Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond

Yes! I do remember that site. That convinced me (and I remain convinced) that HR people are on the whole, clueless morons.

No they won't. The Bank of England will mumble about inflation being above target but falling back to target 'sometime soon', meaning that interest rates do not have to be raised now, or ever in the future. In other news, the ONS will announce that inflation measurement will be adjusted to remove any any sterling-led price fluctuations (read rises). P.S. There is definitely something wrong with the 'Add Reply' function - the form is being populated with old data from my previous posts (and not because my browser is retaining the information).

John McFall: Well don't you think Tom, that the way forward is to get back to the Mr ManWarings guarding the savings of retail deposits carefully rather than the swashbuckling culture? Tom McKillock: (smiling) Yes, I do. John McFall: TOO ******ING LATE JOCKSTRAP MCPILLOCK! I made that last bit up, because instead McFallus just fell silent. :angry:

I think the bunnygirl looked hotter with her face wrapped round the bushman's.

Yes you can! See my earlier post. A Data Subject Removal Instruction is legally binding. Technically speaking, a recruitment agent cannot send you personal information on to thrid parties without your consent. They can get narky if you remind them of this legal obligation though. If in doubt, just tell them to remove your CV.

Oh I hear ya Helen. Looking myself. I work in IT and I remember years ago in 1999 seeing a job advertisement saying: "10 years+ experience in Linux systems wanted". I called the recruitment agency up straight away, not because I had 10 years experience of administering Linux systems but because I knew that Linux was invented in 1991. P is me R is recruitment agent. P "Hi, I'm calling about the Linux Administrators job - you need 10 years experience?" R "Yeah that's right - do you have experience of Linux systems" P "Oh yes, but not 10 years" R "Oh ... right" P "You do understand that Linux was invented in 1991 don't you?" R " ... " R "Well we are looking for someone exceptional ..." P "Yes, but surely not someone who was working with Linux before it was even invented?" R "Well, as i say" P "I know just the person then" R "Oh?" P "His name is Linus Torvalds - I doubt you or your client can afford him though. Goodbye" I've seen many cases since too. Many recruiters don't know what they are talking about, however sometimes just a few do. If at all possible, I think its a good idea to choose a recruiter and establish a long term career relationship. You have the right at any time to ask that a recruiter remove your details from their database (called a Data Subject Removal instruction) - and they must do it and confirm in writing that they have done so. You can threaten them with a visit from the Information Commissioner's Office (which could involve the recruitment office being disallowed from processing personal information - which would be problematic!) if they refuse. As a general rule, if I'm turned down for a position, I always ask the recruiter or company to remove my personal information from their database. That way, they don't retain a record that you've applied, and you don't have personal details lying around someone's office with no purpose in mind.

Antony Styles and Ashley Glendale lived in their dream home ... Their problems began when Glendale, a 53-year-old supermarket manager ... "We had six days to find somewhere to live," says Styles, who is 33.

And this is why QE (or as they call it in Zimbabwe "PRINT MORE MOOHNEY") will not work. This is also why it didn't work in Japan. You can make credit available, but if people don't want it, the central banks efforts have been without purpose. Japan worked this out, the UK is still convinced now is different. Their lesson will take some time for them to learn because they refuse to take lessons from any one else. If you're a saver, pull up a deckchair. This housing crash and economic downturn has a long time to run, because we have idiots at the wheel.

Oooh, personal insults! Classy. Now we have been over this already. Please, do keep up. What like zilly not standing up for his rights to a company pension?

Well the Labour party and union movements changed of course. They chose the fluffy option because it seemed the least worst to most people at the time, and because of political indifference - a feeling that whichever way they vote they're still going to get a Baby Boomer who will do pretty much what he likes for the benefit of his generation to the detriment of those before and after. Which is, of course, exactly what we got

Technically, that's untrue. If you are on state benefits, you are sponging off my toil - I'll never have the same benefits. If you are on a cushdy pension, you've already had your piece of me. By continuing to labour your previously invalidated point, you are precisely demonstrating that you don't know what it means .

Hmm. No. The people in power in central government are, mostly, baby boomers. You really think that voters can tick 'none of the above'?

Ah, fair enough that's different. I was talking about wealthy retirees. Never have myself. I see what you're trying to say - that children benfitted just as much as their parents by ... being able to stay there for a couple of days before their parents retired there ... ? Yees. It's still not a convincing substitution argument is it?

