Miss Ryan of Bloomberg - filleting Mervyn King and exposing the rotteness at the heart of the City

We wrote about Mervyn King's Press Conference (Sept 8th ) when he released his statement for the House of Commons Treasury Committee which he appears before today. ...

It took a shrewd American lady scribbler from Bloomberg to remind my Lord King with a sharp question ..

"Hello, Jennifer Ryan from Bloomberg News. I wondered if you could elaborate a bit on the extent to which the volatility in financial markets is complicating your forecasts. And also if you could discuss what kinds of concerns you have about the availability of credit going forward, both to businesses for investment purposes and to households?"

So Mervyn slaps the bitch down with some firmly worded clear observations that make it clear that they have 3 jobs to do ..

1 "The first is that monetary policy is set to meet the inflation target."

2."...interest rates are not a policy instrument for protecting unwise lenders from the consequences of their past decisions." ( Evidently not having read (or ignored)Walter Bagehot's views onthe topic in Lombard Street pub. 1862)

3." .....a central bank, obviously always monitors all the time and regularly whether or not there are risks to the stability of the financial system as a whole and whether there are any systemic risks posed by problems arising in particular institutions or markets."

Here we go again , monitoring something over which they have neither influence nor control, and there is even more of this bland wisdom of the elderly ... for Miss Ryan.

"we cannot be sure, no one can be sure at this stage whether what we're seeing so far foreshadows a more disruptive movement in financial markets or whether it's the sign of a gradual easing of pressure that allows credit spreads to return to more normal and sensible levels. That remains to be seen. I don't pretend to be able to know what will happen but we'll be ready to respond to it."

Ho.Ho.Ho. "I don't pretend to be able to know what will happen but we'll be ready to respond to it."

It is now evident that Mervyn was not jesting when he said he didn't know what will happen to the sharp minded Ms. Ryan. (It does occur to us that it took a lousy Yank to expose the Court of King King - the UK scribblers having long since settled down to hoovering up and correcting the Government's Press releases.)

Readers are directed to what we said on Thursday last week September 13, 2007 Bank of England is out of control... ... in the sense that the BOE is not IN control.

"Prudent savers will be moving their deposit accounts out of Northern Rock in the morning... where to ? Try Santander AKA Abbey"

Which is precisely what happened..... now many Billions later, the Directors of Northern Rock are still unsuccessfully hawking their bag of ordure round the golden pavements of the City.

It is now evident there is almost no price that is acceptable to potential buyers - and the BOE cannot offer their undiluted support to any private company. The consequences for ;

1. Mortgage Holders in the Northern Rock
2. Shareholders in Northern Rock
3. Employees of Northern Rock

The Housing market and its many suppliers has been forced in to turmoil by the dishonest, deceitful and illegal attempts to shore up the crooks who ran Northern Rock into the ground.

On the 7th it looked like Mervyn was going to hold out ... now he has evidently caved in to political pressure. His premature de-fenestration will of course solve nothing although it may feed the frenzy and a few baying scribblers.

"I don't pretend to be able to know what will happen but we'll be ready to respond to it." is what he said on the 7th the response is there for all to see, mervyn has stood on his head, done a U turn , swept aside all his prudent and cautious policy statements - Miss Ryan exposed his nonsense and the rank dishonesty that is at the heart of the City and it's Golden Square Mile.

We all now have to live with the consequences of his failure. For a long time.

PS it is interesting to see ..."Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has grabbed a high-profile role advising Northern Rock on the crisis that has engulfed the embattled UK mortgage lender" - the hyenas and vultures gather to pick over the corpse. - "Freshfields cashes in on Northern Rock crisis "- Author: caroline.grimshaw@legalweek.com in legalweek.com
Adam and his co-conspirators are going to need all the legal help they can get.

It's been a good year for the poppies in Afghanistan ....

How soon before the MP's / talking heads show a rash of their concern about the dead strewn across Helmand and Iraq ? Can we have a "first sighting" ?... there was a time when you could always rely upon the ridiculous Nicholas Fairbairn.

Perhaps the Spread betters could run a book. Favourite would almost certainly be fellow Scot of Auld Nick the Shagger of Ayr, Des "I speak your weight" Brown from nearby Doon Valley, with Ed Balls following right behind.

Northern Rock Directors are crooks - guilty of preparing false accounts and trading whilst insolvent

Northern Rock shares closed today at 257 p. per share. In the last Financial year they earned 94.6 pence per share - that is a yield of 37%. and a Price / earnings ration of 2.72.

This a company whose CEO claims on the company website that it "remain(s) a well-managed company and continue(s) to be a safe place for your savings, loans and mortgages."

"I want" he says,"to make it emphatically clear to all Northern Rock customers that we are open for business as usual."

This is self evident bollocks. It is a lie.The company is not only insolvent, but it is evident that the last year's accounts are mis-stated and the profits overstated proably by at least £500 MN which is represent the cupboard full of dodgy valueless Financial instruments....

"As announced on 20 August 2007, Northern Rock only has a £75 million direct exposure to the US sub-prime market which is all rated AAA, and a £200 million
exposure to the US CDO market, within which there is indirect exposure to US sub-prime.

We also have £325 million of investments in a number of Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs)of which £305 million is bank sponsored. Included in the £200 million of CDOs referred to above is a modest exposure of £22 million of SIV Lites."

It is highly likely also, that the mortgage portfolio has a nightmare clutch of overvalued properties, many the product of this spring's manic sales drive to conceal their threadbare balance sheet. Many lent on the most dubious security. It is a fair guess that the total book is wholly unprofitable now and in the near future, however many of our golden duckets King throws at them.

Even now with the somersaulting Governor's pledge of pissing even more money up the walls of the City Bankers Parlours no-one wants even a piece , a sliver, a chip of Northern Rock.

The first impression was, that Adam J. Applegarth, Chief Executive was simply an over promoted, overpaid wanker. He isn't , he is a crook and so are the rest of the Board of Directors who are collectively guilty of preparing and issuing false accounts and trading whilst insolvent.

Far from declaring the company solvent ,the FSA should be getting the bastards disquakified and locked up.

There is undoubtedly a strong case for prosecuting the Bank of England, The FSA and the Treasury as well as the Chancellor of the Exchequer personally for acting as Shadow Directors and making false assurance to shareholders and depositors concerning the affairs of the company - resulting in massive financial losses.


UPDATE 0048 20th Sept

This note by Robert Peston on his BBC Blog has appeared - timed at early 2000hrs BST

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 19:59 The Bank of England has now told me that individual banks can only apply for £1.5bn each under the £10bn facility. It says that Northern Rock would have needed far greater funds - and that if this finance had been provided three weeks ago or so, the liquidity would not have eliminated the Rock's funding difficulties.

