Cover Ups

I could not fail to see in my early morning paper that 'the wonderful Sarah' has gone on this trip to America. In the meantime Ruth Kelly quits the cabinet to spend more time with the family. So, Gordon who does not want his children in the public eye, who exactly is looking after the kids? Somebody pass the vomit bag please I don't feel very well.

I mean Gordon is such a family man that either he takes them on a wasted trip to America, or he leaves them at home being looked after by somebody else. You can't make it up.

By the way Nick, is your trip to America part of the reward for not letting the cat out of the bag over Sarah at the conference introducing her husband, or am I being just that little bit too cynical. I will never forgive the media for participating in the Harry cover-up. The BBC and other outlets were complicit in a massive cover up. What else has been covered-up. Chicanery in the City? I have personal knowledge of the use by this government of injunctions, what exactly is now being hidden from on national security grounds, or that it may undermine the economy.

Liquidity not Solvency

The problem is that the short selling drives the price of the share down. I know that the pension fund receives an income but it does not cover the capital losses sustained.

The pension fund is not allowed under Inland Revenue rules to trade their holdings, for obvious reasons. at every valuation the employees and employers have to keep topping up the fund to keep it solvent. The trouble is that pension funds need liquidity, not solvency, because now we are in the situation where more employees become a pensioners. They need to look at the future cash flows of the funds. How are they going to raise cash to pay, borrow it against the assets.

Also, a large number of companies are now selling their pension funds to avoid future problems.

Puff and it was gone

Good Moooorning Philosophers, yeah I know it is a play on Robin Williams,
you know Good Morning Vietnam

well this is it. The End. I hope that you were all listening to the THE
PRESIDENT last night. Unless we bale out the bankers, we are all doomed.
So, when we were faced with the lifeboat problem between Hardin and
Singer, which way did you go. Do we let them sink, or do we save them.
Now, remember, you will be impoverished to actually rescue rich people,
not poor starving ones.

Even, the Archbishops are now referring back to Marx, who actually quoted
Shakespeare on p.204 of the Political Thought when he quoted one of the
properties of money:-

'it is the universal whore, the universal pimp of men and peoples'.

This will disappear no doubt of that because the OU take it down tonight.

But it has been fun, I just wonder how some people will use what they have
learned about philosophy on this course. Will it make a difference to how
you live your lives, will you join the revolution! I was going to say
watch this space, only you won't be able to, because it goes. Live long and prosper.

So, with a final flourish, I will end with a quote from an anti-war film.

Goodbyeee, goodbyeee, there's a silver lining in the skyeee, Goodbyeeee.

I wonder if the great poet Ms Killen will give us the benefit of one of her efforts.

'puff' and it was gone.

Debt for Equity

surely nobody can disagree if I was to say that if, and it is a big if, the taxpayers in Britain and America are to bale out the banks then it must be done on the basis of debt for equity.

We will give you the money but in return we will have shares, we want a controlling interest in the company so that we can decide remuneration and dividends. Now, that would be fair. Representatives on the board of the taxpayer, the government, and the poor.

As for short selling by hedge funds, surely, as I have said elsewhwere, to be a short seller you have to have the shares to sell. They are borrowed from the pension funds. The pension fund trustees can stop this by not allowing it. You don't need a change to the law you just need pension fund trustees who know what they are doing.

Nationalise the Banks

I don't think that people realise the seriousness of the events in America. Read the comments being made by Ron Paul about baling out the bankers. It is totally unacceptable that these people will walk away with miiolns of dollars whilst people lose their homes, or their jobs, because of what these people have done. No wonder the FBI are going to start their investigations. It should be happening here as well. If you work for a building society and you process a mortgage for somebody who cannot afford that mortgage you are just as guilty, you are following orders, you should know what you are doing.

Look at pensions, they are currently linked to the RPI, what is this awful governmnet going to do, they are going to link them to wages, just when wages are going to start to fall. This is unbelievable, fight to keep pensions linked to inflation, now this is politics. Save the pensioners and the working class. The bankers must not be allowed to get away with this. If the banks collapse the world will not end. Debt for equity should be the mantra, we will give you the money in return for a controlling interest in the company.

Only a mad person would wait for the last minute

Ok granted that your list was made since 1997, but they were put into place during the premiership of a certain Mr Tony Blair.

Now, our Tony was overthrown by a bloodless coup by a certain Gordon Brown. So, what has been achieved whilst Gordon is our unelected Prime Minister. What does he actually intend to do, which will be actually achieved by the time of the coming election. I use the term coming election because if you listen to his plans then they will not come in until some time after 2010, when there must be an election.

Is Gordon going to hang on until the very last minute, I think not, because he will be more of a hostage to events. So, only a complete imbecile would do that, a mad person, would hang on until they were ingloriously thrown out of office.

As I have said before really can't wait for the reshuffle Nick, should be really interesting.

MPs and Principles

If I was a minister who was going to be culled next week then I would resign now. Get your retaliation in first. No matter what Gordon may say he is going to have his 'night of the long knieves' yes I am that old, because it is 'events dear boy, events' which are running this country, there is no forward plan.

Consider our Gordon and his 'successes'. The flood, still not sorted for many. Avian flu, yeah right, well I remember Ben Bradshaw, then a minister with responsibilty for DEFRA, some years ago on our radios telling is about a test run for some sort of contingency planning and what happened they found one, yes one, swan or some other bird, but don't be scared. The foot and mouth, did that, or did it not, come from a government establishment.

I repeat, if I was one of the ministers who know that they are going are thiks they are, do the honourable thing and go now, if you take Gordon with you, so be it. But what ever youdo don't go on the media against that awful John Prescott who will put his hand on your shoulder and tell you that you are 'bitter' and that is why you quit. I don't think you are, I think that you have principles so lacking in other members.

I think that MPs have to look into their souls, is fame the spur for your actions, or do you actually have principles.

Whistleblowers

At the end of WWII some Germans pleaded their innocence of war crimes on the basis that either they were following orders, or that they did not know what was being done in their name.

Now, we have the break-down in the glaobal financial system. What are people saying? That they either did not understand what was going on, or that they were following instructions from their managers/directors/chief executive.

I see no difference in the attitude we took to the war criminals as to how we should be treating the financial institutions who have failed the world in their trading policies.

Consider this, a manager would receive a staff appraisal saying that he has not been selling enough mortgages to the public. Therefore, he sells them to people who really can't afford a mortgage. He is following orders, he knows from his experience and previously acquired knowledge that this person really should not have a mortgage, but he has to reach his target.

He is as guilty as the Nazi soldier or camp guard who followed orders. The mortgage was granted because he needed to keep his job, he had a family to feed, a standard of living to maintain. We are all guilty, the system is breaking down, we are all shamed. Where were the whistle blowers.

As Shakespeare would say, 'we are all pimps and whores'. Nick, we are all guilty and are we going to pay for it!

International Dictatorship of Oil

now some of us knew that the World Bank had pulled out of the funding for the Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project. Nothing much there you might say.

Then you begin to realise about the connection to the Dafur region and also Sudan, with President al-Bashire, and also China, because it is the main beneficiary of the oil from Chad/ Cameroon.

Now where am I going with this one. Listen to the Today programme broadcast and just pay attention to the item on the possibility that the President of Sudan may escape prosecution for genocide at the International Criminal Court.

