Brown renews banker pension plea

Gord is still trying to get Sir Fred Goodwin to hand back part of his £16m pension, no surprise there then. BBC NEWS

“Gordon Brown has threatened legal action against the ex-Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief over his pay-out.

He will also tell Labour's national policy forum in Bristol that more global banking regulation is necessary.”

Yesterday Gord said the same thing Brown vows to claw pension back only then it was a vow, now it’s a plea.

Gutless or what?

Tomorrow it will probably be a begging letter, because if he carries on the way he is going Gord will be on a pension sooner than he thinks.

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.” Arthur Ashe


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Angus Dei on all and sundry

NHS Behind the headlines

DARLING ON GOODWIN PENSION

BBC NEWS-the video

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Darling said the government had no part in negotiating the agreement otherwise it would not have been approved.

Or not my problem!

“The ultimate priority of humanity should not be to savour the power given to us, but rather to account for the according responsibility.” Harrison Christian

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NHS Behind the headlines

WORDS

Not really political today but it is something we all use, and is prevelent in politics.

BBC NEWS Some of the oldest words in the English and other Indo-European languages have been identified, scientists believe.

Reading University researchers say "I", "we", "two" and "three" are among the oldest in use and could date back thousands of years.

Using a computer model, the team analysed the rate of change of words and say they can predict which are likely to become extinct.

They believe "squeeze", "guts", "stick" and "bad" could become obsolete first.

Someone living today would be able to communicate in basic terms with someone living thousands of years ago - such as in the Stone Age - but would have difficulty with more complex concepts, the study found.

Research leader Mark Pagel, of the University of Reading, told the Times newspaper: "If a time traveller wanted to go back in time to a specific date, we could probably draw up a little phrasebook of the modern words that are likely to have sounded similar back then.

"You wouldn't be able to discuss anything very complicated, but it might be enough to get you out of a tight spot."


I think they are too late, have you ever received a text message from a teenager?

And just for Rita Pal and the team at NHS Behind the headlines here are some words that cause the GMC and the BMA to spend hours lurking on the website.

I HATE THE GMC, and I HATE THE BMA.


“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.” Andrew Jackson

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NHS Behind the headlines

THE STRAW MAN IS HACKED BY NIGERIAN SCAMMERS

BBC NEWS Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been the victim of Nigerian fraudsters who sent out hundreds of e-mails in his name asking for money.

The e-mails claimed he had lost his wallet on charity work in Africa and needed 3,500 US dollars to get home.

Messages headed the Right Hon Jack Straw MP were sent to council bosses, government chiefs and others.

The fraudsters are thought to have hacked into computers at Mr Straw's Blackburn constituency office.

He told his local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph: "I started getting phone calls from various constituents asking if I was really in Nigeria needing 3,000 dollars.
"It was an issue for constituents, not the government.

When he was home secretary, Mr Straw established the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit to combat internet hackers.

He made a good job of that then didn’t he?



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Angus Dei on all and sundry

NHS Behind the headlines

POSTMAN PAT CAN’T AFFORD TO RETIRE

Going for the “big” story today Privatise or pensions will be cut, says the Times, Almost half a million Royal Mail staff past and present have been warned that their pensions could be halved if the plan to privatise part of the business does not go ahead

The big stick is out without the carrot, on the face of it; it appears that the Gov is forcing the privatisation onto the Royal Mail, when in fact it is the EU that is forcing the Gov to privatise- Directive 2008/6/EC which must happen by 2011.

The pension thing is a good “reason” on the face of it but it comes down to the fact that the Gov is still bending over backwards to kiss the EU’s arse.

If Gord and Ali can find hundreds of billions to bail out the fat cats why can’t they find a few billion to restore the pensions of the postal workers, and yes I know that “final salary” pensions are unsustainable, but that can be redressed.

The Gov has already partly privatised the mail, giving or “selling” the lucrative parcel deliveries to TNT, so what is left? The postal service, which actually made a profit last year “Unions, who will stage a protest to-day against the plans, say the Royal Mail made a profit of £255 million in the last nine months of 2008 and argue that can thrive as it is.”

There are 452,000 members of the pension plan, 161,000 still working and 291,000 retired or on deferred pensions. The overwhelming majority are on final salary schemes.

That’s half a million votes Gord!


