Cogs

So we've got dodgy paper and dodgy gold from America now. Gee, they see us coming every time don't they.

Also "In the city" p29; good coverage of the FSA vis a vis NR. Buy it for the jokes, read it for the journalism.

I can hardly believe I'm typing this and the only reason I'll post it is because some of you could do with a good chuckle. But the most efficient, parsimious explanation of the above is that Brown is attempting within restrictions of both political realities and his 'competence horizon' to act in good faith. I'll get my coat.

31 years of age. Foolishly thought it would be a good thing to go and get that PhD ("hard" subject before you start). Home ownership is a dream on a par with playing on the right wing for England (see I didn't say centre forward. I',m realistic ). Got what would have been a reasonable deposit saved out of 37% of my take home for the last 10 years but it isn't enough in the present market. Only myself to blame I guess. [Edited for a wild exaggeration, sorry]

The law is one of the few service industries that should be nationalised. If you want private chat you can pay what you like. For anything else you should turn up in the morning and be allocated the next available lawyer. Some (relatively nominal) contribution should be forthcoming. This would reduce the immense levels of greed in the profession and restore access to justice towards being something other than an arms race. It would also reduce ambulance chasing and the "litigation culture" that blights the genuinely productive professions and trades in this country.

She needs to seek advice re: 2007 Pensions Act that Mr Brown brought in.

I have the strong suspicion it would cost more than a million to refuse these people benefits (if indeed there were any grounds to, I think it is open to debate). One of the great ironies is that most of the time Means Testing (and similar methods of claimant screening) is an "Ethics tax", it doesn't save a penny but rather makes the introduction of a benefits programme more expensive. Supporting it is to support the spending of your taxes on (passively) teaching other people ethical lessons at your expense. In other words, pay 33 quid a week out or pay 50 quid a week for someone to say "no". Which is the price worth paying? I don't know and the system as a whole hedges both ways. This is the real reason tax credits were introduced, the theory is they'd be cheap to administer given their binding to tax (for which digital records, a legislative framework for going after liars etc were pre-existing). Problem is it went horribly wrong, which came of trying to do it on the cheap. I must say that the article was written in a particulary unpleasant manner though, designed to inspire outrage and hate rather than a reasoned consideration of the issues. Daily Mail I assume. Twatmangle: Any chance of National Insurance refunds for the under 35s in general then? Hehe, I won't be holding my breath for either a refund or a pension when I'm 90 or whatever the retirement age is going to be raised to.

Heh, same here. That really is the only American thing I own though.

NL came into power in 1997 when OP was presumably 14. OP's formative years (when it comes to learning to spell) were therefore under the Tories.

G7 Countries, Gross Government debt as % of GDP Country 2005 (last actual figures)/2007 (IMF)/ 2008 (IMF) Canada 78.6 70.7 66.5 France 66.7 63.9 63.4 Germany 66.4 66.5 65.9 Italy 106.2 106.0 105.3 Japan 182.9 185.0 184.3 United Kingdom 42.7 43.6 43.7 United States 60.3 60.3 60.6 IMF figures.

I've lived through two pre-RAE purges so I beg to differ. The first was obviously the most brutal. "The night of the long knives" we called it, you could walk or stay and get pushed. Most obviously walked. It doesn't happen outside those events though, I agree. The tenured deadwood don't always have an easy time, I saw one guy driven (deliberately in my view) to a nervous breakdown and then an early retirement offer "compassionately" appeared on the table. Lovely climate of fear there was in that particular institution; it isn't where I work now and I'm not mentioning names but lets just say it was a pseudo-redbrick on the make that has made excellent progress in the league tables. More "Godfather" than "Lucky Jim".

I thought I'd reached nose-bleed levels of sarcasm there, evidently I didn't push the ironometer hard enough.

The truth is somewhat more mundane.

There is no job anyone is allowed to have on HPC. Public sector = parasite. Financial sector = incompetent parasite. Service industry = brainless parasite. Industry = trades unionist parasite. From saving lives to shuffling paper, from programming computers to begging, all of it is utterly worthless and can be done better by others anyway, thus everyone is comically over-paid. This is why we are so poor, poorer than even we were as peasants who'd had their land enclosed out from under them in the 18th century. However one should also not be unemployed or in recepit of any form of benefits/inheritance. There are no excuses, only morally inferior people are ever unemployed or unwell. Training is futile as it is 1. being a parasite and 2. no qualifications are worth anything nor do they convey any useful skills. No exceptions, don't waste your time getting educated. Also, if you are uneducated, you deserve all you get for being such. The least odious of all choices is to be self-employed in a field that doesn't actually exist. However please be aware if you suffer financial problems most will want your children sent to a debtor's jail while you sit outside between the hours of 5am and 9pm in stocks. It is an article of faith that houses should be reasonably priced, but nobody who actually has any money (through working) is morally justified expecting or even just plain wanting to own because they do a useless, worthless over-paid job that they gained through gaining worthless qualifications. People who don't work should be thrown out onto the streets. Its futile mentioning anything really, this is the worst country in the world populated by the worst people who have ever lived under the worst government in history anywhere, ever. The only subject about which there is still substantial debate is whether chavs (say the hang em and birch 'em types) are worse than immigrants (say the BNPers/entryist-UKIPpers).

