The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
Order-Order might be close.
Guido lacks a top travel writer, and tilted to the right some years back.
Guido also lacks the indiscriminate randomness of opinion and subject matter to be found elsewhere, including here. "Let me tell you all about my forthcoming book on medieval Mongolian fireplaces and my recent visit to the new coffee machine at South Greenford station illustrated by 20 large photos...."
Yes. I remember South Greenford— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was South Greenford—only the name,
No coffee machine but grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
I’m always surprised that there aren’t more boiler explosions from commercial coffee machines. The pressure vessel is a copper balloon - literally dents when your touch it. If the safety valve sticks it would go boom. And some of them are big - 5 litre volume I would guess.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
It does demonstrate that neither intelligence nor discretion are needed for a well paid job in finance provided you are well connected.
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
Ultimately the remain campaign failed to make a winnable case
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
No shortages down here perhaps you need to shop at a different supermarket. Prices down to inflation....oh look eu countries have had inflation too.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Don't know if this has already been mentioned but some researchers have claimed that they have created a room temperature super conductor known as LK-99. Massive if true especially since it seemingly uses normal materials and straight forward methods to create it. Obviously the science community seems very reticent to announce it untill it's been replicated as they've fallen for elaborate hoaxes before.
It’s more to do with -
1) is it mechanically stable? Can you make a wire out of it. 2) what happens when a big current or a multi Tesla magnetic field goes through it? Does it still superconduct?
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
I was listening to Sky reporting from Yemen and the starvation it is suffering, not helped by the embargo on Ukraine grain and high prices
We can moan as much we like, but we should reflect on just how fortunate we really are
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
Order-Order might be close.
Guido lacks a top travel writer, and tilted to the right some years back.
Guido also lacks the indiscriminate randomness of opinion and subject matter to be found elsewhere, including here. "Let me tell you all about my forthcoming book on medieval Mongolian fireplaces and my recent visit to the new coffee machine at South Greenford station illustrated by 20 large photos...."
Yes. I remember South Greenford— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was South Greenford—only the name,
No coffee machine but grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
I’m always surprised that there aren’t more boiler explosions from commercial coffee machines. The pressure vessel is a copper balloon - literally dents when your touch it. If the safety valve sticks it would go boom. And some of them are big - 5 litre volume I would guess.
I am sorry to say Edward Thomas never wrote a poem about a coffee machine boiler. Perhaps if he had dodged death in WW1 it would be different.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
No shortages down here perhaps you need to shop at a different supermarket. Prices down to inflation....oh look eu countries have had inflation too.
The ECB increased interest rates to record high today
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
They aim to run out of lunch food in the evening, you twerp. So they can have fresh tomorrow morning.
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
Order-Order might be close.
Guido lacks a top travel writer, and tilted to the right some years back.
Guido also lacks the indiscriminate randomness of opinion and subject matter to be found elsewhere, including here. "Let me tell you all about my forthcoming book on medieval Mongolian fireplaces and my recent visit to the new coffee machine at South Greenford station illustrated by 20 large photos...."
Yes. I remember South Greenford— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was South Greenford—only the name,
No coffee machine but grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
I’m always surprised that there aren’t more boiler explosions from commercial coffee machines. The pressure vessel is a copper balloon - literally dents when your touch it. If the safety valve sticks it would go boom. And some of them are big - 5 litre volume I would guess.
I am sorry to say Edward Thomas never wrote a poem about a coffee machine boiler. Perhaps if he had dodged death in WW1 it would be different.
Death Stalked The Barista in Greenford
In Greenford's cozy café, a tale to tell, A barista once vibrant, now bids farewell. Amidst the aroma of freshly brewed delight, Tragedy struck, turning day into night.
With gentle grace, she donned her apron bright, A maestro of beans, a coffee star so light. But fate's cruel twist, an unforeseen turn, As a coffee machine's blast made hearts churn.
In the midst of steam and beans of gold, A scene unfolded, stories yet untold. The coffee machine's explosion, unforeseen, Snatched her from this world, dreams in-between.
In the echoes of chaos, a silence fell, Her absence felt deeply, like a tolling bell. Her artistry lost, a void in the air, The coffeehouse weeps, hearts burdened with care.
Yet, amidst the ashes of shattered dreams, A community united, or so it seems. They reminisce her laughter, her warm embrace, A barista's legacy, they vow to embrace.
In Greenford's café, candles flicker bright, A tribute to the barista of pure light. Her passion for coffee, forever etched, In memories cherished, hearts gently fetched.
As they gather 'round, in love they find solace, A union of souls, healing the deepest of crevice. In each cup brewed, her spirit alive, An ode to the barista, who will never be deprived.
Though she's gone, her essence lives on, In the beans that dance, in each early dawn. And when a coffee machine roars with glee, They'll remember the barista, forever free.
The idea “this will all turn out well for Coutts” is refreshingly original. I can imagine there must be loads of billionaires applying for accounts right now, in the hope they can be morally audited by 19 year olds, and get their entire social media histories combed over, to see if they ever retweeted anything possibly transphobic, and if they fail, this will all be leaked to the BBC
Really rich people LOVE that kind of attention
I'd be surprised if many fantastically rich people use Coutts in the first place. But those who do will already have had their personal account managers on the phone talking through any issues they may have and soothing any concerns. It's a real pain switching these kinds of accounts - and it can cost a fair amount of money to do it. But you are right, discretion really matters. If people are genuinely concerned their names are going to get into the papers, they'll be off like a shot.
