Malcolm Robinson

It is a bit paradoxical that GGG's favourite economic pin up Gal has taken over the reins at the IMF at the same time her last position in the French government would have probably become untenable. She has overseen a debt spiral in France which can only be imagined at. Even her ardent supporter Sarko is calling for an investigation into how things have become so bad. (There isn't really much that is as distasteful as someone responsible calling for heads to roll as long as it isn't his!) Having made France insolvent she can now do the same to the rest of the world! Interestingly the IMF have released a document, well slipped it under the door really, about what the big multinationals gaining huge cash mountains through ZIRP and QEs are doing with their ill-gotten gains, that were meant to be spent on investment and hiring', as opposed to shareholders and bonuses. They are now using this cash pile to 'invest' in treasuries as a safe haven, that's why their yields are going down when they should be going up to reflect risk, and other quite risky investments which the IMF are warning against. Maybe if everyone read this stuff or it was written for easy reading then we might see bankers hanging off every lamp post in the capital! As it is until we see real banking reform we are stuck making bankers into billionaires while we scratch around to pay living costs going through the roof because of inflation. What is happening is immoral if not illegal and yes let's reintroduce the death penalty!

''U.K. House Prices Fall to 19-Month Low as Loan Restrictions Deter Buyers.''

Unveiling of the portrait bench...........

Unveiling of the portrait bench...........

Sept 10th..............

I thought it was where foxy sat while he waited for a lap dance!

Well Merve has come out and cut the forecast for economic growth in the UK and warned that inflation could hit 5% in the autumn. No !*!@# Sherlock, look at the utilities bills dropping through doors and see where they are going. The BoE have now cut their UK growth forecast from 2% this year to 1.4%. Even the 2% wasn't enough to start repaying all the debt piles we are building up so any cut is even worse news. Having allowed the politicians to magically alter the inflation figures and start using CPI instead of RPI even that has been a short lived breathing space. Merve also states that the outlook for the world economy has deteriorated and he sees particular demand problems emanating from the Euro area. Is there anyone left in the country, apart from MPC members, who couldn't have come out with that gem months ago? If these are the BoE forecasts and cutting edge economic policies then we should be questioning the competence of the people involved!

Why Parents Drink………. A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to……. 'Dad.' With the worst premonition he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter. Dear Dad: It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it. Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren. Love, Your Son John PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card that's in my centre desk drawer. I love you.

Like the BoE the ECB is blatantly dancing with strings attached to its political masters. Remember these institutions are supposed to be independent of political interference, their only role to set fiscal policy using the dry auspices of sovereign economics. Trichet has now said because Spain and Italy are willing to ramp up their austerity packages he has instructed the ECB to buy their bonds, a complete reversal of his position only a couple of weeks ago. Looking at the lessons somebody within that institution should have learnt with respect to the same policy regarding Greece, Portugal and Ireland we can clearly see it hasn't worked, so why should it work now? Admittedly the bond rates of Spain and Italy have gone somewhat south (5.35%) but just as Greek bonds did when the ECB intervened, 10ys rates went from 13% to 7.8% at the start of the 'shock and awe' package but are now 15.5%, I expect in the next week or two to see these bonds above the 6% rate they were at last week. Will that be deemed a failure? The ECB must be sitting on quite large losses with its bond purchases however the way its accounts are finalised they are actually reported as profits????? I wonder if the same accountants might like to prepare my tax returns! What is happening is that, like the BoE, the ECB are socialising losses onto tax payers whilst paying banks to take toxic bonds off their hands, in other words using tax payer's money to pay private banking bonuses! These people need to be lined up against a wall and pretty dammed quickly.

I agree with your post keith and especially.......... It does not have to cost a fortune to cosmetically clean the place up and instill a sense of pride of their environment into the People who live and work in Bedlington Stn, and, for that matter, the Top End/Market Place. Sticking my neck out a bit and doing a bit of Devil's advocacy, doesn't the higher level of payments for a hot food license mean proprietors are already paying towards cleaning up? Maybe it could be increased a little but if it does cover cleaning then it should be ring fenced for that and not disappear into the general pot of NCC.

About 1 week ago Trichet said the ECB wouldn't be buying Italian or Spanish bonds, well as has been the case for the last 3 years what the guy says and does are two completely different things, the ECB will be buying those bonds to try and stop them heading into the realms of the other PIGs'. I still think Italy will be the trigger it's just too big for Germany to swallow and I would be surprised if France didn't come under some pressure now. The UK is avoiding the worst effects at the moment because it hasn't been under the microscope, when it does I doubt sterling will be seen as the safe haven it's purported to be. I found Vince the Cable's comments at the weekend pure fantasy! We are still borrowing money to pay day to day expenses and until we start to live within our means we are as vulnerable as anywhere else. We are about to kiss all that QE money a lot of western governments have spent propping up banking goodbye, that's mismanagement on a grand scale! In the UK that's £200 billion and they are talking about adding another £50 billion. It hasn't worked and the way it is being rolled out it can never work satisfactorily. It has been used to protect Government bond ratings and banking sectors at the expense of tax payers and savers. If we had taken the bust 3 years ago, and some people were arguing 10 years ago things were getting out of hand, we would probably be coming out of recession about now. The way this crisis has been handled we could very well see a depression. What we don't need is to get back to the position which has put us into this mess, what is needed is a complete change to the way we run our economy, if not society! The Yanks are in a bigger mess but this time China has told them to sort themselves out, last time they bailed them out now they need to protect those investments because they have probably used them to buy protected commodity lines of supply. Hedge funds are now buying put options; there is only one way this is going.