I was just going to agree. But they just broadcast an interview with Peter Schiff in full-on rant mode! The noise you can hear is the sound of millions of Britons choking on their cornflakes.

Anyone just hear the report on Radio 4? I just heard a BBC produced corporate advert for Northern Rock's charitable work in Newcastle. Reporter visited various kids, reported anecdotes from taxi drivers etc. Apparently they have funded free basketball lessons for kids amongst other things. I was waiting for them to explain what the connection was to the business news and it was never forthcoming. Just that NR are jolly nice people funding jolly useful projects or something. This has absolutely no relevance whatsoever. What are they trying to say: leave your money where it is or "spuggy" is going to be turned out onto the streets? Unbelievable. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Nope, sorry. For if we really are facing financial problems, will the country look for somebody who's young, fresh and optimistic - or for a grizzled old mechanic who knows a thing or two and is in close touch with the hubs of the world economic system, above all Washington?...This may seem appallingly unfair to his political foes. He did raise borrowing and spending in the public sector, and he did fund it partly by squirreling away his share of the loot as the housing market rocketed. Blair and Brown continued Thatcherite deregulation and privatisation. Yet the brutal truth is that if we are entering a time of financial instability, the likeliest political winner remains Brown. It should encourage an election this year, or in the spring. Because if your pipes are blocked, you call for the plumber - however you curse him - not the interior decorator. Right or wrong thats how I think its going to go. I think you overestimate the voting public perhaps. If it gets turbulent Cameron, a posh little boy in his dad's suit, lacks the gravitas and his party is, as usual, at war with itself. The Clunking Fist will be battered and bruised but will live to fight another day. [The idea of Gordo unblocking someone's pipe is mental imagery I could do without...]

NR is not as yet suffering for its dodgy lending, although that is the shoe that hasn't dropped yet. It is suffering for its business model which a slightly different thing to the quality of its lending book. This is only the very beginning.

Published this month: I'm not claiming it means much but there you go, there is no need to be actively mystified. I have no great economic insight but I teach engineering and this summer has been the best graduate recruitment round we've had in years. This may of course be because there are fewer engineering graduates around (?) but certainly more of them are getting "proper" jobs than in previous years. Anecdotal I know.

You expect to see lots of manufacturing jobs in central London? I have no idea of the strength or otherwise of Uk industry and I apologise if I'm being unfair, but I'm just a teensy weensy bit irritated with people from London constantly insisting there isn't any manufacturing industry in this country. Try Derby or somewhere like that.

Because he wasn't? The role of politicians is to keep the plates spinning for as long as possible. He managed it for 10 long years, which I think might be a record. Tory Chancellors in living memory were lucky to go a couple of years before the whole thing fell round about their ears. That makes him probably the most succesful Chancellor in history, certainly post war. But yes, you say, GB did terrible long-term damage etc etc. I don't disagree. But he is a politician. Politicians are never evaluated in terms of long term damage but only during the time in which they are in the job. Its like being a hedge fund manager. People wanted 10% or whatever so they delivered it as long as they could no matter how stupid or destructive the way was that they achieved it. How many hedge fund managers returned a sensible 5% and kept their jobs? You might say that you look in the long term but 99.99% of the electorate have not, do not and never will. Democracy sucks (to paraphrase Winston Churchill) but there you go, the horizon is always the next election and not a day after. Its inherent in the system.

Classic (unchallenged) expert spin on the Radio 4 news. The double-barreled expert claimed that recent events are not a reflection on their lending book (only 5% "aversive" apparently). Indeed, that the BoE have given them an emergency loan shows what a healthy, strong business they have! I choked on a bit of a toast

I assume you've been stuck down a mine or fighting your way out of the jungle for the last five years. Today you can just choose x5 mortgage instead of a x4 mortgage. Requires little or no effort. Its an amusing argument though. But at the moment you still get a few people that aren't the Duke of Westminster buying the odd ex-LA flat so perhaps there is a flaw in your reasoning?

This is calculated irony, its Cameron's punishment for trying to distance himself from her legacy. Dave is trying to launch some sort of initiative or something today isn't he? Thatcher is nothing if not vindictive, don't you remember her when she left "I won't forgive" she said, eyes flashing like a maniac.

I was just out in the car and saw a billboard for the Britannia. "Fair Lending: We'll only lend you what you can afford to pay back". ...how on Earth did it come to this, that they are advertising that approach as a service. Truly, we are living in an era that will be much studied by future economic historians. [Edit: Think it was the Britannia, disclaimer just in case the mind is playing tricks, was a BS anyway]