Labour New town - Reykjavik-on-Thames

Is the UK the next Iceland? Willem Buiter reckons there is a “non-trivial risk,” what with sterling dropping like a stone and long-term gilt yields beginning to edge up.

The risk of a triple crisis - a banking crisis, a currency crisis and a sovereign debt default crisis - is always there for countries that are afflicted with the inconsistent quartet identified by Anne Sibert and myself in our work on Iceland: (1) a small country with (2) a large internationally exposed banking sector, (3) a currency that is not a global reserve currency and (4) limited fiscal capacity.

Full post here on Buiter’s Moverecon blog


FT Alphaville » Blog Archive » Reykjavik-on-Thames

Should Have gone to Specsavers

A spoof of the recent Barclaycard Advert.



The Original



H/T Theo Spark

No Snatch for Brown

No Snatch Land Rovers for Gordon Brown instead he gets not one but two BMW "Tank's" at a cool 2 million each. Shows how much he cares for our Armed Forces when he spends this on his lily livered hide and still spends pennies on our Service personnel.

According to the Times he even has two of them

Two of the BMWs are understood to be permanently available to Brown. One is kept at Downing Street while the second is based in his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in Fife.

Tell that to our personnel serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and who are crying out for decent equipment.

BMW 'tank' shields PM from Al-Qaeda - Times Online

Foy off say Foy Residents

According to the Telegraph

Residents of Foy, the Herefordshire village chosen by Lord Mandelson to form part of his baronial title, have expressed dismay at their unexpected association with the Business Secretary.

I assume from this, that they don't want to be associated with the cheating, lying, scheming and just plain dishonest man that Mandy is. Can't say I blame them, especially when the connection seems so vague.

Andrew Meek, who lives in the cottage once owned by Lord Mandelson, said:

"People here find the whole thing irritating because he doesn't have anything to do with the place and hasn't done since he left.

"He is not particularly well thought of locally, and I think people would like to have been consulted before he took the title. But I suppose that's what politicians do."

The fact that he never "consulted" anyone in the village is completely within character as Mandy famously doesn't discuss business with just anyone as he is so honest and open.

Villagers disown Lord Mandelson of Foy - Telegraph

The Bully that is Paul Dacre

Agreement with Polly Toynbee is something I seldom have, but her article on Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor is something I am in complete agreement with.

This paragraph should give you a flavour

Dacre, the nation's bully-in-chief is, like all bullies, a coward: he refused to go on the Today programme yesterday to argue his case. He never dares face his critics, happy to fry alive all and sundry, never apologising, never explaining. There is a good reason for this: the stance his paper takes on just about everything is so internally contradictory and inconsistent that he could never survive even minimal scrutiny. The Mail's mishmash of lurid scandal, bitching about women and random moralising zigzags all over the place, dishing out pain and praise often according to who it has succeeded in buying with its limitless chequebook, or who has infuriated it by selling their wares to another bidder.

Now I'm sure the Guardian has no liking for Dacre but this is a bit more than the Guardian having a go. It exposes the strange link between the two little bullies Dacre and Brown and their even stranger friendship. Polly has this to say

One reason why it's easy to despair of Gordon Brown is his incomprehensible and grovelling friendship with Dacre, Labour's worst enemy. Where was Brown on the eve of his party's disastrous Glasgow East byelection? He was far away at Stratford-upon-Avon, watching Hamlet with his good friend Dacre. The Mail plays a curious cat and mouse game with Brown, sometimes praising his moral qualities on inside pages while assaulting Labour on its front page. Dacre is said to be very close to the Browns - which makes you wonder about the spinning of the PM's much-vaunted moral compass.

The Guradian also has a potted history of Dacre here. An interesting point is the final paragraph

One of Brown's first acts in office was to abandon proposals for supercasinos, a plan which had been the target of a fierce campaign in the Mail.

This maybe shows how deep the relationship is between the two.

Polly Toynbee: Judge Dacre dispenses little justice from his bully pulpit | Comment is free | The Guardian

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918.