It is slightly odd that the Bank should divulge this to me now, because it failed to provide this detail (or any answer at all) when I asked this afternoon whether what it announced today could have provided succour to Northern Rock. So although the Bank of England has changed course in respect of the way it is prepared to tackle the crisis in the money markets, it is sticking to the position that it has no regrets about the way that it provided its initial support to Northern Rock.


If the above statement is correct (and there is no reason to doubt it) It is evident that the situation is a great deal worse than was at first understood. It is also evident that the Bank / FSA / Treasury are not providing information which can affect the share price in the appropriate and legal way.
It is further evidence that the company was insolvent prior to the first announcments made about BOE funding for the company.

The shares must be immediately suspended.The Directors must make a statement on insolvency and Administrators brought in to run the company.

Warrantless surveillance - Back to normal spying for NSA - now it's immunity for telco's .. Fine says Nancy

Democratic leaders (Granny Nancy and her pals at AIPAC) have accepted the idea of warrantless surveillance of international telephone and data traffic .... as long as the target is foreign, (Ho.Ho.Ho.) whilst making b leating noises about ..a special court should play a stronger role ... reviewing the surveillance ....er ....after it has been conducted, to make certain that Americans are not being caught up in the program. (Ask Granny Nancy Pelosi how you identify the nationality of someone using a public / hotel / club / office phone ... er .. magic ?)

Now Mike McConnell ,U.S. National Intelligence Director, and head of the National Security Agency tells the House Judiciary Committee they haven't been conducted wiretapping without warrants on the telephones of any Americans since ... well let's say February (when he got the job) and except when the government has conducted electronic surveillance only after seeking court-approved warrants.

So that's alright then.

He did go on to say that the expanded surveillance powers granted under the temporary measure before the August recess should be made permanent. He explained that the Bill passed in August had ended a "bottleneck", and the N.S.A. was back up to speed about 5 days after it was signed into law.

He also wants legal immunity for the telecommunications companies that secretly cooperated with the N.S.A. on the warrantless program.

Democratic Congressional aides say they believe that a deal is likely to provide protection for the companies.

So that's alright then.

Bizniz as usual.


PS Dubya visited the National Security Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland today and made a poibt of asking Con gress whilst he was there asked Congress to adopt liability protections for telecommunications companies that had cooperated with the government's warrantless surveillance program.

Cheney appoints retired Judge Mukasey as Attorney General

VP Dick "Deadeye" Cheney, the guy who shoots lawyers (and they apologise) apointed Judge Michael B. Mukasey a retired federal judge from New York as the third Attorney General to serve under his friend Dubya. The President met Mukasey on Sept. 1 for the first time and spent an hour with him.

"Mukasey is a fine public servant who knows from experience the challenge that terrorism presents to our country," Dick said when nominating him yesterday.

Mukasey, is now 66 and in private practice in Manhattan (Patterson BelknapWebb & Tyler LLP). Since 9/11 he has repeatedly vigorously supported the administration's assuming broad powers in pursuing terrorist threats, that undermine the US Constitution. He was especially active in supporting the conducting electronic surveillance of terrorist suspects and in imprisoning them before trial.

Which is why Dick chose him. He claimed yesterday that Mick Mukasey would "ensure that the rights and freedoms of the American people are protected, and that includes the freedom from fear of terrorist attacks."

Mick was enthusiastic about the USA Patriot Act, that grants wide new law-enforcement power to the executive branch, in the teeth of oposition by civil liberties groups. "I think one would have to concede that the USA Patriot Act has an awkward, even Orwellian, name, which is one of those Washington acronyms derived by calling the law "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Interrupt and Obstruct Terrorism. That awkward name may very well be the worst thing about the statute," he said in a WSJ OP ed in 2004.

Mick also presided over major cases involving the dispute between Larry Silverstein and his insurers concerning insurance proceeds related to the World Trade Center site when somebody ran planes into it just after he had purchased it.( A Federal jury (Dec '04) ruled the 9/11 attack on the WTC was two events for insurance purposes. So Larry was open to collect up to $2.2 billion from nine insurers.)

Previously he had he consigned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to the slammer for life for his role in the 1993 half - assed bombing of the World Trade Center.

This enthusiasm may not be unrelated to his actions in putting several young Muslim men as so-called material witnesses in terrorism cases in the slammer which was loudly criticized by immigration lawyers. ...but praised by the Justice Department. He also signed in 2002 the material witness warrant that let the FBI arrest U.S. citizen Jose Padilla and keep him in prison for 4 years without charge.

Mick has other high profile admirers amongst whom he can count on Sen. Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat who led the campaign to oust runty, sweating, lying Alberto Gonzales from the Justice Department.

Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Mick's sone is an Attorney in his law firm), and Manhattan's Democratic district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau will also admire Dick's choice. William Kristol, (signatory and co-founder of the PNAC) the editor of The Weekly Standard, published an article on Saturday "Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General ... And conservatives should be happy." and pointed to an OP-ed pice in the WSJ he penned last month about "the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions."

Kristol wrote that 'the most contentious fights over the next year are likely to be on war-on-terror issues," and he said that Mukasey "is first-rate on these."

“I think that he’ll not only provide the president with first-rate legal counsel, but this nomination will go through Congress without much, if any, partisan politicking, and I think the country needs a break from another explosive, controversial nomination,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who knew Mukasey at Yale Law School in the mid-1960s.

Sen. Arlen "One Bullet" Specter, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary panel, has spoken for a quick resolution ..“There is no doubt that the Department of Justice has been in disarray for some time, So that I think it is very important to act promptly, but not with undue haste, getting an opportunity to review Judge Mukasey’s background.”

The White House expect no problems with his speedy confirmation.

Meanwhile Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler who has been nominated as a federal Judge will will serve as acting attorney general during Mukasey’s confirmation process... and hopefully sirt out the fucking mess left behind by the President's Lying Lawyer.

Summary Justice in the Phil Spector Trial

Is this really what the Daily Telegraph meant today ? Seems a bit excessive when the jury have spent 5 months listening to how Ms Clarkson met her death and a further 7 days deliberating on murder / suicide without reaching a conclusion.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner - ex Boeing engineer with 46 yrs experience raises major concerns about safety on Dan Rather show tonight

The battle between Airbus's gargantuan 380 and Boeing's sleek 387 Dreamliner is not only a battle of marketing philosophies. Hauling up to 800 passengers between major hubs and 200 'ish loads door to door in a sense simply segments the market. Both manufacturers will win.

Airbus in making the 380 have scaled up from their smaller (but still big metal people carriers) using much the same design / technology and providing users with a massive loadspace to allow interior design concepts to flourish - a policy not without it's problems in fitting all the wiring in for the In Flight Entertainment systems, telephone communications, internet accessibility not to mention a huge headache in coping for 800 passengers to ease their bowels.

Boeing have taken a massive and daring step. The Dreamliner is a Lego plane, with the bits made worldwide by many, many manufacturers and assembled at Everett, an accountants dream and outsourcers nightmare of logistics. This implies many problems of delivery, quality control, co-ordination all the while dealing with advanced material and manufacturing techniques that have not been attempted before.