Yes I doubt that many people will switch accounts from Coutts if they already have one. It’s a hassle as you say. But who knows
What it will do is deter anyone from OPENING an account there. Why take the risk?
It is potentially a True Ratner Moment. A few monumentally stupid, indiscreet remarks, said to the wrong audience, have terminally damaged an entire business. Insanely dumb
Also what kind of arrogant fuckwit does this in the first place? Isn’t Alison rose meant to be some experienced person? A safe pair of hands? 30 years with the firm?
I wonder if she was really drunk and trying to impress a BBC journo she fancied. Didn’t this happen at some banquet?
I am a Coutts customer*, and I think they have behaved appallingly. If they had downgraded him to a regular NatWest card, on the basis that he's no longer meeting the eligibility requirements, that would be one thing.
But to (a) kick him out, and (b) say the stupid things they did is quite another.
I'm planning to return to the UK once I've sold my current business, so would appreciate a proper UK bank, that doesn't mind having a UK tax reesident customer. If Charles was still on the site, I'd ask if Hoare's would have me.
* Not by choice: RBS closed the bank (Adam & Co) that I was a customer of, and transferred me to Coutts.
I have Charles details, if you'd like me to put you in touch?
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
They aim to run out of lunch food in the evening, you twerp. So they can have fresh tomorrow morning.
Some would blame it on brexit if they stubbed their toe getting out of bed in the morning
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
They aim to run out of lunch food in the evening, you twerp. So they can have fresh tomorrow morning.
You mean no stale wraps for drunk students at 11:55pm?
The closure of bank accounts belonging to racecourse bookmakers was described as a "scandal" by one MP yesterday as the reverberations over the shutting down of ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage's account spread to the betting industry.
Numerous racecourse bookmakers have revealed they have had accounts closed by banks without explanation. One bookmaker, Graham Thorpe, told the Racing Post he had had 11 accounts associated with him closed, including those of charities and organisations for which he was treasurer.
It is not just Farage, and not just woke. It's the AML rules making banks decide some customers are just too much hassle. Even if it is especially the unwoke ones.
Banking bookies taking cash would be the banks giving up entirely on anti money laundering. I wouldn't even say they were a money laundering "risk".
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
Oh god what a load of delusional shite
Seems very much like the comments you might post. In fact it's your damn recipe.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
"higher quality"! What a larf.
People who think that personal banking isn’t high pressure selling of inappropriate products. I know a couple of them.
The idea “this will all turn out well for Coutts” is refreshingly original. I can imagine there must be loads of billionaires applying for accounts right now, in the hope they can be morally audited by 19 year olds, and get their entire social media histories combed over, to see if they ever retweeted anything possibly transphobic, and if they fail, this will all be leaked to the BBC
Really rich people LOVE that kind of attention
I'd be surprised if many fantastically rich people use Coutts in the first place. But those who do will already have had their personal account managers on the phone talking through any issues they may have and soothing any concerns. It's a real pain switching these kinds of accounts - and it can cost a fair amount of money to do it. But you are right, discretion really matters. If people are genuinely concerned their names are going to get into the papers, they'll be off like a shot.
Yes I doubt that many people will switch accounts from Coutts if they already have one. It’s a hassle as you say. But who knows
What it will do is deter anyone from OPENING an account there. Why take the risk?
It is potentially a True Ratner Moment. A few monumentally stupid, indiscreet remarks, said to the wrong audience, have terminally damaged an entire business. Insanely dumb
Also what kind of arrogant fuckwit does this in the first place? Isn’t Alison rose meant to be some experienced person? A safe pair of hands? 30 years with the firm?
I wonder if she was really drunk and trying to impress a BBC journo she fancied. Didn’t this happen at some banquet?
I am a Coutts customer*, and I think they have behaved appallingly. If they had downgraded him to a regular NatWest card, on the basis that he's no longer meeting the eligibility requirements, that would be one thing.
But to (a) kick him out, and (b) say the stupid things they did is quite another.
I'm planning to return to the UK once I've sold my current business, so would appreciate a proper UK bank, that doesn't mind having a UK tax reesident customer. If Charles was still on the site, I'd ask if Hoare's would have me.
* Not by choice: RBS closed the bank (Adam & Co) that I was a customer of, and transferred me to Coutts.
Don't know if this has already been mentioned but some researchers have claimed that they have created a room temperature super conductor known as LK-99. Massive if true especially since it seemingly uses normal materials and straight forward methods to create it. Obviously the science community seems very reticent to announce it untill it's been replicated as they've fallen for elaborate hoaxes before.
It’s more to do with -
1) is it mechanically stable? Can you make a wire out of it. 2) what happens when a big current or a multi Tesla magnetic field goes through it? Does it still superconduct?
Are you not clearing a space in your shed for a fusion generator yet?
Don't know if this has already been mentioned but some researchers have claimed that they have created a room temperature super conductor known as LK-99. Massive if true especially since it seemingly uses normal materials and straight forward methods to create it. Obviously the science community seems very reticent to announce it untill it's been replicated as they've fallen for elaborate hoaxes before.
It’s more to do with -
1) is it mechanically stable? Can you make a wire out of it. 2) what happens when a big current or a multi Tesla magnetic field goes through it? Does it still superconduct?
Are you not clearing a space in your shed for a fusion generator yet?
We've been here before of course.
My Violet Club replica takes up space. Perhaps I should take it to Australia to give it some… room.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
It does demonstrate that neither intelligence nor discretion are needed for a well paid job in finance provided you are well connected.
