The Ponz

There was a rumour AD was going to resign a couple of months ago But if he had what impact would that have had on the markets? I'm not sure if he's a decent man or not but he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't He's a Muppet for taking the job on under Brown in the first place

More bullets pulled out of people and the ceiling than held in the magazine of SS' gun? That's according to Napoleon Solo anyway... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...ert-Vaughn.html

yup How to screw up a war story: The New York Times at work That's not to absolve the Russians of all responsibility. The speed of their reaction means that it is very likely that they knew exactly what was going to happen and when

Comrade Vlad giving his account of the situation at a press conference a couple of days ago... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9aJJFehzKFU he manages to work in a dig at the journalists towards the end

One question I haven't seen a clear answer to is how is it domestically contracted AIDS infections in the UK haven't risen in the same way that other STDs have in recent years? Where's the epidemic we were warned about 20 years ago? It's not as if Brits have become super-careful about sexual health over that time

There are some interesting parallels between HPI/HPC and the the Man Made Global Warming thing You got one group of people looking at graphs of recent upward trending data, extrapolating that trend way, way up and coming up with explanations as to why this time it's different and why the upward trend is going to continue for the foreseeable future. They currently have the majority of politicians and the media on their side On the other side you've got people arguing that global mean temperature, like house prices, is cyclic, that there are signs a turning point has been reached and a downturn could well be on the cards The question I always ask people when the subject of MMGW comes up, whether they are pro or anti, is what data would it take for you to change your point of view, or is your position just a matter of faith and more or less set in stone? Personally, I'm sceptical about the significance of the human component in global climate change. That's, I believe, a reasoned and well researched opinion and I have set the boundaries at which I will change that point of view. The spectacle of watching people accuse each other of being retards or invoking the consensus of vested interests, for or against, ain't going to swing it for me

There's no way Madoff could have kept a <$50bn Ponzi scheme running for years on his own. Just no way Two possible explanations come to mind - Either a small group of people, including some regulators, were complicit in Madoff's scheme - Or It wasn't a Ponzi scheme at all. Madoff suffered huge trading losses, as so many other hedge funds have this year. In a desperate punt, Madoff trashed his paperwork and claimed to be a fraudster so that his clients could claim compensation on the basis they were failed by regulators

People are panicking alright but there is some rationality to it. Our government seems set on destroying the credibility and value of the pound. Also, for the life of me, I cannot see any reason to believe that most of the UK's bad news is now in the open. The Euro is undoubtedly a basket case but if people around the world see it as a credible alternative reserve currency to the equally screwed up dollar that doesn't matter much. The Americans have got away with writing bad cheques off the dollar's reserve status for 40 years I do hear what you're saying. I moved out of sterling at the Euro 1.28 level without a second thought. If I had to make that decision at Euro 1.07, I would go for a walk, talk a few deep breaths and think very carefully about how I was hedged against different potential outcomes

You could use the same logic to argue that now is the time to get back into the housing market All the major currencies out there have fundamental weaknesses and any one of them could plunge tomorrow Personally, I just want to retain the value of what I have. In the current climate staying in just one currency, any currency, makes me nervous.

Yes, just look at the state pension system My Mum still thinks the government's holding a pot of cash with her name on it

No, there doesn't have to be Today's 'safe' is tomorrow's disaster, if and when enough people panic and pile out of it and there's been plenty of that going on this year whatever you put your money into, I'd suggest thinking about diversifying it a little

The FSA

HIPs inspectors

it's tricky though isn't it What when so much of the apparent incompetence so often favours the rich at the expense of the not so rich

"2. They deliberately precipitated the biggest credit splurge in history to bring about the end of capitalism and instigate their New World Order corporate socialist dystopia. The end of democracy, the middle class and privately owned asset wealth." I'm not sure that the current crisis is that different, aside from its scale, to many others that have happened before. I'm not going to repeat a certain Jefferson quote, as I've no doubt you already know it off by heart From an historical perspective, the economic and political freedoms ordinary people have enjoyed in some parts of the world Post WW2 can arguably seen as an aberration We're just headed back to how things used to be, bolstered by lots of new intrusive technologies and, yes, I believe it to be deliberate

Company accounts are usually prepared and audited on a 'going concern' basis... that is, there is an underlying assumption that the entity will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and that the entity has neither the intention nor the need to liquidate or curtail materially the scale of its operations.' So a lot depends on the auditor's judgment as to whether the company being audited really is a going concern or not Because, if it's not, and the company fails, valuations of the company's assets aren't worth toffee

I suspect the fact that a high proportion of Madoff's victims appear to be wealthier members of America's Jewish community has contributed to the surprise This is a group of people who pride themselves on being good with money Madoff debacle hits region's Jewish community as it happens a lot of Ponzi scheme's are Affinity Frauds and target members of identifiable groups I'm also thinking back to BCCI which specialised in fleecing Muslims If a fraudster can convince you that he's 'one of us', whoever the us might be, he's halfway there

You can add iron ore and limestone to that list. All of which could be found a stone's throw from each other in the Black Country, which helped get the Industrial Revolution started The UK was actually pretty resource rich

lol So much for me being a smart **** It's NZ for me. And if HMG are happy to help me out with a bit of sterling support that suits me just fine

So you're long Aussie Dollar then?

There was me, all set to shed a few unwanted pounds this morning when some invisible pixies woke up at midday and started buying sterling ...hard Whether this is a case of Al Darling changing up some left over holiday money or the start of the much anticipated, and much delayed, death of the dollar only the pixies really know but the £/EUR chart for today does have that certain special aroma about it

The amount of death and destruction that's been and is being inflicted in this world doesn't even start to support that last sentence We've been invading and bombing the blazes out of other people for hundreds of years and we've always managed to come up with a reason why it's their fault and how we're somehow doing them a favour shouldering the white man's burden. A few years ago Communism was the ideological cancer that supposedly threatened to engulf us all. Right now, it's militant Islam And if you're talking barbarians who make war with no clear objectives on which a peace or even an accommodation can reached with them what the hell is the 'War on Terror' when it's at home?

I've witnessed maybe a dozen or so Muslim marches and demos in London over the years and I've not yet seen a single group of demonstrators sporting extremist placards like the ones in that picture. I'm not denying that the odd group of nutters does march up and down with stuff like that but that doesn't even start to be a fair reflection of the demos I've seen

what impresses me is that with all the junk people are subjected to; in their education, in the media, in their food, that not everyone is completely ignorant

a lot of people who hate don't hate because they are intrinsically nasty they hate because they are scared many have perfectly legitimate worries about the future, can see the world around them turning to sh*t and are looking around for someone to hold responsible and the newspapers and television do an excellent job of pointing them in 100%, completely the wrong direction