Repairing the old wallet.

Stock picking is gambling so Lord Patel to salve his financial wounds invested last Monday in Barclays at 82 p and sold out this am @ 118p. (UPDATE Wed opnend at 127 )A modest return relying on the venality of bankers / hedge funds etc., who have been ramping the share to buggary. (Ditto LLoyds)

This is going into ING (now with sensible management in place and clear stated goals) which he confidently expects to run up to 10 Euros from the current 4.74 Euros (closd at 4.89)

Some is also going (counter cyclical and prolly very unwise) into Lloyds Bank at 57p which has run from 40 p in the last 2 weeks.(closed at 61.7) UPDATE Wed opened at 64.5

The proceeds will eventually ne used to swallow up some more Drax and Tesco.

Stafford Hospital - comparison with the activities of Harold Shipman

In a report, Dr Foster Intelligence, a private-public partnership company which annually publishes standardised mortality ratio (SMR) league tables for English hospitals they revealed that at Stafford Hospital, about 400 more people died in 3 years between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected. (BBC) Dr Fosters website says .."Our purpose is simple. Dr Foster was founded on a belief in the need for greater transparency about variations in healthcare performance. In so doing, we not only seek to inform patients but to help hospitals assess their own changing patterns of performance and seek out opportunities for improvement."

In their 2008 Hospital Guide (pdf) they quote Lord Darzai . "He emphasises the importance of defining and consistently measuring quality, of making information about the quality of
care widely available in order to pinpoint variations and focus on improvement ..."

“The first dimension of quality must be that we do no harm to patients … Safety must be paramount for the Public trust in the NHS is conditional Lord Darzi,NHS Next Stage Review, June 2008 .. Page 9 of Hospital Guide

On Monday, 31st January 2000 the jury at Preston Crown Court convicted Harold Shipman of 15 murders. The earliest murder of which Shipman was convicted occurred on March 6, 1995.

High Court judge, Dame Janet Smith started and enquiry in January 2001 into deaths caused by Shipman.

In 215 cases, which include those for which Shipman was convicted, she concluded that Shipman had murdered them.

In 45 cases, she was unable to be certain, but strongly suspected Shipman might have killed his patient.

Basd on these mortality figures it was better to be a patient of Harold rather than be a patient at Stafford Hospital.

"It could happen again"

In an interview with Dame Janet Smith on BBC Radio 4, Feb 14th (Times) she claimed that 10 years on from the discovery that the Manchester GP had killed more than 200 patients, she claimed too little has been done to introduce safeguards.

A new system of reisration of death will involve the appointment of medical examiners to scrutinise death certificates and also give families a chance to query what is on the death certificate.

Dame Janet expressed serious concern as to how independent the new medical examiners will be as they will be appointed by the Primary Care Trust in that area and work within the trust’s remit, she says.

“It is said that he or she will be independent, but I fear that will be very difficult because I do not see how an employee of the Primary Care Trust can be independent of the National Health Service.”

If proof were needed about how effective Primary Care Trusts can be the experience of Stafford Hospital should be enough for a call for a Public Enquiry to all deaths over the 3 year period in question.

Role play - Invest Squander the Quantitative easing funds for Mervyn

Quantitative easing (QE)provides the BoE with the ability to buy assets, securities like corporate bonds or commercial paperand Govern/ ment bonds from commercial banks / insurance companies that currently hold them.

Here is your chance to play the bemused academic crossed fingers specialist .... Mervyn King

British Airways (The worlds favourite airline) have bonds they have issued ..lots of 'em.

Yesterday Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its rating on British Airways' long-term corporate credit from investment grade to "junk," falling from BBB- to BB+, .. plus a warning they might be downgraded further. (Moodys show them as equivalent Ba1 details here )

They gave resons, plenty of 'em why they had downgraded them.

S&P said Friday it was looking at;

1. BA's losses
2. Worsening demand, particularly on BA's high-dollar premium passengers across the Atlantic
3. Currency losses from the weakening British pound
4. Failing UK economy
... and er ... other factors... order book with Boeing for more planes etc.,

"As a result of the more challenging industry environment, we believe that BA's financial risk profile and credit measures are no longer, nor are likely to be, appropriate for an investment-grade rating over the next several years," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Leigh Bailey.

Now as Mervyn .. or one of his double firsted henchmen ... do you buy this crap ?

The holders will gladly take the proffered loot and run .... and invest it , squirrel it away on the busted balance sheet, handsome salaries, bonuses, boxes at Man United, sponsoring Rugby Union, Newcastle United, Newcastle Rugby ....

