Malcolm Robinson

Thought we just pinched them.........

They have also bought a third of that Greek bond issue. Merkel says it isn't bailing Greece out only helping a fellow EU member. Well that's one way to get around your own regulations I suppose. I wonder if they have the same appetite when there are 4 times the amount on offer?

Now your cooking Mr D!

It would seem more of a problem of modernising the business model and effective PR rather than a failure of intrinsic worth?

Just had a leaflet though the door claiming the housing market has turned, 'It's moving again'. This is the second of our illustrious, if not overtly optimistic for reasons of self indulgence, locally based estate agents to proclaim their take on the market. Well here is another take....... Remember that pesky sub prime stuff which caused the financial world to implode and how it wasn't really anything to do with us? Our bankers unknowingly bought into the junk bonds is the current excuse. (BTW the same bonds which used fractal chaos theory to prove their valuations!!!!) Anyway just come across some rather revealing stats on the issue. Only about 44% of the book was for residential properties which means 56% was for commercial, that's shopping centres, shops, offices etc. This stuff is not written the same way as residential mortgages are, commercial ones of this sort are given 3-7 year terms. We are primarily talking USA here but banks worldwide own this paper. So this stuff is close to becoming due for repayment soon and what state is the commercial market in? Look around Bedlington for an example! If it cannot be repaid because of non lets, and remember we are in or supposedly emerging from recession, this will rebound and this time we have no safety net, we have used everything including the kitchen sink to save the residential stuff! How can banks generate capital receipts, impose very tight default terms on lending then fire sale repossessions and as they must now own by far and away the vast proportion of houses in the UK at a time of limited economic opportunities watch out if you are relying on the governments soft touch for mortgagees in default! The markets turning again, yep but it might be another financial tsunami coming our way! I hate to say this but GGG's apocalyptical 'depression not recession' might well be true after all.

Something for the chartists amongst us............ Just look at Italy on the pie chart!

Mr D, any single library has been the 'Google' for their community since they originated. Each one offers almost unfettered access to just about any publication worldwide. They are certainly egalitarian and as such should be endorsed by everyone. The fact that their message has been somewhat 'lost' in recent times is probably down to their PR (and the Web) than any intrinsic failings. I would like to see them expand and offer more to the communities they serve not close because of lack of use. They are far too important a tool to loose.

Well people seem to be reading this stuff so I will keep it going. The reason I picked Greece to watch it because I think it could be what is in store for the UK once we get someone into No10 who will actually tackle our budget deficits instead of inflating them. The euro question complicates the ease of comparison somewhat but essentially........ So Greece has agreed a new austerity budget to improve her public sector fiscal position and that amounts to a 4.8 billion euro hit. It is split between higher sales taxes on stuff like baccy and booze and public sector cuts, notably civil servant pay. As a part of these moves VAT has gone from 19% to 21%, remember these figures we might just hear the same sort of thing in the near future! That glass of ouzo any Greek bound holidaymakers were looking forward to in the beachside tavernas this summer has just up significantly. These new measures, taken with the discounted original ones, should add up to the about 4% cut in deficit needed. The Greek government have now begun trying to get their house in order and we should now look to the ECB to see how they will repay that commitment. This has already had a reaction by the markets and Greek debt has fallen to 6.03% already with a spread below 3% over Bunds. Slowly slowly catchy monkey! A word of caution, for the initiative to really succeed Greece needs economic growth which might not be possible in the short to medium term as identified by BNP. (That's not the BNP you love so much monsta!) Problems, these are always problems within euroland doesn't matter how sensible a suggestion is, the designated euro banker, Germany, is actually forbidden by its own laws from large scale intervention. Herr Issing, now currency strategist for the ECB and formally council member for the Bundesbank, says that a decision way back in 1993 precludes Germany from anything resembling a bail out or fiscal help for any euro member state, even to the point of issuing a guarantee for another member state to stabilise any fluctuations in the euro. So it might not be a case of the EU leaders not knowing what to do or how to do it, it could well be a case of them not seeing this eventuality at all and therefore not preparing for it, which should bring into question the competence of all concerned! We could look across the pond at out transatlantic cousins for inspiration and especially at the Californian scenario, which in some ways is like the Greek tragedy playing out in Europe now, but there is one thing missing, political union. The yanks have political union which leads to fiscal union; the Europeans have fiscal union which they hoped would lead to political union. It's a bit like the tail trying to wag the dog! As I am writing this up Greece has announced she is going to issue new debt into the markets. The yield is, today, 6.11%. So the question for internal buyers is this....... do you take the debt at a fantastic yield and hope if anything goes wrong the IMF or the ECB will underwrite it or is Greece a basket case with no reasonable prospects of repayment?