In the United Kingdom, although two minutes of silence is observed on 11 November itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday. Ceremonies are held at local war memorials, usually organised by local branches of the Royal British Legion – an association for ex-servicemen.

It is also a good time to remember all those who are currently serving in defence of our nation both here and in the many places of conflict around the world. Some day, let us hope, they will no longer need to do this. Let us hope that time is close.

The following video is of a song by one of my favourites song writers, Eric Bogle, a Scot who has lived in Australia since 1969. He wrote this song over 30 years ago after visiting the WW1 cemeteries in Europe. Here it is performed by the Corries.

Well how do you do, young Willie McBride,

Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside

And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun

I've been working all day and I'm nearly done.

I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen

When you joined the dead heroes of nineteen-sixteen.

I hope you died well and I hope you died clean

Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene.

Chorus :

Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly,

Did they sound the dead-march as they lowered you down.

Did the bugles play the Last Post and chorus,

Did the pipes play the 'Flooers o' the Forest'.

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind

In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined

Although you died back there in nineteen-sixteen

In that faithful heart are you ever nineteen

Or are you a stranger without even a name

Enclosed and forgotten behind the glass frame

In a old photograph, torn and battered and stained

And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.

The sun now it shines on the green fields of France

The warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance

And look how the sun shines from under the clouds

There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now

But here in this graveyard it's still no-man's-land

The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand

To man's blind indifference to his fellow man

To a whole generaation that were butchered and damned.

Now young Willie McBride I can't help but wonder why

Do all those who lie here know why they died

And did they believe when they answered the cause

Did they really believe that this war would end wars

Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain

The killing and dying was all done in vain

For young Willie McBride it all happened again

And again, and again, and again, and again.

Does Gordon have the courage to Ride in "Snatch" Land Rover.

No, is the simple answer, yet he expects our troops to do it. Despite all his bletherings about how much money he has or will spend, the problem is that at the moment there is no choice. Not enough helicopters and not enough of the new vehicles on the ground.

When Gordon or one of his minions travels to to Iraq or Afghanistan, they seldom travel in anything but planes and helicopters, which are what the soldiers would choose as well if they had enough of them.

I attended a families day recently for the Royal Marines and saw the vehicles they would be using on the ground on their current tour. They still included the "snatch" Land Rovers and Vikings that have caused so many deaths.

According to the Telegraph

The recriminations over the resignation of SAS officer Major Sebastian Morley in protest over the Ministry of Defence's "gross negligence" in forcing his troops into the vulnerable vehicles spilled over into Prime Minster's Questions. Gordon Brown was asked by Gerald Howarth, the shadow defence minister, if he accepted that when Major Morley deployed in Snatch he "had no choice whatsoever contrary to all the assurances given to commanders that they would have whatever equipment they require?"
Mr Brown said the Government had "done our best in recent years to provide the equipment that is necessary" spending £1 billion on 1,200 new armoured vehicles.
Families and opposition MPs rounded on Gordon Brown, criticising his evasive answers in the Commons on the day another British soldier was killed in Afghanistan.

Col Bob Stewart, who used the flimsy Snatch during his time as a commander in Bosnia in the 90s, said the Prime Minister's comments that the Government had "done its best" was not enough to prevent the loss of 34 lives

"The Government certainly has not done it best. If they had done their best they would have found other vehicles that would have saved lives. They might have ordered these better vehicles now but its too late for the 34 people soldiers who have already died in Snatch. This problem has been highlighted for many years now but only now have they came round to the idea of addressing it.

Let us not forget this is not a new problem Have a look at this article from June 2006 nearly 2 1/2 years ago on the exact same problem. The BBC reported then:

Our correspondent says 18 British troops have been killed by
roadside bombs while travelling in Land Rovers. It equates to almost a quarter of British soldiers killed in hostile action, Conservative MP Roger Gale told the Commons. "These vehicles are widely recognised to be inadequately armoured to withstand roadside bombs and in consequence are seen as a soft target for insurgents," he said.