Therefore the news that veteran newsman Dan Rather, former CBS News anchor,on his weekly investigative show on cable channel HDNet (8.00 pm ET 5.00 PT "Plastic Planes" also 11.00pm ET and 2.00 am ET)) is going to present a devastating analysis of problems with the Dreamliner by an ex Boeing employee backed by several anonymous current employees must worry the shareholders who have seen a handsome run in Boeings share price as sales have soared.

Vincent Weldon has worked for Boeing for 46 years from 1969-2006 - he has worked on structural design of the Space Shuttle Orbiter and wored on composite structures from 1973 - 2006. working with USAF and NASA. He gives his address as 2970 Initial Avenue,Enumclaw, WA 98022 (360)825-78.

Vicent wrote to The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on July 24thb 2007 (11 page pdf text in full) and outlined his concerns abaout the Dreamliner as a response to the FAA invitation for people to submit comments in rule making - advertised in the Federal register on Monday 11th 2007.-"proposed Rules"

It is evident that Vincent is not your average whistleblower - he is deeply committed to engineering excellence which he sees as a proud Boeing and American heritage, which he is proud to be part of.

He is concerned however that in this big stakes game some of those values / standards are being neglected , ignored, and bypassed .

His major concern is that whilst "composite structures have far superior fatigue and corrosion resistance" to aluminium structures whose performance is well understood, proven in use and whose performance can be predicted with accuracy - and he is concerned that the analysis of composites is complicated because of this.

Consequently he feels that proceeding with "an unproven composite ... without throughly testing a prototype"" he admits significantly shortens development but is grossly inconsistent the the companies previous policies.

At times he is evangelical about company policy.. "One of my purposes in sending this disclosure to you is to solicit your help in helping Boeing to recover its former soul"... he is not short on technical analysis.

"The kind of composite structure used for the 787 is combustible and burns furiously in a fuel led fire, liberating highly toxicsmoke and tiny inhaleable carbon slivers"

He is also concerned about lightning strikes which occur about 2 times a year in commercial jetliners - this presents no problem to aluminium framed craft but the current dispersion system consisting of a partly conductive screen bonded to the surface ply does not provide section to section transfer and because it adds a weight penalty is kept as light as possible.

A fascinating comparison with the B2 over the flammability of the fuel tanks which will have a nitrogen inerting system, but Boeing maintain that the plane will be safe if this is inoperable is he thinks unsatisfactory.

Comparisons made with the B2 (as made by Boeing) are pointless as the B-2 has only 2 passengers with ejector seats, rarely flies, and never flies through thunderstorms as commercial airliners often have to.

Another major issue is crash worthiness or survival after a crash - a requirement changed when the FAA drop / crash tested a Boeing 737 for a 30 feet per second (it was dropped from 14 feet) impact in 2000 when the 787 was well on its design path. (UPDATE 20/7/07 go here to Randy's Blog - Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle for more detail on testing - see pic above - note half barrel test)

Results from these tests of passenger survivability, fuselage dynamics, with full overhead lockers is now known. Evidently Vincent had a row with the Head of Structures in December 2005 about the comparison of the survivability of the airframe, and the g - forces on seated passngers and the known brittle structure of the 787 which "computer simulations show them to cause unsurvivable g force loadings on the passengers". (ie in excess of 20g's)

He identifies that Boeing (and the FAA) introduced revised methods of testing (without fully loaded lockers in a "half barrel structure ie. the lower half of the fuselage) and suggests a "very cozy Boeing / FAA relationship" . He mentions Jerry Costello, chairman of the House Aviation Sub-Committe who wants .." aggressive oversight of the FAA .. the number one goal of our Government is safety and security". Although if you closely observe the activities of the mining industry and its regulators you might not think that.

A compromised fuselage would allow smoke from a burning composite carbon - epoxy structure (so toxic it is not allowed in any jetliner) to enter and poison the passengers before they could escape.

Vincent lists a range of tasks that the FAA should adopt to overcome these problems but concentrates on what is called the vertical shock loading and the need to limit this to passengers to a 20g force.

This is vital he says as survivability depends on the integrity of the aircraft structure, even if a fire breaks out and points to the A 340-300 Toronto crash on August 2nd 2005 when all 309 occupants escaped in 2 minutes even though fire erupted . The Garuda Boeing 737-400 with 140 occupants burst in to falame when crash laniding at twice normal speed and two thirds of the passengers could escape.

"Overall " he says ,"it is easy to see that what has been allowed in the rush to extreme innovation is a new world of fuselage materials and construction technologies that should have been well understood through extensive testing, under oversight of the FAA, before ever being allowed to be the fuselage primnary structure material"

In an article in the Seattle Times today (where so many Boeing jobs are on the line) .."Boeing vigorously denies Weldon's assertions, saying the questions he raised internally were addressed to the satisfaction of its technical experts."

Vincent was fired in July 2006. He alleged in a whistle-blower complaint with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that the firing was "retaliation for raising concerns throughout the last two years of his employment about the crashworthiness of the 787."

According to a summary of OSHA's findings, Boeing told investigators Weldon was fired for threatening a supervisor, specifically for stating he wanted to hang the African-American executive "on a meat hook" and that he "wouldn't mind" seeing a noose around the executive's neck.

Weldon denied to OSHA investigators that he had referred to a noose and said the "meat hook" reference had not been a threat.

Boeing's current compressed schedule calls for a six-month flight-test program and federal certification in time for delivery in May.

There is no doubt that the plane when rolled out looked magnificent. If Boeing can keep their worldwide suppliers on time, on cost, meeting the correct quality and safety standards ad do it on time it will not only be a magnificent acheivement but will also be a very profitable one.

One has to say that making a whole plane from a material so toxic when on fire that it's use is not allowed in jetliners today does sound scary.

In that trade off between safety and cost, let's hope that the FAA get it right.
--------------------------

Interesting article here from the Seattle Intelligencer which has one short sharp comment from a reader ..

"Actually offgassing of composites in a fire situation has never been a problem before now, but with a fire outside the fuselage the gas released would quickly suffocate. If the FAA order some kind of test to prove a fire situation then Boeing are in trouble. A thicklayer of intumescent paint or something may help but its all weight folks..."

...oh by the way the Airbus 350 (which may/may not compete head to head with the 787) still in the headscratching design phase, will NOT have a composite barrel / fuselage.

UPDATE 19th September 17.42 BST ( 12.42ET)

Someone at Boeing is very interested - judging by the traffic half the company has been reading about this today.



Also of interest Ziff brothers the secretive Investors (They once owned Personal Conputing ) have been spending some time rooting .... looking at where Mr Wheldon lives.

UPDATE 23rd Sept 2007 Usefule aricle in Wired Science with extensive and often well informed comment about the Dan Rater programe - most pro composite technology.

