Ed Miliband should talk about the polls or Europe splits at PMQs - its the only thing he has got left going in his favour.
While Tory Euro-splits are an easy target, it would require some sort of Euro-policy from Ed.....and those of us with long memories remember Labour civil wars over Europe too.....
I think it's still 50/50 on whether Milliband offers a referendum...
Sky News exclusive on drugs gangs is pretty good, but the copper being interviewed and expressing his shock at the professionalism and industrial nature of cannabis farming is a bit unbelievable. We deal with cannabis farms quite a bit, and local coppers tell me that in a medium sized town, they expect there to be at least six well run cannabis farms at anyone time.
I wonder how the Colorado "experiment" will pan out - seems to be a crazy issue there at the moment with banks refusing to take cash from now legal suppliers.
Except even if Cortese leaves it would be at the end of the season. Isn't there a good chance even if he (EDIT: Pochettino that is) leaves someone will go before him? 2/1 max is insane.
One of them, Bridget Harris, told me on Tuesday: “This process will be critical in restoring trust in the party’s ability to deal with harassment complaints and equality generally. The fact that these complaints took over a decade to come out, and there has been so much controversy within the party in being able to admit there has been failures, is revealing in itself.”
The party leader Nick Clegg is under no illusion about what’s at stake. At the time the allegations surfaced he admitted the Lib Dems had let women down for two decades and claimed he took full responsibility. There was, he said, “absolutely no excuse whatsoever” for the way the party had treated the women.
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
"Immgration has surged up the political agenda as the government has hardened its rhetoric on the issue but ministers have failed to provide evidence to back claims, repeated by Mr Cameron, that many migrants travel to Britain for generous benefits.
The government's discomfort on the issue was compounded on Tuesday when Robert Chote, head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, told MPs that the country's fiscal position would be worse if net migration was lower because immigrants were more likely to be of working age."
Did Robert Chote explain what would happen when the immigrants get old ?
I assume that even more immigrants would be brought in to pay for the previous immigrants.
But it is to be expected that the OBR sees nothing wrong with human ponzi schemes, after all they see nothing wrong with economic ponzi schemes.
IIUC immigrants tend to have more kids so it'll be them instead, but either way you get to invest the surplus for a working lifetime before you start having to pay out, which is a big deal thanks to the miracle of compound interest.
I wonder if someone could explain why if immigration has been such a greater economic benefit during the last decade why the UK economy has suffered its worst ever decade on record.
So either:
1) Immigration hasn't been the great economic benefit it is claimed to be by those with a vested interest in it
2) The UK economy has received massive structural damage some time after 2000
I'll let everyone else have a think about that as its time for me to do some real work.
The banking system exploded.
But the UK's economic problems predated the banking crisis by years.
The stock market and industrial production reached their high's in 1999-2000, the trade deficit became perpetual, productivity growth declined, borrowing (household and/or government) suprassed £100bn each and every year, pension provisions declined, socioeconomic mobility went negative and wealth inequality grew..
All the banking crisis did was partially expose the Emperor's New Clothes fraud, it was an inevitable symptom not the cause.
This is a bit mad, the stock market was all over the place so you can "prove" a rise or decline by picking peaks, the rest of the trends like the trade deficit are long-term trends for the UK and a lot of other western countries.
The Tories are DOOMED as a party. They are already extinct in Scotland and the North. Very soon there will be only FORTRESS SOUTH-EAST. That's about it. I am not so sure about Kent either.
Except even if Cortese leaves it would be at the end of the season. Isn't there a good chance even if he (EDIT: Pochettino that is) leaves someone will go before him? 2/1 max is insane.
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
But there are all sorts of issues with the German banks-
"FRANKFURT — One of the most battered banking systems in Europe has a history of mismanagement, corruption and politically connected lending, and it has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of euros.
While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover.
But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.
“Germany was actually hit very hard by the financial crisis,” said Jörg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, a business school in Berlin. But the debate about the future of banking in Germany is “alarmingly nonintense,” Mr. Rocholl said.
Banks in Germany invested in seemingly every bad asset that came their way, including American subprime assets and Greek bonds.
