It’s 20 years since the Nikkei reached its peak of 38,957. Every year since I can remember, commentators have been saying this is the year Japan’s stock market will recover. But 20 years later it’s still 75% below its peak
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8433652.stm
Any lessons for us in the UK ?
Akmal Shaikh, due to be executed in China on Dec 29th.
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years
How have you all been getting on with the snow in your region ?
I’ve not been into the office, nor hardly used the car since last Thursday. Just not worth the trouble.
Went out for a walk at around 6pm yesterday evening, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We’d had another 3 inches of snow falling throughout the afternoon. You were ok walking on the pavements, but when you crossed the road you were just walking on ice. Cars were not able to get any grip going up the hills and I had to help push a few. Loads of cars abandoned at the bottom of the hill. Spoke to a colleague of mine who lives closer to work than I do – it had taken him more than 4 hours to get home yesterday evening ? Madness.
Is it much the same round your way ?
Hoping it starts to p1ss down for a sustained period of time to wash it all away !
Deluded Fans – Tick
Deteriorating Performances on the Pitch – Tick
Comedy Owners – Tick
Fast Running out of Money – Tick
It’s going to be very interesting to see events at Anfield unfold over the rest of the season. How do you see events unfolding ?
This year, we win! 
Now wouldn’t you just hate to see this happen to Gordon Brown ?
Most truly objective observers of the BBC will find that this comes as no surprise, but even so I’m so gobsmacked by this that I thought it was worth posting.
The weekend before last, I happened to catch a “debate” on BBC Breakfast about Climategate. It caught my attention, because as I mentioned in that previous post the MSM coverage on this issue has varied from smear campaigns to ignoring it entirely.
During the conversation, one of the “sceptical” scientists mentioned that the BBC coverage of MMCC was heavily biased. I was surprised to hear one of the BBC people reply that this was policy mandated by the BBC Trust.
I’ve waited to bring this up because I wasn’t sure I could believe my ears and couldn’t find any footage on the net to check what I’d heard. Unfortunately, BBC Breakfast isn’t on iPlayer. Last night, however, I followed a link to a document on the BBC website called From Seesaw To Wagon Wheel, subtitled “Safeguarding Impartiality in the 21st Century”.
There, on page 40, is the BBC’s policy in writing.
“Climate change is another subject where dissenters can be unpopular. There may be now a broad scientific consensus that climate change is definitely happening, and that it is at least predominantly man-made. But the second part of that consensus still has some intelligent and articulate opponents, even if a small minority.
The BBC has held a high-level seminar with some of the best scientific experts, and has come to the view that the weight of evidence no longer justifies equal space being given to the opponents of the consensus.
Granted you should read this in context, as the document is not suggesting a blanket ban, but nevertheless it’s now easy to see why the BBC covers this issue in the way it does.
That’s Ireland’s pre budget report I am talking about. Cuts to public sector pay of up to 10%, and also cuts child and unemployment benefit of up to 16 Euros a month. 4bn Euros cut off public spending.
And what do we get ? A delay of the pain until after the election, some cynical tax increases on the hard working middle classes, and a play to the gallery on bankers bonuses and boilers. The Independent puts it very nicely. Darling has ducked his best chance of averting a catastrophic downgrading of the UKs international credit rating next year, a collapse in sterling, soaring interest rates and a rescue from the IMF. As things stand, the next budget he delivers may be written for him by an IMF team in residence at the Treasury.
But what does he care, by the time that comes around he’ll be on the opposition benches heckling George Osbourne.
Get ready for some spiteful times, and big squeezes on your heard earned wealth.
RBS Business have just offered my small business a loan today. Its a cash secured loan. They will lend me £50k if I deposit £50k into a separate account that they hold onto.
Presumably deals like this let them claim they are still doing business and making money available to small business. How is this type of loan of any real use to the majority of businesses?
I don’t want this to sound like the rant of an annoyed business owner who’s been declined a loan. It’s the rant of a tax payer who sees his money being lent to an institution who should have been allowed to fail. A tax payer who’s money is now propping up investments in Dubai. A tax payer who’s money is being lavished on massive bonuses. What a bunch of scumbags
I wonder if the terms I am being offered were offered to the Sheikhs or to the bankers themselves?
What a bunch of scumbags
If you post a reply, please include this code:
<a href=”http://www.rbs.co.uk”> bunch of scumbags </a>
to see if we can get rbs into top spot on google for the query “bunch of scumbags”
Every time I write something about AGW I wonder “Am I being too paranoid? Isn’t this really just another conspiracy theory?”
Then I read stuff like this story in today’s Guardian about a leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations. Read beyond the headline and you’ll find that this leak suggests that more power will end up not in the hands of “rich nations” (that would ultimately be you and me) but the World Bank and the rather sinister sounding GEF.