Alliance and Leicester / Northern Rock - how the smart money men made their money out of the turmoil - big wallets, strong nerves and weak politicians

This chart tells a fascinating tale.

1. Share price marked down on opening and drifts down all day
2. Last thing in the afternoon the market makers mark it down heavily as some fairly big sales come through from major investors bailing out and post a spread of 300 /600 halting sales.
3. Opens at £7.80 providing anywhere between a £1 and £1.80 per share for the market makers overnight - luvvly jubbly with massive volumes in first half hour.
4. Back to where we were yesterday morning as some take a profit on the day.


This looks like the boys shorted this one to perfection. Some cashing in yesterday but the ones with stronger nerves hung on until today and closed their positions first thing (probably 50 Mn shares in total) which brought in some more buyers - on the back of Darling's lies and smokescreen.

Alisher Usmanov , the gross Russian Oligarch extends ownership of struggling London football club

Curious how the criminals who want to control the Premer Division end up trading with the some fairly unpleasant people - Alisher Usmanov , crook, murderer and rapist has bumped up his Arsenal (third rate London soccer club) holding in Red & White Holdings Ltd., buying shares off tax exile and fugitive from the UK authorities Asil Nadir via his son.

David Dein calls to tell us that Alisher splashed out on (2.7% of the total according to a passing dickie bird) shares from 'oirish "financier", Alan Dargan at Lansdowne Holdings at £10,000 a share and poor old Dave only got £8,250. That must now value the club at somewhere north of £600Mn.

This puts the gross and unpleasant Russian Oligarch, Billionaire and Thief holding somehere below 3% less than those owned by Mrs Fiszman's diamond boy Danny.

Oh my - only 3% short of Danny Fiszman. If rumours are to be believed and Kroenke's shares are next, this would take Red & White Holdings to around 33% of the club.

Readers will of course remember that Lansdowne Holding's founder Alan Dargan (father of 4 children) whilst dining with luscious 27 year old irish doctor's daughter and convent educated colleen Carina Coleman (£200K p annum financial advisor) with some clients at Scalini, an Italian restaurant in Chelsea in early 2001 referred to Carina in the phrase ``We'll use Carina as our tethered goat,'' - for the thrd time - a phrase he picked up from the then popular fillum Jurassic Park. Coleman, who assumed it meant she was sexual bait, scolded him, saying ``Alan,'' and everyone laughed.

Coleman says the ``tethered goat'' incidents were just the beginning of a campaign of harassment that ended with her being forced to resign in the August. She lost a case for sexual harassment but won a case for unfair dismissal.

At the tribunal (which sat for 4 weeks) she said Dargan had ``suggested in front of others that (the bank) should install a red warning light outside the main office that should be lit when I had my period in order to warn my colleagues to keep away from me''.

On another occasion, she claimed her boss publicly humiliated her by saying she might ``get lucky''at a wedding and wake up next to someone. She also claimed Dargan had joked that a newborn baby had been ``staring in amazement at the sizeof (her) breasts''.

In their defence the company disclosed an e-mail she sent which included the following "joke"

Q: What do you call the useless piece of skin at the end of a man’s penis?
A: His body.

Alan will be well pleased with his turn on these shares , and even more so with his wife's horse Sedna who with O'Donahugh up won the 4.10 pm Anglesey Lodge Equine Hospital Handicap on Sunday at the Curragh with an SP of 10/1.

Fascinating people who follow football.

Dick Cheney's Room 101 - his e-mails consigned to blanks in cyberspace

Speaking on Friday at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., Dick "Deadeye"Cheney - the man who shoots lawyers - said that because he served as President Ford’s chief of staff, “researchers like to come and dig through my files, to see if anything interesting turns up.”

“I want to wish them luck,” he quipped, eliciting laughter from the crowd, “but the files are pretty thin. I learned early on that if you don’t want your memos to get you in trouble some day, just don’t write any.”

This blisteringly funy apercu, was no doubt something for the republican scum who had turned up to hear the war criminal speak , to chuckle over and remember to tell their grandchildren.

Dick wasn't joking. Oh No.

The Committee on Oversight and Government reform chaired by Henry Waxman has been delving into the way White House officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Bush Cheney ‘04 campaign for official White House communications.

(The Presidential Records Act requires the President to “take all such steps as may be necessary to assure that the activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of his constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties are adequately documented … and maintained as Presidential records.” )

So far, we now know ...

1. At least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts, including Karl Rove (Rtd.) the President’s senior advisor; Andrew Card (Rtd.), the former White House Chief of Staff; Ken Mehlman, the former White House Director of Political Affairs; and many other officials in the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Communications, and the Office of the Vice President.

2. The RNC has preserved 140,216 e-mails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these e-mails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Other heavy users of RNC e-mail accounts include former White House Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 e-mails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 e-mails). These e-mail accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.

3. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials. In a deposition, Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, testified that many of the White House officials for whom the RNC has no e-mail records were regular users of their RNC e-mail accounts.

4. There are major gaps in the e-mail records of the 37 White House officials for whom the RNC did preserve e-mails. The RNC has preserved only 130 e-mails sent to Mr. Rove during President Bush’s first term and no e-mails sent by Mr. Rove prior to November 2003. For many other White House officials, the RNC has no e-mails from before the fall of 2006.

5. In her deposition to the Committee, Ms. Ralston testified that she searched Mr. Rove’s RNC e-mail account in response to an Enron-related investigation in 2001 and the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald later in the Administration. (Mrs Ralston resigned in Oct. 2006 over Jack Abramoff's White House contacts) According to Mrs. Ralston, the White House Counsel’s office knew about these e-mails because “all of the documents we collected were then turned over to the White House Counsel’s office.” There is no evidence, however, that White House Counsel Gonzales initiated any action to ensure the preservation of the e-mail records that were destroyed by the RNC.

"It is troubling that so many senior White House officials, including Karl Rove and his former deputy Sara Taylor, were engaging in an effort to avoid oversight and accountability by ignoring the laws meant to ensure a public record of official government business," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "This extensive end run around the laws leads one to wonder what these officials wanted to hide from the public and Congress."

On June 21st 2007 it was reported that according to Waxman, Cheney’s office blocked the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office from an inspection, who argued that it “does not consider itself an ‘entity within the executive branch.’” A curious view to take of the Office of Vice President.

When the Information Security Oversight Office appealed to the Department of Justice, Cheney’s office reacted by trying to abolish it altogether, Waxman said in a letter sent to Cheney ...."“I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions,” Waxman wrote.

“[I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials,” he added in reference to the Plame outing and a guilty plea of a staff member who gave classified information to people in the Philippines .

The full and fascinating 16 page (and so far interim report )"Interim Report INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT VIOLATIONS UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM MAJORITY STAFF JUNE 2007 " is available here.