I think you have hit the nail on the head Vic and it encompasses far more than just a library! We need to embrace the change technological advances gives us and have a development strategy for the town which takes all of that into account. Maybe then we can start looking to the future instead of gazing longingly at some long past version of Bedlington. BTW, I think a library is about far more then just what books it keeps on the shelf and in some ways gives the towns where they are situated intellectual credibility. GGG, I would argue that it is a viable strategy but only to invigorate local people with enthusiasm. The problem is without an end game you could quickly become part of the problem and not the solution, which I think is what GGGG was alluding to. As for prospective MP's, I can't really see any of the candidates paying much attention over here they are too preoccupied with happenings yon side of the dyke!

In an area where one third of the workforce works for HM Government the cuts will be harder felt than elsewhere. Actually GGG the figure is 40% not 33% and I have questioned the sustainably of that. You could be wrong in your prognosis about the town muddling though, I think it is far more serious than that! I think we should all be getting together and supporting each of the various efforts people are coming up with. If debrade65 thinks carpet bombing the politicians is the way to go then so be it. It is a perfectly legitimate strategy in a democracy. Other people are going down different routes and good luck to them too but we should all be supporting each other because at the end of the day we are all fighting for the same cause. Taking the possible library closure as an example, if every man, woman and child in the town went and took membership out at the library the county would be hard pressed to make a case for closure! They are using usage figures as justification for closures. That would be a community acting to protect its communal assets. I would urge everyone to do that anyway because there are two words which have become synonymous with council pronouncements regarding anything controversial at the moment, 'decision deferred!'

Has the UK already lost its AAA debt rating? Looks like the markets have already pronounced on that with German and French bonds yielding 3.10% and 3.42% while ours yield 4.03%. (There is talk about the next tranche of Greek bonds yielding up to 7% and remember they are in the same currency!) Even Italy 4 places below the UK in terms of international credit ratings weigh in with 3.97% so it looks as if the markets have re-rated UK bonds for themselves! That isn't as bad as a couple of weeks ago when they touched 4.30% so Merv's statement about maybe buying more might have had the desired impact. Interesting to see if that is fleshed out next Thursday when the Monetary Policy Committee meet. The slide in the pound exchange rates must be worrying but just maybe the Pru hedged their takeover of AIG which would distort the market in the short term? However this will impact onto the inflation figures, so much of the raw materials we buy are priced in $'s and of course we import too many finished goods from the likes of China!

I don't understand how they can justify the licence fee in this day and age especially considering the peripherals they have gone into?

I was hoping to find a description and even possibly a reference to the Nail. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/

Don't think we have ever been missed on the taxation front GGG! I just don't understand why what must have been a substantial settlement looks to have been missed out in the records? Bedlington as a place was mentioned in 915AD so unless those pesky Martians put a force field around it how come it doesn't seem to be listed in 1086AD

Like it sizsells, when you are talking about a pack of cards built on quicksand in an earthquake zone someone blarting at the wrong time could produce cataclysmic effects! Remember that 0.1% (4th quarter GDP estimate) which got us out of recession........well it's been revised up to 0.3%. Sounds like better news but the 3rd quarter has also been revised from -0.2% down to -0.3% which leaves us exactly where over the 2 quarters?