Des Browne the multi-tasking Defence Secretary responded

"This is a serious issue. I've asked for a review into this," he said. "There are medium and long-term plans in relation to vehicles and I will be looking in the short-term at what we can do to respond to the situation."

So 30 months and a further 16 lives later our forces are still being forced to use this vehicle. This is government ineptitude on a gross scale.

As usual this government is doing too little too late. It has done this in almost all its aspects of government be it defence, the economy, foreign policy, policing, environment or the NHS. It is incapable of preventing problems and can only apply a sticking plaster on the gushing wounds it has helped create.

The only good thing is that people are now seeing this and will again give Brown and his minions a bloody nose as they vote in Glenrothes, the constituency next door to his own, and return an SNP MP.


Gordon Brown accused of 'evasive' response over SAS deaths - Telegraph

President Obama - Cameron:Important moment for world

Conservative leader David Cameron said Mr Obama was the first of a new generation of world leaders.

"In electing Barack Obama, America has made history and proved to the world that it is a nation eager for change," he said.

"This has been an exciting and inspirational contest with two great candidates.

"In these difficult times people everywhere are crying out for change. Barack Obama is the first of a new generation of leaders who will deliver it - he has my whole-hearted congratulations.

"This is an important moment not just for America but for the world.

"Barack Obama's victory will give people a new opportunity to look at the United States and see her for what I believe she is - a beacon of opportunity, freedom and democracy."

Let us hope this is the first of a number of changes in World Leadership to rid us of stale and discredited leaders.


Ananova - Cameron: Important moment for world

Sack this Idiot - Quentin Davies

I see Quentin Davies was forced to make an abject apology to the father of one of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan according to the Telegraph:

The defence minister Quentin Davies has been forced to make an "unreserved apology" to the father of the first woman soldier to be killed in Afghanistan following remarks he made about the safety of military vehicles.

Perhaps now he will also apologise to SAS commander Major Sebastian Morley who resigned in disgust at the "gross negligence" of the Government to equip Special Forces troops.

Quentin Davies is not fit to lick the boots of any of our service personnel and should be sacked by his masters.

Tobias Elwood at Conservative Blogs had this to say.

Regimental ties were a plenty at Defence Questions yesterday, with Conservative Members queuing up to demand an apology from the newly appointed Procurement Minster and turncoat Quentin Davies.

The Minister struck a very lonely figure indeed on the Labour Front Bench as no less than six Conservative MPs asked him to apologise to the House of Commons, indeed, to the British Army for suggesting that British military commanders based in Helmand Province were choosing the wrong vehicles to take out on patrol.

As if there was a choice. Dozens of soldiers have been killed or injured using the soft skinned 'snatch landrover', a relic of the Northern Ireland hostilities, so called for its role in plucking undesirables off the streets of Belfast; an asset in Ulster but now a liability in Afghanistan. There have been repeated requests for this vehicle to be replaced and, last year, the Government finally conceded. To avoid a lengthy procurement process the MOD bought the reliable and heavily armoured Mastiff and Jackal vehicles 'off the shelf' and these are now arriving in Helmand.

We waited in vain for a proper apology. When the Minister makes his first trip to Afghanistan he will quickly learn about the limitations commanders have in relation to mobility and protection. Until then the Defence Secretary might want to keep him on a tighter leash...

The cry for a tighter leash would be better said as letting him off the leash to wander aimlessly like the turncoat he is.

Who would want this man on their side in any battle.

Minister forced to apologise for Army family insult - Telegraph

Quentin Davies - An idiot

A request I sent to Malcolm Bruce's office today.

I note that Mr Bruce is down for a Topical Question this afternoon at Defence Questions. As the Next of Kin of a serving Scottish serviceman currently deployed in Afghanistan, can I ask that he might ask a question about the suitability of Quentin Davies for a Ministerial Role at the MOD in the light of his statements this weekend, in particular his statement as follows "Obviously there may be occasions when in retrospect a commander chose the wrong piece of equipment, the wrong vehicle, for the particular threat that the patrol or whatever it was encountered and we had some casualties as a result.", in reference to the use of so-called "Snatch" Land Rovers. The impact this sort of statement has on the morale of those serving at the moment makes this sort of crass idiocy beyond belief.

