bets are off frankly as it will make leaps that are either mad or genius or both. I am aiming to retire before this point.

AI is excellent for summarising online calls with Teams. You can be in the meeting rather than minute taking. It is getting better helping with things like spreadsheet questions too.
It does the basics well enough now. This is partly why fewer first career jobs are out there.

Those Europeans who witnessed or lived through similar horrors (or whose parents or grandparents did) should need little persuasion to re-arm themselves. Which of course is actually almost all of them.

(My thanks to @donald-tusk.bsky.social)

Social services, public healthcare, environment and education will all have to take a smaller cut of the budget or taxes go up.
I think 500 million Europeans probably will edge toward thinking that defence is worth the cost compared to the horror of the alternative.

That’s all a given - however the wake-up call here is that Europeans now need to be well enough armed by themselves to defend themselves. That takes less money than is needed for conquest. Again - been there, done that.

Where will this leave Europe? Self-armed again and self-prepared.

Oh and they want that for everyone but that's for another day right now even though saving the planet will not wait.

They do not - really - want the world to quake again at their military might (been there, done that). Instead they want peace, prosperity, freedom, rule of law and democracy as the first three depend on the second two.

Europeans are uniquely placed to defend themselves without the aggression of empire or greedy conquest seducing them back.
Most of their democracies are still functioning normally.
All of their military are professional and ready to grow again.

If those 500 million Europeans were still tilling the soil and starving every other winter then OK they would need others to help.
However they have had their agrarian revolutions, and their industrial ones. For many of them their Empires have been and gone so the’ve got that over with too.

This was my book choice (for me!) during a hospital stay just before Christmas. Absolutely cracking read - thank you Robert.
I’d half hoped to see my Grandpa Colonel Apollo John Cokkinis in there as he’d been First Army then Eighth Army RAMC through Africa, Sicily and Italy. Did he cross your path?

About five years ago it went from fabulous and responsive to dreadful and stuttering overnight. I drive it all from Spotify now.

At the peak of tulip bulb mania, a handful of bulbs were worth a two bedroom cottage. So that’s say three bulbs. Given three bitcoin are almost worth a 2 bedroom cottage again… are we there yet?!