Malcolm Robinson

GGG, I don't think the market did perform the way you stated. I think the market always acts in ways to enhance its own validity, be that up or down. Left to its own devices the market will only react to strictly economic data, but that has to be as unbiased as the market's reaction. What seems to have happened is that a mature part decided to invent new income paths but they were fraudulent so therefore unsustainable. We then saw the politicos enter the frame and impose their own reasons. Had there been a President with a different political background we might well have seen Lehman's saved! I can see the sense of letting NR go but for me there were two possibilities. Either that or nationalise the whole sector. Like I said if this sector is so intrinsic to the health of the nation then it should be under state control. Banks are in the business of money supply, the private sector as a whole doesn't mind where it gets its investment only that the terms are right. It has cost us billions of pounds to end up with some half hearted halfway house which isn't working for our benefit anyway! I don't think it's fair to say Darling didn't know what was going to happen, given a certain course of action he took, I don't think anyone knew what was going to happen hours into the future never mind weeks, months or years. These are the times when a clear personal belief in a political course is needed; problem is that we now have career politicians with no real ethos. As for the BoE I think that was more of a precursor to us going into the euro and even preparing the way for the dreaded federalism than anyone taking a sensible decision and withdrawing interfering rights from transient politicians!

Yes, first individual gold in 30 years for a UK athlete in the winter games and if we perm in the gender that almost doubles!

Actually Stephen we might be higher up your list than that! If we accept 10 year gov debt bond yields in comparison to German Bunds is indicative then the UK is in a worse position than Spain or Italy. UK 10 yr bond yields are .95% above German ones with Spanish ones .81% above and even Italian ones at .84%. We have spent nearly £200,000 millions buying our own debt and we are now locked into either repaying it or defaulting on it, either option not very attractive in enticing normality back into the markets. If we add inflation, and yes the BoE have said they consider the latest figure to be a blip but really....., and also the latest public finance figures, (Jan which holds a lot of information about how much the self assessment workers are paying as tax or not as that figure fell by 11.8% compared with the previous Jan!) then we can see we are far from out of the woods and in fact probably only just entering the deepest part of them! Until we see a clear plan and direction from our leaders to stabilise the situation and get back to some sort of sustainability we are living in La La Land! As for the Obama and Tobin options you mention I would have thought the Obama one holds more water. The Tobin plan whilst appealing to nationalistic or even xenophobic tendencies probably couldn't work in the global context we now find ourselves in. The Obama one is probably the only way a capitalistic economy like the USA can resolve itself to the fact that if a section of the economy is so important it cannot be allowed to fail then it should be under state control. Keeping it in the private sector but splitting it up into much smaller units at least gives some form of governmental control.It would stop another Lahman imploding the market.

Politicians can't help themselves from grandstanding; it's in the nature of the beast. They now seem to be falling over themselves to patronise the people affected by the Corus closure. Shows just how ineffective they are when faced with economic reality!

I find it interesting that the 'father of the euro' Robert Mundell has come out and said he believes Italy is really the one to watch as the intricacies within euroland unfold. I have thought that for a long time now. Back to Greece and a couple of days ago saw the end of the Ecofin meeting where the euro zone finance leaders met and what did they come up with. Very little really, the head J-C Junker said Greece would be helped by individual governments offering bilateral loans or loan guarantees. This was probably to get around their own rule book! Greece will try to get 16 billion Euros worth of bonds away in the coming months, April & May, the markets might test that resolve! Greek 10 year bonds are now paying 3.21% more than German ones, in the same currency????? (This is the same reason I think Italy is suspect!) Might be interesting to see if Goldman Sachs is brought into the open to explain it's handling of debt issues for the Greek government. Their last government oversaw a massive 20% rise in public sector jobs and with it a 30% rise in public sector wage bill and pension provision so there must have been large salary increases as well. Coupled with a black economy which is estimated at 30% of GDP and a decline in competitiveness estimated at 30-35% not hard to see why Greece has been hit hard by the current recession. Perming in labour market restrictions only exacerbates the position. Some of the above rings bells with the way we have been going and funnily enough the Greek prime minster is in London now for talks with Brown. I wonder who is asking who for a loan?

Com'on Amy!

Merc, Not sure you can get a 'change of use' provisionally? I am pretty sure an application along these lines would precipitate quite a close examination of the knock on effects. It's a bit like the whole Tesco deal, you get an 'aggressive' national in and the local independents must catch a cold. Having said that I know there is a debate at the moment about improving the night time economy in places like Bedlington so this might fit into that thinking? I would like to agree with Mr D's thoughts and I think Weatherspoons would have made a good strategic fit for Bedders but they are in the business of servicing an existing client base not taking a punt on developing one from scratch.

Merlin, I agree but it must have to go through some sort of planning process, I would therefore assume our Town/county councillors would be aware of it??

Typical.........

Ex B, Yes the next one you get will probably not even have the stamp on so you will have to pay for the postage! Actually NCC are in a really precarious position at the moment, the administration cannot set a legal budget, they get one more try then central gov step in and impose one.

