Carabansity

Telegraph just reporting now that Golden Dawn, the Greek ultra right wing party are rallying outside the German Embassy in Athens in an opportunistic show of force. Not a good sign...

Linky

Laiki (Popular) Bank just annouced restrictions on amounts that can be withdrawn from ATM's down to 260 Euro, so rumours they will be bust overnight look true.

This from one of my Irish Cousins and this... A Little Irish humour, originally posted by Jay Donnan:- So this is for the benifit of all my friends who are confused or alarmed by the recent images being broadcast around the world, given that we are now 15 years into the peace process.. The capital of Ireland is Dublin . It has a population of a million people, all of whom will be shopping in Newry this afternoon. They travel to Newry becaus...e it is in the North, which is not part of Ireland, but still pay in Euros. Under the Irish constitution, the North used to be in Ireland , but a successful 30-year campaign of violence for Irish unity ensured that it is now definitely in the UK. Had the campaign lasted any longer the North might now be in France. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland . It has a population of half a million, half of whom own houses in Donegal. Donegal is in the north but not in the North. It is in the South. No, not the south, the South. There are two parliaments in Ireland . The Dublin parliament is called the Dáil, (pronounced "Doyle"), an Irish word meaning a place where banks receive taxpayers' money. The one in Belfast is called Stormont, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'placebo', or deliberately ineffective drug. Their respective jurisdictions are defined by the border, an imaginary line on the map to show fuel launderers where to dump their chemical waste and bi-products. Protestants are in favour of the border, which generates millions of pounds in smuggling for Catholics, who are totally opposed to it. Travel between the two states is complicated because Ireland is the only country in the world with two M1 motorways. The one in the North goes west to avoid the south and the one in the South goes north to avoid the price of drink! We have two types of democracy in Ireland . Dublin democracy works by holding a referendum and then allowing the government to judge the result. If the government thinks the result is wrong, the referendum is held again. Twice in recent years the government decided the people's choice was wrong and ordered a new referendum. Belfast democracy works differently. It has a parliament with no opposition, so the government is always right. This system generates envy in many world capitals, especially Dublin . Ireland has three economies - northern, southern and black. Only the black economy is in the black. The other two are in the red. All versions of the IRA claim to be the real IRA but only one of them is the Real IRA. The North's biggest industry is the production of IRAs. Consequently, we now have the Provisional, Continuity and Real IRA. The Real IRA is by far the most popular among young graffiti writers simply because it is the easiest to spell. I trust this clarifies things and has answered many previously unanswered questions for you

Bathstore and Sony Centres are mostly franchises so the odd one goes bump all the time as the franchisee can't keep up with rent, rates, salaries and handing over 10/20% of turnover to a central leech. Some McDonalds are franchises as well. As mentioned earlier, French Connection looking ropey and all the publicity from the "****" advertising seems to have petered out now. http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1167123/dark-days-french-connection-big-loss-expected/ Article again blames online sales competitors rather than high rents and poor management (despite clearly stating in the article that the management decision to start discounting late caused much of the disappointing sales figures). Shares down 11%, second year of losses, not trendy anymore.

TMT has it, Leeds was rammed yesterday but nobody had any shopping bags. This year so far we have done 100% of our Xmas shopping online.

Leeds/Bradford Airport also charges for drop off with no alternative. Sounds similar to Bournemouth. Costs £2 for 30mins and a £5 for up to 2 hours. Manchester Airport was still free last year...

The local paper reported last night that bus passenger numbers have dropped 20% in the last ten years (45 million trips!). WorstBus have a virtual monopoly in Leeds. All this despite the local Council spending gazzillions on making life a misery for car drivers with miles of empty bus lanes to speed up journeys. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-and-west-yorkshire-inquiry-launched-as-bus-user-numbers-plummet-1-5167592

Apologies if this has already been discussed, I had a quick look but couldn't see it. "Fresh warnings have been sounded that ‘many’ Scottish letting agents will go bust as a result of the new tenancy deposit law, with a collective black hole in their accounts that could be as high as £50m." Article continues http://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Fresh-warnings-of-crisis-for-many-letting-agents If you are renting in Scotland and don't have your deposit in a secure scheme might be time to ask questions of your agent

Most Northern European houses are prefab i.e.made in sections in a factory, as are a few Scottish ones with firms like Scotframe building whole sections off site and then craning them into position. Much better than brick slopped on top of each other in a wet and muddy field here in luddite England. We are prisoners to a mindset caused by Nationwide (the tv programme after the news) back in the seventies that did an expose of a truly shoddy attempt by Barratt homes to make a timber framed house. More info on the latest prefabs here http://www.fabprefab.com/

the London pad has a large flat roof suitable for missile placement to protect the western approaches to Buck Pal and Westminster

What gives with the bars on image 10? Must have some brave cat burglers...

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/olympic-tax-dodging-petition#petition I signed the McDonalds petition and it seems they have backed down, the target now is Coke. Not often signing something online actually works but it did this time.

There is a limit on the life of fixtures and fittings. I can't find it but have always thought it was about 5 years. This from another forum is pretty fair (it is actually part of a letter to send at the start of legal proceedings). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The deposit must not be regarded as extra rent, to be used to improve the condition of the property. Any amount deducted from it must be equivalent to the amount needed to replace “like with like”. For example, if the carpet was worn at the start of the tenancy, you cannot retain the amount that would pay for a brand new carpet. You cannot deduct the replacement value of any item, even if it was brand new at the start of the tenancy, as this would be "betterment". You can only deduct from the deposit a percentage of the item's value, based on (a) its on condition at the start of the tenancy (which you must prove using the inventory from the start of the tenancy), and ( the expected life of the item. Nor can you make deductions from the deposit for general “wear and tear”. The tenant is only liable for damage that creates extra cost; the deposit is not there to provide a redecoration fund. You must redecorate at your own expense. HTH

Isn't First Direct meant to be good as well or is it tarred by HSBC ownership for the purposes of this thread?