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Inflation-linked bonds are still bonds, so if interest rates rise, they will underperform. You need to be aware of this.

I am also sorry, but I completely disagree... In my experience, the middle-ground approach is the only one that works, in economics and elsewhere. Extremes, of either variety, are simply not viable.

In my humble opinion, the truth is never at one of the extreme ends of the spectrum, but rather somewhere in the middle. That middle ground is hard to find, though.

Thank you for the compliment, but I assure you, I am no genius. You just have to take a look at my recent PNL to see that :). And yes, I suppose welcoming immigrants indiscriminately isn't really consistent with large amounts of social insurance. That's the moral of the story to me. My...

Yes, I do appreciate and, to some extent, agree with the strategy of picking the cream of the crop, which, incidentally, every nation is eager to pursue. However, it's, unfortunately, a bit more complicated than that, especially in formerly colonial nations, such as the UK or France. And no...

Well, Russian issues are a bit different and have a lot to do with the collapse of the public health infrastructure (as well as other social institutions) that occurred during the 90s. Moreover, Russia is actually the exact opposite of Japan in terms of immigration (a lot of it not altogether...

That too... However, the more general problem is the unconditional promise that is embedded in a final salary defined benefit pension. In an uncertain world, that's just inviting trouble.

I am living in the center of the UK capital city, London, so I daresay I have some experience with these "third-worlders". Moroever, I am sort of a "third-worlder" immigrant myself and have a lot of friends who are similar. I would absolutely love to see some of this "well documented...

I am not really sure what you're referring to here... I can only speak for the UK and parts of Europe that I am familiar with. I certainly see zero evidence that all of these dire things you're describing. In fact, I don't really understand where all these sweeping generalizations are coming...

It was all bullsh1t...

Demographic suicide in what sense? Demographic suicide in the developed societies in the West is what happens when you prevent immigration, rather than encourage it. In terms of the OP's question, for countries like France and the UK, it's all about the colonial past.

Depends how much of a muppet you are...

36.1924 is what I see.

If I remember correctly, there's been some discussion of margins. While I am not sufficiently informed to have a view, I am a huge fan of James Montier. He published this recently and I intend to read it to educate myself...

Well, I dunno about you, but that's where the mkt is... If you think this spread should be higher, you know what to do, right?

Yeah, although it's a bit more tricky to separate "public" from "private" in the UK. Still it's relatively clear in the case of Royal Mail. This here is more of the same: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9154864/Millions-of-workers-lose-pension-battle-with-government.html

Well, that is precisely what's happening here... The previous UK govts (esp Labour) have promised retirees (esp in quasi-govt companies, like Royal Mail, British Airways, British Telecom, etc) extremely generous "defined benefit" pensions. As time went on, it became increasingly obvious that...

I thought we approved of taking away of some of the especially generous benefits from the public sector employees?

They wouldn't have gotten it back regardless... The Royal Mail "private" pension plan was in severe deficit and would have likely ended up taken over by the PPF. Same difference, in the end, with the exception that there's a chance that the govt might actually be able to salvage Royal Mail as...

Yeah, but what else do you expect from Gordon Brown? He's the same man who sold 400 tons of British gold reserves near all time lows... He wouldn't know value if it hit him in the face.