I realise that Mr Bruce is not my MP but his constituency is the closest to mine and those of many of the service personnel currently serving in Afghanistan who are based at Arbroath.

Yours in hope

Minister accused of 'insulting the memory of soldiers over SAS chief slur' - Telegraph

MSP's hack the Hack's

Superb, just what you would expect from some Politician's and some real Hack's.

A charity football match between MSPs and sport pundits was abandoned after the bad-tempered game erupted into a mass stand-off between the two sides

The story in the Telegraph continues

The game started with players exchanging aggressive banter, but the flashpoint came after 40 minutes when Labour's John Park and BBC commentator Chick Young both went for the ball.

Mr Park's tackle was mistimed and Mr Young had to be stretchered off. He labelled the MSP team an "absolute disgrace" and claimed he had been left with six stud marks in his leg.

The MSP was ordered from the pitch by the referee and replaced, but relations between the two sides got worse in the second half when at least one punch was thrown.

Players from both teams squared up to each other, pushing their opponents in the chest. The referee decided he had seen enough and abandoned the match after about 55 minutes with the score 6-2 to the politicians.

The referee apparently said he'd never seen anything like it. He refs a lot of kids' games and said under-10s behave better on a Sunday morning."

H/T Easter Road on Political Betting

MSP football match abandoned after mass stand-off - Telegraph

Plods Guide on photography

Ever wondered where you can take photographs? According to the Register this may be tightened up with the usual excuse of terror laws.

Terror Laws due to be passed this autumn, could provide Police with a new and significant power to stop individuals taking photographs.

This follows reassurances from Home secretary Jacqui Smith that there is "no legal restriction on taking photographs in public places", which is why she will shortly be issuing police with updated guidelines on ... how to enforce legal restrictions on photography.

However according to the Register things may be changing as

Far more worrying is s.75 of the Counter-Terrorism Bill, even now tracking its weary way through the Lords. This makes it an offence to "elicit or attempt to elicit information about" members of the armed forces, intelligence services, or policemen, where this information could be of use to a terrorist.

Names? Addresses? Photographs? Since almost every other item of anti-Terror law has eventually been broadened out beyond its original scope, there must be some concern that once in place, these new powers will be used to make life uncomfortable for anyone wishing to photograph police at demonstrations. Or just police anywhere?

After all, if you are out demonstrating, you probably have a political axe to grind, and as far as New Labour are concerned, the dividing line between political activism, extremism, generally disagreeing with our current plight and involvement in Terror is increasingly fuzzy. Woe betide you disagree with our Glorious Leader or would like to enquire of an Officer's number as he cudgels you into the back of the van.

Home Office guides plods on photography • The Register

Nato's Afghan forces 'hit limit'

Coalition forces in Afghanistan have

"now reached their limit"

according to General Sir Michael Rose, former commander of UN forces in Bosnia.

What does he mean by this?

General Rose, who has recently returned from Afghanistan, says while the international community is clearly committed to a victory there, serious operational problems remain which could still undo NATO's mission.

He also points out that there are only 8,000 servicemen and women in a vast swathe of territory that is home to more than a million Afghans.

He then goes onto say

As in all insurgency wars, winning the confidence and consent of the people of Afghanistan will always be more important than winning any particular tactical level military battle against the Taleban

This is not new thinking and particularly not new thinking for Britain. The "Emergency" in Malaya (as was) was won by this sort of tactic, getting the people on board and using them to win the war. We and the USA in particular have been very poor at achieving this both in in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gen Rose also suggests forming Afghan tribal militias to aid western forces and the Afghan army.

"By winning the support of the Pashtun tribes who live on both sides of the border and by developing a sympathetic understanding of their complex tribal systems, it should be possible to achieve security in the key eastern and southern areas of Afghanistan,"

However, he does believe the war is being won - at least on a military level - for now.

