Sonic the Hedge Fund

Noticed how many rentals are being offered with an Energy Performance Certificate? (about half in my experience!) EPC are not required on rental properties until October, so houses offerd for rent with an EPC are most likely those that have failed to sell

I agree When the Sun take a 'moral' stand on an issue they often get egg on their face; their support for the invasion of Iraq being a case in point. Writers in the Sun like to pretend that they lead public opinion, but the reality is that they follow it.

PFI has fallen foul of the monoline downgrades Link

How about the adverts for Monopoly, with the charming catchphrase 'they're bankrupt, evict them' Wasn't Monopoly invented as a popular divertion from the grim reality of the great depresion? Monopoly now comes with an electronic banking gismo, but they seem to have forgoten to include a syringe for the liquidity injections!

In that case, your workplace is very different to mine! I work at the sharp end of a very sucesfull tech company, so there are some very inteligent and talented people in my office. It still shocks me how ignorant even inteligent people are, but at least I can have a reasoned argument so I shouldn't grumble!

Take more Acid, and you wont need a TV!

I find it's not what I say, but how I say it, that determines how people react. I tend to say things like: 'well if it was me I would (rent/stay at home/wait a while/invest in somthing else) because (more than one reason why I see things like this) but at the end of the day I can't tell you want to do, you have to make your own decisions' I think its hard to argue with points made like this, because I make clear that I am just giving my opinion, substatiate that opinion, then make clear that they are free to agree or disagree. It works for me, but perhaps your workplace is different to mine?

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgoten about TF.

here's one: Link This is very big IMO, let's see if S&P follow as they did with FGIC

That just it, too many people see this problem back to front. Wages for menial jobs are NOT too low, property is TOO EXPENSIVE and this imapcts on all aspects of the cost of living eg. shops charge higher prices to pay their commercial rents, higher taxes to pay more to teachers, doctors etc. Somthing has to give, and it aint going to be wages

Bottom line IMO: the fact that now so many property pundits actauly bother to seriously acnowledge us 'doomsters' is a tacit admision that they know deep down that we may actualy turn out to be right, but it's difficult for them to swallow. Why would they even bother to argue, if the doomsters case were so irrational? Just 6 months ago it was 'There will be no HPC', but with prices now falling month after month it's got like Comical Ali denying the fall of Bagdad with American tanks rolling past in the background. Now all the talk has moved from will there be a corection, to how much? When people start making relative arguments about details, magnitude, I think it a sign that they know that they have been proven wrong. It's just the natural way to back off from an untenable entrenched position.

Its suprising how many people are in this quadrant, with a liberal social view but more conservative on economics. The obvious outsiders are the politicians, perhaps power has corrupted them? (or they were corrupt enough to want power?) Humanity can be suprisingly adept at coping with litle or no central authority, some interesting social and economic models appear when governments colapse (such as in a warzone). IMO we need less governement, less authority, more resposibilty with individuals and small groups.

She kept banging on about 'affordability', but failed to comment on what Nationwide et al raisng rates by another 0.5%, and yet more mortgage offerings withdrawn every day, will do for her 'affordabilty model'.

What about the 2 million fixed-rate resets due in 2008? thats over 160k per month alone, but infact it should be even more ATM because the bulk of the resets are concentrated in Q1 08 Link So 50k mortgages per month is not a great deal in the scheme of things, quite the reverse if anything it tells me that there are a sh1tload of reseters taking a big payment shock.

The 4x4's are being slain already: Link Edit: to find a link that works!

How many other poor sheep have no clue of what is about to hit them? All they see is the BoE rate coming down, they have no idea of how credit has tighened in the mortgage market. I expect to see more of these stories. No doubt we will also see stories of OOs reposesed becuase they are unable to remortgage at a rate they can pay

I couldn't comment either, but I just can't stop myself from pointing out we STR West Mids Dec 06 Is that the highest point on the whole graph? Smug mode: Off

IO, IO, it's off to bankruptcy court I go...... I have work colleague, recent FTB who I know earns about £45K, admitted he has a £260k mortgage and pays over £1700pm IO Clearly he couldn't afford the repayment

According to the local rag round West Worcs the auctions are awash with cheap tractors....and very expensive livestock

Ever been to 'Clarks Village' in Somerset? A former shoe factory turned into a shopping mall, kind of sums up the UK economy I think :angry:

Sorry a bit OT: Most likely cause is undersized pipework within the house. Desipte the best efforts of ACS/Corgi most pumbers seem to be f***wits in this respect, and don't know how to calculate pressure drop. Does your heating/hot water come on at 4pm? It could also be a sticky regulator, if you report low presure to National Grid Gas (Transco) 0800 111 999 they must attend within 4 hours and check the reguator free of charge, so you can find out if it's their problem or yours before paying for a plumber.

So it's the red pill or the red pill then?....

This is allready being done in the UK, it's called 'frequency response'. Users include cold stores, smelting works, and sites with their own standby generators such as hospitals, data centres. Frequency response customers get cheaper electricity in return for having an 'interuptable' supply. When load exceeds grid capacity frequency response users are dropped, reducing the load for up to 2 mins while 'fast response' power is called up. 'Fast respose' generation includes OCGT and Diesel sets (often standby plant in hospitals, factories, IT centres etc.) that can be brought online within 2 mins, but is typicaly less efficient than propper base load plant. 'Fast response' plant therefore normaly only runs for up to half an hour, giving enough time to start base load plants to bring the grid up to the required capacity.

Its a fair mistake, because most of the media IS heavily influenced by vested interests I wont try and argue that the BBC is any better balanced, but it is certainly very different in the way it works

IMO Brown is much more old Labour than Blair ever was, but I have to agree that he is a bit of an enigma. I would say that perhaps Brown thinks he is a Keynesian, but he just played his cards way too early.