If we can go back to around 900AD in recorded history and find Bedlington already as a place name why can't I find it in the Doomsday Book? If Bishop Walcher was granted rights by Willian the BXXXXXXd over it, surly it follows it must have been substantial and if so would have been included in his tax assessment?

Wasn't there one school of thought that said there may have been a Celtic cross on top of the upright?

I might be posting this on the wrong topic but then maybe not......... Now all you financial gurus. Here is an example of how to solve the country's monetary problems. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A 50 QUID NOTE It's a slow day in a little northern town called N------ham. The single mothers are packed tight into the coffee bars. There's a chill in the air, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.............. On this particular day a banker is driving through town. He stops at a local hotel and lays a £50 note on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. As soon as the man walks upstairs, the hotel owner grabs the £50 and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the £50 and runs down the street to settle his debt to the farmer. The farmer takes the £50 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of his animal feed. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the £50 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit. The prostitute rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner. The hotel proprietor then places the £50 note back on the counter so the banker will not suspect anything. At that moment the banker comes down the stairs, picks up the £50 and states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the £50 and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, everyone concerned is now out of debt and now looks to the future with great optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen, could be how the United Kingdom 's Government is conducting business today.

Bit more contemporary: 'Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.'

That's the point sizsells, we have paid billions into the banking sector as re-capitalisation only to see the banks sitting on it. We put 46BILLION into RBS and 23BILLION into Lloyds and they have called it shoring up their balance sheets. They are now back into the gambling game and the Gov won't do anything about it because they want them privatised ASAP so get the share prices up. We have then had to start printing the money, which effectively devalues and/or leaves us with massive debt one way or another, so we can buy the debt the government need to supposedly invest in public infrastructure. Its like heads you win, tails I loose. It's a halfway house which gives a resemblance of stability for a short time but which must at some point be lanced like a septic boil! They are paying the mortgage with their credit card and it's us who will have to pick up the credit card bills, which by the way haven't landed on the door mats yet, but they will!

Sizsells, I wouldn't normally promote the idea of direct interference in any commercial market, the labour market being one, but these are exceptional times which require exceptional solutions. Also given the preferred route our national politicians have taken intervention in the market is almost a necessity. So yes in this case I think any organisation which is funded through localised public subscription has a duty of care towards its subscribers and as such should consider how it can best fit their needs into its service delivery and considering present circumstances if that means a certain discrimination then........put it like this if there are two options, one being keep all the money and deliver in house, the other being give this money to a national house builder and only see the profits appear on a PLC balance sheet at an AGM in London, there would only seem to be one on? Having said that, and before GGG jumps down my neck about public sector waste and incompetence, It would need a certain level of professionalism to deliver which is maybe lacking at present! Don't for one minute think I believe everything we are told by the elected intelligencia, I don't. There is an old adage which still holds water..........believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear!

Anyone know the history behind the marketplace cross?

I too wish to applaud the initiative shown but as GGGG says to what outcome? There are a couple of people trying to get a new project off the ground at the moment which should start to address ALL the concerns wrote about on this topic. This is a community owned project which should be able to focus 100% of it's attention on what the people who make up our community want to see happen. There are a few more't's to cross and 'i's to dot then we will be asking YOU for your concerns, hopes and aspirations for the town and surrounding area. We would certainly be asking everyone who signs up to your face book campaign to at least support the idea. It would be a whole lot easier if a few more people went to the community meetings where this stuff is talked about. In fact your face book initiative was mentioned at the last meeting! BTW, there will be a presentation on 25th March at the community centre by the people commissioned to do a feasibility study on possible new community/sports facilities in Bedlington. Again this is independent of council, a community group commissioned the report. I hope everyone can see with a bit of combined effort we can start to make a difference.

According to the Bedlington Forum meeting last night there are 2 schemes now with planning and whichever one the owner goes with, work should start July. Shops and offices or shops and restaurant. Not a whisper of Wetherspoons!

It's called being a publican!