International finance, the international dictatorship oil, and politics, are pretty dirty business, are they not Nick?

How the party faithful applauded the PMs speech, yeah they really agree with nuclear power. Sure they do, especially when it is going to be run by a French Company.

Resignations from Governmnet

so now we know that Ruth Kelly is to resign, apparently to spend more time with her family. I think that it is also widely known about her problems, as a Catholic, over the abortion laws. I hope that Harriet Harman is interviewd over this issue and that her comments are recorded for posterity. Furthermore, there are other well known Catholics in the cabinet with problems over this contentious issue. Will they also take the decision to resign to spend more time with their families.

We also know that there is to be a cabinet reshuffle next week, it had better take place now because are the media being misled.

English Navy

Surely you must realise what the role of the fleet actually was meant to be. They were meant to have been based off the coast of Europe and bombard the enemy into submission. That is why earlier, before the war, the English and French agreed that the English fleet would operate in the north and that the French fleet would take care of the Med. That is why the French fleet was removed from Brest in 1912.

In the meantime don't fprget the unsinkable Titanic, no ship was unsinkable and what the navy suddenly became aware of was that the ships became unstable in rough seas, they were ok in some conditions but you could never guarantee the conditions. So, just like some of our planes can't fight and fly in certain conditions the ships of the fleet were similarily constrained. They couldn't fire their guns, they were useless. A waste of money and men.

It was down to Churchill, who authorised the change from coal fired ships to oil, look where that took us, dependence on middle east oil. Who do you think was the first to mobilise, yes Britain, Churchill kept the fleet at sea after a naval review. How do you think we got the soldiers so quickly to mainland Europe after war was eventually decalred.

Brown is no Prime Minister

Now this new global economy. You'd never think that we used to buy cotton from America and do something with it in the mills of Manchester. You'd never think that we took gold mined from South Africa. You'd never think that we took meat and wool from Australia and New Zealand, to feed and clothe the masses. You'd never think that we took young men from the Dominions to fight to save democracy in World War I. Thousands dead on foreign fields.

As for finance, find out about Arbitrage where we would buy mining shares in South Africa and sell them in London making a quick turn. Ask about over-the-Counter trading, where bits of paper, bearer bonds could be traded for cash settlement.

What I would like to see is the international global markets bring back exchange control. You know what the Tories abolished when they last came into power, under Margaret Thatcher. You had to limit the amount of money transferred out of the country and all authorisation had to be through the Bank of England. You also had to pay a premium when buying currency. So, bring in an international system of exchange controls. Now that may well help.

As for Gordon, resign as Prime Minister and resume the role of Chancellor, you enjoy it, you do have power, because what you failed to mention at all was the occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the deteriorating situation in Pakistan. Why no mention of any of the sad deaths of the events in Pakistan, why not remember the names of those soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Excessive Profits

this is disgraceful, the Stock Market is rising and now speculators, sorry these are investors, are making loads of money. What is Darling Gordon going to do about excessive profits being made.

This is totally unacceptable, people making money on the Stock Markets, on the backs of the hard labour by the workers.

This must not be allowed, we must nationalise a bank to show how it must be done in a socialist state, oopps forgot Northern Rock where the government appointed Chief Executive is earning, how much did you say! Oh and they still seem to sponsor a famous football club

Butterflys

The BBC have been very good at telling the world about short-selling well here's another one for you.

A bear squeeze.

Now this is where you sell stock you haven't got to somebody but eventually you have to buy it back to cover your short position. Now when you go to buy back there is now a seller, only they know that you are forced buyer, so they will say want a price of GBP1, then they know that you are desperate to cover so they then increase the price to GBP2, and if you are having to pay GBP2 then you really must be desperate so hey lets try GBP3, and so it goes on.

You are so finished, all those gains you made on the way down gone, just like that.

So, commentators, lets have the classic bear sqeeze explained, because the bankers have got the speculators over a barrel, or the short and curlies if you like. They will be, as Alastair Darling will say, well 'pissed off'.

Come on give us another scoop, or are there now going to be complaints that they used the options market to purchase call options to cover there short positions and now they are making even more money on the way up. What did they say about Mohammed Ali, floats like a butterfly stings like a bee. Study the options market then you may just understand.

We're are so seriously doomed

Everything happens behind closed doors. You should know that by now.

The problem is that it was decisions made in 1928 which led to the Great Crash of 1929. There were problems in the New York Stock Market which were solved by putting ever more money into the market.

Eventually all the money was spent, by 1929 there was just no money left. It is next year that you will see the real effluent. This is just a fretaste of what is to come.

In the meantime Britain yet again will be worst placed to deal with this because Gordon will have to go to the country in 2010, he will not be able to delay, unless there is some sort of emergency! Every day this gets worse. America with its toxic loans will survive, but what of us.

Bear Squeeze

the BBC have been very good at telling the world about short-selling well here's another one for you.

A bear squeeze.

Now this is where you sell stock you haven't got to somebody but eventually you have to buy it back to cover your short position. Now when you go to buy back there is now a seller, only they know that you are forced buyer, so they will say want a price of GBP1, then they know that you are desperate to cover so they then increase the price to GBP2, and if you are having to pay GBP2 then you really must be desperate so hey lets try GBP3, and so it goes on.

You are so finished, all those gains you made on the way down gone, just like that.

So, commentators, lets have the classic bear sqeeze explained, because the bankers have got the speculators over a barrel, or the short and curlies if you like. They will be, as Alastair Darling will say, they will be well 'pissed off'.

Financial News

Are the financial markets going to have their 'Gilligan' moment with regard to the events over HBoS.

This is a posting which I I made on the Nick Robinson Blog on the 17/9 at 10:22 on Your Fickle Business:

'The FSA which was set upi with Gordon Brown was Chancellor must ac now. Dealings in HBoS must be suspended, this is such a false market that nobody benefits. So, if anybody in this godforsaken government is reading this then do something, share dealing in HBoS must be suspended. Message timed at 10:22. Do something you idiots before it implodes completely'.

Now then we have to ask why dealing in the shares were not suspended.

We also have to ask why market sensitive information with regard to the take-over by Lloyds TSB of HBoS was allowed to be given by the BBC through one of their correspondents.

There must be an inquiry as to who supplied the information to the BBC, when it was given, and why the Editors did not embargo any publication because it could be seen as insider information which should have gone to the market before going onto the BBC news.

There is a conflict because surely financial news should be treated just the same as news from the front in respect of our wars.

I do not apologise for being critical of the BBC because the information should not have been released by the BBC until it had been disclosed to the market. This is not the way to run an economy with the BBC being used in this way.

I know that reporters like to have a scoop but sometimes there is a time for judgement and I don't think that the BBC comes out of this at all well.

Peston out

Is not the problem that the crash must happen before any charges can be brought for say driving without due care and attention.

You can see the cars on a collision course but at the very last second they swerve and miss each other. Nobody is guilty, because there is no proof and there is no evidence. There was no crash.

However, the two cars which swerved drive off and two family cars behind the are distracted by the events unfolding that they crash and two families are wiped out.

The people who really caused the crash walk away and leave the carnage behind them.