If that is right Weatherspoons have just bought a delicenced pub? I would think getting the licence back would be a real uphill struggle, arguing that the town needs another pub while most are on their uppers if not closing, would tax the persuasive powers of Aristotle!

I think some of this sort of stuff is certainly artwork deriving from the 'pop art' movements of the 50's. Having said that it is unfortunate where certain exponents of the craft choose to exhibit their work!

Thanks for the link monsta, interesting reading about the green Sahara and its people.

I take it you too think an organisation using climate change to underpin their economic strategy for the next 5 years is about to waste and cost a lot of money it can ill afford!

Greece would seem to have already defaulted, certainly in the stringent confines of monetary union. Of course the likes of Germany and to some extent France have to bail them out, they are using the same money and if it looks suspect......... This would seem to me to be the whole problem within the Euro member states, without political integration a moneyed integration will always be faced with problems arising from weaker sovereign economies. Course they now have to re-write the rules to allow this sort of intervention, or probably as is so often the case turn a blind eye when it doesn't suit!

GGG, I wasn't really suggesting that this economic quagmire we are in is the same as what has gone before only that we now seem to have the attention span of a gnat! Maybe it's the celebrity culture which now so pervades our society but unless something is on the front pages or at the top of the news it is almost ignored by the majority of people. Perhaps Cowell is right, trivialise it even further and people might take it seriously? I think you are right about the whole overspend scenario and there is one glaring fact above all others, GB was the man in charge of the nation's wallet! I didn't think he was a particularly good chancellor but as a PM everything he touches seems to turn to *$%@! I don't mind the interventionism; in fact I think Gov's should be proactive, but doing so because of a knee jerk reaction to events rather than a reasoned strategy shows just how willing our current crop of top politicians are to swap their allegiance and conviction for a quick fix, however flawed it is. As for inflation the gov of the BoE should be going to the chancellor now to explain what he is going to do about the figure as it is above Gov budget projections. With 3% inflation and 0.5% base rates the only people suffering at the moment are the ones who didn't live beyond their means and tried to provide for themselves and their families. Sizsells, I think your post epitomises the way most people are thinking that's why I think sitting and main party candidates will get thumped at the next election. If you don't think any have the answers why vote for any of them? Trouble is we may see Monsta's favourite party gain more influence and that isn't the way to go. You are right about your economic theory however there is a good case to be made for governments borrowing to invest, especially in times of economic crisis, but that investment has to be cost effective and produce a tangible return, even if it isn't in the short term. Seeing all that 'public' money disappear into the coffers of the banks, where they still sit on it, and calling it recapitalisation is criminal, as is the whole QE exercise which is only going into buying government debt because no one else will buy it. The whole thing would be thought much too far fetched to be a Brian Rix farce!

That's better Brian; I guess the Aussies don't have a trade's description act? :lol: Anyone imagine the hassle if that went up on the Red Lion!

:lol:

Didn't they pinch them off the Persians????

I like Ferguson, anyone who says the indebted western economies are like crack addicts hooked on cheap credit which they can't repay for their daily fix is a sensible economist in my book. Having said that fancy a yank thinking America is the 'the last bastion of western power'........... I kinda think the MP's are jumping ship cos they know they are about to get bashed at the next election and going now they get to pick up about 65K each relocation allowance! Bit like the great and good at county, they are jumping ship to get their enhanced redundancies this year, next year with the changes being brought in they won't get anything like the figures on offer now! Now who picks up the tabs for all this stuff????? I have been though recessions before and they are not a 5 minute thing which slots nicely into a TV news break. We seem to have bankrupted the county in a Keynesian style attack but because the people in charge don't have the stoicism to see it through fully we are left in an even worse position? The next lot will probably try to get back to neo liberal style economics which will have a devastating effect on jobs given the global nature of such things now.

Can't read the stuff on the side of the pub Brian? Anyone got a spare set of goggles?

I would have thought we had learnt something about the interconnectivity at play these days in economic terms. If a fly farts in China someone in Newcastle looses their job! Greece looks set to destabilise the Euro at least in the short term, it has already destabilised Maastricht as the EU hurriedly breaks its own rules for members, that impacts onto our exchange rate which in turn influences our exporters (one area where we could actually have a positive effect being outside the euro). So yes cheaper holidays but goods made here and exported (I know!) are less attractive compared to euro priced ones. Given our biggest market is euroland will we see the BoE devalue further or increase the recessionary effects of large scale unemployment? The story has always been there in Gov bond yields and still is.

CCTV soooooooo last year............... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100212/tod-you-re-nicked-police-drone-nabs-its-870a197.html

Nice Monsta, photoshop?

Been thinking along those same lines Merc. Are there still large capacity breweries willing to supply or do you have to go down the 'real ale' route? Course there is also the rates licensed premises attract. Maybe a poncy wine bar for Bedders????