They're your private banker, banker for money, do what you want them to do ... or maybe not!
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Obama and Hillary for Remain with Cameron and Clegg and Ed Miliband and Trump for Leave with Boris and Farage also a factor
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
It does demonstrate that neither intelligence nor discretion are needed for a well paid job in finance provided you are well connected.
The idea “this will all turn out well for Coutts” is refreshingly original. I can imagine there must be loads of billionaires applying for accounts right now, in the hope they can be morally audited by 19 year olds, and get their entire social media histories combed over, to see if they ever retweeted anything possibly transphobic, and if they fail, this will all be leaked to the BBC
Really rich people LOVE that kind of attention
I'd be surprised if many fantastically rich people use Coutts in the first place. But those who do will already have had their personal account managers on the phone talking through any issues they may have and soothing any concerns. It's a real pain switching these kinds of accounts - and it can cost a fair amount of money to do it. But you are right, discretion really matters. If people are genuinely concerned their names are going to get into the papers, they'll be off like a shot.
Yes I doubt that many people will switch accounts from Coutts if they already have one. It’s a hassle as you say. But who knows
What it will do is deter anyone from OPENING an account there. Why take the risk?
It is potentially a True Ratner Moment. A few monumentally stupid, indiscreet remarks, said to the wrong audience, have terminally damaged an entire business. Insanely dumb
Also what kind of arrogant fuckwit does this in the first place? Isn’t Alison rose meant to be some experienced person? A safe pair of hands? 30 years with the firm?
I wonder if she was really drunk and trying to impress a BBC journo she fancied. Didn’t this happen at some banquet?
I am a Coutts customer*, and I think they have behaved appallingly. If they had downgraded him to a regular NatWest card, on the basis that he's no longer meeting the eligibility requirements, that would be one thing.
But to (a) kick him out, and (b) say the stupid things they did is quite another.
I'm planning to return to the UK once I've sold my current business, so would appreciate a proper UK bank, that doesn't mind having a UK tax reesident customer. If Charles was still on the site, I'd ask if Hoare's would have me.
* Not by choice: RBS closed the bank (Adam & Co) that I was a customer of, and transferred me to Coutts.
Santander is me and no complaints at all.
I was helping an elderly friend with an issue involving a Santander account and they were great. Another positive data point FWIW.
The idea “this will all turn out well for Coutts” is refreshingly original. I can imagine there must be loads of billionaires applying for accounts right now, in the hope they can be morally audited by 19 year olds, and get their entire social media histories combed over, to see if they ever retweeted anything possibly transphobic, and if they fail, this will all be leaked to the BBC
Really rich people LOVE that kind of attention
I'd be surprised if many fantastically rich people use Coutts in the first place. But those who do will already have had their personal account managers on the phone talking through any issues they may have and soothing any concerns. It's a real pain switching these kinds of accounts - and it can cost a fair amount of money to do it. But you are right, discretion really matters. If people are genuinely concerned their names are going to get into the papers, they'll be off like a shot.
Yes I doubt that many people will switch accounts from Coutts if they already have one. It’s a hassle as you say. But who knows
What it will do is deter anyone from OPENING an account there. Why take the risk?
It is potentially a True Ratner Moment. A few monumentally stupid, indiscreet remarks, said to the wrong audience, have terminally damaged an entire business. Insanely dumb
Also what kind of arrogant fuckwit does this in the first place? Isn’t Alison rose meant to be some experienced person? A safe pair of hands? 30 years with the firm?
I wonder if she was really drunk and trying to impress a BBC journo she fancied. Didn’t this happen at some banquet?
I am a Coutts customer*, and I think they have behaved appallingly. If they had downgraded him to a regular NatWest card, on the basis that he's no longer meeting the eligibility requirements, that would be one thing.
But to (a) kick him out, and (b) say the stupid things they did is quite another.
I'm planning to return to the UK once I've sold my current business, so would appreciate a proper UK bank, that doesn't mind having a UK tax reesident customer. If Charles was still on the site, I'd ask if Hoare's would have me.
* Not by choice: RBS closed the bank (Adam & Co) that I was a customer of, and transferred me to Coutts.
Santander is me and no complaints at all.
I was helping an elderly friend with an issue involving a Santander account and they were great. Another positive data point FWIW.
I am Santander, and they are very helpful.
Mrs Foxy is much more impressed by Nationwide though, the staff in branch were extremely helpful with sorting out her mothers finances when dementia set in and with her will.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
Crass all the same and it should have been 'line' if not scripted for him
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
And not persuasive in the way intended. A lot of people (especially on the left) opposed the EU making wide-ranging trade deals with the US on our behalf, so the prospect of a fast-track to the same would have been deeply unappealing. Personally I am happy to remain at the back of their queue for the foreseeable.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
Order-Order might be close.
Guido lacks a top travel writer, and tilted to the right some years back.
Guido also lacks the indiscriminate randomness of opinion and subject matter to be found elsewhere, including here. "Let me tell you all about my forthcoming book on medieval Mongolian fireplaces and my recent visit to the new coffee machine at South Greenford station illustrated by 20 large photos...."
Yes. I remember South Greenford— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was South Greenford—only the name,
No coffee machine but grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
I’m always surprised that there aren’t more boiler explosions from commercial coffee machines. The pressure vessel is a copper balloon - literally dents when your touch it. If the safety valve sticks it would go boom. And some of them are big - 5 litre volume I would guess.
