Malcolm Robinson

Events produce strange bedfellows................. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/reject-eu-referendum-urges-hague-082743184.html

Little birdie tells me Tesco completed on the car park last week...........might see something happening now.

There you go Keith...........is that GGG on the bike riding down to pick up his copy of Radio Constructor??????

Like it...........

This week saw a national strike in Greece, hardly inspiring for a county which has been rescued by the Troika, and the government saying their fiscal plans were well underway and working. Looking a bit closer we see youth unemployment at around 42.5%, that's nearly every other young person, 15-24yrs old, not in work. Unemployment as a whole is rising and it now looks like less than half the population has a job. As ever look at bond yields for the true picture and see Greek 1 yr. bonds yielding a staggering 185%. Compare them with say Germany at 0.47% and you start to see the true picture emerge! Anyone buying into a Greek recovery and these fantastic bond yields, no only the ECB! Even her 10yr yields are now 24.5% and remember the rest of the PIGS were being considered for rerating once their bonds hit 5+%! Once again the EU great and good have come up with a plan, not sure if plan is the right word, but they are going to 'bazooka' the Euro fiscal crisis with a new fund EFSF. I won't go into details why this is yet another crock but they have included leverage into the mix this time and what got us into the mess in the first place, oh yes pass the parcel with financial derivatives! Someone needs to line these people up against a wall or at least give them back to their villages which are missing their idiots! As for the UK it looks like we are coming out of the woods according to some articles I read. The ONS has reported a £12+billion reduction in public sector net borrowing for this financial year to date. Great anyone might think but how much PSBR has been raised with increased taxation such as a 20% VAT rate? Also included in the ONS figures is the public sector net debt which to the end of September was £2278 Billion. 12 months ago at the same time it was £2230 billion so what we are really talking about is climbing costs during a prolonged recession. Having said that a recent report showed the UK economy grew by 0.5% for the last 3 months so officially ''No recession here matey boy, move along now!''

This must be true the guy's a preacher............ http://www.metro.co....d-is-nigh-again

Working on an ending which we can use all the time but my Photoshop has just frizzeled! Any offer of help GGG?

Hang on, King Abdullah is a nice old despot, and doesn't deserve to be on a list with mass murderers like Mugabe! Maybe his security lot have roughed-up the odd "trouble maker", but he is a reformer, and things are consistently moving in the right direction. Without him the religious nutters would call all the shots, and we'd have another Iran on our hands. There's also the argument that it is us who have taken this women drivers thing far too far! http://www.guardian....if-saudi-arabia

Take your pick............. 1. Omar al-Bashir Sudan 2. Kim Jong Il 3. Than Shwe 4. Robert Mugabe 5. Islam Karimov 6. Hu Jintao 7. King Abdullah 8. Saparmurat Niyazov 9. Seyed Ali Khamane 10. Teodoro Obiang Nguema

Now its not April 1st so................ http://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-jailed-after-trying-to-turn-faeces-into-gold-.html

take your pick............

Happy Birthday Claire........

Still polishing that seat for you Keith!

** BREAKING NEWS ** In an attempt to save the economy, on October 30th 2011, the PM will announce that he is ordering the immigration department to start deporting old people (instead of illegal's) in order to lower Social Security and NHS costs. The reasoning behind this drastic measure is that old people are easier to catch and most will not remember how to get back home! RUN, YOU OLD SODS, RUN

Thanks GGGG much better!

Do you mean what we were promised if there was anything like say a Lisbon treaty proposed?

Funnily enough GGG just had an argument with a leading figure about county not including anything into their equations for inflation. Tried to get him to see if they didn’t then the inflation figure has to eat into their headline budget figures and compromise what was supposed to be available. Course it could be a way of trimming budgets without calling it cut backs?

This is what I did up at County Hall Merlin...........

Remember this post................well........... Send it around your contacts, I want it to go VIRAL!!!!!!!!!!!

At a wine merchant the regular taster died and the director started looking for a new one to hire. A drunkard with a ragged, dirty look came to apply for the position. The director of the factory wondered how to send him away. They gave him a glass to drink. He tried it and said, "It's a Muscat, three Years old, grown on a north slope, matured in steel containers". Low grade but acceptable. "That's correct", said the boss. Another glass.... "It's a cabernet, eight years old, a south-western slope, oak barrels, matured at 8 degrees. Requires three more years for finest results.." "Correct." A third glass... ''It's a pinot Blanc champagne, high grade and exclusive’’ calmly said the drunk. The director was astonished. He winked at his secretary to suggest something. She left the room, and came back in with a glass of urine. The alcoholic tried it. "It's a blonde, 26 years old, three months pregnant and if you don't give me the job, I'll name the father."

Probably around double for a smallish premisis! I always discount initial discounts because in no time at all you pay the true rate which given the hike will more than make up for a short period of 'undercharge'. I have long argued that non domestic rates is a tax which not even the most efficient business have any control over. If a business uses too much electricity it can switch things off, too much heating it can cut down, but that isn’t possible with something like a rates demand. That is set on a fictional rental pricing structure and means a small business in Bedlington pays the same per square foot as Harrods, pro rata of course! That and the upwards only rents some landlords charge has a devastating effect on small towns like ours. Watching the billion pound Metro Centre last night not hard to see where retail migration has ended up and the Ying and Yang of property prices where our high streets are losing value and the Metro Centre has trebled in value since Sir John’s departure.

Flipping heck they are all at it................. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/court-clerk-becomes-bribery-acts-first-victim-141153785.html