Professor Sir James Mirrlees obituary

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/professor-sir-james-mirrlees-obituary-nvgv505sp

Sir James Mirrlees passing on his wisdom to young economists at St Petersburg State University in 2010

James Mirrlees’s first thought was that he was the victim of a prank. “My second thought was to check the [phone] call was genuine,” he said. Having ascertained that it was real, he was “full of glee” at sharing the Nobel prize in economics in 1996. “My subject has always been economics and human welfare,” explained the softly spoken Scot. “It is a delight to have been able to contribute to that field and to have it recognised.”The award was for Mirrlees’s work on “information asymmetry”, which is about making transactions with imperfect knowledge. “That just means not knowing as much as you would like,” he explained. Information asymmetry is where one party, the buyer or the seller, knows more about the goods or the service than the other. People selling their home know more about the house than a buyer; those seeking health insurance know more about their health than the insurer.Mirrlees studied the applications of information asymmetry, exploring why buyers and sellers failed to possess all the information they needed when making a purchase or a sale and the implications for any deal. In insurance, for example, high-risk customers such as smokers, the elderly or those living in difficult environments may be more likely to take out cover. This could raise premiums for all customers, forcing the healthy or those who live in safe environments to withdraw. The solution is to perform actuarial work, screen all customers and charge different premiums based on potential risks.Receiving the Nobel prize was not the greatest day of Mirrlees’s life. That had been in 1968, when, according to the man once described as a self-effacing academic’s academic, “I finally cracked the optimal tax problem . . . It came in a flash and was very satisfactory.” He had been investigating the links between levels of taxation and motivation to work and concluded that British tax rates could reasonably be higher, “particularly for middle-income earners”, adding: “It could become a disincentive, but you could use the revenue for health services, education and welfare.”

100 Years Ago

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/the-scots-at-buzancy-nf6zvbw5z

AUGUST 2, 1918

The Scots at Buzancy

A week ago I suppose there was hardly a soul in Scotland who had heard of Buzancy, which is one of the gates of the plateau on its western side. Today there is no prouder name borne on the colours of the eight famous regiments by which it was stormed. The Scottish Division has done no harder fighting during the war. The violence of the struggle was frightful. A great deal of it was hand-to-hand fighting in the streets. At the end of the day two bodies were found locked together in death. One was a German officer, in his hand the revolver with which he had shot his opponent. Our man was still holding the rifle with which he had bayoneted the officer as he fired the shot which killed him. The village and the sandstone caves were stiff with machine-guns. At one place there was a high wall which had to be crossed. Our men got over it by climbing on each others’ shoulders, and dropping on the other side in face of a terrible fire. The enemy showed no trace of the failing moral which is too freely talked about. Almost to a man they resisted to the very last, and after the battle several German machine-guns and one Tank were found with the men dead at their posts, and a ring of our dead and wounded close up to them.

The division had already had a strenuous time. They were brought back from Arras after seven months in the line, entrained at 2 in the morning and then moved to their new quarters in motor-omnibuses and, at the end of a 10-miles march, ordered to attack at daybreak. After a great fight, though exposed to galling machine-gun fire on their flanks, they reached their objective, consolidated their position, and held it till the morning of the 26th. Next day came the order for the attack on Buzancy and the high ground beyond, and by midday on the 28th the first wave was through and the objectives attained. Then, however, there was a hitch, as the troops on the right, in spite of the most gallant efforts, could not advance, and were compelled to fall back.

The difficulty about the position is that it is enfiladed by German heavy batteries. The valleys behind the lines are doused with gas, and as, except in the caves, there is almost no shelter, the troops have need of philosophy, as well as courage, to stick it as they do. The whole countryside is horribly devastated.

This Week in History - The Battle of Culloden (10-17 April)

https://ospreypublishing.com/thisweekhistory/

In an attempt to surprise Cumberland, Charles and his able general Lord George Murray made a night March toward Inverness, only to find the English ready for them at dawn. Barraged by heavy artillery fire, the tired Highlanders nonetheless attacked, but were quickly repulsed by the well-equipped Hanoverians. With nearly double the number of forces and superior firepower, the English defeated the Jacobites in less than an hour.

At the battle’s end some 750 Jacobites lay dead, in contrast to the loss of about 360 Hanoverians. Charles fled, while ‘Butcher’ Cumberland oversaw the slaughter of the wounded and imprisoned, ushering in an era of severe repressive measures against Highland society. The battle of Culloden marked the end of the Stuart cause.

Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum

Під час різдвяної візити до Шкоції (яка назва, як відомо, єсть правішою 😉 ) ми завітали до невеличкого авіамузею коло Дамфріса, на колишній авіабазі (де, як нам сказали, триповерхова контрольна вежа є унікальною для таких аеродромів). Несподівано цікаво - а особливо що музей існує виключно завдяки зусиллям ентузіастів-добровольців.


А тепер, як годиться, слайди. Один з них має визвати усмішку у археологів своїм підписом, типа "Ми не знаємо що це за хвигня, напевно, вона ммає якесь ритуальне значення"

Абатство Дандреннан

От цікаво іноді буває - їдеш подивитися якусь місцеву цікавинку просто тому, що вона там є, не знаючи бекґраунду - і виявляється, що вона таки ще й як вбудована в загальний плин історії. Виявляється, у цьому монастирі королева Шотландії Марія Стюарт провела свою останню ніч у Шотландії, перед її втечею до Англії (за якою послідував арешт, ув'язнення й страта - але сильно згодом) Ну а оскільки цього року святкується півтисячолітній ювілей початку Реформації - мене завжди дивувало, навіщо треба було руйнувати такі храми... (ну тобто зрозуміло, але...)

Kirkcudbright Training Area

На Різдво й Новий Рік ми гостювали у друзів у Шотландії, і мені нарешті випала нагода відвідати Kirkcudbright Training Area. Я знав, що там є рештки танків часів ДСВ і повоєнних, при чому в тому числі й один з дуже небагатьох екземплярів "Черепахи" (яка мене вразила ще в танковому музеї в Бовінґтоні) З погодою також пощастило :)