So that is as far as it goes but the Committee "should investigate what former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales knew about the use of political e-mail accounts by White House officials. If Susan Ralston’s testimony to the Committee is accurate, there is evidence that Mr. Gonzales or counsels working in his office knew in 2001 that Karl Rove was using his RNC e-mail account to communicate about official business, but took no action to preserve Mr. Rove’s official communications."

As the sweating runty liar is now history, no doubt nothing will happen about that. As to Dick's e-mail traffic in 2001 when he was busy organising the bombing of New York and Washington - on 11th September - simply lost in the office cleanout by the RNC.

"I learned early on that if you don’t want your memos to get you in trouble some day, just don’t write any" .. and if you do, he should have added, make sure they get destroyed.

Pic U of Texas - President Ford meets with Deputy Chief of Staff Dick Cheney and Chief of Staff Don Rumsfeld in the Oval Office. April 28th 1975 Top 21st April bottom.


But that's not all folks ....... Think Progress have more -

Cheney lawyer told Secret Service not to keep visitor logs: A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September 2006 “to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence.”

Exempted himself from executive order protecting classified information: Since 2003, Cheney’s office has failed to provide data on its classification and declassification activities as required by Executive Order 12958, which President Bush has endorsed. “Cheney’s office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped.”

Attempted to dodge Information Security Oversight Office: In 2004, Cheney’s office specifically intervened to block an on-site inspection by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which is a requirement of an executive order from the President.

Sidestepped travel disclosure rules. Cheney and “his staff have been unilaterally exempting themselves from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch, including the Office of the President,” reported the Center for Public Integrity in 2005.

Ho.Ho.Ho

Chancellor of the Exchequer is a fucking liar

17 September 2007 approx 6.00pm BST
Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial markets
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_95_07.cfm

This is part of the Statement that relates to Northern Rock

Careful examination shows that it is not what it seems - note "should it be necessary"- "would put in place arrangements " - "would guarantee "

In relation to Britain and Northern Rock, the Financial Services Authority has repeated again over the weekend and today that Northern Rock is solvent and with a sound long term loan book, but has had short term liquidity difficulties. The support I authorised the Bank of England to offer Northern Rock last week is designed to overcome these short-term difficulties, and to enable it to do its business in the normal way.

As I have said on many occasions over the past few days, people are able to get their money out if that is what they want to do.

I want to put the matter beyond doubt. (Ho.Ho.Ho.) In the current market circumstances, and because of the importance I place on maintaining a stable banking system and public confidence in it, I can announce today that following discussions with the Governor and the Chairman of the FSA, should it be necessary, we, with the Bank of England, would put in place arrangements that would guarantee all the existing deposits in Northern Rock during the current instability in the financial markets.


Weasel words .... anybody who leaves their money in NR must be brain dead.

Again we get the empty and pointless and deliberately misleading claim ..."the Financial Services Authority has repeated again over the weekend and today that Northern Rock is solvent ". It is not the role in life, nor their job to determine solvency, of course anyone may take a view but it is worthless. Only the Directors can take a view - if they trade whilst insolvent they risk heavy penalties and can be disqualified.

If the CEO said they were sovent he can be prosecuted - if the Chancellor , the Pope, etc., says that it has no meaning or worth to anyone.

Lying fucking politicians.

Sir John Geive - and the crisis in Banking

On Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Lord Patel posted "Sir John Gieve Where are they Now ? Pt 432"

This examined his personal dishonesty at the Home Office over the affairs of David Blunkett and his mistress (who was also many other's mistress as well)..it ended...


Strangely enough Sir Ian Gieve who moved on sideways shortly after these trying times in 2005 to the Bank of England as Deputy Governor for Financial Stability - a move which a PPE from St John's, Osxford and a DPhil in Philosophy were not an ideal background.

Anyway Sir John, appears in today's papers not in the role of the husband of the solicitor who acts on behalf of a lady who has asked her lover the Home Secretary to whizz a visa through for her maid. He doesn't appear as the aquiescent servant of the public interest when the Metropolitan Police chief on behalf of his murdering officers, seeks to dismiss the legal requirements of Section 17 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

No he appears as an economic savant when speaking yesterday at the University of Surrey at Guildford, and that he has concerns about 'spectacular growth' in borrowing for buyout and private equity deals which he opines could endanger the banking system and cause a sharp financial downturn.

He said the crisis must be controlled by higher interest rates. It appears from the publication of the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee that Sir John joined Bank Governor Mervyn King and two other members in a minority on the Monetary Policy Committee last month in calling for rates to be increased from the current 5.5pc to 5.75pc.

He explained to his audience yesterday that he was more concerned about the inflationary dangers of unchecked credit growth than the risk of causing an unnecessary slowdown in the economy.

It warms the cockles of your heart that we are blessed with such a banker at the heart of our monetary system. Banker is, Lord Patel is led to understand by the more raucous of his colleagues code for wanker - not a term one could apply to this guy who could not possibly combine the required physical ability with the mental capacity to sustain the event ... well not simultaneously anyway... even with a little help.

The Speech at Guildford quoted is available here and is well worth reading to see what a bunch of headless chickens run the Treasury and the BOE.

Stop Press

Alastair Darling has just announced on BBC4 Radio that ALL deposits at NR are guaranteed by the Government. Madness. More later.

A&L in terminal collapse as shares marked down 31.3% on day

At the close of business today the market makers marked A&L down to 600p that's a drop on the day of 31.27% - A market value of £2.58 Bn. (NRK.L dropped 35%)

Now shares don't move like that because Mom & Pop have bailed out - this is serious money. The men who run the big funds (and every single one wil have a piece of A&L) and said here is a Chancellor who doesn't give a fuck for shareholders - are we in or out. OUT ! So just look at that spread Bid 600 Ask 300 the market was swamped with sellers. (Fair chance those Bidding 600 are just shorting expecting further drop tommorrow)

Now where did it all go ? - a good bet it is parked in Gilts - just look at the closing prices today.

Vincent Cable the Lib Dem Chancellor of the Exchequer in waiting told the Brighton Conference ...

".....a decade of mismanagement by Gordon Brown had led to a collective madness around house prices which threatened to derail the economy.... he lambasted the "professional optimists" who had convinced the public that values could keep going up for ever."

"History tells us that bubbles burst; and every housing boom is followed by a crash whatever the papers say."

Laying the blame for the crisis squarely at the door of Mr Brown, he said that he had done nothing to prevent the housing market overheating during his 10 years as Chancellor, and now "chickens were coming home to roost".

"I deeply distrust the professional optimists - the banks, estate agents, government ministers - who seem to believe in an economic version of levitation."

"This is something Gordon Brown understood ten years ago when he said in his first budget: 'I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of recovery.' But that is exactly what he did. Why? Why did he exclude housing from the measure of inflation?

Why did he not give the Bank of England responsibility for this, the most important and destabilising element in inflation?