I am sorry to say Edward Thomas never wrote a poem about a coffee machine boiler. Perhaps if he had dodged death in WW1 it would be different.
Pity, especially as there used to be one in Swindon refreshment room.
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Hearty Congrats!
But I hope the Owl wasn't a Sheffield Wednesday fan who's also recently joined the Greens
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
Don't know if this has already been mentioned but some researchers have claimed that they have created a room temperature super conductor known as LK-99. Massive if true especially since it seemingly uses normal materials and straight forward methods to create it. Obviously the science community seems very reticent to announce it untill it's been replicated as they've fallen for elaborate hoaxes before.
It’s more to do with -
1) is it mechanically stable? Can you make a wire out of it. 2) what happens when a big current or a multi Tesla magnetic field goes through it? Does it still superconduct?
Are you not clearing a space in your shed for a fusion generator yet?
We've been here before of course.
My Violet Club replica takes up space. Perhaps I should take it to Australia to give it some… room.
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Hearty Congrats!
But I hope the Owl wasn't a Sheffield Wednesday fan who's also recently joined the Greens
No, it was the real thing. The best man went through a charade of having "forgotten" them. The celebrant asked if my daughter could help whilst she slipped on a glove and the owl swept up to her with the rings tied to its leg. Almost no one in the audience knew so it caused quite a shock!
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
Oh god what a load of delusional shite
Has a whiff of cordite made your oeuvre flash before your eyes?
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
But if he had defined what "No" meant in the Scottish IndyRef he would have lost.
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Loads of journalists read this blog (secretly) for insights, and below the line too, and take our arguments into mainstream publication. Uncredited, of course.
I'm sort of OK with that. I don't have the time, skin or profile to do it myself and it's sort of flattering- I can't think of many (any?) other UK political blogs that have that much bearing on national debate.
Order-Order might be close.
Guido lacks a top travel writer, and tilted to the right some years back.
Guido also lacks the indiscriminate randomness of opinion and subject matter to be found elsewhere, including here. "Let me tell you all about my forthcoming book on medieval Mongolian fireplaces and my recent visit to the new coffee machine at South Greenford station illustrated by 20 large photos...."
Be careful what you wish for. I have a megapost breaking down each ship in ST:Picard season 3 and the importance of each designer, the past ships they are nodding to in design, the in-universe and IRL explanations, and why exactly the Duderstadt class was called that.
Just one press of my finger...
To hold in my hand a button that contained such power. To know that tedium and boredom on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure of my thumb enough to post the comment, would end everything. Yes. Yes, I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods...
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
On that basis Coutts and Farage are made for each other. Spiv meet spiv.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
But if he had defined what "No" meant in the Scottish IndyRef he would have lost.
Tbf he, or his cats paws, made it very clear that voting no was the means of retaining EU membership. We’re still in, right?
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Omg an owl . That’s outrageous and marvelous . Certainly not something you expect. Glad you had a great day .
Having seen the highlights on BBC I would say England are at least 100 runs short of a competitive score and they are going to be conceding a big enough deficit on the first innings to make the series safe for Australia. Harry Brook is just immense. Some of his shots were like early Root but he has a wider range. Definite future England captain, possibly Stokes replacement.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
But if he had defined what "No" meant in the Scottish IndyRef he would have lost.
Tbf he, or his cats paws, made it very clear that voting no was the means of retaining EU membership. We’re still in, right?
It’s strange that during the Indy Ref there was little mention of what happened if the UK voted to leave the EU .
In view of the SNP declaration that on independence the children of Scots will be entitled to citizenship, at least that solves the problem of passports at the border for our children though not sure if their children have the same claim but assume they will
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
He identifies issues that other politicians don't want to talk about because they know there are no easy solutions and that the public don't want to face up to the difficult trade-offs. And then he offers simplistic solutions - or more often is content simply to lob in grenades from the sidelines. If we had skillful mainstream politicians they could help to lead public opinion towards genuine solutions and fruitful compromises but we don't, so he cuts through. But he is a fundamentally negative figure. He enjoys extremely negative net approvals because most voters don't like him. And his signature policy - Brexit - the one where he got mainstream politicians to deliver what he wanted, is now derided and growing more unpopular by the day, widely seen by voters as a historic fuck-up. He is a reminder that genuinely talented populist politicians are extremely dangerous, especially when mainstream politicians are so witless and incompetent.
Arguably progressive detachement from the European federalist project was the British consensus position anyway from the moment we shunned the Euro. Farage just forced us off the fence.
Being on the fence was better than lying face down in the ditch.
Yep that is a good metaphore for where we would have been had we stayed in the EU.
It is disappointing that you have such little faith in the UK. If we'd stayed the nasty EU would have bullied us and made us do horrible things wah wah.
I have great confidence that if the UK had stayed in the EU we would have been at the centre of decision-making and maintained our strong standing in the organisation.
Nope, just a reflection of what happened for the years we were in there. We have never been 'at the centre of decision making' since they introduced QMV.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
Oh god what a load of delusional shite
Has a whiff of cordite made your oeuvre flash before your eyes?
No, but: 1) While I abhor the 'wrap', my daughters like them, so I buy them frequently. I've never come across a shortage of wraps. Now, I accept that not all lines are there all the time. But in general, Tesco has a massive and baffling range of products all the time. This is hardly communist Bulgaria. It's hardly even England 1990. 2) There have been a few other things going on in the world besides Brexit which might have a rather bigger impact on supply of wraps. Not least a war in one of the largest wheat producing regions in the world.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
It is not a world I know much about, and only have one anecdote: a vague acquaintance of my dad was very rich, but in the scrap/vehicle trade. Apparently he used a UK private bank in London, partly because his business was multinational. The bankers would not bat an eyelid if he turned up unannounced in mucky clothes.