Is this not what has happened to the financial markets, the guilty must not be allowed to get with this, they have ruined so many lives. There must be a thorough investigation, who are the guilty ones. Could it even be the pension fund trustees who let their stock be lent without realising what it meant.

Brilliant Griffin

I know that sometimes you are accused of not really knowing what you, or some of your contributors are taliking about. Well may I put them categorically in the wrong and this is the evidence.

The following was posted on your wonderful site, under the heading Lots of Work for the Kremlinologists. Now, to save people going to look it up it is #222 posted 7:56 am on the 16/9 :-)

'listened to Alistair Darling this morning telling us about the credit crunch and the financial crisis and he was asked about Hedge Funds.

Just a quickie for your readers . In order to be able to sell short a hedge fund still has to make delivery of stock to the market in settlement, so they borrow the stock.

Now who do they borrow the stock from, why the Investment Banks who manage the assets of Pension Funds. So, when you are a Trustee of a Pension Fund and you are asked will you permit any of the assets of the pension fund to be 'lent' then just say no.

The Investment Banks cannot do anything without the approval of the Trustees, so just say no. So, Alistair pass legislation immediately to prevent any stock lending.

There are implications because the Investment Banks pay interest on the value of the borrowed stock but that is far outweighed by seeing the value of the pension fund assets fall in value.

So, to assist the Chancellor, stop stock lending and disallow the activity which is known as Contracts for Difference, which avoids the need to settle with physical stock within the Settlement period.

I do not expect any financial aid from the Chancellor for my contribution but if he does this right away he will have the gratitude of all of us. By the way please note that Pension Funds cannot 'trade' their assets, that is they cannot just buy and sell because they are meant to invest for the long term, not just short term speculative gains'.

so, dear readers if they had acted when they should have done, before this fiasco, then companies, and more importantly jobs might just have been saved. Why has it taken all this tiime for this practice to be temporarily stopped. It should be permanent.

So, thank you Nick and the moderators, can we expect the government to admit that they read your blog and react to the comments. Bet you they don't. You and your commentators are more influential then they dare admit to. Well done for printing this in the first place. You would think that some of us poor non experts actually do know what we are talking about.

End of Politics

this is the end. The politicians have to realise that the game is up. This cannot be allowed to continue, and I will suggest what must happen.

Gordon Brown must resign as Prime Minister, and then resume his position as Chancellor, that is his job, that is where he can best serve the interests of Great Britain. I am sorry he is not Prime Ministerial, because what has happened is that the role of Prime Minister is Presidential, whether we like it or not, it has happened.

Jack Straw must then be installed as Prime Minister, and there must not be an election, I stress not be an election.

If the conservative, and the liberal democrat MPs have any bit of decency left in them with regard to this country then they must support the Chancellor in all things economic.

As for ID cards, forget it, as for the changes to abortion make it a completely free vote, it is down to individuals moral compass and should have nothing to do with party politics.

An announcement must be made that the 2012 Olympics gave been cancelled. This amount of spending will break the taxpayer and cannot be funded by the banks.

The implementation of computer systems into the NHS must be severely scaled back.

This is a time for unity, not party loyalty or personal advancement. If the politicians think only of themselves then this could be worse than anybody ever dreamed of.

As for some people thinking that governments never default on their debts then go back to 1928/9 when Britain defaulted on War Loan. Tell me has it ever been repaid, no! It still pays 3.5% and is irredeemable. It can happen, even to America.

A government of national unity, because the party is over.

You read it here first

I have just listened to George Osborne (the leader of a government of national unity) on Radio 1:00 saying that he would discuss the current situation to bring unity to solve the present situation in respect of the econoy. Good old Nick and the moderators, remember you read it on Nick's blog first.

Even Nick Clogg reads it. A fairer Britain, a party that puts money back in the pockets of people. I would prefer a governmnet that didn't take any money off me in the first place. It's called redistribution.

Economic Woes and the Liberal Democrats

just listened to Nick Clogg, and I will pick up on one point specifically. He mentioned the fact that as aprt of his departing package the former Chief Executive of Northern Rock when he left received GBP30,000 tax free and he sort of indicated that this should not happen.

Now excuse me but when I was made redundant part of my package was the fact that the first GBP30,000 was tax free, anything over that sum was taxed at the appropriate rate. Now, is Clogg and Cobble going to take that away. Is he going to tax the tax free element of commuted pension payments.

Apart from that little issue, may I say that 'Make it Happen' is the wrong strategy at this time. In fact if we are going to make it a better life for our children then we should be paying more tax, interest rates must rise, because this appalling generation, of which I am part, are leaving with our children and grandchildren with huge debts, debts which will hold back any opportunity whatsoever. So, somewhat bizarely I suggest, raising taxes, raising interest rates, put an immediate end to short selling in the Stock Markets regulated in Britain, have no trading in futures and options, and nationalise all the utility companies.

Brown out of the Bunker

I'm so sorry not to touch on the subject of Afghanistan, apart from the fact that we can't afford this occupation, at the moment but has nobody else noticed that trading on the Russian Stock Exchange has been suspended because of the heavy falls suffered over the last weeks subsequent to the invasion of Georgia.

Where is the government, please come out of the bunker before it is all to late. There is panic, say something to bring back some stability.

Oh, that's right you don't want to be hostages to fortune. If you can't govern at this economically dramatic time then there really is no point. No point whatsoever.

Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister, not the Chancellor, if you can't lead us then go to see the Queen and resign now.

A Government of National Unity

This political infighting must come to an immediate end. We are now hearing that Lloyds TSB is to merge with Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

Unemployment is up to 1.72 million with millions no longer economically active. AIG has effectively been nationalised in America.

Hedge funds are able to to make millions and reward the dealers with huge bonuses. Directors close firms and leave with their huge bonuses and salaries all banked so they can live the life of luxury.

In the meantime many workers are either losing their jobs whilst others are having to take wage cuts or having increases below the rate of inflation.

In the meantime we are leaderless. Gordon Brown must make a statement now, not wait until the party conference, I want to see and hear the Prime Minister. He can no longer sit in the shadows, like he did in so many cases when Blair was in trouble.

This is not good enough, fear is stalking the land and we need our Prime Minister to be just that, our Prime Minister. Forget the infighting, this is even more serious than I thought, this could end up even worse than the Great Depression, it could end up being the Greatest Depression the world has ever seen.

It is time for the Prime Minister to prove to us that he can be what we really need, a leader. This is not the time for an election, it is a time for unity, the conservatives must put politics to one side and form a government of national unity. We are all in the mire and the only way out is to face this with unity. A government of national unity.

AIG

So now we have 'lost' AIG as well. This is shameful, has America lost all of its senses, loaning it billions of dollars. I know this is economics not politics but what on earth is happening, this is the octopus economy, where tentacles wrap around governments and drag them down into the deep blue sea.

Gordon Brown cannot stay in his bunker waiting to say anything until the party conference. The oil price has collapsed, yet where is the reduction in the price at the pumps. He was responsible for the fall by going to Saudi and talking to the producers, so this is something he should be rightly proud of. But, now get the oil companies to bring down the price at the pumps.

Inflation, as measured by the Retail Price Index, is down from 5.0% to 4.8%, this is good, however it will fall further next month. Why am I confident of that. Because the October RPI is used to calculate pension and benefit increases. It is this month that the price of petrol will fall at the pumps having a beneficial effect on the RPI, I want it higher not lower. It can come down after my pension increase.