Some 646 billion euros, or about $860 billion, was spent or set aside to rescue German banks from 2008 through September 2012, according to European Commission figures. That is the second-highest bailout in Europe after Britain"
What I didn't understand was how the Tories do so wellbut taking only a couple of LD seats
These are very high on the blue target list
I'm always glad to entertain a question from an aged twitter god !!
The latest ARSE projection notes a net loss of 20 seats for the LibDems - most of these are to Labour but there is also an exchange between the Tories and LibDems favouring the former at the margin - Somewhat like 2010.
There is also a net loss to Labour from the Conservatives but amounting to fewer than 20. Accordingly the present numbers are :
Except even if Cortese leaves it would be at the end of the season. Isn't there a good chance even if he (EDIT: Pochettino that is) leaves someone will go before him? 2/1 max is insane.
Could be money that KNOWS.
Maybe, but Allardyce was down to 1.4 or so last week. Could be the market is over-responsive.
The Tories are DOOMED as a party. They are already extinct in Scotland and the North. Very soon there will be only FORTRESS SOUTH-EAST. That's about it. I am not so sure about Kent either.
The Conservatives have dozens of MPs in the North and Midlands.
Except even if Cortese leaves it would be at the end of the season. Isn't there a good chance even if he (EDIT: Pochettino that is) leaves someone will go before him? 2/1 max is insane.
Could be money that KNOWS.
Maybe, but Allardyce was down to 1.4 or so last week. Could be the market is over-responsive.
One thing is for sure - backing at short odds without an arb or previous green position on said manager is generally a mug punt.
Bookies must have made a fortune from WBA next manager market.
Basically saying that even if Scotland votes to stay we should anyway complete the devolution journey and create an English Parliament. I fully agree.
Here's the question though: Wouldn't offering an English Parliament and full devomax for ALL the UK countries in a GE manifesto be wildly popular? Especially in England.
If Dave is looking for something to move the polling goalposts wouldn't being the first political party to finally give England a voice be rewarded? He's pretty much lost Wales, Scotland and NI anyway and has nothing to lose. And watching Labour squirm as they seek to deny England would be a joy to behold. What's not to like?
The Hannan/Carswell solution to the West Lothian Question was to devolve to english county councils the same powers exercised by the Scottish Parliament/Welsh Assembly.
Rennard back for GE 2015 then - will there be an all short woman list for Brent Central ?
James Chapman tweets: Odd LibDem inquiry verdict on Lord Rennard: complainants' evidence 'broadly credible', peer should apologise, but can't establish intent
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
But there are all sorts of issues with the German banks-
"FRANKFURT — One of the most battered banking systems in Europe has a history of mismanagement, corruption and politically connected lending, and it has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of euros.
While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover.
But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.
“Germany was actually hit very hard by the financial crisis,” said Jörg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, a business school in Berlin. But the debate about the future of banking in Germany is “alarmingly nonintense,” Mr. Rocholl said.
Banks in Germany invested in seemingly every bad asset that came their way, including American subprime assets and Greek bonds.
Some 646 billion euros, or about $860 billion, was spent or set aside to rescue German banks from 2008 through September 2012, according to European Commission figures. That is the second-highest bailout in Europe after Britain"
Yeah there are issues with German banks as I said. But they ain't systemically bust like RBS and HBOS. And the ones in trouble are those stupid enough to ditch their old style practices and go down the root of Northern Rock. We are quite frankly not really in a position to criticise other countries for their lending practices. The German Mittelstand is still getting access to funds, the UK has seen SME lending shrink. Whose economy has done better since 2008 ?
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
I am not against small banking operations pursuing a niche market, Mr. Brooke. Even if they rarely grow to be major market players, they are vital for spurring competition and forcing the big boys to shake off their complacency.
It is the middle market players that tend to suffer, although both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank (in particular) have performed well as mid sized banks by concentrating on their regional base at the expense of rapid expansion. Still, for all their undoubted success, they are not sexy organisations and their long term owner, National Australia Bank, now appears to want to sell them (at the right price).
Building stronger banks on the base of these two might be a better strategy than relying on Virgin Money type operations and Hedge Fund consortia to enter the market with force and velocity.
The report's author Alistair Webster QC concluded: "It is my view that Lord Rennard ought to reflect upon the effect that his behaviour has had and the distress which it caused and that an apology would be appropriate, as would a commitment to change his behaviour in future."