"There is an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job." Peter Drucker


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MANDY SPLITS THE LABOUR PARTY TO SAVE BUSINESS MONEY

From the Times Online Plans to axe new laws that would increase costs for businesses, including enhanced maternity leave and tougher equality legislation, are threatening to blow open a Cabinet rift over how Labour should respond to the economic downturn,

The proposals, outlined in the Queen’s Speech just two months ago, and championed by Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader, are at risk after Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and the Chancellor called for a moratorium on any measures that would add to the current financial pressure on businesses.

It seems that Mandy doesn’t want “poor” businessess to have to pay for things such as enhanced maternity leave and tougher equality legislation. Sources close to Lord Mandelson defended the move to stop the new laws. saying that proposals to enhance maternity leave were almost certain to be scrapped, as were new measures to ensure that government contracts were awarded to firms with good records on equality.

Some regulations, such as a ban on cigarette displays in small shops, have already been delayed. But tighter regulation of the financial services industry would not be included in the moratorium, allies of Lord Mandelson said.

I think that Mandy and Gord should get together and straighten up their stories, we don’t trust them as it is and farting about with people rights isn’t going to help.

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg” Anon


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NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei on all and sundry

BROWN DOES A U TURN ON HIS U TURN ON HIS U TURN

I am going to go for the obvious today.

When our Gord and Labour got into office, there were no 100% mortgages, and it was fairly difficult to borrow money and you had to save up a deposit if you wanted a mortgage.

Gord decided as Chancellor that the Banking sector and indeed the financial sector as a whole, was too restrained and he decided to DE-Regulate the aforementioned sector.

Which led to inordinate lending, mortgages that were over 100% and a scramble by the financial greed gods to make money from the interest paid by people who couldn’t really afford the loans.

This was described by Gord as being “prudent”.

BBC NEWS Gord has now apparently decided as Prime Minister that the banks, and the financial sector need more regulation, and that mortgages should not be 100% and that people should save up a deposit if they wanted to buy a house.

“Writing in The Observer, he called for a new age of sobriety in UK banking, calling for the return of "prudent", old-fashioned high street banks.
He also said banks should not dabble in complex international investments.”


Pot and kettle are the words that come to mind.

If Gord does anymore U turns hopefully he will disappear up his own anal orifice, and wouldn’t that be a relief for us all.


“Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.” Napoleon Bonaparte



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HAS GORD BEEN TELLING US PORKIES?

BBC NEWS Gordon Brown has been accused by the Tories of raising false hopes over a promised scheme to help people struggling with mortgage payments.

When the PM announced the Home Owner Support Scheme in December he said it would be available from early 2009.

The idea is that lender and homeowner will agree on the proportion of payment to be deferred up to 100% but the government is understood to have clashed with lenders over the extent to which it will underwrite it.

The scheme will now be launched in April due to protracted negotiations with lenders over how it will work.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "The much-publicised Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme announced last year has not yet helped a single family in trouble.

"The prime minister's wasteful complacency means that millions of extra families could be added to already full social housing lists."

It comes as figures from Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) suggest the number of homes in the UK repossessed by lenders rose last year by 54% to 40,000.

Despite the recession, the CML said this was fewer than it had originally predicted, but it expects repossessions this year will reach about 75,000.

Not much comfort for people facing eviction.

“When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics” Voltaire


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HARMAN DENIES

Harriet Harman has of course denied that she wants Gord’s job, no surprise there. BBC NEWS

She told BBC's Newsnight there was "not an iota of truth" she had positioned herself to take over the top job.

And Gord has dismissed as "gossip" newspaper speculation that he could step down to take up a new role as global financial regulator.

God I hope he doesn’t, or we are all firked!

Ms Harman told Newsnight: "I'm proud to be Gordon's loyal deputy and that's exactly what I am.

Time will tell!

“If you get too far in front of your troops, you start looking like the enemy.” Anon


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Gord Usurped?

The SUN has this little item today HARRIET Harman was last night being accused of setting up a leadership bid to replace Gordon Brown.

‘Labour’s chairwoman — dubbed Harriet HarPERSON because of her politically correct views — wants to set up a women’s conference to coincide with April’s G20 summit of world leaders in London.

That would almost certainly see her photographed alongside US President Barack Obama and his glamorous First Lady Michelle — making Ms Harman appear a major international stateswoman.’

It was only a matter of time.

Apparently she is not very popular with her fellow Labour MPs.

No surprise there then.


“Let not thy will roar, when thy power can but whisper.” Thomas Fuller

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NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei on all and sundry

WATCH AND WEEP

Just a link today- Prime minister's questions


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Angus Dei on all and sundry

£60,000 AND RISING

Green bail extended by two months Damian green the Tory MP has had his bail extended by police so that they can “consider the impact of Parliamentary privilege on the evidence.”