Could very well be a case of assume the position!

prefer fage neds tomtom......... No mistaking what you mean about the state of Bedlington though, and that goes for the Station and the Top End.

Sadly there would seem to be valid reasons.......... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/boy-11-found-garden-pond-dies-180826444.html

Mes we, mes we, Rodders!

Howdy.........a warm welcome.

Keith, It's obvious how genuine your intentions are with respect to this subject and I agree there are a lot of unanswered questions but I would like to ask you one thing. Your reference to the Top End getting whatever is going at the expense of the Station, what exactly are you talking about because as far as I am aware the Top End gets nowt too! Take away the Heritage upgrades and what are we left with? The money I was talking about, if memory suffices, went into things like the People's Houses and infrastructure improvements. Must have been about 15-18 years ago? I have just been informed that if the Metro did come to Bedlington Station the earmarked actual station is to be along the road next to what is/was Ready-mix. That's a mistake, to have any chance of upgrading the central area it has to use the original station! I would think that in itself would regenerate the whole commercial aspect in that area. Half the platform could easily be given over to parking and the few remaining busses, as is, already use this road area. Diverting everything along to the Barrington Road is just daft! I only go through the Station when I have someone riding shotgun!

I think you guys are right in most of your grievances. I think the best bet for some real investment into the Station is to get the Metro to use it that's why I had no hesitation in signing this petition…. http://committees.northumberland.gov.uk/elps/elps.pl?op=HandleEntity&entityref=C5AR9ACiCOAOAJQv5gAWcbm&searchreq=60 Just scroll down to the bottom to sign. To put a couple of things into context, the only way the 'Top End' got their upgrades was because of the Conservation Area status and Heritage. The Station doesn't have that but it does have, I am sorry to say, higher deprivation figures so there is ways and means of attracting some investment. I know years ago the Station got about a million squid and the Top End couldn't even get into the pot because it was all based on deprivation figures. How that money was spent might very well be open to question! So the Top End is actually in a Catch 22, not affluent enough not to need help but not figured in the deprivation indices enough to get it that way. Why not start an action group and see what you can achieve. Go along to your Parish Council and say this stuff.

Don't know if anyone caught this t'other night but at last Peter Schiff makes it onot British TV screens! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG4JemfAvlo&feature=player_embedded#at=80

There is a perfect storm looming and it could start today. If the American payroll stats are negative look for a market route. In Europe we now have the Spanish PM admitting the latest rescue package isn't working and Spanish and Italian 10yr. bonds are heading northwards towards the magical 7% mark. Once they hit that they are technically insolvent and there isn't enough money in the ECB to bail them out. I believe what we have seen is a transfer of wealth from West to East, along with our jobs, but our leaders have hoodwinked their populations into believing all was fine and dandy in the garden. The only way that illusion could be maintained was to allow debt levels to escalate and so maintain living standards. In effect they have and are creating new credit cards (QE) to pay the mortgagees with and there is no chance of any repayments just another credit card to pay off balances. That in itself created bubbles in economies such as the housing one we are about to see explode. That is why the only real expansion of jobs in the supposed boom part of the cycle was in the public sector something which is having a dragging effect on our economy at a time of shrinkage. If we consider the associated benefits some of these people have, pensions, golden handshakes/goodbyes protected working conditions etc. even clearing them out to get back to some equilibrium is vastly expensive especially at a time of cost cutting. What is needed are leaders with fortitude both morally and intellectually but what we have are leaders who are career politicians with no real world experience and the backbone of amoebas. This could end very badly for them, it's certainly going to end very badly for us!

I will certainly ask the question for you and get back. I know there is an upcoming police meeting the chair of the Forum is attending.

Merlin, I agree security is a valid concern and has to be taken into account but I don't accept we should forget about any ambitions we might have for the sake of hypothetical problems. At the moment we have to win the initial arguments to get some focussed effort. Once we get something more concrete then we consider the possible resulting issues and at least try and pre plan contingences for them. The more questionnaires we get back the more serious the whole thing is taken. Let's win the argument before we shoot ourselves in the foot! I have added your suggestions, they are both already there and interestingly a bowling alley is quite a popular one. Brettly, Added your idea for a 'reusable' graffiti board.

Merc, I agree with your comments about the perilous state SME (especially micro) development is in and it angers me when I hear both central Government and NCC talk about support for the private sector as a means of addressing the imbalances in public/private sector employment while at the same time running counterproductive polices. I argued that cutting the NCC Economic Regeneration budget was madness, we should be maintaining if not increasing it at this time, because it is the only department which was making a positive impact in that scenario. Pretty soon councils are going to be able to retain business rates, let's hope there are still going to be some businesses left paying them.

Charlie, The officer I asked was just as frustrated as anyone else but these days there can only be water in if there is a lifeguard present all the time.

Too many to list here.............swerve, Welcome Nadine.