No, see my earlier post. Many Baby Boomers are though - you aren't. You should have fought for your rights, have some balls etc. etc. Right, thanks for coming. I take it you've nothing more to say in defence of Baby Boomers. quod erat dēmōnstrandum

People born between 1946–1971 , making them 38-63 y.o. 1971 is more important than you might think, because when those people got to University age, they still received grants. Their successors born 1972 and later did not. Fraid so. If only you knew how good you have it. Okay, you missed out there, but you'll still be eligible to get free prescriptions, travel, fuel payments etc. By the time we are retired, we wont. If you know what a thuppence hapenny is, you definitely had cheap housing, yes.

Is it really ironic that nowadays middle school students have to learn french? What is the irony? That we can speak French, but we'll never afford to live there unlike our English-only speaking Baby Boomer friends? Oh, I see the irony in that then, yeah :angry: .

Exactly. Its got nothing to do with 'having balls', but everything to do with having unaffordable housing, lack of job security and lack of a future when you stop being useful. No-one has, or will ever have it so good as the Baby Boomers did.

Erm, they are the ones who will be paying for your care. They will be paying for the debts run up by our government. They will not get anything like as much as you did (if you were born in the Baby Boomer Golden Years). Ah, I think I see where you're going with this. Yes, so anyone who complains that they don't have as much of a gilded existence as you've been bestowed doesn't actually deserve it. You're definitely a Baby Boomer, right? Yes, but you're not your dad. We're talking about those born after the war.

Err, protesting at work gets you escorted from the building and your P45 posted to you. Like I said, we don't have the job security you lot enjoyed.

The cushdy company pension scheme is closed to new entrants. Oh so surprisingly. You fought for that? How exactly? Looks like a privilege of birthright to me.

I think the baby boomers have a lot to answer for. Their generation typifies a level of unsustainability not seen by their parents before them or by their children since them. Admit it, if the housing crash hadn't happened they'd have been set up for life - free university, cheap housing (my boss said that he had to choose between buying a house or a car when he was younger - because they were roughly the same price!!) and job security not seen by workers since. The current housing market crash is merely a rebalancing process - and look who's trying to stop it?! Baby boomers in government! There's a surprise. And pensions? Last time a secretary came round the office to say goodye (because she was off on a crusie and then to their farmhouse in the Dordoigne), I remarked - without dropping a beat - "Enjoy your retirement, because most people my age think a pension is a French hostel. Remember, you've got it because we're going without ... " Naturally she sneered at me, but my colleague Freda had a laugh because she agreed that it needed to be said. The travesty is that because this kind of thing was taken from us before we were born, there's no-one we can point the finger at, so these situations are the only opportunity we'll ever get to tell baby boomers just how much they've ******ed things up :angry:

Hm. I keep hearing this 'Japan's experience was very different' yet I still fail to see any differences as the UK's recent economic history unfolds. 1. Property speculation-led credit boom? Check. 2. Speculation encouraged by short-sighted government? Check. 3. Crash in property boom leads to fall in credit availability? Check. 4. Banks fail requiring massive cash injections of taxpayers' money creating zombie banks? Check. 5. Government desperately chases high property prices with series of swingeing rate cuts? Check. 6. Rate cuts fail, resort to printing money? Check. Don't get me wrong - I don't think the UK will emerge as well as Japan, but their boom and bust are pretty well identical to ours so far. This myth that Japan's experience is very different to ours seems to be based on the following: 1. Japan is very far away. 2. Japanese people look different to us. 3. None of their financial stimulus packages worked because they didn't do it right (the way we're gonna do it).

We won't be having any of that nonsense happening over here - we've got the situation firmly under control.

Well I've got no idea of what I'm talking about but I sound very good when I talk so I'm off to Davos to do a presentation and then to go skiing. Toodlepip!

Oooh you really been done good! Well, actually it is now really isn't it? You're basically losing money hand over fist on a property that the market will never refloat, hoping in vain that a seller who hasn't looked anywhere else will stumble across your property and say "WOW WHAT A BARGAIN!". Everyone else has it right - you might think your property is on the market, but actually its not even close to the level where transactions are taking place. All other property apart from the small band that is changing hands is an irrelevance.