He will also want to tell us about the withdrawals from Iraq, the war is over as far as we are concerned. We can withdraw with our American Allies and the civil war can start. A Federal Iraq made up of three states.

As for Afghanistan, well the Americans are having problems with Pakistan, we are losing soldiers to death and injury, it is not that we have lost it is that there is no winner, everybody lost.

So, Gordon, you are keeping your powder dry for your validictory speech which will be cheered to the rafters by the party faithful, but you will not see in the new year as Prime Minister.

Brown and Black Holes

Oh He wasn't very important anyway. His going makes not a jot of difference. No, we must cary on as before.

It is the slow drip, drip, drip, which is causing the problem.

Can we now expect some more principled resignations, before they are sacked that is.

Who on earth is going to put us all out of our misery, most of all Gordon Brown.

With the black hole of this government beginning to suck in more and more material, ie labour politicians they have to realise that the only solution is to turn off the Large Hadron Collider, that is to sack Brown, or he should resign now and preserve his dignity. That is all he has left, for he is surely the Emporer with no clothes.

Brown and Dignity

I was trying to think of a word that could be applied to Gordon Brown and his current predicament.

The word that I will use is that has Gordon no dignity left. I mean it it just so demeaning. That is what is sad. Can we expect him to shed a tear aka Margaret Thatcher when eventually he vacates number 10.

This lack of dignity reflects badly on all of us, so as i have said before when, and if Gordon next attends PM Question Time then that is the time to show how awful the situation has become. Just stand up and walk out, leave him to it, just like David Davies, walk out, and say this really is the end. It is in the hands of the worst parliament in living memory to act. Do it.

Retirement

please note that I am nearly 60, next April to be exact. My older brother was born 1944 my sister 1947, me 1949 there is then an 8 year gap between me and my younger brother.

My point, over the next 5 years we will start to receive our pensions, both state and private.

As we are typical of the immediate post war generation hundreds of thousands, millions around the world, of people born between 1944 and 1949 will start retiring.

The proverbial will start to hit the fan because I don't think that the money is there to pay. The disabled will be taken off the statistics as being in receipt of disability payments. The unemployed will disappear off the unemployment figures. Those taking early retirement, if they can afford it, will not bother to sign on because there is no work, and they get their national insurance stamp paid for them over 60. For those who don't know contributions based unemployment is removed after 6 months and there is now income rules which will remove the early retirement pensioners from the need to sign on, they will have earnt to much to have any entitlements.

Moral Hazard

been listening to Radio 4 news this morning and at last it seems to be sinking in that if the politicians make the wrong moves, which by the way I think they will, then we will have a rturn to the 1930's where decisions made in 1928/29 were the root cause.

Henry Ford was just so wrong 'history is bunk', there are lessons to be learnt.

But you ask why did things start to go wrong in 1928/29 then look into the problems raised by reparations which was meant to resolve the issue of 'war crimes' and a war of aggression by Germany in the Great War. They were forced to pay for their 'crimes'. Only trouble was that the governments were spending the money before it was received and guess what, tth efunds dried up, and there was no money.

Oh, and the great Winston Churchill who was chancellor had put us back onto the gold standard at an unsustainable rate. Maybe, Gordon sold our gold because he had read the history books. Surely not some Stalinesque revenge.

The economies in the west are imploding, if they save the American insurance company AIG then we all might as well give up and go home. Let them pay the price, because the moral hazard question has not gone away.

Stock Lending

listened to Alistair Darling this morning telling us about the credit crunch and the financial crisis and he was asked about Hedge Funds.

Just a quickie for your readers . In order to be able to sell short a hedge fund still has to make delivery of stock to the market in settlement, so they borrow the stock.

Now who do they borrow the stock from, why the Investment Banks who manage the assets of Pension Funds. So, when you are a Trustee of a Pension Fund and you are asked will you permit any of the assets of the pension fund to be 'lent' then just say no.

The Investment Banks cannot do anything without the approval of the Trustees, so just say no. So, Alistair pass legislation immediately to prevent any stock lending.

There are implications because the Investment Banks pay interest on the value of the borrowed stock but that is far outweighed by seeing the value of the pension fund assets fall in value.

So, to assist the Chancellor, stop stock lending and disallow the activity which is known as Contracts for Difference, which avoids the need to settle with physical stock within the Settlement period.

I do not expect any financial aid from the Chancellor for my contribution but if he does this right away he will have the gratitude of all of us. By the way please note that Pension Funds cannot 'trade' their assets, that is they cannot just buy and sell because they are meant to invest for the long term, not just short term speculative gains.

Black Holes

Surely, as some of us consider that our Gordon is somehow linked to the great Stalin, or uncle jo, as he may also be refrred to, let's give a quote which could have come from the great man himself:-)

'I trust no one, not even myself'.

Now when he said it and to whom I know not, except that he his supposed to have said it, so, not quite Shakespeare but I am so looking forward to the labour party conference.

Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and that is without looking back into the big-bang which happened in the late 80's, all the well known City Investment banks and brokers which disappeared.

Maybe there has been the creation of black holes by the CERN LHC after all. All the money, all the assets, all the governments they are slowly being swallowed up and turning into, absolutely nothing. I blame the scientists.

Pakistan

Just a little bit of news reported on Radio 5, which may be of interest.

It is reported that Pakistan fired on some American planes which overflew Pakistan airspace. No violations of Pakistani Territory will be tolerated.

Now then can we take it that British and American forces are not operating in the border areas to Aghanistan and Pakistan, and sometimes going over the border, into Pakistan.

Now I think that Gordon Brown will announce to cheers that British troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq, however they will have to be sent to reinforce our defeat in Afghanistan.

Russia was bankrupted by its Afghanistan excursion. The same is happening to America, apart from anything else it can't afford these wars. Americans are not happy about their recession and the fact the billions are being spent to fight wars.

So, while we have concerns about the economy, and the politicians we are losing site of the disaster unfolding in other areas of the world. Millibland ought to do his job trying to sort his job as foreign secretary before he can even think about running this country.

Can't wait for the governmnet reshuffle.

A Faustian Tragedy

Now listen I am getting very annoyed. These are the comments I made yesterday #133 on Rebel Tactics:-

'I can now see why some compared him to Stalin, anybody who is not for me is against me, and I will have no challenge to my authority. Can we soon expect some show trials, recant or else. Oh for a modern day Shakespeare'.

These comments should also be read in conjunction with support from David Millibland.

I don't know, must everybody follow the Griffin.

Where is the government commentary about the financial meltdown in America. We have had 9/11 and the War on Terror, well put it in your diaries, this day will go down in history, 9/15, Great Depression II.

Some people ought to go back to read their Shakespeare, money has made us all pimps and whores. If you want to know try reading Faust/Mephistopheles Part 1,scene iv.

In fact this is actually turning into a Faustian tragedy.

I don't believe this

Here, this is getting amazing. Now we have people on the radio saying that it is alright for a bank to fail, I mean Lehman Brothers, gone. Merrill Lynch, taken over by Bank of America, which sounds really good, I mean Bank of America, its not as though it has anything to do with any real Bank America, not like our Bank of England.