That's what I always assumed private banking was: a personal connection between banker and client. They may not have *liked* him turning up in oily clothes, but that was his business, and they did not comment as long as his money was good.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
Yup - knew a chap who got “eased out” at Coutts. His offence - not writing enough mortgages.
His thing was connecting clients with other clients who were looking for sensible people to do business with. So he’d do the personal banking stuff *and* was the chap would say “you are looking for a machine tool firm in the South West? As it happens…”
Did zillions in business connecting like minded people up. But the NatWest twats had a target for mortgages sold…
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
Oh god what a load of delusional shite
Has a whiff of cordite made your oeuvre flash before your eyes?
No, but: 1) While I abhor the 'wrap', my daughters like them, so I buy them frequently. I've never come across a shortage of wraps. Now, I accept that not all lines are there all the time. But in general, Tesco has a massive and baffling range of products all the time. This is hardly communist Bulgaria. It's hardly even England 1990. 2) There have been a few other things going on in the world besides Brexit which might have a rather bigger impact on supply of wraps. Not least a war in one of the largest wheat producing regions in the world.
I went into my local Morrisons late last night, looking for some muffins so I could make Mrs J some birthday eggs benedict royale this morning. There was a vast variety of bready products available, some relatively 'fancy'.
I'm really not seeing any unusual shortages where I am.
I've been told forward to apply for the Coutts CEO job.
You'll be needing a Head of Investigations then.....
I was thinking of making you COO with unlimited powers and budget.
She will spend it all on flowers. Have you not read her BTL posts?
Splendid plan. Compared with how banks spend their money now, it can hardly be worse.
I used to buy red, white and blue roses from a stall in Moorgate on the way to work, four or five for £10, every Monday. I had the prettiest desk in our office until one day I realised I was subsidising the company to the tune of £500 a year.
I’ve just been to the supermarket where I used to work as a student, stacking shelves. I wanted some wraps. I like a freshly made wrap for my dinner.
No wraps. A vast expanse of empty shelving. And when you pay attention, when you properly look, there are huge gaps everywhere that they just fill up with shit loads of one product.
We’ve quickly become conditioned to having a massively reduced choice of food, with many items simply out of stock, time after time. Vastly reduced choice.
And let’s not get started on the prices.
Still, sovereignty, eh?
Oh god what a load of delusional shite
Has a whiff of cordite made your oeuvre flash before your eyes?
No, but: 1) While I abhor the 'wrap', my daughters like them, so I buy them frequently. I've never come across a shortage of wraps. Now, I accept that not all lines are there all the time. But in general, Tesco has a massive and baffling range of products all the time. This is hardly communist Bulgaria. It's hardly even England 1990. 2) There have been a few other things going on in the world besides Brexit which might have a rather bigger impact on supply of wraps. Not least a war in one of the largest wheat producing regions in the world.
Unless you're accompanying Leon on his war fever tour, I assume there's no cordite in your vicinity?
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
It is not a world I know much about, and only have one anecdote: a vague acquaintance of my dad was very rich, but in the scrap/vehicle trade. Apparently he used a UK private bank in London, partly because his business was multinational. The bankers would not bat an eyelid if he turned up unannounced in mucky clothes.
That's what I always assumed private banking was: a personal connection between banker and client. They may not have *liked* him turning up in oily clothes, but that was his business, and they did not comment as long as his money was good.
Where there's muck there's brass.
Absolutely true. One of the clients I loved was a Belgian chap and his wife worth around £400m who would turn up to meetings with me in Luxembourg straight from working on their farm,which they did every day despite their wealth, with the dirtiest finger nails and clothes but they were absolutely lovely. In one meeting I didn’t know what to do as I was chatting away to them about things and this dirty great bug started crawling out of his gillet. They would always have arguments about whether they wanted to withdraw 5k or 10k for some chicken coop or some sort.
The worst client was also Belgian and he would go to phone boxes in the middle of nowhere and call me to invite me on a “shooting trip” which meant a meeting in person. He would turn up with his wife both turned out immaculately and they were the most objectionable couple I’ve ever met - he was really old school money like the above but it shows there is no pattern.
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Many congratulations!
However, I do hope that you have at least three daughters so that you have not used "eldest" when it should be "elder".
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
When the BBC put Nigel Fucking Farage on Question Time every week for 3 years, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
When Tory politicians ran scared of him instead of laughing at him, perhaps, but they didn't need to do that.
He tried to get elected 7 times, and 7 times the voters told him where to stick it.
If the 'establishment' had done the same, Brexit was not inevitable.
You know, it was the remain camp who lost the vote by failing to make the case which should have been far easier
Yes Farage was a forceful campaigner, but the establishment took the electorate for granted hence why vote leave won
No, Leave wasn't defined, so it could mean whatever people wanted it to - and some of those were contradictory. Cameron should have got the Leave campaigns to define what it meant before the referendum was called.
But if he had defined what "No" meant in the Scottish IndyRef he would have lost.
Tbf he, or his cats paws, made it very clear that voting no was the means of retaining EU membership. We’re still in, right?
It’s strange that during the Indy Ref there was little mention of what happened if the UK voted to leave the EU .
It is not strange at all a certain banned the civil service from looking at what came next after a vote for out.....that famous brexiteer Cameron.