"Why has he taken 10 years to produce a housing policy? Why was council and other social housing drastically curtailed forcing families into owner-occupation they cannot afford? Why was he so frightened of tackling the banks over debt promotion, unfair charges and irresponsible lending?"

"As long as the boom has gone on, he has been able to avoid answering these questions but his day of reckoning cannot be far off."

Meanwhile the Treasury Minister Andy Burnham on BBC4 "PM" program at 5.20 pm BST is persisting in selling the lie that Northern Rock is solvent... when it is patently obvious they are not.

It is a "complicated matter" he says.

It is not - Northern Rock cannot pay its debts as they fall due. They are insolvent -regardless of the extended overdraft offered by the BOE - which is yet another debt there is any prospect that they can repay.

The Directors are in breach of their duty and should file for Administration. If the FSA or Ministers like Andy Burnham persist in lying about the state of the company's finances they are equally culpable and liable in law.

BBC fix the vote to Online Quiz question ,""Are people right to take their money out from Northern Rock?"

How very curious. If you go to the BBC Online site for the story "New saver queues at Northern Rock " and vote "Are people right to take their money out from Northern Rock?" you will see the above results - this was 11.42 am BST.

Repeat the exercise and you will see the total of votes jump up but the % for each result stay the same - Another fixed vote by the BBC.

"Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion" Too fucking right my son!

Also a result that is outside our experience talking to people this weekend.

As Stef says - it's not subliminal if you notice it.

UPDATE 12.56 BST The BBC have just reset the above counter ! Caught with their trousers down ?

Alliance & Leicester get the NR treatment

At the close of business today the market makers marked A&L down to 600p that's a drop on the day of 31.27% - A market value of £2.58 Bn.


How long before the queues form outside their branches ?

Kouchner / Sarkozy bang the drum on Iran .. " prepare for the worst... and the worst means war".

Bernard Kouchner , French Foreign Minister (and founder Medecin sans Frontieres) who has been developing close ties with famous pianist and show gatherer, Condileezza Rice has added strength and dimension to the growing Atlanticist accent in French Foreign policy.

The hardening of France's position towards Tehran was first signalled by Nicolas Sarkozy in a speech to the French ambassadors last month.

Then he called for tougher economic sanctions against Tehran and warned that if these failed to halt Iran's nuclear programme, there would be, as he put it "a catastrophic choice" between "an Iranian bomb or the bombardment of Iran".

Today in a broadcast interview Kouchner raised the spectre of a conflict with Tehran, warning the world "to prepare for the worst... and the worst means war".

The US has war plans for a conflict with Iran, the voice of the hawks still rings around the Beltway - evena as the position of Putin remains unclear.

In his interview Kouchner announced that French firms have been asked to withdraw from dealings with Iranian tenders - they are of course free he said to do as they please, he said with his Gallic tongue firmly stuck in his Gallic cheek.

Sarkozy is relentlessly building up and taking the lead in European support for the US - combat aircraft supporting Nato operations in Afghanistan will now be based in Kandahar. (he is also pissing off Frau Merkel with all his grand bises, hugs and kisses)

There is speculation that France will join NATO.

Kouchner has made it clear that the Iranian game is over - the message is still diplomatic but the threat of military action is clear.

It provides Mr Brown and the unusually quiet Mr Miliband , resh from banning Palestinian footballers, with a thorny problem as the call for the troops to be brought home gets louder and the Little Englanders mass under Cameron.

" prepare for the worst... and the worst means war".

See Lord Patel's post Tuesday, September 04, 2007
All out US / French aerial assault on Iran is imminent

FSA will suspend dealing in Northern Rock shares before trading starts Monday

UPDATE 8.30 Monday 17th - this is both crazy and criminal - Darling was on "Today" program cool as a cucumber - we are monitoring the situation..... the following was a the sceanario which could have recovered the situtation. The situation will be resolved but NOT recovered.

The shareholders are totally fucked and those with term depsotits face a very uncertain future - it is entirely possible that the contagion will spread today to A&L, B&B, and Barclays.

9 o'clock - Probably judging by the laid back if not comatose Adam Applegarth the Directors haven't arrived at the office yet. They should immediately declare themsleves insolvent and the FSA suspend the share price.

Then flog the lot off. Evidently it is so poisonous as the majors have turned their nose up - and one feels they would do so at any price. Too many of those 125% loans on 6 times salary etc.,

-------------
Followed by Directors calling in Administrators at mid-day.

BOE will pick up (ie taxpayer) costs of this total fuck up as NR is dismembered and flogged off.

Then the hunt will be on for the next stock to short ... B&B, A&L, Paragon ? and dare we suggest Barclays ?

If Mervyn WanKing hadn't organised it so well most observers would have thought such an epic fuck up was not possible.

Community Support officers will be out in force beating off the Grey Panthers.

Perhaps the role of Sir John Geive (ex Home Office supremo in the great reign of the none eyed King and goat)as 2IC to WanKIng will bear a little more examination in this matter before al the dust settles.

The world is running low on Gas - Lord Oxburgh ex Shell boss wants the oil barons to wake up

Lord Ron Oxburgh is a former chairman of Shell. He is now the chairman of D1 Oils, a British company developing biofuels that can be produced in the tropics on sub-agricultural land (an insane and doomed project like post war groundnut schemes using Jatropha). He also sits as a crossbencher (Independent) in the House of Lords. On Tuesday he will deliver a speech at the Cork conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) entitled Out of Oil, Into Hot Water

In it he will issue a stark warning that global oil demand will outstrip supply within 20 years as production hits a plateau. He also forecasts oil prices hitting US$150 in the long term.

He accuses some in the industry of having their heads “almost in the sand” about oil depletion, and concludes “we may be sleepwalking into a problem which is actually going to be very serious and it may be too late to do anything about it by the time we are fully aware”.

Read an interview with him here with Dave Strahan Author of, "The Last Oil Shock"

Q: Your talk at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil conference in Cork this week is called ‘Out of Oil, Into Hot Water’. What exactly do you mean by that?

A: Hot water basically refers to the fact that world energy demand is continuing to rise. It’s rising because of increases in population, and that population is not only becoming more numerous but more wealthy as well. As it becomes more wealthy per capita energy use increases too. So the world energy demand is just rising relentlessly. In parallel, we have clearly got tightening supplies of fossil fuels.

Read on ...

NB : There are currently 98 oil producing countries in the world, of which 64 are thought to have passed their geologically imposed production peak, and of those 60 are in terminal production decline.

Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil Sunday Times today

The North Sea Central Area Transmission System (CATS) gas pipeline,which shut on July 1 after its concrete casing was damaged by a ship's anchor near Teesside port has now been repaired. Testing started SEptember 1/2nd and it is expected that gas / oil flows are back to normal.

