harvipark

I had never heard of them up until 2003, then they were on the bill at the Leeds festival. Thought they were really good..........especially that track you posted. Havent heard a lot by them so am not an expert. As for the bass player?.........hmmm, now let me think. Could he be doing a good impression of Hooky from New Order? lol...ok no probs

Oy Catflap.....love the Janes addiction! My kind O' music! You coming back?

Heeey Komrade Catflap! Good to see you are still around mate! Shame you were not around for the victory celebrations and the open top bus tour of the city, but in retrospect you did GEI an emormous favour. Its now returned to the peaceful and serene GEI of old so lets hope it stays that way Your troll bashing efforts and ultimate sacrifice have not gone unnoticed and would be good to see you back over there at some point.......and i am sure the majority will welcome your return Cheers harvi

Yep I agree. I got fed up with being blatently ripped off by them every week so I gave up working for the agencies. Last one I worked for would short change my wage by about 30 quid a week. When it got to 400 quid that I was owed, I lost patience with them. Payback time!

Truck driver here and I am seeing the same thing I dont own my own rig but have worked the agencies for the last 5 years delivering Chinese tat for consumption by the serial MEW'ers. Life has been good for the last few years but now the tide has now turned in the transport industry, and its a case of hanging on to what job you have rather than chasing the money. If your BIL plans on making money through the agencies then I think he may be disappointed as they are struggling too. You will probably see many agencies going the same way as the estate agents. Best place for him is to get a full time job with a fairly recession proof company.....(I chose one of the big 4 supermarkets and am crossing my fingers that I keep my job!)

Oooh look everyone!.........a troll!.........yaaaaaawwnnnn!

One possible exception is India.....oh hang on, they used to be a British colony didnt they?

That is the point that I intended to make with my post. ( I edited it then realised it didnt make sense!). Narcissim for most people is learned behavoiur whereas the true narcissist/sociopath cannot help themselves I am fully aware of your site and I am a big fan to be honest and regularly read the updates. After tolerating a close "friend" for too many years, who I now believe to be sociopathic, your site answered a hell of a lot of questions for me....excellent site I also think that the percentage of those suffering from NPD in society is far higher than some of the stats on your site suggest. In particular, those in higher management or the boardroom. Most of us working in industry accept their behavoiur as we are unable to comprehend their thought processes and how they function. We all assume that they think like the rest of us and have some degree of integrity and fair play........big mistake!

After careful consideration I think you are right. Maybe we all have narcissitic traits and have a desire to be one up on our neighbours, but this is surely learned behaviour? (possible the british class system is to blame?)

Good post Penbat and very much in agreement, although i would argue that it is the house price boom and the illusion of our perceived wealth that has triggered the rise in narcissism and not the other way round I posted something very similar on GEI after reading this article http://www.elliottwave.com/features/defaul...id=3015*time=pm GEI thread http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index....c=1859&st=0

Yes I understand your point now but not sure I agree that that would be the best approach Say for example you bought a house at 200k now. The payments made to your portfolio would be more than for a 100k purchase, but the danger is that if we are at the point of HPC, the decining value of the house will wipe out the gains made from investing in your portfolio. Also for a 100k house, the payments would be lower, so argueably, you could afford to contribute even more to your portfolio and benefit further from the better returns. The way I see things is to break down each asset class and look at their expected returns/costs in in the near future. i.e. Stockmarket 10-15% pa (fairly conservative) Cash 6-10% pa (assuming interest rates continue to rise) Property -10% pa (assuming we get the HPC) Cost of mortgage 5.3% (until 2011) For me, I cannot see any point in paying off the mortgage until the fix runs out as better returns are available elsewhere Zoom forward to 2011 and it may look like this..... Stockmarket -10% pa (move to cash or pay down mortgage) Cash 10-12% pa Property +3% pa (time to buy a house!..wahay!) Cost of mortgage 12% (switch to repayment mortgage) Who knows how things will turn out, but I see lower house prices, higher inflation and interest rates. I am just watching to see how things unfold <edit> Apologies for the crap formatting

Yes I agree. That would spread the risk should one of your preferred payment methods underperform I personally prefer IO mortgages as it gives you more flexibility to decide how to pay the mortgage. Providing that IO mortgages are not used to borrow excessive amounts (which is what we are seeing today), then they are by far the best option (IMHO)

The stockmarkets are in a bull market but I am under no illusion that this will last and that 20%pa returns can be acheived every year. (but it wont be stopping me trying! ) You probably dont need that much investing experience to do this. For example, the FTSE 100 returned around 14% last year, and so investing in a simple index tracker would still have been better than paying down the mortgage. Or to be ultra cautious, if you have a low rate fix of around 5%, and assuming that we get another 2 rate hikes, depositing in a high interest savings account I reckon would pay about 6-7% (plus you have the benefit of being able to access the money should disaster strike) Not sure I know what you mean by this. The mortgage was taken out in '94 for 45k, on interest only with endowments to pay off the priciple. Endowments were later cashed in and proceeds added to my portfolio I have never paid off any of the principle and so the orginal amount of 45k is still due. The fact that house prices have gone ballistic in the meantime doesnt make an ounce of difference to the mortgage (unless you go on a MEWing frenzy for that must have X5!)

This is the approach I am taking at the moment. I have a fix till 2011 at 5.3% on interest only. The principle is invested in my portfolio which has returned 21.5% over the last 12 months If I can maintain these returns on my portfolio, then the choice is a "no brainer"

You are assuming I am a boomer mate? I plan to be around for a lttle while longer so I too will be dealing with the same problems you face BTW, some great posts in this thread. (CTT, DB, COAB....tips hat)

Well said boomerbull. I am a bit younger than you, but the constant boomer bashing hacks me off too Unfortunately, the current fashion of the day is known as the "Blame Culture". Maybe we all feel a little bit better if we have a scapegoat to offload our anger upon. Instead of playing the "Blame Game" when things go wrong, I prefer to live my life with the philosophy of "Shit happens......deal with it!"

I will echo that comment........a classic!

My thoughts too......sounds like someone having a larf

I picked up on that aspect as well......the whole programme was so cheesy it was embarrassing