Without the civil service wargaming it and the eu refusing to negotiate what comes next without both an out vote and article 50 invocation how did you actually expect anyone to have an idea what came next....another fuck up by your side...play stupid games you win stupid prizes
edit oops misread and thought you were talking about the brexit referendum
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
How's that Brexit deal with the USA working out?
When did the USA last sign a trade deal with anyone?
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
Yup - knew a chap who got “eased out” at Coutts. His offence - not writing enough mortgages.
His thing was connecting clients with other clients who were looking for sensible people to do business with. So he’d do the personal banking stuff *and* was the chap would say “you are looking for a machine tool firm in the South West? As it happens…”
Did zillions in business connecting like minded people up. But the NatWest twats had a target for mortgages sold…
I once worked for $large_financial_organisation doing temp work. They'd taken on a new contract and were penalised for anyone they approved for a mortgage who shouldn't have had one. They didn't have enough time to actually study the applications so we were all given two keyboards and just had to press F5 (reject) as fast as we could so then we'd 'processed them' but with no downside contract-wise.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
How's that Brexit deal with the USA working out?
When did the USA last sign a trade deal with anyone?
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Vote Leave droned on about a US trade deal, they didn’t talk about submarines .
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
How's that Brexit deal with the USA working out?
When did the USA last sign a trade deal with anyone?
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Vote Leave droned on about a US trade deal, they didn’t talk about submarines .
Hang on a minute... I thought the line was that they never said anything about leaving the SM/CU? How would a trade deal with the US be possible in that case?
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Many congratulations!
However, I do hope that you have at least three daughters so that you have not used "eldest" when it should be "elder".
One of my favourite things about having three daughters is, with people who don't know them, when a couple of them hove into view (seeking snacks, typically), you can vaguely introduce them as 'these are some of my daughters', implying that you actually have several dozen.
Yes, good piece from Mike and it echoes my own view that this could be a very good election for the LDs.
Their biggest stumbling block is that they have to overcome some seriously large majorities to win a lot of seats from the Conservatives, but as the bar illustrates, they are capable of doing this.
I am going to provisionally estimate that yhey will emerge from the GE with at least 30 seats. They may even displace the SNP as the third largest Party.
As Generals go, Davey is almost as lucky as Starmer.
Good morning
Fair comment and as things stand entirely possible
On the Farage banking affair there are times, when no matter how you dislike someone's political views, when a stand has to be made against an injustice
Yesterday, Nick Thomas Symonds was terrible on Sky attempting to defend Alison Rose and even worse, Rachel Reeves penned a piece (before Rose resigned) accusing Farage and the media of 'bullying' Rose which was just crass in the extreme
Starmer eventually endorsed her resignation, but only after seeing the way the wind was blowing
This was not a political issue, but the difference between trust and confidentiality, and no doubt if it had been anyone other than Farage, these labour politicians would have had a different response
And I would say the same thing if it had been Corbyn who had been subject to this injustice
Agreed, Big G.
Awkward as it is to find oneself supporting Farage, it has to be said that he has as much right to privacy as the rest of us.
What possessed this woman to blurt out his private details to a journalist is beyond me.
The whole way the bank - from the Board down - responded suggests a lack of joined up thinking / strategy followed by panic. This does not surprise me. People can be very effective CEOs but fall to pieces in a crisis and make elementary and stupid mistakes.
Isn't Coutts a refuge for well-connected, chinless wonders?
That is, lumpen-aristocrats who, re: Farage, decided to black-ball a leading representative of the lumpen-bourgeoisie.
There are not enough proper toffs for that to be a viable business model
A lot of the private bankers at Coutts are actually pretty much double glazing salesmen - outlook, education and behaviour. The minority of higher quality people have been trying to push them out.
That’s very true. The change has come about from, in my humble opinion as a former MD of a private bank, big banks taking over Private Banks to enhance their “offering” or prestige and not understanding private banking.
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
It is not a world I know much about, and only have one anecdote: a vague acquaintance of my dad was very rich, but in the scrap/vehicle trade. Apparently he used a UK private bank in London, partly because his business was multinational. The bankers would not bat an eyelid if he turned up unannounced in mucky clothes.
That's what I always assumed private banking was: a personal connection between banker and client. They may not have *liked* him turning up in oily clothes, but that was his business, and they did not comment as long as his money was good.
Where there's muck there's brass.
Absolutely true. One of the clients I loved was a Belgian chap and his wife worth around £400m who would turn up to meetings with me in Luxembourg straight from working on their farm,which they did every day despite their wealth, with the dirtiest finger nails and clothes but they were absolutely lovely. In one meeting I didn’t know what to do as I was chatting away to them about things and this dirty great bug started crawling out of his gillet. They would always have arguments about whether they wanted to withdraw 5k or 10k for some chicken coop or some sort.
The worst client was also Belgian and he would go to phone boxes in the middle of nowhere and call me to invite me on a “shooting trip” which meant a meeting in person. He would turn up with his wife both turned out immaculately and they were the most objectionable couple I’ve ever met - he was really old school money like the above but it shows there is no pattern.
Incidentally, and this is not private banking - when I was a teenager (mid to late 1980s), every week, on Wednesday or Thursday mornings (I forget which), an elderly man in full military regalia used to turn up outside the Irongate branch of Natwest in Derby. On his horse. Having apparently ridden it into town from his home. He looked magnificent despite his age.
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Hearty Congrats!