Mr Green you may remember is the MP whose office was raided in the “Home Office leaks inquiry.”

He was arrested for doing something that has been the “norm” in Parliament-leaking information by people who think that the information should be “exposed” to the public.

Even our great leader, the saviour of the world has done it Gordon Brown gave me leaked Whitehall secrets

The cost to the taxpayer stands at £60,000, a pointless waste of money and the time of the police.

Leaking documents is an established way of “taking a pop” at the government in power, it is the opposition’s way of exposing “bad” decisions that are kept from us.

It is not a crime; it is our right to know what the Gov is up to behind our backs.

So come on Gord, you have done it many others have done it, squash this expensive drain on resources and let the police get back to their proper work and let Parliament get back to what they call “normality”.


“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.” Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg (unverified)

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BANKERS BONUS MAKES GORD “MAD”

BBC NEWS-it seems that our Gord is not happy about the Bankers Bonus debacle.

“Prime Minister Gordon Brown is "very angry" about proposed bank bonuses and wants bankers to consider waiving their right to them, his spokesman has said.”

Gord also thinks he is still “saving the world”- Speaking in London, Mr Brown said: "We are leading the world in sweeping away the old short term bonus culture of the past and replacing it with a determination that there are no rewards for failure and rewards only for long-term success."

Don’t we own a large percentage of the banks now? So why doesn’t the Prime Minister ask the shareholders-us, what we think and actually act on our decision by not paying these immoral cash gifts, and perhaps even go further, by sacking these greedy, inept idiots that have put us in the "brown" runny stuff, oh yes and also sack the idiot of a chancellor who removed the regulation of the banks in the first-place.

I wonder who that could be.

“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Angus Dei on all and sundry

SCUMBAG MILLIONAIRES

That is not my heading but The Sun, and yes they have a lot to apologise for, they were greedy, didn’t notice that the economy was collapsing and ignored all the warning signs.

But let’s not forget who deregulated the financial system; let’s not forget who said that no regulation was the way to go.

Let’s not forget that the chancellor at the time holds an enormous proportion of blame, probably greater than that of the bankers.

Let’s not forget that Gordon Brown is the bad guy in this debacle, he was supposed to be in charge of the economy, and have we had a proper apology from him?

This government is unsurpassed at blaming others for their mistakes, they make everyone else accountable for their mistakes, but they don’t accept the fact that they are the government; they are responsible to us for their decisions.

Should they resign? Probably, what we need is a coalition government, with no one party who has overall power, then perhaps we might see “proper government” where we can expect the government to protect us from the type of mistakes that we have had to put up with for the past twenty years or so.

Rant over.

"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem." Milton Friedman

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Angus Dei on all and sundry

The current global recession is "the most serious for over 100 years", cabinet minister Ed Balls has said.

Mr Balls, a former economic adviser to Gordon Brown, said it was "more extreme and more serious than that of the 1930s", the Yorkshire Post reported.

Shadow Treasury minister Phillip Hammond said the remarks were "staggering and very worrying".

You can watch the video here-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7880393.stm

A spokesman for Mr Balls insisted that the prime minister and Chancellor Alistair Darling had highlighted the "unprecedented speed and ferocity" of the crisis "time and time again".

He said: "The unprecedented global nature of this crisis and its impact on the global financial sector is affecting every single economy in the world.

"The Bank of England agrees with this analysis. As the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, said in October: 'This is a once in a lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history."'

He added the minister had been referring in his speech to the differences between Labour and the Conservatives on the economy.

Ed Balls is of course the schools secretary, his success to date has been less than inspiring, and maybe he should get a job as a consultant, to the banking industry.

And perhaps it’s time for a reshuffle.

“The most important political office is that of private citizen”. Louis G Brandeis

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Angus Dei on all and sundry

CAN WE AFFORD THE OLYMPICS?

From ePolitix.com Tessa Jowell has defended an increase in costs for the 2012 Olympic venues.
The Olympics minister has insisted, however, that the overall budget for the Games remained intact.

The cost of the 2012 venue could be more than 10 per cent over budget, the government admitted in its latest progress report.

Costs for the main venue were capped at £496m in November 2007, but it has risen to £547m according to the new figures.

This is the third increase since London began bidding for the Olympic Games in 2004, when the stadium was priced at £282m.

The government has so far failed to raise the £1.2bn required from private sector investment to fund the athletes' village and the media centre. But Jowell denied that the money would have to come from the taxpayer as a result.

