Marmora Man

Hugenot, Mostly you and I differ but I appreciate your explanation and refutation of the FRB proposition as laid out by Hal9000. I'm neither an economist nor a banker but the argument that FRB was the cause of today's credit crunch and will be the cause of a future meltdown to a stone age society did not appeal to my intuitive common sense view of the world.

I think you overstate the problem. The Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford outlined his thinking about the credit crunch recently in an article I read somewhere - essentially, as I remember it the problem is / was as follows: 1. Banks came into existence to arbitrage between depositors that wanted to place their money in a safe haven while earning some interest and borrowers that wanted to have access to capital and were prepared to pay for that access. 2. The problem is that depositors want to be able to call on their money at short notice while borrowers often want to hold onto it for a long period. Borrowing for a mortgage is typically 25 years - savings are held typically for far less a period of time. 3. Banks usually hold a % of their total liabilities in readily available reserves. So a bank with ?100m of liabilities (borrowings- owed to their depositors) and ?100m of assets (loans due to be paid back) would hold 10% - 20% in reserves. 4. The reserves should be looked after very very carefully in safe, readily convertible to cash, assets. 5. Regrettably some (all?) treasury departments of large banks thought they could be clever and earn more for their bank by "investing" the resrves in rather more exciting, but ultimately dodgy, assets. 6. Result - the reserves were lost / drastically reduced and the banks started to topple. Not a Ponzi scheme as you suggest and the idea that we're doomed to be taken back to the stone age is hyperbole. There is a recession - it will continue for some while - many people will suffer losses of jobs, savings, houses etc but the world and its economy will return to a more stable pattern until the next economic cycle results in a similar downturn.

My eldest son qualified as a pool lifeguard as was able to earn ?7.50/hour working for Fusion as a summer job / part timer after school. The Royal Life Saving Society 5 day qualifying course cost ?170.00 and is run by various leisure centres - including JAGS locally. A google search will locate where and when next courses are held. He has also qualified as a Beach LIfeguard (different 5 day course - run by Royal National Lifeboat Institution for about ?200) and hopes to earn ?8.00 / hour for 48 hour week on Cornish beach this summer. As a student and effectively a non tax payer it's pretty good money at ~ ?400 a week.

I was surprised that while there was comment on the G20 protests - there has been no comment on the outcome of the conference. The leader's statement following Thursday's G20 is here: G20 Statement Does it represent anything more than pious wish lists or statements of the bl**ding obvious and will it make any difference? My view tends toward the sceptical - tho' it was encouraging that worldwide stockmarkets rose slightly on Friday - tho' this probably reflected underlying trends with an extra degree of optimism rather than any strong belief in the power of the politicians to make a real difference.

And always use a credit card - that way you can claim back from the CC company. Don't use a debit card.

Fair do's H'box.

I'm off for an interview for a role within healthcare. Will be in my best interview suit (pinstriped) and polished brogues - do you think I can claim exemption from the protesters? I might look like a member of the capitalist society but I'm off to see about healing people.

Children less able to handle the prurient press furore?

Evening Standard alleges it was the young 15 year old Master Taqui that rented the fillum - Mr Taquie simply took the bullet for him.

Best steak I've had was also sourced from W Rose - sirloin, bought on Wednesday, aged for a couple of days and eaten on Saturday. Cooked at home, accompanied by roasted potato wedges, green salad, home made bearnaise sauce and accompanied by a good bottle of wine. Excellent value and no driving or parking hassle. Will try the Mag, tho' one day.

If this is not a 1/4/09 wind up - then it's going to be fun to challenge the arrows. What can they do - arrest you?

Complain, complain complain - even if you've had a bad response in the past. It's the only way to encourage HSBC to do better. I'd also ask the staff to retain the video record before it's recorded over - I use that bank and the video should capture everything about the incident. Request they retain a copy of the video by letter and ask your husband / someone to accompany you as you hand the letter over to the local staff.

