shermanator

I tend to agree, call it a gut feeling. Whenever something is so heavily trailed as bound to happen, ie Brown being PM, it's surprising how often it doesn't occur. Watch out for David Milliband (ex Marxist), Allan Johnson (ex TU agitator) and John Reid (ex Communist). What a nice bunch these Nu Lab people are - NOT

I dunno, I prefer the leftovers to the main meal myself. Inflation then asset deflation - it's that simple really

Anyne who believed that crock of sh*te needs their head examined. Fatso Gordo will realise his dream just as the economy goes into nightmare scenario. Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke

Oy vey, it's really tanking. I'm lovin' it Am I the only one who thinks that 'Nimmmmm's photo is a dead ringer for James May, from Top Gear

I've never rated Bootle so I'll go for your latter option. I've heard of rats leaving a sinking ship, but he's jumping onto the Titanic just as the iceberg is in view. .....and to think that companies pay him thousands for his 'expert advice' Should be put out to pasture. Remember if economists were so good they would be sunning themselves in tropics rather than writing a piddling newspaper column.

Didn't Roger Bootle write a book called "the death of inflation" or something? What an idiot. He obviously thought that cheap tat from China would warm our homes, run our cars and feed our bellies!!! Why anyone should be surprised is beyond me. If commodity prices are increasing dramatically and the money supply goes berserk you don't have to be Einstein to work out that it'll lead to inflation. Excellent news, anyway

That's been my thinking too but I still don't have the Chutzpah to buy back in today, though a few financial and banking shares look tempting. 6300 will be a nice double top and as you say, it'll be downhill from there.

Ahhhh, banking crisis. Didn't we have those in the 1970s?

I'm fed up with all these people having a go at those flying the flag and getting behind our boys. It appears we (yes, my house and motor are festooned with SGX) are the victim of a pincer movement; on the one hand from the suburban snobs who think anyone who likes football is a chav and on the other the Leftist PC brigade who preceive the flying of the flag as 'racist' or 'islamophobic'. Actually the Guardianistas may have a point but when the establishment has virtually eliminated patriotism, it's hardly surprising that some people have found car flags as a way of sticking two fingers up to the multiculturalists. I'm sure that's another thing the pc police will be clamping down on soon :angry:

Is it just me, or do we have many of the ingredients for a severe economic downturn? Looks like the optimism of spring has dissipated as quickly as it came

I would imagine the uncertain US markets are pretty much down to Bernanke's comment that inflation is rising to "unwelcome levels". Time to crank up those interest rates, methinks And I doubt whether crude oil hitting an inflation busting $74 has exactly helped

That pic is tres funny because there's a lot of truth in it. Was it any different in the 80s though?

No, that's a good find and a very significant one. All the more interesting as though US IRs have risen by 3.75% over 2 years, it's hardly earth shattering tightening. What if they do a .5% rise. This merely proves a suspicion I've had for a long time; for the bubble to burst IRs don't need to go to anything like 15%, so indebted are the American/British consumer. As for Britain. I'm calling the actual falling of prices NOW (up to now we've just got rid of HPI). A forest of for sale/to let boards outside Victorian conversion flats and other BTL territory, tells me things are not great. As for the 'sea' of under offer or sale agreed boards. Yes, there are many of these around - but they're not completing either through chains collapsing or them not having the wonga from the bank. How many removal vans are there around, why is the DIY sector dead, why are houses being re-advertised all the time? And like all bubbles in history it likes to suck as much air as possible in before bursting. Thus the early '06 frenzy is making this crash go in textbook fashion - morons leveraging up to the max. That's finished and the downward path of HPI which began in September '04 will resume. It's happening guys

Well RB, I wave the flag for how Britain was up until as little as 15-20 years ago. I don't wave it to 'celebrate' the cesspit which is Britain in 2006.

I've got the Beemer all tooled up. 3 series convertible, naturally. Two flags and aeriel thingy. England replica shirt - home and away, chunky gold medallion, three lions CD blasting out. St. George X on mobile. Anything else to complete the stereotypical image?