Basically saying that even if Scotland votes to stay we should anyway complete the devolution journey and create an English Parliament. I fully agree.
Here's the question though: Wouldn't offering an English Parliament and full devomax for ALL the UK countries in a GE manifesto be wildly popular? Especially in England.
If Dave is looking for something to move the polling goalposts wouldn't being the first political party to finally give England a voice be rewarded? He's pretty much lost Wales, Scotland and NI anyway and has nothing to lose. And watching Labour squirm as they seek to deny England would be a joy to behold. What's not to like?
The Hannan/Carswell solution to the West Lothian Question was to devolve to english county councils the same powers exercised by the Scottish Parliament/Welsh Assembly.
And in London devolve to the Boroughs, or the Mayor's office?
Rennard back for GE 2015 then - will there be an all short woman list for Brent Central ?
James Chapman tweets: Odd LibDem inquiry verdict on Lord Rennard: complainants' evidence 'broadly credible', peer should apologise, but can't establish intent
But there are all sorts of issues with the German banks-
"FRANKFURT — One of the most battered banking systems in Europe has a history of mismanagement, corruption and politically connected lending, and it has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of euros.
While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover.
But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.
“Germany was actually hit very hard by the financial crisis,” said Jörg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, a business school in Berlin. But the debate about the future of banking in Germany is “alarmingly nonintense,” Mr. Rocholl said.
Banks in Germany invested in seemingly every bad asset that came their way, including American subprime assets and Greek bonds.
Some 646 billion euros, or about $860 billion, was spent or set aside to rescue German banks from 2008 through September 2012, according to European Commission figures. That is the second-highest bailout in Europe after Britain"
Yeah there are issues with German banks as I said. But they ain't systemically bust like RBS and HBOS. And the ones in trouble are those stupid enough to ditch their old style practices and go down the root of Northern Rock. We are quite frankly not really in a position to criticise other countries for their lending practices. The German Mittelstand is still getting access to funds, the UK has seen SME lending shrink. Whose economy has done better since 2008?
Not easy to answer that question, Mr. Brooke.
In the UK the old truism of "I wouldn't want to have started from here applies". Germany entered and exited the global crisis in a much stronger position than the UK.
But in terms of relative progress made since 2008? That's a harder call. And George may be the one with the smirk smile on his face, when the awards are announced.
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
I am not against small banking operations pursuing a niche market, Mr. Brooke. Even if they rarely grow to be major market players, they are vital for spurring competition and forcing the big boys to shake off their complacency.
It is the middle market players that tend to suffer, although both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank (in particular) have performed well as mid sized banks by concentrating on their regional base at the expense of rapid expansion. Still, for all their undoubted success, they are not sexy organisations and their long term owner, National Australia Bank, now appears to want to sell them (at the right price).
Building stronger banks on the base of these two might be a better strategy than relying on Virgin Money type operations and Hedge Fund consortia to enter the market with force and velocity.
4 cough Mr Pole.
As ever you wheel out second hand Michael Porter crap and say everything is inevitable. It isn't. The issue you aren't facing up to is the expectation of returns is unrealistic in the first place. Investors wanting more money and believing the latest snake oil salesman from McKinsey or BCG simply shows a fool and his money are easily parted.
If the germans had taken your approach there would be no Mittelstand; just a Grossstand and a Kleinstand like we're heading for.
One of the big barriers to making banking more competitive is regulation. The more the merrier as far the big banks are concerned, because it piles up the barriers to entry.
But there are all sorts of issues with the German banks-
"FRANKFURT — One of the most battered banking systems in Europe has a history of mismanagement, corruption and politically connected lending, and it has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of euros.
While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover.
But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.
“Germany was actually hit very hard by the financial crisis,” said Jörg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, a business school in Berlin. But the debate about the future of banking in Germany is “alarmingly nonintense,” Mr. Rocholl said.
Banks in Germany invested in seemingly every bad asset that came their way, including American subprime assets and Greek bonds.