Now, we are also hearing about AIG, the sponsors of Manchester United pleading for money. In the meantime Newcastle United still carry the sponsors name, Northern Rock.

This is appalling, 'I don't believe it'. I know this is a stream of consciousness but I a good day to be alive, to see history being made, put it into diary, 9/15, the day it finally all went wrong.

Armageddon Analysis

Love listening to Today on Radio 4.

Further to my #109 I wonder why somebody who should really be able to stabilise the markets and give us very good advice, namely one Alastair Darling, will not come on to be interviewed. Probably much too busy looking for a job when he loses the existing one in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle.

I wonder if the existing ministers have been told that if you keep supporting Gordon then you will keep your job, with everything that goes with it.

So, this government is in meltdown, everything is Gordon, Gordon, Gordon. In the meantime the financial markets are in meltdown, I mean the thundering herd bellowing their support for Gordon whilst Rome burns.

Watch for an Italian airline as well, this is so cool.

Financial Armageddon

Merrill Lynch as well, and AIG. I mean it is so brilliant to listen to people coming onto the radio and give us their expert knowledge. I mean they are so expert that they have not seen this coming, or if they did they remained silent, which is actually even worse.

If people who knew stayed silent so as not to spread doom and despondency then they are guilty of negligence. This is an appalling state of affairs, and this time the Great Depression will be a truly global one. Just as the Great War was really a European Civil War, including Europeans who had influence in America, which resulted in WWII, then the Great Depression was basically the same. This will be the equivalent of WWII, and when India and China join in then this is going to be cataclysmic, our own little Armageddon.

Lehman Brothers

by now you will have started to hear about Lehman Brothers and the fact that the holding company has been put into Chapter 11 in America.

May I suggest most humbly that you read #109 #120 and #123 the first one being my posting, the second sagamix, and the third Jackturk. To Jackturk I would add the Tonnage Act which is the root of the problem in the UK.

Whilst most people seem to be wasting their time and effort on Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling just realise that we are now facing the worst crisis since 1928, the global financial markets are imploding and what are people apparently concerned about, a general election which need not be held for ages.

This situation is even worse than I ever thought, oh and by the way I did use to be employed by an Investment Bank in the City. We are all so doomed.

Politics, Philosophy and Economics

now the reason why I have given the title to the subject is that it is in
PPE that I am going for my BA Honours with the Open University. Also I
used to work for many years for an Investment Bank in the City of London.

Now, in all my courses I have not been achieving very high marks, in fact
I have struggled in all three areas. So, Terry I hear you say, why are you
telling us this. Well I also count myself as a bit of an historian,
especially around the Great War and the Great Depression.

By now you will have heard about the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an
American Investment bank. So now the connection.

The OU and other universities 'sell' their courses but I have always
thought that there could be a case of mis-selling, on the basis that there
is just too much theory, and not enough real working knowledge of how it
all fits together.

In order for the honours system to function, from my experience anyway, there must be a requirement to extend it to PPPE. The additional 'P' being Psychology, otherwise it just doesn't make any sense at all.

Many of the current crop of politicians think that they know it all because they have studied PPE at their university and they, therefore,have theories which they can put into practice. This is non-sense. They have no real idea as to how the economy works.

I know that it is too early to read this because you've probably had a hard week-end of partying or getting up to date with housework. Maybe you've even been doing some revision or finishing your ECA. The one thing you have probably not been able to do is to just sit and think. Yes, I have, but I have also been doing the garden in the sun, lot's of lawn to cut. Hedges to trim, but I digress.

The fantastic thing about the OU is that it gives us access to historical documents, and may I suggest that if you can look at the historic copies of the Times go to the period in 1928 when there were huge falls on the New York Stock Exchange and the government put ever more money into the system to bail out the market. The exact same mistakes are being made today. So, you will know what happened in 1929, the year of the great stock market crash in November, but more importantly the start of the Great Depression. I think that history is about to repeat itself, we have been living in a fool's paradise, of huge government spending and redistribution of wealth through tax credits and public works , PFI schools for example.

I know that this is not really closely linked to the AXR271, but all of you are soon going to have plenty of time to put into practice your 'Thinking Philosophy' because you too are going to have plenty of gardening leave. Sorry, to be one of the four horsemen but we are heading for a financial Armageddon, hold onto your hats, but hey you can all be very philosophical about it.

Iraq and the Labour Party Conference

I hope that others listened to the Millibland interview on Radio 5 this morning. Now listen, this is important, we are in difficult times. People want us to get on with the job.

All the cabinet ministers know that the game is up. They are just about to crash and burn and so they continue to sit at a table with 'the leader' and await the visit to the bunker. They are going down, big time.

So as the military would say 'it's time to lock and load' because they, like our occupation of Iraq is coming to an end. You can expect an announcement of our retreat from Iraq during the labour party conference, just to silence the anti-war brigade. Mind you they will have to confirm that we are going to sign up to an American surge in Afghanistan.

There must a debate in parliament before we send ever more troops to reinforce another defeat, and there must be an inquiry into Iraq.

Difference between Politics and Politicians

May I tell Nick Clegg that people are not giving up on politics. What I am doing is giving up on politicians.

They wouldn't care about politics if you wrapped it up in gold leaf. They, politicians, only know what is best for them. They know nothing of politics, or if they did they forgot their principles long ago.

They don't have a clue. When the time is right about a Euro referendum says the liberal democrat leader. The time was right when we would have got a better rate than what it is today. Just think what rate we would have got for our pound when the rates were agreed.

I want to know about cash for honours, and I want to know about loans to political parties. I want a public inquiry into the war in Iraq. Now, give me that then a lttle of my faith may just be restored, somehow, though I will remain outside the grubbiness of the political parties.

Who leads the Conservatives

Maybe you ought to ask yourself then who is actually really setting the Tory agenda, you don't actually think it is David Cameron, who I regard as a front man for some very unpleasant people.

You don't seriously think that Cameron is capable of setting an agenda do you, seriously I mean.

Millibland on radio 5

Just listening to David Millibland on Radio 5.

Now listen this is really important, we are not resting on our laurels, we are thinking afresh.

Gordon is a man of real deep values, such deep values that he did not resign over the war in Iraq, therefore he must have agreed with it.

Yes thinking afresh says Millibland. The nationalisation of Northern Rock, now that really is not old labour, I mean they nationalised Coal, Steel, the Railways, etc...and they were so succesful. They have not nationalised the energy companies and the water companies, now that would be thinking afresh!

So, what sort of difference will these people make when they wake up in the morning. So get your act togther, listen this is important.

So what does labour believe in? Gordon was not elected, he held no election, can these people not understand that they are trying to rewrite history and some of will not accept.

They are all going to sink and they are going to take us down with them.

So, what are they going to do about Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Dafur, Treaty of Lisbon and Ireland.

Team GB is sinking fast, where is the lifeboat, oh that's right it's full already.

Brown Out

I think that is big news hidden today which will require a serious investigation. I am talking about the breaking news about GCHQ and the Omagh bombing.

This should be taken into account with the Gibraltar action where three suspected IRA terrorists were shot and killed.

It should also be taken into account with regard to the shooting and death of the young innocent Brazilian De Menezes.