The 404 Km seabed CATS pipeline brigs gas ashore at Teesside from the Armada, Seymour, North Everest, Banff, Eastern Trough Area Project, J-Block, Lomond and Erskine fields U.K. gas network operator National Grid PLC NGG. The pipe has previously been delivering gas at a rate of just over 40 Mn cubic metres a week.

This has dramatically affected landing of North Sea oil and gas - and hence Government revenues. The impact on summertime wholesale gas prices can be seen in the attached chart.

Australian drought - poor spring rains - higher world wheat prices in prospect - low stocks and heavy demand

The national outlook for Australia for total spring (September to November) rainfall, shows no strong swings in the odds towards wetter or drier conditions over most of Australia. However, the odds favour a wetter than average spring in southwest WA, while a drier than average spring is the more likely outcome in some relatively small patches in eastern Australia.

The pattern of seasonal rainfall odds across Australia is a result of continuing higher than average temperatures over parts of the south tropical Pacific Ocean, and also in parts of the tropical Indian Ocean.

Any shower activity in Australia during the next seven days will be light andmostly confined to Victoria and southern portions of West Australia, accordingto the DTN Meteorlogix forecast (subs). They also said that further losses to production can be expected under the current deficient rainfall pattern.

Argentina has had better luck with moisture in its wheat fields recently.Light to moderate rain, with some locally heavier totals over southern BuenosAires, were observed during the past 24 hours.

Australian Wheat yield forecasts.

Agricultural production models (through DPI&F/APSRU) still suggest remarkably varying potential yield values for this year, largely due to very low soil moisture levels and relatively poor rainfall in regions such as inland NSW, South Australia and southern inland Queensland.

In his weekly Radio Broadcast on Saturday Premier Howard said the Federal Government has pledged to provide further financial support to drought-stricken farmers, if necessary.

With the drought showing no sign of breaking, Prime Minister John Howard promised that the government would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with rural and regional Australia.

“If more is needed to ensure our regional communities and farms survive
this prolonged drought it will be provided,” he said in his weekly radio message.

“The drought is continuing to have a devastating impact on much of rural and regional Australia."

The impact will be felt further afield as wheat prices show no sign of declining and demand is increasing as living standards grow in China and India.

In Chicago, wheat for December delivery surged to an all-time high of US$8.38 a bushel and Canada said crop yields would be down by 20% and may produce its smallest wheat crop in five years because of reduced plantings and drought damage. Wheat prices have jumped 110 per cent in the past 12 months and have risen threefold since 2000.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast a fall in global inventories to their lowest level in 26 years.

There was a 1 day Pasta Strike in Rome and other Italian cities on Thursday 13th September as people protested over increases in pasta flour prices. Italy produces only about half of the high-protein durum wheat used to make high-quality pasta and bread; the rest is imported from overseas markets including the United States, Canada and Ukraine.

In France the price of a standard crusty baguette has risen 8% this year and now costs just less than US$1 and three times that in the US if you can find a supplier.

The Ukraine is likely to extend the current grain export quotasuntil Jan. 1, 2008, and not Oct. 1 as was previously planned, the press serviceof the agriculture ministry reported.

Kate & Gerry get a Shock! Amazing Pictures

The FSA, Insolvency, Shadow Directors, and how the Bank of England fucked up BIG style over Northern Rock - Tip to get to head of Queue on Monday

On Friday morning a Statement was issued by the Financial Services Authority and posted on their website Friday 15th September - note the date of issue ....

Liquidity support facility for Northern Rock Plc Tripartite Authorities Statement 14 September 2007
The FSA judges that Northern Rock is solvent, exceeds its regulatory capital requirement and has a good quality loan book.

This was followed later in the day by a further statement as the queues built up during Friday

FSA statement on Northern Rock PLC and market conditions
14 September 2007

Commenting on the statement made by the tripartite authorities this morning in relation to Northern Rock, the chairman of the FSA, Callum McCarthy, said:

"The FSA's judgement on Northern Rock is that we believe it is solvent, meets all capital requirements and has a good quality loan book.

This was followed by (note date change)

FSA Statement: Northern Rock
15 September 2007

The FSA reiterates that it judges Northern Rock to be solvent and that savers can continue to deposit (!) and withdraw funds.

Callum McCarthy, chairman of the FSA, said:

"To be absolutely clear, if we believed that Northern Rock was not solvent, we would not have allowed it to remain open for business.

The FSA could NOT close the company's business , the most it could do is to suspend the share quote until the companies affairs were put in order pending a re-quote or sale to third party(ies).

There are two tests of solvency ;

1. Inability to pay debts as they become due.
2. Insufficient assets to cover liabilities.

Northern Rock borrows money wholesale and lends it to people to buy houses. Due to the interbank rate (LIBOR) now exceeding Base Rate by over 1 % their sums don't add up. Loans are due for repayment and cannot be replaced = without recuorse to the BOE. Can they pay their debts as they become due ? - NO . Then they are insolvent.

In UK law, the people who decide that a company is solvent / insolvent are the Directors. When they judge themselves insolvent they are obliged by Company Law, to undertake certain legally prescribed steps, which effectively places control of the company out of their hands - into those of receivers, administrators.

If the BOE hadn't stumped up, the Directors would have had to file for Administrators to be called in. Period.

If the BOE hadn't stumped up, the Directors could not continue in business as they had lost their ability (and confidence of lenders) to raise capital to continue to fund their loans. Period.

That is the simple, clear, transparent unvarnished TRUTH.

It is not the duty of the FSA to determine solvency / insolvency, they do not have the time, staff, expertise, legal / statutory responsibity. Their only source of information is the Directors the Company.

Furthermore that was then , this is now. Withdrawals , by person , post or by the badly functioning website will have reduced their asset base - with little prospect that the situtation will only worsen as time passes.

Regardless of the funds provided by the BOE which simply increases their liabilities - and it is likely (the terms of their funds have not been published) are payable on demand and have no term agreed.

Furthermore it is inscreasngly evidence that these funds held by NR ...

"As announced on 20 August 2007, Northern Rock only has a £75 million direct exposure to the US sub-prime market which is all rated AAA, and a £200 million
exposure to the US CDO market, within which there is indirect exposure to US sub-prime.

We also have £325 million of investments in a number of Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs)of which £305 million is bank sponsored. Included in the £200 million of CDOs referred to above is a modest exposure of £22 million of SIV "Lites

... are a Northern CRrock of shite and at best can be priced at 10 cents on the, dollar wiping out any profits for this Financial Year.

There is evidently little room for cutting capital / labour costs as they have to simply manage 20% of the mortgages in the UK and operate on the narrowest of margins at the best of times.

The Sunday blats claim that major banks have turned up their noses at a take over, they can simply pick up any business as it falls.