I do hope they do get offended. They're just jumped up snobs who think they're superior because they go to wine bars in Clapham, or some similar area. I went to public school and vote Tory but I feel more at home amongst Sun reading, white van man than I do amongst my snotty nosed neighbours. Oh the irony

I knew the metropolitan pc brigade would turn their attention to flag flying for the World Cup. Any expression of patriotism is frowned upon by these ivory tower liberals and lo and behold that all embracing phrase 'racist' is being wheeled out by these traitors. I have very little time for Chavs but I'll take them over the coke-snorting, oh so liberal folks any time. I've got two flags on my car (for balance) and I'm draping a massive flag on the front of the house. There are 3 houses up for sale so hopefully my little display will turn off any prospective purchasers When I was driving around Bromley/Bexley yesterday it was marvellous how they were getting behind our boys. Come back to Dulwich - nothing at all.

I love Top Gear. However, I wonder how long Jeremy Clarkson will survive seeing as he is wonderfully politically incorrect and has no truck with all this global warming nonsense spouted by enviro-nazis? Not long

A few weeks ago, I kid you not, I was pulled over by a policeman. On a dual carriageway (70mph), he was doing 68-70mph and I was overtaking him between 70-72mph, very slowly just to be careful He pulled me over and asked me what I 'thought I was doing'. Told me I was doing 72mph and that the speed limit was 70mph and that I should 'have the courtesy not to pass a police car' You really couldn't make it up. I have no respect for the police. People will start taking things into their own hands. Too true! I used to be a great supporter of the police, but now I loathe them or more accurately I loathe the Chief Constables. People like that politically correct moron 'Sir' Iain Blair who is a sort of self-hating white man; an affliction which affects most of Britain's middle classes. Diversity awareness - what a farce. Is it too much to ask for the police to nick murderers, rapists, peodophiles, muggers, robbers, yobbos instead of motorists? This country's a sh*thole. If I sell my business and my wife agrees, I'm leaving even if house prices crash. A socialist, Orwellian, multicultural nightmare has become reality. What a pity for a once mighty nation.

This country's in a mess, make no mistake. The number of people I know who are moving their young families out to Spain or Australia is astounding. Before it was just the retirees. If this country was in S. America the military would have taken over, such are the depths to which we've descended. I'll settle for Maggie though.

What a load of a old tosh, Golden Shower. It amuses me when various 'experts' trumpet the success of the British economy and laugh at the French. Well let's look at the facts; British GDP '05 - 1.8%, French GDP '05 - 1.4%. So are we really that much better? Furthermore, considering that the British 'miracle' is built upon such precarious sands as public spending and a debt fuelled shopping spree, I'd say that the French will ride out the coming recession better than us. Question for Golden Shower or whoever. Can you name me one part of the British economy (apart from flat panel TVs) which is looking healthy?

The former chairman and largest shareholder in Courts, Bruce Cohen, is a distant cousin of mine. I think he and the management simply took their eye off the ball in a very cuthroat business; that's why it unravelled so quickly. Soon after it collapsed someone asked me how Bruce was. I said, "what do you reckon considering he's just lost £300m!". Money ain't everything, but it's a lot.

Little anecdotal from Dulwich for you. Yes, over the past few months there has been a marked pick up in activity and rising asking prices, allied with a sea of 'sale agreed' or sold-stc boards up. However, just down my road the only houses where everything has been exchanged and the buyers have moved in, are middle-aged people who have paid off their mortgages and aren't reliant on borrowing. I just don't think the banks are willing to lend young couples monoploly money and we're seeing chains collapsing, properties being re-advertised and where are all the removal vans if things are booming? Why is DIY (homebase, B&Q) slumping if things are so great? I'm willing to accept that between about 98-03 things were buoyant but I just don't get that same feeling now. It's all very weird!

A few years ago I was firmly in the deflation camp, a la Japan. However, I think the Anglo-economies will follow a familiar path; 1. Firstly inflation arising from higher oil and commodity prices, leading to higher interest rates. 2. A period of between 3-5 years of asset deflation. Property should halve, commodities including oil will tumble (don't believe all this nonsense about a commodities "super-cycle"!), repos, bankruptcies, insolvencies will rise. The consumer will entrench even further. In a nutshell, I think we'll see both inflation and deflation.

Just to allay my fears, can someone here please confirm that this site is free of Spyware and Adware? The internet is getting so riddled with this rubbish, which screws up computers, that I'm getting rather paranoid about visiting any sites other than BBC.