It should also be taken into account with regard to the weapons of mass destruction, and the subsequent invasion of Iraq, and the deaths which have followed.

It should also be taken into account when there is the fact that there has been no inquest into the death of Doctor David Kelly.

It should also be taken into account when we know of the acquittal of terrorists accused of trying to set off explosions on planes flying to America.

It should be taken into account with regard to the allegations of a shoot to kill policy operating in Ireland.

It should be taken into account when looking at the BBC and what I will call the Gilligan affair. Is the BBC really independent anymore. Some of us have looked into the General Strike and the action of Lord Reith, and again let us not look at the BBC with rose tinted glasses.

There must be a full inquiry into the war in Iraq, it is the war which is going to bring about the downfall of Brown and this government. It will also bring about the end of this parliament.

With a new government in power, hopefully one of national unity, because the splits in our society are now reaching seismic proportions. Things have been done in my name I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

I am afraid that this country is very deep in the mire, it is not politics at fault, it is politicians, and I feel so very sad.


There is a pattern beginning to evolve and I don't like what I see.

Pakistan and Parliament

It is no longer about Gordon, it about the labour party and, not to put not to fine a point on it they are just so finished.

The only way now to get rid of Gordon is to get rid of labour MPs, simple as that. So, they might as well keep the jamboree going and hope that something, anything, turns up.

In the meantime the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan appears to deteriorate with every passing hour. As for Dafur, Chad/Cameroon and the Sudan! There must be an inquiry into Iraq, and parliament must be recalled about the situation in Pakistan, we must not allow our Special Forces to be caught up in the mire, not without parliament discussing it first, or does parliament not matter anymore.

Gordon Brown sets the agenda and he thought by going onto the economy attention would be diverted from the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, by diverting attention onto the economy he has chosen the wrong area. Nobody will forget that he was the Chancellor, still acts as though he is, instead still we have Alastair Darling, the fall guy, having to take the rap for what Gordon allowed to happen on his watch.

There will still have to be a cabinet reshuffle, but the problem is that when it happens he will have some very angry former cabinet members. Trouble is if he doesn't reshuffle then it will expose his very weakness because he knows there must be changes but he has no power to do anything. Too many skeletons in the cupboard?

Pakistan

Isn't it about time that you started a new theme, or are you too busy getting ready for the conference season. Come on Nick earn those huge sums of money I think you 'earn'.

For example, I don't think that many people understand how serious the situation is getting in Pakistan. A new president, the Americans using Special Forces to operate in a foreign sovereign state. Hundreds killed and bombs dropped on so many innocents. we need a statement from the Prime Minister about this, what are our soldiers doing, are they at risk without the approval of parliament. This 'war' is spreading out of control.

We know that Bush wants the head of bin Laden on a plate before he leaves the White House.

We must not just sit back and watch this happen, not without parliamentary approval at least. What exactly is going on in the killing fields of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Anti-Gordon Me!

I wish that the billion pounds for homeowners was properly explained as being approximately 300 million per annum.

They actually don't know how much it will be because there is no evidence. Not only that but it will still depend on many people actually having to spend to receive the grant, and if it is a grant will the individual receiving the grant have to repay it if they sell their property within a certain time frame?

The devil as usual is in the detail. Why was the announcement made by Gordon Brown rather than the Chancellor, or will Darling be gone in the Autumn reshuffle.

Like many others just because I am anti-Gordon does not make me a Tory, nor does it make anti-labour. It is just that this whole parliament is a disgrace.

No Windfall Tax

#168

The point you miss is that most, if not all the achievements you list are under the Premiership of a certain Tony Blair. Gordon Brown was the Chancellor.

Now, Tony stood for election before the British people, he had a mandate, he faced the electorate as leader of the labour partyand labour MPs won the confidence of the electorate, and Tony as leader had legitimacy. He even won despite the war in Iraq.

Now, that is the problem with Gordon Brown. He has never stood for election as leader with a mandate. If he had forced a windfall tax all this would have gone to the courts because I consider that it would have been unconstitutional and the energy companies would have appealed against its imposition. I think that they would have won. That's why there is no windfall tax, the courts, and the Lords would probably have thrown it out.

So, despite all that has been 'achieved' by labour since 1997, none of it is relevant, Gordon was not the leader of the labour party, and he has no mandate, and he took over as a result of a coup. Well that's what I think anyway.

Chad Cameroon oil Pipeline Project

While the labour party stays rooted to the class war there are seriously big events taking place aroundthe world which have serious implications in respect of events in the world. I do not mean the collosal waste of money known as the Large Hydron Collider.

Look at what has been happening in Chad, which has serious implications for Dafur.

The World Bank has ended its involvement in the Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been had the loan it made repaid. Now this is important, seriously important.

It will be most interesting to see whether this event has any implications on regional instability and the flight of refugees. I believe that there is a link between the government of Chad and the serious issues over what has been allowed by the west to occur in the Dafur region.

So, rather than concern themselves with the class war maybe the government would like to tell us what it thinks in respect of this event. Now then Mr Balls, this is important on stability in the region, keep an eye on even more civil strife, and don't forget the Chinese in all this.

Brown Out

There is a reaction against the decision by the jurors in what I shall call the Woolwich verdicts. They heard all the evidence and found individuals not guilty.

Are we not seeing that if a jury had heard the evidence that Tony Blair received before committing us to the war in Iraq, then they would have said, no. There is either unsubstantiated claims or the evidence does not support your actions.

Our soldiers signed up to defend their Queen and Country, not to attack and occupy foreign nation states.

There must be an inquiry into the war against Iraq. A war paid for by Gordon Brown.

CERT

Nick,

I know that this may be a shock but I can tell you that the government will never bring in a windfall tax. Not part of the manifesto which they got elected on.

No, no windfall tax, but there will be a new tariff imposed on the energy companies. Maybe it will be called the Carbon Emissions Reduction Tariff, or CERT.

Now, so yet again the government is playing fast and loose, they won't be able to call it a tax, but effectively it will be. The only trouble is they won't be able to say that they have brought it in as a sort of windfall tax so the unions will keep agitating for the a windfall tax. Can't make it up. It is nothing but sophistry.

I also hope that Gordon takes the praise which is due to him after his visit to Saudi Arabia which has reduced the price of oil, yesterday it touched $100, so come on Gordon blow your trumpet, this was down to you, and your visit to Saudi Arabia, we do remember it.

Now, let's hear about the price at the pumps, how prices which rose as a result of the oil price shock will now reduce. Where is the fall, because the fear will be that as the Autumn winds blow we may well be approaching what the politicians really fer, deflation, and a return to the Great Depression.

Shock

The world did not start in May1997. There was always globalization.

So, the shocking news is what exactly Nick. Pray tell us what we did not already know, this has to be the worst Prime Minister since, well the last worst Prime Minister.

Take the windfall tax, which some people want. Where was it in the party manifesto at the last election? Nowhere.

Was there a committment to a referendum on the new European constitution? Yes, so what did they do, changed it to the Lisbon Treaty.

So, there will be no windfall tax. There will be new conservation tax. Definitely not a windfall tax, there are no apples.

Gordon Brown is still an Aspidistra.

The Prime Minister and Philosophy

I currently feel that I am in a parallel universe. Maybe I may find out which one when tomorrow they start up the Large Hadron Collider. I wonder which universe Gordon inhabits.