Some 646 billion euros, or about $860 billion, was spent or set aside to rescue German banks from 2008 through September 2012, according to European Commission figures. That is the second-highest bailout in Europe after Britain"
Yeah there are issues with German banks as I said. But they ain't systemically bust like RBS and HBOS. And the ones in trouble are those stupid enough to ditch their old style practices and go down the root of Northern Rock. We are quite frankly not really in a position to criticise other countries for their lending practices. The German Mittelstand is still getting access to funds, the UK has seen SME lending shrink. Whose economy has done better since 2008?
Not easy to answer that question, Mr. Brooke.
In the UK the old truism of "I wouldn't want to have started from here applies". Germany entered and exited the global crisis in a much stronger position than the UK.
But in terms of relative progress made since 2008? That's a harder call. And George may be the one with the smirk smile on his face, when the awards are announced.
Looking at the charts Avery, Osborne will need a rip roaring last 18 months to overtake Germany. And the reason Germany started off in better shape is because it didn't throw its industrial babies out with it banking bathwater over the last 2 decades.
I am not against small banking operations pursuing a niche market, Mr. Brooke. Even if they rarely grow to be major market players, they are vital for spurring competition and forcing the big boys to shake off their complacency.
It is the middle market players that tend to suffer, although both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank (in particular) have performed well as mid sized banks by concentrating on their regional base at the expense of rapid expansion. Still, for all their undoubted success, they are not sexy organisations and their long term owner, National Australia Bank, now appears to want to sell them (at the right price).
Building stronger banks on the base of these two might be a better strategy than relying on Virgin Money type operations and Hedge Fund consortia to enter the market with force and velocity.
4 cough Mr Pole.
As ever you wheel out second hand Michael Porter crap and say everything is inevitable. It isn't. The issue you aren't facing up to is the expectation of returns is unrealistic in the first place. Investors wanting more money and believing the latest snake oil salesman from McKinsey or BCG simply shows a fool and his money are easily parted.
If the germans had taken your approach there would be no Mittelstand; just a Grossstand and a Kleinstand like we're heading for.
I am a lifelong fan of Michael Porter, Mr. Brooke and spurn any criticism of the 'Boston Box'.
As for the German banking sector, it is one of the very few in Europe and elsewhere where I haven't worked directly on structural issues.
It has always seemed to me to be the kind of system that a committee of Liberal Democrats would design if given a day's management retreat, a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. At the core is a key role for Councillor Jobsworth.
As your German is better than mine, I am sure you can better translate Mr. Jobsworth's name to the local patois. Herr Doktor Doktor Fuch Suppe is the best I can manage.
Are the Tories actually doing worse in the marginals, or is it that there's a bigger movement from LD to Lab in those seats?
In 1992 the swing in the marginals was 4% compared to 2% nationally which is why John Major almost had his majority wiped out despite being 7.6% ahead overall, but the reason for this wasn't that the Tories did worse in the marginals but that a greater number of LDs decided to switch to Labour in order to defeat the Conservatives.
Yes, the problem is the latter. The Lib Dems need to have a good election campaign, but this doesn't mean the Tories can't entice back the former voters and broaden the party's appeal.
Burberry Group Plc announced a an increase in revenue of 14 percent to £528 million in the three months ending 2013, beating analyst expectations and sending their shares up 7.2%.
The economic recovery must be reaching the coastal towns of Essex, Lincolnshire and Kent.
Good news for the Tories as the more fashionable Kippers are now likely to migrate back to their mother party.
Talk about Hope and Tory. If wishes were fishes, You'd be a fisherman. And perhaps thats what you really are, AveryLP.
Good luck with the cataract operation, me old Weathercock.
My mother who is of your generation had her operation a couple of years ago. The results were impressive. Formerly shortsighted, her long vision improved miraculously enabling her to dispense with spectacles altogether.
Her former colour blindness also improved. She was tritanopic and suffered from total absence of blue retinal receptors, leading her to see blues as muddly purples. All now cured. The sky is clear blue right to the horizon.
I wish you all the best and hope you have similar results.