"Afghanistan is not Vietnam, it is not even Iraq. The insurgency war that is being fought in Afghanistan today is militarily winnable and it is slowly being won."

How long it would take to win this war and how many of our servicemen's lives this will cost is not clear and this should be a huge concern. Only by getting the people of Afghanistan and Iraq involved can we really hope to see this war won without many years of conflict.

BBC NEWS UK Nato's Afghan forces 'hit limit'

Darling scraps Brown's Golden Rules

The Brown "Golden Rules" are no more.

No more boom and bust - Ha!

FT.com / World - Darling to scrap Brown’s fiscal rules

Service for fallen Scots soldiers

Last night I dropped my Nephew, Ben, off with his Mum, Gill, after he had spent the weekend with us and his granny, aunt and cousin's. Today he will attend a Special Service for Gill's Husband and Ben's Stepfather Captain John Mcdermid and the 36 other Scottish servicemen who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the current conflicts.

Ben will march with some of his school to honour the Scottish Servicemen who have given their life in the conflicts. Let us not forget them. RIP.

Also let us think of Ben's father who is currently abroad on active service and the many others who are serving with him and in other locations.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Service for fallen Scots soldiers

Mandy says he "misled" us about Deripaska

Mandy explains in a letter to the Times how he came to "mislead" us about meetings with the Russian oligarch Deripaska. The Times says

Lord Mandelson has admitted that the public were misled about when he first met the oligarch Oleg Deripaska and acknowledged that his new ministerial role requires him to be more careful about his contacts with the wealthy.

Amazing how he only came out with this statement after he had Mandied Osborne along with his pal Rothschild. You would have thought that someone so involved with this case would have remembered his prior contacts a little earlier.

Mandelson's full letter is here where he promises to be a good little boy in the future. What else will he remember and when are we going to hear some more about the alleged tapes of his meetings with Deripaska.

I’ll be more careful, says Lord Mandelson - Times Online

October 24, 1929 vs 24th October 2008

Don't want to worry you but back on the 24th October 1929 the Wall Street crash started. Are we looking at this again?

October 24, 1929: start of Wall Street crash - Telegraph

Paramedic becomes Doner in Kebab shop

The Independent reports that

A man who went berserk in a kebab shop left two paramedics in hospital today after biting one on the leg. Another ambulance worker was slightly injured when he was later headbutted by the man in Clontarf Garda station.

The paramedics from Dublin Fire Brigade were called to a disturbance at the take-away in Fairview Strand, north Dublin at around 4am. Gardai also arrived at the scene around the same time to find the man foaming at the mouth and threatening violence.

The man, suspected of being intoxicated, turned on one of the ambulance workers and bit him on the leg, according to Dublin Fire Brigade. After gardai were forced to restrain him and bring him to Clontarf Garda station, paramedics were again called out at around 5am to bring the man to hospital. Another disturbance erupted during which a paramedic was headbutted as he attempted to take the man for medical help.
Both ambulance workers have since been released from hospital and their injuries are not serious.

Gardai are expected to question the man when he is released from
medical care.

The Independent does not report if the drunk thought the man's leg was tastier than a Kebab.

Paramedic bitten on leg in kebab shop - Europe, World - The Independent

BBC says "Downturn" ends £1bn plant project in Scotland

The "Downturn" is apparently responsible for the end of plans to build a £1bn wood processing plant that could have created thousands of jobs. Note the BBC statement it was the "Downturn", not the Recession.

Forscot said it had decided not to proceed with its proposals for a paper, pulp and energy plant at Invergordon due to a lack of funding.The company said there was also little chance of attracting investment in the current economic climate.

This is a sad end to a project which would have provided much needed employment in this area.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Downturn ends £1bn plant project

Not the R word page - BBC Mandied

As I said a couple of days ago the BBC has been Mandied and we are now in a "Downturn".

Need I say more.

By the way Sterling down 6 cents to day. FTSE down 6% and GDP down 0.5%. No more "Boom and Bust"

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | downturn