I posted something like this below somewhere else - but can't find it - so have tried to remember and expanded it: Rules for politicians: 1. Must have had minimum of 10 years in a real job - ie no career politicians moving seamlessly from National Union of Students / Young Conservatives / Militant Tendency via a research post in a union / think tank / MP's office to a safe political seat to the cabinet / shadow cabinet. (Something like this used to be an entrance requirement for an MBA - sadly no longer) 2. May only serve for fixed number of terms - perhaps extendible in certain circumstances 3. If appointed as a Lord to serve in the Government - must relinquish the Lord's seat on completion of job. May retain the title as a courtesy. 4. Fixed terms for elections & parliament only to sit for 26 weeks of the year 5. MUST have valid outside interests - minimum of one day a week with a charity, non exec directorship, park keeper, hospital porter, nurse, journalist, doctor, barrister, teacher - anything that means they meet people for whom politics is not the be all and end all.

In good pubs, with a high turnover of Guinness, there could be a number of half poured pints of Guinness behind the bar waiting to be topped up to a full pint. This allows the Guinness to settle but the staff to maintain a decent speed of service. Requires experience and a high turnover tho' - never heard of it being kept in the fridge before. I prefer my Guinness less than ice cold despite the current trend to serve it that way. Cool but not iced is best.

But their macaroni cheese at lunchtime along with a pint of guinness or glass of red is excellent.

Does she have her own office? With friend's we once filled a fellow student's room to the ceiling with screwed up balls of newspaper - took three of us 30 mins to fill a standard single hall of residence room - it took him 2 hours to get into his room, and then he had to get rid of the paper.

I'll supply weevils. If you see two weevils coming out of a biscuit - which one do you choose? The smaller one - you should always choose "the lesser of two weevils". Bom Bom - acknowledgments to Master & Commander by POatrick O Brian.

The Falklands were much much closer to failure - and we'll have to wait 30 years to find out al the details. However, I've always subscribed to the "cock up" theory of history rather than the "conspiracy" theory. Too many people would have have had to be involved to make the conspiracy work - Mockney's version is probably closest to the truth - a combination of complacency, disinterest and lack of wider considerations when pulling together the savage cuts in Gov't spending necessary in 1980's. I wasn't meaning to make the "unelected" bit imply undemocratic - merely trying to draw parallels between then, as one Labour led government was in its dying days, and now when, arguably, we have another Labour led government in its dying days. Agree totally that the unelected successor trait isn't restricted - Douglas-Home anyone??

and Despatches following up on our Watch Boris thread.

I could be interested - and would consider my cooking to be reasonably edible and, perhaps, competitive.

Why - the man himself has used it in jest and Spitting Image used it in earnest many years ago. It's hardly the worst insult a politician has had to bear.

Hugenot, we normally approach issues from diametrically opposed directions but I usually look forward to reading your views. This time I was disappointed. PS: What is Fisking or hackerage?

THe Callaghan led Labour government lost a vote of confidence and went to the country for a decision - which ushered in 18 years of Conservative Government and 12 years of a sub optimal Labour government. It was claimed today by Roy (Woy) Hattersly that (unelected successor) Jim Callaghan could have stitched up a deal and won the vote and that, perhaps more interestingly, could have certainly gone for an earlier election and won it in 1978. "What if" history is always slightly off the wall but "What if Callaghan had won the 1978 election" Miner's Strike, Falklands, Big Bang in the City, sale of council housing, Canary Wharf, privatisation, 1st Gulf war - what woudl have happened anyway and what would not? Is today's Government led by (unelected successor) G Brown in a similar position - would he have won in Sept '08 and will he lose in 2010?

It seems to me that the last 15 / 20 posts have not been talking sense at all about the subject of the thread.

Scientists will do more for us than ever politicians will. Copenhagen will generate only fudge, hot air and confusion. Hugenot's post offered up suggestion for individuals to follow and, despite my climate change scepticism, I agree with him that the task must start with individuals - you seem to want the politicians to do it for us.