Hu Jin, we have a problem

I read somewhere that China blames the West for global warming. Fair enough. The problem is that their defence was backed up with some 'per capita' data - highly dubious to say the least, given that there are 1,313,973,713, um, capita lurking there (according to the CIA, anyway). Imagine two towns, one with a population of 10, one with a population of 100. The first town has 1 murder in a year, the second has 8 murders. The second is safer on a per capita basis, despite having 8 times the number of murders. I digress. To its shame, the West (whoever that is) responded with even more slippery data, referring to the 'average increase' in something or other. Mark my words, the Chinese will be bringing in 'normalisation' before long...

Culture of blame

It's five years to the day (I'm not anally retentive, I just remembered 02/02/02) since we moved into our current, and soon-to-be-ex-with-a-bit-of-luck-an-understanding-mortgage-lender-and-favourable-macroeconomic-conditions house. According to the estate agent who valued the gaff (a shack in Tooting, you recall) yesterday morning, it has appreciated in value by £152 / day each and every day that we have lived there. I, on the other hand, work 18 hour days for round about the same amount.
If a truck backed into our street and dropped off £16m in used fivers, we'd sit up and take notice. Strange thing is, that's more or less the 'value add' to the 57 dwellings in my street (yes, yes, very anally retentive) that has quietly occurred since 020202, and no-one's really noticed.