RBS have just announced a 5 billion loss for last year and are going to pay out 607 million in bonuses.
They Must Be Joking!
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Eastleigh by election
I was not going to write about this because frankly it is nonsense, however, the public seem to have caught the "bash the Liberals" bug.
I do not disbelieve the women who have complaints and I do not disbelieve that the higher ups in the party ignored them, however, this chapter has come about because the Tories are leaning on certain media bosses so that they can have a free run in Eastleigh.
What amazes me is the locals bite so hard.
Watching on the news channel, it was like a soap opera. Place the Lib Dem candidate in the street and queue the public. Candidate explains about health, education, defence etc, and the public ask "so did Nick Clegg know then?"
Obviously several investigations are in progress, but it does look at face value that there are serious issues at Lib Dem HQ, Nick Clegg says he knows nothing, Tim Fallon saying that they [the Lib Dems] have screwed up, his words, it is not going to end well for the Liberals.
Let us not forget the reason why there is a by election, one of the Lib Dems might be going to prison!
It could have been written for the west end...
I do not disbelieve the women who have complaints and I do not disbelieve that the higher ups in the party ignored them, however, this chapter has come about because the Tories are leaning on certain media bosses so that they can have a free run in Eastleigh.
What amazes me is the locals bite so hard.
Watching on the news channel, it was like a soap opera. Place the Lib Dem candidate in the street and queue the public. Candidate explains about health, education, defence etc, and the public ask "so did Nick Clegg know then?"
Obviously several investigations are in progress, but it does look at face value that there are serious issues at Lib Dem HQ, Nick Clegg says he knows nothing, Tim Fallon saying that they [the Lib Dems] have screwed up, his words, it is not going to end well for the Liberals.
Let us not forget the reason why there is a by election, one of the Lib Dems might be going to prison!
It could have been written for the west end...
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Italian political chaos
Yesterday the people spoke in the Italian elections, the first since Mario Monty and his technocrats were installed to deal with the Italian economic crisis [European economic crisis], and did they enjoy themselves.
The techno did worse than the monster raving looney party, however, it is worse than that.
There are two houses in Italian politics, the upper & lower, and the upper has a lees than 1% lead to the right, the lower has a less than 1% lead to the left, so a hung parliament has arisen. It is even worse than that though, because a comedian Beppe Grillo has taken 25% of the votes in what the media is calling a protest vote. I do not believe 1 in 4 of the populace in a turnout reported as good can be considered a protest.
So my interest is the economy and how it will be affected. The markets will not be happy because the stability of Mario Monty’s technocrats has been shattered. The Euro will be affected as has shown through the night in the Asian markets that have been open since the election results, and there is already talk of Sterling being a safe haven. So most of the sellers yesterday will return to the market today as buyers and the pound will strengthen.
Status Quo.
The techno did worse than the monster raving looney party, however, it is worse than that.
There are two houses in Italian politics, the upper & lower, and the upper has a lees than 1% lead to the right, the lower has a less than 1% lead to the left, so a hung parliament has arisen. It is even worse than that though, because a comedian Beppe Grillo has taken 25% of the votes in what the media is calling a protest vote. I do not believe 1 in 4 of the populace in a turnout reported as good can be considered a protest.
So my interest is the economy and how it will be affected. The markets will not be happy because the stability of Mario Monty’s technocrats has been shattered. The Euro will be affected as has shown through the night in the Asian markets that have been open since the election results, and there is already talk of Sterling being a safe haven. So most of the sellers yesterday will return to the market today as buyers and the pound will strengthen.
Status Quo.
Monday, 25 February 2013
AAA status
Last Friday Moody's lowered the UK rating from AAA.
Normally this would have a devastating effect on the country, however, it appears this weekend not to have had the impact expected. Several reasons for this.
Firstly the markets did not over react on Friday and one reason is that they have been expecting this for about a year, so it was not a surprise.
Secondly other countries like Germany, France & even the USA have all had their triple A status revoked last year and yet they are not suffering from huge interest rates on borrowing, so the UK is not expecting high rates either.
However, there is bad news for the currency, which has been falling badly recently, this move could kill it stone dead. One result from this could be parity with the Euro. Now that would be weird.
Normally this would have a devastating effect on the country, however, it appears this weekend not to have had the impact expected. Several reasons for this.
Firstly the markets did not over react on Friday and one reason is that they have been expecting this for about a year, so it was not a surprise.
Secondly other countries like Germany, France & even the USA have all had their triple A status revoked last year and yet they are not suffering from huge interest rates on borrowing, so the UK is not expecting high rates either.
However, there is bad news for the currency, which has been falling badly recently, this move could kill it stone dead. One result from this could be parity with the Euro. Now that would be weird.
Friday, 22 February 2013
4gee flop
The 4G auction has raised 1 billion less than expected, so where will the Treasury get that shortfall now?
More importantly, 3G raised over 20 billion 12 years ago, so why has the new service been sold so low?
The answer from OFCOM is money wasn't the driving focus they wanted more competition, but that hasn't happened, however, it is clear that the partners involved were not prepared to spend that type of money required to support these services. This of course has a knock on effect down the pipe.
More importantly, 3G raised over 20 billion 12 years ago, so why has the new service been sold so low?
The answer from OFCOM is money wasn't the driving focus they wanted more competition, but that hasn't happened, however, it is clear that the partners involved were not prepared to spend that type of money required to support these services. This of course has a knock on effect down the pipe.
Thursday, 21 February 2013
BoE shock
It is now public knowledge that Sir Mervyn King was over ruled during the last quarter of 2012 when he voted for more QE [quantitative easing].
The pound fell sharply as the markets reacted in shock to minutes from this month’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which revealed that three members voted to increase QE by £25bn to £400bn – including Sir Mervyn King. Last month, only David Miles wanted to restart the printing presses.
Sir Mervyn King has said in the past that the bank would tolerate inflation riding above the previous 2% agreed limit since the 2008 economic explosion, however markets expected QE to continue.
The pound has been suffering lately anyway and this is going to be bad news for arbitration.
The pound fell sharply as the markets reacted in shock to minutes from this month’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which revealed that three members voted to increase QE by £25bn to £400bn – including Sir Mervyn King. Last month, only David Miles wanted to restart the printing presses.
Sir Mervyn King has said in the past that the bank would tolerate inflation riding above the previous 2% agreed limit since the 2008 economic explosion, however markets expected QE to continue.
The pound has been suffering lately anyway and this is going to be bad news for arbitration.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Tunis in turmoil
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali was going to form a new administration of non-political technocrats, however, yesterday he resigned.
Hamadi Jebali had proposed a cabinet of apolitical technocrats to quell the turmoil caused by the assassination on 6 February of the secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid. The shooting dead of Belaïd, a left-leaning lawyer and outspoken critic of the government, shocked Tunisia and left the government reeling. It prompted mass protests aimed in part at the ruling moderate Islamist party Ennahda, to which Hamadi Jebali belongs.
Announcing his resignation on Tuesday Hamadi Jebali said he would not lead another government without assurances about the timing of fresh elections and a new constitution.
It does not bode well.
Hamadi Jebali had proposed a cabinet of apolitical technocrats to quell the turmoil caused by the assassination on 6 February of the secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid. The shooting dead of Belaïd, a left-leaning lawyer and outspoken critic of the government, shocked Tunisia and left the government reeling. It prompted mass protests aimed in part at the ruling moderate Islamist party Ennahda, to which Hamadi Jebali belongs.
Announcing his resignation on Tuesday Hamadi Jebali said he would not lead another government without assurances about the timing of fresh elections and a new constitution.
It does not bode well.
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