Thanks for your good wishes on my behalf, Avery. Carry on fishing! LOL
Comments
https://twitter.com/thomasknox
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/us/banks-say-no-to-marijuana-money-legal-or-not.html?_r=0
He's proved us all wrong
Cortese resigning, Pochettino''s future in doubt. Southampton fans must be asking: What is going on?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/10573962/Cortese-resigning-Pochettinos-future-in-doubt.-Southampton-fans-must-be-asking-What-is-going-on.html
http://news.sky.com/story/1195597/lib-dems-clear-lord-rennard-over-harassment
http://www.banyantree.com/en/phuket_doublepool_villas/
http://roomsvillas.banyantree.com/phuket_doublepool_villas/Reservations/Rooms/Two-Bedroom-DoublePool-Villa
The party leader Nick Clegg is under no illusion about what’s at stake. At the time the allegations surfaced he admitted the Lib Dems had let women down for two decades and claimed he took full responsibility. There was, he said, “absolutely no excuse whatsoever” for the way the party had treated the women.
- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/cathy-newman-blog/fate-lord-rennard-hangs-lib-dem-hands/281#sthash.8nw63mlk.dpuf
I always enjoy the argument that it was inevitable small banks should disappear. purely by coincidence this always seems to be advanced by the people who profited from their disappearance.
That the BSocs were attacked by banks using the policies that subsequently sent them bust appears to me at any rate to say they should have kept their independent stuffy old ways and they would have feasted richly on the carcasses of RBS and HBOS. Lloyds would have too if it hadn't have lost its marbles by taking Brown at face value.
So let's get some local and regional banks . And since normally at this point I get you saying there are all sorts of issues in Germany could I just point out that their industry gets funding and is therefore successful and their banks have issues but they didn't go bust.
But there are all sorts of issues with the German banks-
"FRANKFURT — One of the most battered banking systems in Europe has a history of mismanagement, corruption and politically connected lending, and it has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of euros.
While the country’s economy is often held up as a model, German banks are among Europe’s most troubled. They required a bailout bigger than the one American banks received, and many are still struggling to recover.
But there is remarkably little discussion about fundamentally changing the structure of the German banking system.
“Germany was actually hit very hard by the financial crisis,” said Jörg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, a business school in Berlin. But the debate about the future of banking in Germany is “alarmingly nonintense,” Mr. Rocholl said.
Banks in Germany invested in seemingly every bad asset that came their way, including American subprime assets and Greek bonds.
Some 646 billion euros, or about $860 billion, was spent or set aside to rescue German banks from 2008 through September 2012, according to European Commission figures. That is the second-highest bailout in Europe after Britain"
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/business/global/in-germany-little-appetite-to-change-troubled-banking-system.html?_r=0
I will put it as Lab 300 Con 280 LD 35 UKIP 2
280 seats isn;t bad for a DOOMED party....LOL
It is the middle market players that tend to suffer, although both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank (in particular) have performed well as mid sized banks by concentrating on their regional base at the expense of rapid expansion. Still, for all their undoubted success, they are not sexy organisations and their long term owner, National Australia Bank, now appears to want to sell them (at the right price).
Building stronger banks on the base of these two might be a better strategy than relying on Virgin Money type operations and Hedge Fund consortia to enter the market with force and velocity.
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-01-15/no-disciplinary-action-against-former-lib-dem-chief-exec/
In the UK the old truism of "I wouldn't want to have started from here applies". Germany entered and exited the global crisis in a much stronger position than the UK.
But in terms of relative progress made since 2008? That's a harder call. And George may be the one with the smirk smile on his face, when the awards are announced.
As ever you wheel out second hand Michael Porter crap and say everything is inevitable. It isn't. The issue you aren't facing up to is the expectation of returns is unrealistic in the first place. Investors wanting more money and believing the latest snake oil salesman from McKinsey or BCG simply shows a fool and his money are easily parted.
If the germans had taken your approach there would be no Mittelstand; just a Grossstand and a Kleinstand like we're heading for.
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/fa-cup/man-city-v-blackburn/total-home-goals
As for the German banking sector, it is one of the very few in Europe and elsewhere where I haven't worked directly on structural issues.
It has always seemed to me to be the kind of system that a committee of Liberal Democrats would design if given a day's management retreat, a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. At the core is a key role for Councillor Jobsworth.
As your German is better than mine, I am sure you can better translate Mr. Jobsworth's name to the local patois. Herr Doktor Doktor Fuch Suppe is the best I can manage.