This is getting seriously unreal because at least when I say what I do then I don't have to issue a clarification within five minutes.

I say what I mean and I mean what I say.

What worries me most of all is that this Prime Minister, who paid for the wars Blair has been involved in since 1997, is now supposed to be in charge. We know that our soldiers no longer fight for Queen and Country they fight wars for failed politicians.

I am shocked at the state to which this country has fallen. It is an insult to banana republics, we are even worse than that.

Can anybody help me out by identifying what sort of Philosophy our PM has. I beleive that he took Politics, philosophy and Economics. Now, I am seriously worried.

Large Hadron Collider

Maybe you ought to think along the lines that unless somebody says something about our thoughts and fears then the very thing which we fear or think will happen, actually happens.

It is because TAG and others like him give publicity to our thoughts that we can actually prevent things from being done in our name.

You see politicians are continually playing fast and loose when answering questions, the question was not phrased in a way which will illicit the answer which should have been given.

The same applies to PM quesions, how many times do we sit watching and listening and beg that a question be asked in such a way that the PM has to answer. At the moment parliament is being quite pathetic, too nice by half. I have said before, and I repeat, what I want to see is MPs doing the decent thing and treat this government with the contempt that it deserves, just walk out, leave Gordon speaking to empty opposition benches.

There are many ways to have a revolution.

In answer to your direct question, no I am not a member of any think tank, I am just very well informed, oh and my education is still continuing and is most excellent.

Furthermore, you declined to take my advice in respect of reading certain books, maybe if you did you may just be able to argue, in the same well informd way that I do.

Finally, watch out for the Large Hadron Collider, I do like it when we are reliably informed that the world will not end when it is switched on. Could this be Armagheddon?

Philosophy and the Large Hadron Collider

Hi Guys,

tomorrow, as you will no doubt know, the CERN project is going to switch on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Whether or not this results in the end of the world as we know only time will tell. However, if you follow the link below you will see that they are confident that the end is not nigh :-)

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html

My problem is that we in the west seem to be so afraid of our own deaths, and our purpose on the planet, that we seem to me to keep looking into the past, the issue of where we come from, how the universe came about, that we are ignoring the real issue, of what exactly is the point of our existence on the planet, where exactly are we going.

Is it just to live 'good lives' and to do our best, whatever that may be. I know I have nearly completed A211 but this residential course has given more to think about than I realised. So, a deep and meaningful question, 'what is the point?'.

In my case is to write on the internet, and then to delete, unsend, so that nobody will know that I even existed. A bit like Socrates who needed Plato to record, illuminate and educate! Does Griffin live only on the internet, is he pure fiction. I write, therefore I am!

Injunctions

I would like to congratulate the government, and in particular the MoD for keeping any former soldier from airing their opinions about the war against Iraq.

They have achieved this in two ways.

They have forced soldiers to sign confidentialit contracts. Forced in the sense that they will not be sent on operations, or serve in certain units unless they do sign.

Then, based on those contracts, theMoD are then able to prevent public debate by the use of court injunctions as any soldier who signed the confidentiality contract, will then be taken to the courts and have injunctions taken out against them.

The house rules of Nicks blog then prevent publication where there is contempt of court, or breaks a court injunction. Isn't freedom of speech brilliant.

Furthermore, I think that you will find that injured soldiers, or the families of those killed, will put any compensation at risk if they go public without any comments being thoroughly vetted.

A Slow Train Crash

As you wake up you will be hearing the news that the American withdrawal from Iraq has started because the 'surge' has been so succesful. The troops being withdrawn will, however probably have to go to Afghanistan, a brilliant exercise in how not to win hearts and minds.

There will also have to be more air attacks on another sovereign territory, namely Pakistan.

I wonder if Britain will also soon be announcing the formal withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, maybe just in time for the labour party conference, now that will stop all the 'stop the war' demonstrators in their tracks won't it? I mean the war in Afghanistan is going so well that we are just about to announce the classic military mistake, we and the Americans are going to reinforce defeat. Wow, this is the end game!

I think that George Bush is aiming to get bin Laden before the American Presidential election. He wants his head on a platter, to show to the American people.

The problems are getting worse, Russia/Georgia, America/Iran, Turkey/Northern Iraq, Sunni/Shi'ite, Dafur/Chad Cameroon, Sudan, Russia/Ukraine, and where exactly are the British Special Forces operating?

And the world economies! Now there is the serious problem of the collapse of the oil price and the dollar. The Great Depression is just a foretaste of what we can expect. Britain and America are being bankrupted by these wars, why do think that Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac were sold off in the forst place, the Vietnam war, which was also bankrupting America, only Britain wasn't in that one.

This is like watching a train crash in slow motion.

Disaster

I don't think that many people realise exactly what has happened with regard to the implications on the world economy after the fatally flawed decision to rescue Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae.

These were not like US Treasury Bonds, equivalent of our Gilts, but were just ordinary Mortgage Backed. Now, if you knew company law you would know that there is an hierarchy of debt, so a Mortgage Debenture would rank above an Unsecured Loan Stock. But you can only raise funds (mortgage) against the property once, or you should.

This appears to me a bit like the wine salesman who would say that he has a fantastic old wine which he will sell you for $500. You buy it but then he says it needs to be stored in the best wine cellar, and he has that cellar, and will look after it for you. You trust him.

The trouble is he says the same story 1,000 times, only trouble is he only has one bottle of wine which he is selling 1,000 times. The problem comes when somebody actually wants their bottle of wine. It ain't there, it never was.

So, either the wine merchant has to go and buy some wine so he can meet his contractual obligations, or he is exposed and has to go to jail. Either that or the government doesn't want the market in wine to collapse and bails him out.

For wine, its fine art, its gold, its property. It is all based on shifting sands.

As for countries which hold dollars in their reserves, well they won't be worth much as the dollar collapses, which it will. This is why there is a contagion. We are I afraid doomed.

I am reminded of the story of how the banks will bankrupt you for a debt of a few hundred dollars, but if you owe millons?

Gordon Brown

What is that they say that in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.

I'm sorry but I can go on a journey to find the real me. This should not be a journey for a Prime Minister who should already know where he is going, because he is going to take us with him.

I don't want to go on a voyage of discovery with Gordon Brown.

In the meantime the country is flooded, the Stock Exchange is failing because it can't handle the volume of business. This country is a busted flush, and we have a 'leader' who wants to tell us about his daughter.

Tell us Gordon how many innocents have been lost in Afghanistan, how many have been killed by Predator, and Reaper. Don't forget we actually saw Prince Harry authorising a bombing mission on people who are trying to rid themselves of a foreign occupying force.

So, don't tell me about Gordon and the loss of his baby, not until he admits to all the deaths which he, and Tony Blair are responsible for.

Fannie Mae Freddie Mac

with the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the US we can now understand why Alastair Darling has said what he did about the economy.

This is an absolute disaster and the whole world will slip into the recession which will repeat all the mistakes of 1928/29.

It was the action taken in 1928 which sowed the seeds for the Great Depression which started in 1929.

I wish I wasn't so negative, I wish that I will not be able to turn around and say I told you so, but many people do not have a clue.