The FSA have 4 Statutory objectives two of which are ;

1 . Market confidence: maintaining confidence in the financial system; public awareness: promoting public understanding of the financial system;
2. Consumer protection: securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers;

It is evident that the FSA have made claims which are patently dishonest - they have claimed Northern Rock is solvent (although these statement have become less emphatic and more convoluted "if we believed that Northern Rock was not solvent, we would not have allowed it to remain open for business. " .. presumably as they now realise their folly of overstatement.).

It is not their job to either determine insolvency or to give comfort to Directors, or to make public statements to that effect.

It is significant that the Board have not made a public statement that they are trading whilst solvent / insolvent.

Even Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association trod carefully and chose her words well (and advisedly) ..."This isn't about solvency, this is about a short-term problem that the Northern Rock has in getting liquidity _ that is, getting some cash from the normal interbank lending market."

The Tri-partite Authority couldn't have fucked this up more royally - Tommorrow the queues will be bigger, the dumb ox of a CEO, Adam Applegarth will vaguely blame those damn yanqis and claim "Business as normal" and Westminster's headless chickens with no or little understanding (or experience - except Vince Cable of the Lib Dems who talks 100% common sense) of banking or business will alternately wring their hands and cry Woe! Woe ! Sharp mortgage holders will take a holiday for payments, safe that they can withold payments whilst the ordure hits the airconditioning and pay up as and when requested - icreasing liquidity problems.

There is a very good case for claiming that the FSA have acted as Shadow Directors and falsely made statements - knowing them to be false, that have encouraged or instructed the Directors to continue trading whilst insolvent. Director's responsibility is to the company and not to the shareholders. Directors have an obligation to act in the company's best interests.

By acting as they did the FSA have acted against the interests of the company. If the company had filed for Administration as required under the Companies Act the disposal of assets would have been orderly and at a cost that truly reflected the value of those assets.

Their action - even if it was sanctioned / approved / made jointly by the MOU , the BOE , The Treasury , the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister was illegal.

Nowthe BOE have to find a buyer, the big banks have turned up their noses , the truffle hounds from the vulture funds will be sniffing the air - the same people who have gobbled up the closed pension funds. The FSA can explain how this result squares with their objective of ..."Market confidence: maintaining confidence in the financial system".

How to get to the head of the queue in the morning.

Dress like the lady in the picture. Service will be guaranteed

Alberto Gonzalez : Constitution shredder bows out

Dishonest, and dishonoured Alberto Gonzalez left office on Friday as US Attorney General - his last official task was to address a crowd at Bolling Air Force Base DC in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month ..

Over the past two and a half years, I have seen tyranny, dishonesty, corruption and depravity of types I never thought possible. I've seen things I didn't know man was incapable of. (sic)

Gee - We are going to miss him , the sweating runty little liar - although he leaves behind all those tyrannical, dishonest, corrupt and depraved bastards that Dubya has surrounded himself with, to keep us amused.

Clive Mitchell, the BBC, and their fulsome, flowing praise for the shy retiring modest Michael Caplan QC - legal shysters to Pinochet and the McCanns

Does one detect the immaculately manicured hand of Clive Mitchell , the top Press liason man at Downing Street, in the timely production by the BBC of the BBC4 "Profile" this week when Clive Coleman profiles Michael Caplan QC (Kingsley Napley - Our reputation as a 'safe pair of hands' ) . The quiet unassuming but well regarded and extraordinarily well paid lawyer, who visited the Mccan's immediately they arrived back in the UK a week ago, and who is acting as their legal adviser ? (More on C Mitchell here)

Caplan of course is famous for having acted for General Pinochet when he failed to prevent his extradition on a warrant from Spain for murder. The first House of Lords judgement 3-2 for sending the bastard to Spain to meet his fate, but was re-heard when Lord Hoffman's tenuous connnections with Amnesty were revealed.

Re-heard the poor old murderer lost again despite the activities of the industrious Mr Caplan.

It was of course the then Home Secretary Jack Straw lolling at ease on his vermilion chaise longue who determined that the vile torturer was too ill to stand trial.

On his return to Chile, he boarded the aircraft in a wheelchair and then delighted his elderly crowd of fellow murderers and hangers on by walking off the aircraft like Lazarus.

At the time in a 13 page explanation Jack Straw finally relied on the Extradition Act 1989 section 'Order for return':

s.12(1) ... the Secretary of State may by warrant order [the accused] to be returned unless ... the Secretary of State decides under this section to make no such order in his case.

s.12(2) Without prejudice to his general discretion as to the making of an order for the return of a person...

Ignoring the provisions of Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 s.4(4) - reiterated in the Criminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 in a General Note - which states,
The question of fitness to be tried shall be determined by a jury.

Anyway it now appears that Geoffrey Bindman, Labour's favourite solicitor (chairman of the Society for Labour Lawyers) and acting on behalf of Amnesty in the case had a polite (and private) chinwag with his chum Jack and made it clear that Amnesty would not be pursuing the matter further. On 17 July 2002, Geoffrey Bindman did respond to queries from Anti Pinochet protestors and agreed, most likely, Jack Straw "took the view that the statutory requirement for a hearing before a jury to determine fitness to be tried did not apply in this case."

In December 2001, Geoffrey Bindman was fined £12,000 at a disciplinary hearing of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors over two charges of conflict of interest and one of "improperly passing on confidential information to which he pleaded guilty.

Geoffrey (Knighted in the 2007 Honours List) is now 74 so, probably is a bit too old to take on the McCanns case - although he migh have had more influence on the final result for Pinchet than the much famed Michael Caplan.

Whatever the outcome, it is looking like a beanfeast for the gents in pin stripes. Or as one might now say, in wigs and gowns now that "Solicitor Advocates" can at the insistence of Michael Caplan wear this tokenist and mediaeval garb to demonstrate their equivalence to m'learned friends in court. Pic of Jeremy Thorpe MP gay Liberal , ex Etonian, who was saved from a murder rap by (Sir) David Napley.

You can listen to the program live (Sunday 16 September 2007 17:40-17:54 (Radio 4 FM)) or go to the Profile site and listen at any time in the next 7 days.

The BBC have thoughtfully provided what is almost a verbatim transcript of the program as " Safe pair of hands for McCanns " at BBC Online. (Ooops isn't that the tag line for Kingsley Naply -- " Our reputation as a 'safe pair of hands" - the BBC would NEVER advertise... well, for anybody. It is written by Mr Coleman ofBBC's excellent "Law in Action" who delivered the Profile advertisement broadcast

Apparently Richard Branson is chipping in £100K for the McCann's legal defense fund and encouraging others to do so - the Sunday Times reports that You Gov poll on the McCann's responsibility for the death / disapperance of their eldest daughter in the UK shows
Entirely inoccent - 20%
Responsible for Madeleine's death - 48%
Unsure / Don't know - 32%
McCanns’ high-profile campaign had made them suspicious - 40%
McCanns’ high-profile campaign had not made them suspicious - 50%

The Question does arise - Are the McCanns interests best served by having the same legal representative ?