But I hope the Owl wasn't a Sheffield Wednesday fan who's also recently joined the Greens
Well, yesterday I walked my eldest daughter down the aisle (sort of, it was an outside ceremony). It was intensely emotional. She looked gorgeous. The rings were delivered to her by an owl. My speech was pretty emotional but seemed to go down well. It was just an amazing day that I will never forget.
Congratulations.
I guess Ed Miliband's free owls policy seems inspired now.
The Telegraph has been reading PB. This is exactly the question I raised yesterday evening.
Disgraceful - but it is perhaps the least of the injustices visited on him. From the reported facts , is wouks seem that not only was he fitted up by the police, they continued to withhold evidence long after his conviction.
And GMP continue to spin the line that it was an unfortunate mistake.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
How's that Brexit deal with the USA working out?
When did the USA last sign a trade deal with anyone?
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Vote Leave droned on about a US trade deal, they didn’t talk about submarines .
The current plan of record is that the RAN will get three downgraded Virginias (probably Delaware, North Dakota and a new build) from 2030ish. There is an option for two more if the joint UK/Australia Astute successor program runs into scheduling difficulties.
If there are any gambling types on here they might like have a go at assessing the odds that the Astute successor will be significantly over budget or behind schedule.
It's quite funny watching the deeply-confused Commentariat desperately trying to comprehend how Farage is still on the scene at all and has befuddled them all - yet again.
It's much easier to dial-up the insults or accuse his admirers of false consciousness, that engage with that, and sometimes both, so lo and behold that's what we're seeing.
It shouldn't befuddle them. Farage is really the only highly skilled politician that we have in this country. Our tragedy is that he is fundamentally wrong about everything.
I disagree with him on much but on many things but he really isn't - he's filling a vacuum that no-one else dare enter, and that's why he gets traction.
To stop him getting traction you should ask why mainstream politicians can't engage with the issues he raises and come up with better solutions, because they seem to prefer to wrinkling up their noses, clothes-pegging themselves and condemning him and his supporters.
So he keeps coming back and disorientating them time after time after time. And they never learn.
What does he engage with that no other mainstream lpolitician doesn't? We have a government constantly banging on about migrants etc.
They though are in the more difficult position of actually having to do something, rather than sounding off like a saloon room bore.
What policy has Farage ever delivered in his years in politics? Even Brexit wasn't delivered by him, and increasingly that is the Tory Party's concrete overshoes.
Brexit wouldn't have happened without Farage. Along with the two Etonian PMs, the three of them were each necessary and jointly sufficient. (Maybe Corbyn as Labour leader was necessary too, that's debatable).
Cameron led the Remain campaign, effectively the EU referendum was Eton and Oxford v Eton and Oxford, Boris v Dave.
Obama's back of the queue was a huge misspeak
Indeed, but not inaccurate.
It was completely inaccurate because there is no queue.
How's that Brexit deal with the USA working out?
When did the USA last sign a trade deal with anyone?
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Vote Leave droned on about a US trade deal, they didn’t talk about submarines .
The current plan of record is that the RAN will get three downgraded Virginias (probably Delaware, North Dakota and a new build) from 2030ish. There is an option for two more if the joint UK/Australia Astute successor program runs into scheduling difficulties.
If there are any gambling types on here they might like have a go at assessing the odds that the Astute successor will be significantly over budget or behind schedule.
Anyway, this morning my much loved elderly (15) cat died, at home, peacefully, painlessly, and cuddled up with the family.
I know it sounds soft-headed but we have all been very sad today, the children especially, as they grew up with him. He's been getting weaker for the past few weeks so has been very insistent on sitting on our laps the moment we sit down as if wanting closeness and reassurance.
Anyway, this morning my much loved elderly (15) cat died, at home, peacefully, painlessly, and cuddled up with the family.
I know it sounds soft-headed but we have all been very sad today, the children especially, as they grew up with him. He's been getting weaker for the past few weeks so has been very insistent on sitting on our laps the moment we sit down as if wanting closeness and reassurance.
Comments
And for clarification I voted remain
1) is it mechanically stable? Can you make a wire out of it.
2) what happens when a big current or a multi Tesla magnetic field goes through it? Does it still superconduct?
We can moan as much we like, but we should reflect on just how fortunate we really are
And no shortages in our supermarket today
In Greenford's cozy café, a tale to tell,
A barista once vibrant, now bids farewell.
Amidst the aroma of freshly brewed delight,
Tragedy struck, turning day into night.
With gentle grace, she donned her apron bright,
A maestro of beans, a coffee star so light.
But fate's cruel twist, an unforeseen turn,
As a coffee machine's blast made hearts churn.
In the midst of steam and beans of gold,
A scene unfolded, stories yet untold.
The coffee machine's explosion, unforeseen,
Snatched her from this world, dreams in-between.
In the echoes of chaos, a silence fell,
Her absence felt deeply, like a tolling bell.
Her artistry lost, a void in the air,
The coffeehouse weeps, hearts burdened with care.
Yet, amidst the ashes of shattered dreams,
A community united, or so it seems.
They reminisce her laughter, her warm embrace,
A barista's legacy, they vow to embrace.
In Greenford's café, candles flicker bright,
A tribute to the barista of pure light.
Her passion for coffee, forever etched,
In memories cherished, hearts gently fetched.
As they gather 'round, in love they find solace,
A union of souls, healing the deepest of crevice.
In each cup brewed, her spirit alive,
An ode to the barista, who will never be deprived.
Though she's gone, her essence lives on,
In the beans that dance, in each early dawn.
