Thursday 15 October 2015

Share and Share Alike the Potato


Been following this court case where women were misled about the state of their ex husbands' wealth. One of them received a paltry £10m, which surely can't be enough to live on. The interest alone puts one in poverty. However, the principle is that everything is shared, regardless of what one came into the marriage with or how much each contributed to the eventual fortune. Not necessarily a good principle, in my opinion, but there you go.

The other received £270k and a car from her solicitor husband, which led to 'suffering and hardship', although I'm not sure though what kind of suffering and hardship £270k produces. The problem is he was only a solicitor and what she was given seems in line with what his assets should have been - half a house. His fortune was made from money laundering; surely she can't claim against his criminal earnings?

Was watching some food program called Harvest last night. Greg Wallace was extolling the virtues of the humble potato and lamenting the overproduction and hence crash in prices (a bit like the milk situation). He finished off by saying; "Where would we be without the potato," and I thought; "Slim, like you," - notice how he's slimmed down dramatically in the last year? I'll bet he hasn't eaten a potato (or any form of starch) for ages.

Why do people buy seed potatoes, rather than potato seeds? The reason is that a seed potato is a pure clone, whereas a potato seeds are subject to genetic mutation and diversity. Now diversity is what made us, whereas a clone would result in some amoeba-like creature - a bit like .... suggestions welcome.


2 comments:

Steve Borthwick said...

Piers Morgan?

Unknown said...

An equal share of a relationship's financial gains, in proportion to what was contributed initially, is in my view fair. Crux of this case was perjury re: finances at the time of divorce/separation. Any claims by the appellants of 'hardship', etc, well, forget it! Sympathy lost on a personal level, but on principle, I'd agree totally.
Potatoes have been highly 'Genetically Modified' by "natural methods of selective inbreeding" and subsequent cloning for XXXyrs. The main (and unsung) outcome of this is the dramatic reduction of solanine (a nasty/icky chemical) that developes in the skin (especially when exposed to sunlight) -- many 'heritage' varieties have alarming quantities of solanine in their skin. Variation induced from x-bred seed ("the spice of life") is great as long long you adhere to the ancient tradition of ALWAYS peeling your spuds! Tatties ARE naturally poisonous.