The Olympics is undoubtedly a huge undertaking, which can bring massive good to the East-end of London, and the country as a whole, if the rest of the world comes to the UK to watch.

But what if the rest of the world decides it is too expensive, taking the recession into consideration, and decides to watch it on TV?

What advantages will that scenario bring? Will we be left with a huge building site with facilities that are uneconomical to keep, a village built for the athletes that are unaffordable for the people after the games are over?

Let’s hope that the recession is easing by 2012 and that the world flocks to London, spends Billions and we are left with an asset to the people of London and the rest of the UK.

Only time will tell.

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Anon


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Angus Dei on all and sundry

Politicians, don't you just love them

Gordon Brown shaking with fear.

Ed Balls "So What"

Lords (and Ladies) of the dance

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field however fertile without cultivation.-Cicero

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THE SPECIAL ONE-SIDED RELATIONSHIP

The US and the UK are supposed to have a so called “special relationship”, which appears to be about to get a divorce, or at least it should.

The leaders of the UK have for many years fawned over the US president and in some cases such as our Tony inserted their nose onto the nether regions of G W Bush and followed him around like a puppy dog. Unfortunately we all know how many times G W has dropped the said doggy.

Now it seems one of the Miliband brothers has taken over the job of rectal plug: Miliband refuses to release torture documents

He has refused to release documents requested by Guantanomo Bay resident Binyam Mohamed and denied that his decision was based on fear of US reprisals.

A damning High Court judgement yesterday said the documents could not be released because Foreign Office lawyers told the court that if they were then the US would stop giving the UK intelligence information, which would put UK citizens at risk.

Fear of not getting intelligence from America, like the intelligence that preceded the 9/11 debacle or the WMD that the US told us were prevelent in Iraq, and plunged us into a war that proved to be a fatal mistake for 178 British soldiers as of 11th of Decenber 2008.

Since before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour the US intelligence agencies have been second rate, we however seem to think that without American help we would be at risk, we are at risk because of American Intelligence, they dragged us into Iraq, causing reprisals, we went into Afghanistan with the Americans, causing reprisals.

Our Government seems to be unable to wipe its arse without “intelligence” from across the pond.

I like Americans, I have a few friends there, they are decent people who, like us are puppets under our respective Governments, who pull the strings and we pay for it.

As I said at the start of this post, the relationship has broken down, the best recourse is divorce, or at least a separation until we find out what President Obama has tucked in his desk draw.

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go”. - Oscar Wilde
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Angus Dei on all and sundry


NHS

OUR WONDERFUL LEADER

I am being lazy today, here are a few of Gord's less triumphant moments.

An inspiration to us all.

"Good manners are a combination of intelligence, education, taste and style mixed together so that you don't need any of those things." P J O'Rourke

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AND ABOUT BLOODY TIME!

BBC NEWS Peers guilty of a criminal offence or rule breach could be kicked out of the Lords, under plans being considered by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.
Currently the heaviest punishment they face is being ordered to apologise.

The class system is still alive and choking, where else would you be able to have a criminal conviction and still keep a job deciding what laws are to passed except the House of lords?

These over stuffed, pompous pillocks have been allowed to get away with being “dodgy” for centuries; it is about time that they entered the twenty first century.

The “punishment” for these people should be expulsion and prosecution, they should be named and shamed, their peerages should be taken from them and they should have to repay any financial gain they received.

It shouldn’t say, “could be kicked out” but “will be kicked out”. Come on Straw man grow some balls and do your job.


"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." Thomas Jefferson


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IS THIS THE WAY TO PROTECT JOBS?

Corus holland have done a deal with the Dutch government, Around 6,400 steel workers being made redundant in the Netherlands will get 70% of their wages as unemployment benefit, the rest of their salary being paid by Corus.

During that period, the employees do not work for the whole week - they may either go home or do some activities.

That arrangement stands initially for a six-week period, and then it will be reviewed.
The plan first came into action on 1 January 2009. And may continue for an 18-week period, then government officials will review it in conjunction with the company.

The UK Government is subsidising markets rather than employers, which is really making a difference isn’t it?

The workers in Holland still have their jobs, the Dutch Government is paying 70% of their wages instead of paying unemployment benefit, the skills of the workers are retained and no retraining is needed.

Is this a good idea? Or is it better to pour £billions into banks while tens of thousands are being made redundant, which you can multiply by at least two if you count the families of the workers.

“Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect.” –John Morley


Angus

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