And when a coffee machine roars with glee,
They'll remember the barista, forever free.
I still owe him lunch.
You fiend.
We've been here before of course.
Seriously that space is all a load of wank imo.
Mrs Foxy is much more impressed by Nationwide though, the staff in branch were extremely helpful with sorting out her mothers finances when dementia set in and with her will.
Who are these pitiful Remainer cretins? How do you get to be that stupid? How do you even function in society?
https://www.steam-museum.org.uk/object-of-the-month/september-2021/
But I hope the Owl wasn't a Sheffield Wednesday fan who's also recently joined the Greens
In a “proper” private bank your banker is, for want of a better way to put it, your hub of finance. A trad private banker is the person you speak to first who organises and liaises with your trustees, your accountants or lawyers amongst other things. Often the PB will be the one who recommends those professionals in the first place. Your most trusted adviser. So in the old days The Viscount of XXXXXXXXX would call you up and explain that his daughter is about to get married and he doesn’t like the chap so can you ensure that the money he’s giving her for their marital home is as locked up as possible. Private banker speaks to trustees he deals with and finds the right trustees and it gets sorted.
The private bankers would know their client inside out and have effectively a personal relationship with them and their family.
When the big banks swallow up a Private Bank they don’t quite get that the client is not really the “bank’s client” and so see the clients as theirs to screw what they can out of and mould every client into an easy unit in the bank. They want every client to follow the bank’s asset allocations, they want their bankers to generate x% of revenue from cash, x% from investments and x% from other products.
Ultimately these clients are no longer treated as individual cases but numbers on the balance sheet and when that happens you don’t need highly paid people who have experience, contacts and ability anymore because you just need randoms to service the client, ensure payments are made and make sure that the client has their assets in the areas that make the most money for the bank.
If you are a good private banker you see this coming and if they are “your” clients you speak to a few other banks who still understand private banking, and you walk and those clients follow you.
The spiral then continues where the clients who are left are with the machine bankers and neither know that it’s shit and everyone loses. So you have spiv “private bankers” who aren’t “Private Bankers” just bankers running clients who are with the bank because they think it’s a prestige bank and you end up with Coutts.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/23/coop-scandal-paul-flowers-mutual-societies
Just one press of my finger...
To hold in my hand a button that contained such power. To know that tedium and boredom on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure of my thumb enough to post the comment, would end everything. Yes. Yes, I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods...
Interesting
1) While I abhor the 'wrap', my daughters like them, so I buy them frequently. I've never come across a shortage of wraps. Now, I accept that not all lines are there all the time. But in general, Tesco has a massive and baffling range of products all the time. This is hardly communist Bulgaria. It's hardly even England 1990.
2) There have been a few other things going on in the world besides Brexit which might have a rather bigger impact on supply of wraps. Not least a war in one of the largest wheat producing regions in the world.
That's what I always assumed private banking was: a personal connection between banker and client. They may not have *liked* him turning up in oily clothes, but that was his business, and they did not comment as long as his money was good.
Where there's muck there's brass.
His thing was connecting clients with other clients who were looking for sensible people to do business with. So he’d do the personal banking stuff *and* was the chap would say “you are looking for a machine tool firm in the South West? As it happens…”
Did zillions in business connecting like minded people up. But the NatWest twats had a target for mortgages sold…
Letters of Note
@LettersOfNote
RIP
https://twitter.com/LettersOfNote/status/1684535121414606856
"Man wrongly jailed for rape may have to pay prison accommodation and food costs"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/27/innocent-andrew-malkinson-wrongful-conviction-compensation/
I'm really not seeing any unusual shortages where I am.
Were 'his hopes for a "drug-fuelled gay orgy" fulfilled?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/23/coop-scandal-paul-flowers-mutual-societies
The worst client was also Belgian and he would go to phone boxes in the middle of nowhere and call me to invite me on a “shooting trip” which meant a meeting in person. He would turn up with his wife both turned out immaculately and they were the most objectionable couple I’ve ever met - he was really old school money like the above but it shows there is no pattern.
However, I do hope that you have at least three daughters so that you have not used "eldest" when it should be "elder".
Without the civil service wargaming it and the eu refusing to negotiate what comes next without both an out vote and article 50 invocation how did you actually expect anyone to have an idea what came next....another fuck up by your side...play stupid games you win stupid prizes
edit oops misread and thought you were talking about the brexit referendum
How is France's submarine deal with Australia working out?
Although I should user a different adjective than professional.
One of my favourite things about having three daughters is, with people who don't know them, when a couple of them hove into view (seeking snacks, typically), you can vaguely introduce them as 'these are some of my daughters', implying that you actually have several dozen.
I never got to hear his story, sadly.
I guess Ed Miliband's free owls policy seems inspired now.
Still can’t work out if the owls are a joke, an allegory, or a piece of legendary nuptial theatre
Helpfully, that is, for Coutts. He just very neatly linked Farage with Russia.
From the reported facts , is wouks seem that not only was he fitted up by the police, they continued to withhold evidence long after his conviction.
And GMP continue to spin the line that it was an unfortunate mistake.
If there are any gambling types on here they might like have a go at assessing the odds that the Astute successor will be significantly over budget or behind schedule.
I know it sounds soft-headed but we have all been very sad today, the children especially, as they grew up with him. He's been getting weaker for the past few weeks so has been very insistent on sitting on our laps the moment we sit down as if wanting closeness and reassurance.
Our dog is 13 and I dread the day he goes.