Other countries have overt corruption (yes, we have corruption, albeit more polite) and what the United Kingdom has is extreme greed

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Category: Private Thoughts

The United Kingdom’s media, government and general population love to bash others, yet it rarely looks inwards to its own problems. India, Pakistan, China Belarus, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan etc. are countries we love to criticise for the reasons of democracy (or lack of) or corruption. Even ex-prime minister David Cameron was caught off guard talking about “fabulous levels” of corruption in the regard to some of the countries listed. It is true that corruption in these countries can run from low to high level or medium to high level. You can bribe someone low down, like a civil servant or police officer, through to a politician. In Belarus, low level corruption is not actually a thing and low-level workers are even scared of taking an honest gift. The 3rd world will be different.

Twenty years ago, my mother said to me that travel broadens the mind and 69 countries later I firmly believe this. Think for a second; has the UK government or media ever said anything positive about China, Belarus, China or Iran? I cannot think of anything, and I have spent time in Belarus so can tell you there are many positive points to the negatively viewed country. China, I have only transited through twice, so it is hard to judge the country however one thing I noticed is the pricing of food & drinks in the airport. Socialist pricing is what comes to mind and well the country is run by the CCP! 60p for a bottle of water in vending machines whereas in Western airports you could be looking at 6x the price.

In May, I spent two weeks in Republic of China (better known as Taiwan) and R.O.C is an advanced country by Asian standards. When I travel, I like to explore properly by car and speak to locals, as I did, to see the pros and cons of a sovereign state. Taiwan is not left leaning and is Western unlike People’s Republic of China (better known as China).

Let’s look at the prices and issues of the United Kingdom before looking at two other countries I have spent time in – Belarus and Taiwan:

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Diving inside a semi or targeted email phishing campaign

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Category: Blog

Published: 04 April 2026

Both emails arrived within four days of each other and, unlike the generic phishing messages from “eBay” or “PayPal,” more effort went into these. Either the content was AI-generated or a real person did somewhat more careful reading into my website.

Why is it different? Normally the email says your password is expiring or that there has been suspicious activity on your account and asks you to click a link. These two emails are talking about something I may actually be interested in offering. Mass-market messages address you as “Dear Sir/Madam.”

Let’s look at the differences and red flags:

• Inquiry in the subject line – In British English, "inquiry" refers to a legal investigation. However, in American English, it is the correct word. This can or cannot be deemed as a mistake in the English language depending on the location received.
• Hi Graeme in the subject line – This is not the appropriate place to greet me.
• I tried calling in the email body – I did not receive a call or voicemail, and my website does not list a phone number.
• Your teams in the email body – If they had read my website correctly, they would have seen that it is just me.
• Elizabeth Lee – This name does not appear in search engines or on LinkedIn as an employee.
• Kelsostrategy.us – This domain is different from kelso.com.
• Kelsostrategy.us – was registered on 21st March and used to re-direct to kelso.com.
• Kelso – is a bona fide business and is a private equity firm based in Mid-Manhattan and may not be the correct organization to approach me for training.
• 1000 Main Street – 1000 Main Street is the listed whois address, but there is no apartment block at the address listed on Google Maps.
• Teams/Calendar/Kelso/Elizabeth – This is not a URL and the actual URL is a Microsoft Azure Blob
• Michael - is mentioned in the body but is not cc’ed on the email.

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We need more babies to reverse low birth rates… but where are the jobs for them in the future?

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Category: Private Thoughts

Published: 23 February 2026

From time to time, we hear about low birth rates in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan and beyond. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2024 figure was 1.41 children per woman. Even lower were Spain and Malta with a joint 1.1. In Hungary, Spain and Malta in 2023, the figure was 1.5, which can be read at https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=EU&most_recent_value_desc=false.

In October, Mr Musk appeared in a headline story titled: "Elon Musk Issues Birth Rate Warning: ‘Mass Extinction’". Mr Orban, back in February of last year, offered giant tax breaks to increase birth rates, and Hungary is above average in statistics. In September of 2024, Greece started to offer something similar. It is clear that many countries are trying to increase birth rates; however, I see a flaw in this cause: skilled jobs in the next 5, 10, 15 years.

High birth rates are generally caused by two things: poverty and/or religious populations. Take the Philippines, for instance, with a birth rate of 1.92 and a high percentage of young/unmarried births. Poverty, education and the power of the Catholic church could be partly to blame for this. Divorce and abortion are not permitted in 2026.

Low birth rates could be related to better education around female empowerment, contraceptives, permitted abortions, and physical infertility. Or is it down to the items listed below?

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