Northern Rock proved that “irresponsible” lending is dangerous game for banks to play. If a bank has too many debtors who are over-extended, then it leaves itself wide open to punishment if suddenly the economic climate cools. In America, where mortgages are traded between banks and investors like coffee beans, bad debts have created a […]
Devil’s Kitchen takes on Derek “Pocket-money” Conway: -
You are a fucking disgrace, Mr Derek Conway MP, and yet the real tragedy is that I am simply not surprised. The longer that I examine the political system in this country, and those who inhabit it, the more obvious it becomes that the whole of it is […]
The Guardian: -
Tory MP facing suspension ‘paid another son’
A senior Tory MP facing suspension from the House of Commons for paying his son out of MPs’ staffing allowances could have the whip withdrawn and be questioned by police amid allegations that he paid a second son.
Derek Conway yesterday apologised “unreservedly” to MPs after being reprimanded […]
From today’s Independent: -
The Government and the Bank of England have been under increasing pressure over the crisis at Northern Rock. Bankers and economists have criticised the Bank of England’s hardline stance on not providing support for financial institutions, and opposition MPs have tried to pin the blame on the Prime Minister for his stewardship […]
Paul Linford has this to say: -
I have one simple question on all this: If no-one at No 10 had anything to hide, why did they seek to obstruct the inquiry at every turn, turning what could have been a routine investigation into one that eventually lasted 16 months and cost £800,000 of taxpayers’ money?
I […]
In news that’s bound to piss off Tim, Rupert Murdoch has just got a whole lot more powerful (if a lot poorer, too) by buying Dow Jones, thus gaining control of The Wall Street Journal - Americas premier financial newspaper.
Any WSJ journos who remember the turmoil at The Times when Charles Foster Kane Rupert Murdoch […]
I just got home with my weekend’s media consumption. Saturday’s Guardian (easily better than any of the ‘Sundays’) and the latest issue of Monocle magazine.
Monocle is excellent, but at £5 for just a mag, it’s on the pricey side. Always looking for ways to cut costs I just checked the subs online. […]
I don’t unequivocally support Gordon Brown for the leadership of The Labour Party. Of course critics could claim that this is predictable. After all, it’s easy to sit outside the tent throwing shit at it, than it is to pin your loyalties to the leader, and defend his policies against the inevitable groundswell […]
Competition and choice in the UK gaming retail sector took a hit today as news broke that Blockbuster has sold its Game Station chain to Game Group PLC (who run the Game stores, Game Station’s biggest rivals) in a $150m deal.
Game and Game Station are the two main high-street options for gamers looking to trade-in […]
Conservatives call for inquiry into Brown’s raid on pensions.
Maybe they should broaden the ‘inquiry’ and go back a bit further in time?
You have to admit it. 10-minutes watching The Apprentice and you’re absolutely fucking convinced; capitalism is such a load of bollocks it’s unreal. Seriously. I’m all for choice and free markets. But this advertise-led, consumerist existence is just a Potemkin village. Yeah it looks and feels good - as long […]
The row over treasury claims that the CBI supported Brown’s decision to scrap dividend tax relief has been rumbling all day. In an interview on Saturday, Ed Balls claimed: -
“In 1996 the CBI said to us: ‘ You haven’t gone far enough, you have to act in a decisive way in the long-term interests […]
It seems Tim over on Bloggerheads has uncovered a rather shady conflict of interest for London mayoral wannabe Nicholas Boles. An incestuous love triangle exists between Nick’s mayor of London campaign, Fox News lite 18DoughtyStreet, and a rather slippery Tory thinktank called Policy Exchange.
You see Nick is the director of Policy Exchange, and rather […]
Yesterday the police moved in on Blair’s confident-in-chief, Ruth Turner, arresting her at 6.30 am to question her for several hours over the Cash for Peerages scandal. This should be seen by Number Ten as another shot across their bows - following the arrest of Blair’s primary fund-raiser, Lord Levy (both were released several […]
…on Big Brother.
Channel Four have handled this really badly. The whole episode reflects very poorly on the station and the show’s producer Endemol. It’s been a full-blown balls-up.
What has really got to me has been the protestations from the political establishment that the behaviour in the BB house is an aberration […]