I hear that the public service unions are leading their members up the garden path by demanding wage increases which mirror the rate of inflation. This is insanity. How much are these union leaders pocketing, they are not altruists.

If anything many people, not only in the private sector, but also in the public sector, are actually going to have their income reduced. As I have referred to historical events before then look at the Invergordon Mutiny and see the effect that had. This time it will be the public sector unions.

We will rue the day that the Americans have taken this action.

This day will see another Brown relaunch, well he is the captain on the Titanic, and he is taking us all down with him. The Titanic was meant to be unsinkable, well just as it hit an iceberg in a way which was not included in the plan, it is the same with the British, and world economy.

Brown might as well stay, there is no alternative. I'm afraid the credit crunch will not ease, batten down the hatches because this storm will be much worse than you can ever imagine.

As for America, they may well elect the equivalent of Hoover, and just as he put his faith in dams to reflate the economy, Brown and his ilk are looking at alternative energy sources to boost the economy, dream on.

The workhouse

Nick,

I think that some people think me rather uncaring, and maybe a little bit arrogant. Well I supoose if the cap fits, then I will have to wear it.

I don't think that I have really had much respect for authority. My confidence may well be misplaced but I have always regarded the word as being more powerful than the sword.

For example, I think that if we are to have a welfare society then it ought to be properly administered. So, for example the government says that help ought to go the the poor. So be it, but what has to be understood that there is the age old problem of the deserving and the undeserving. I have never had a satisfactory answer to a question which I have 'why should I be impoverished to give money to somebody so that they can have a higher standard of living than the person who pays?'

Should we not bring back a real means test, before being given any state aid then you must pay for it with a diminuation of your standard of living. Is it not time to bring back the work house? Oh, and single mothers should be put in one, contentious yes, but exactly why not?

Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project

Me offensive, surely not, not at all possible.

For example let me try this one on readers with regard to the Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project (CCPP). It has an important role to play in the current situation in Dafur, you know where hundreds of thousands are dying. So it may be that it is not our pensioners who are dying but don't people really care about fellow human beings.

So, may I suggest that you contact the World Bank and ask them for a copy of the Area Specific Oil Spill Response
Plans (ASOSRP)for the CCPP. Now, there should be one, but guess what, I and some others think, that one has not been published and is therefore not available. Important, you bet.

Furthermore, all you greens when they want to put a coal-fired electricity plant near you, or somewhere, then ask to see the Strategic Environmental Assessment for the project, under EU law there must be one. The same for waste-to-energy plants, or incinerators as they really ought to be called.

Finally, do your own research and look at the scientific evidence on the internet and make your own minds up about the effects of Aluminium Sulphate on humans. Just let go and look.

Now that was important as Balls would say.

Brown the Despot

Now look I want you all to read this because it is very important. No, keep reading this is, important.

I have just seen ed Balls on the Andrew Marr Show and, now this is important, we have been letting the conservatives have it too much their own way. Now do you see how important this is.

Now, I have to say that he was very confident, very confident indeed. Labour can win this election, notice this election, not the election which must be held within the next 18 months.

If this is what we can expect then we really can abandon all hope. If Darling can only say that we are 'pissed off' with labour, and that Hope can say of Charles Clarke, 'shutup' then this is terrible. Now this is imprtant, says Balls, well yes it is, only like the British presence in Iraq, labour is now the problem and will never be the solution. Like the retreat from Basra, and the long Napoleonic retreat from Moscow, it is time to call it a day.

A government of national unity is what is needed, as Balls admits, and I have been saying for some time, we are facing a credit crunch the like of which has not seen since the 1930's.

We are facing the worst situation since that time in the current crop of politicians in parliament are not going to be able to prevent it happening. There have been other Great Depressions and they cannot be avoided, there was and always will be 'boom and bust'.

Now, wasn't that important. Watch the way the politicians hold their hands, its a church, a very broad church, and Gordon is the worst sort of paternalistic despot.

Am I angry

You don't have a clue. I'll actually tell you one reason why you are correct in one respect. Yes I am in pain.

Tell you why. My father was old and in hospital, it was obvious that he was dying. So, on his last night we were told by the hospital staff that because there was no knowledge as to when he would die, they could no longer keep him in hospital. They were therefore going to discharge him the next day. We said that we would come to collect him the next morning.

However, they discharged him very early so when we arrived he was already on his way home. We therefore turned around and went home . My two young sons were at home when we arrived and there was an ambulance outside the house. we were advised that dad had had a heart attack, best that he was not disturbed. He actually died in the ambulance.

Now, I am still angry, very angry because nobody, no state does that to my father. So, yes I am still in pain, and I am very angry.

My son subsequently joined the army and did very well, 2 para, top of class, straight in not via any regiment. Extraordinarily proud because of his awards, and service to his country. Then comes Iraq. You have to realise that the soldiers, who actually do the fighting, the killing and the dying, were lied to.

That is why I am angry, he refused to do what he was expected to do and was given an honourable discharge. That is why I am angry with Tony Blair and the politicians. They do not have to do the dirty work. They sit in parliament, they destroy the economy, they destroy the values which were held in such high regard. They are the guilty ones, and just as I will never forgive the system for what happened to my father, retired RN, Lt Cmdr MBE, I will never forgive the rotten state which has led to the carnage in my name and your name in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gordon Brown is just as guilty, he has blood on his hands, just like they all do.

As for my son, Ben, he now drives ambulances in London, he had the courage to do what he knew was right, he would not follow orders, and what have they done, our wonderful MoD they have taken him to court and taken out an injunction preventing him from speaking in public. What a great country we live in, freedom of speech. Well they are so afraid of what is said that they have to shut him up.


The truth will eventually come out about Dr David Kelly and his death, there must be a formal proper inquest. And just to throw some more oil on the fire, you and those like you keep an eye on Camelford and Aluminium Sulphide.

Am I angry, yes, but so should so many other people be angry if they really cared.

Brown must go, now!

Nick,

all that has been happening is that Clarke and other labour MPs have been reading the various blogs during their summer holidays.

I am no Johnny-come-lately to the irrefutable fact that Gordon made the worst mistake by any politician in living memory by not coming to the electorate.

It was obvious that as soon as Tony Blair announced that he was not going to serve a full term that labour should have immediately selected Gordon as leader of the labour party and that a general election ought to be held.

Blair lied to the country over the war against Iraq. This must never be forgotten, no matter what gloss you put on his reasons, a war of aggression is a war of aggression no matter how you want to describe it.

Furthermore, the problem with the army is that in a large number of cases, with a few notable exceptions, they followed orders. Under the Nurembourg principles, victors justice if you like, the leaders should have said no. They did not and they have the same blood on their hands as the Prime Minister.

That means both the former PM and the current one, he paid for it as Chancellor, if he was any sort of man he should have said no. He didn't, and that is why he did not deserve to take over, as a result of a bloodless coup if I may be so bold as to say.

As I have said before Gordon Brown lacks any legitimacy and must go, if you like to teach any subsequent leader a lesson. The lesson being that we still live in a democracy and that there is still freedom of speech no matter what injunctions the courts may pass by order of the MoD, or what the moderators of the BBC may attempt to keep those of a passion for a need for change out of the debate.

Brown must go, this parliament must end, and it must end soon, because there are alternatives and the alternatives I see on the rise are not the ones that I want to see in power.