After all, what is there to stop them ? If there is Mervyn has not told us what it is..no doubt they will "monitor" the situation as did the BoE previously... with the same people doing the monitoring ... and the same bankers pissing the money away.

Now are you really convinced that QE is a really great idea to get the UK economy moving ?

When asked a difficult question , refuse to answer or lie - that's what bankers do - especially Fed Chairmen

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who usually votes with the Democrats, tackled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and said he found it "unacceptable" that the central bank risked taxpayer money without detailing where the funds went.

"My question to you is, will you tell the American people to whom you lent $2.2 trillion of their dollars?" Sanders asked ..... referring to the size of the Fed's balance sheet.

When Sanders pressed on whether Bernanke would name the firms that borrowed from the Fed, the central bank chairman replied, "No."

Vermont Public Radio has the transcript of the exact exchange.

So now you know that Congress does NOT run the United States ... Uncle Ben's Lies will do instead.

Lehman Bros liquidators ask awkward questions - Barclays dives 25% on news - Market Cap now £5. 5 Bn.

This Forbes / Reuters / FT report seemed to spook the market as it opened, Liquidators quiz Barclays over Lehman funds-FT .....

Liquidators for Lehman Brothers, Alvarez and Marsal asked Barclays in a letter of February 19th , to account for funds it received as part of its purchase of the failed investment bank's North American unit, the Financial Times reported on Thursday (today) Barclays questioned on funds.

Citing sources close to the situation, the newspaper said U.S. liquidators Alvarez and Marsal were seeking clarification on the fate of US$4.2 billion transferred to Barclays to cover Lehman's bonus and severance payments and other liabilities.

The liquidators calculate only US$900 million has been spent, the newspaper said.

Barclays booked a gain of £2.3bn ($3.3bn) in it's Annual accounts pulished last week, on the difference between the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired from Lehman and the price paid for them. The gain accounted for about a third of Barclays' pre-tax profits and helped Barclays Capital, its investment banking arm, to record a profit of £1.3bn.

Lehman Brothers Holdings, the bank's remaining businesses, now managed by Alvarez & Marsal, said it was "not making any allegations but is simply requesting factual information from Barclays as to certain discrepancies". Ho Ho. Ho ... but the liquidator wants his money back please.

The Daily Torygraph report Friday that "Sandy Chen, of Panmure Gordon, in a report on Barclays' monoline and structured credit exposures says : "If corporate defaults jump and structured credits undergo another wave of downgrades, we think that the structure of swaps with monolines and other counterparties that Barclays put in place to limit losses could buckle – leading to further impairments and/or writedowns."

TCCB spurns Sir Allan Stanford's dosh - Lord Condon the corrupt cricket expert stays silent .. maybe he has a lot to be silent about

On July lst last year my noble colleague and expert on all things corrupt in Cricket Lord Condon. he's long been involved in corruption as the head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, told the governing body’s annual meeting that the IPL provided the biggest threat of corruption since the mid-1990s.

Therefore in all this brou ha ha about Sir Allan Stanford and the TCCB / Antigua and corruption on and off the cricket field - Sir Alan is also involved in golf and Polo promotion Lord Condon's silence is not golden.

At the time Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager said “Let’s face it, the IPL is the first domestic competition which has attracted such huge interest and it’s inevitably going to attract the interest of match-fixers and people like that."

Condon could so easily have checked out amongst the many, many ex (?) spooks in the House of Lords , Lady handbag .. Baroness Dame Mary jane Neville Jones (and she came in close contact with few rum coves in Bosnia in her time - epicentre of cigarette smuggling) aboutthis helicopter at lords landing , glad handing dodgy Texan., ,

Usual procedure is, to "casually" spy a spy in the bar and say something like . " My friend met this chappie - owns a Bank in ...Belize ... somewhere in sunny Carib's ocean . owns the Government for all we know , Caribbean that sort of place ... good a for a Bob or two is he ?.. slinging it about a bit, propping up marginal constituencies funding a dodgy political comic called" Total Bollocks Total Politics " You know the sort of thing. You get my drift ?.

Especially when a chaps on the square.

Couple of weeks later yer spy will spy you - maybe in the Gents urinal, the handy one by Annie's Bar, and he / she say something like " that chappie your chappie met with the bank sort of place ... seems like he has chums in all the right places " often a left and weak dependent eyelid will droop and a finger will tap on the old drink encrusted proboscis.

There you go.

Chaps bona fides sorted out .. no names. No Pack Drill. No mess, no publicity all above board , under the table you understand. Silent as the night. Quiet as the grave.

Now we have all this mud being slung , it'll be the bent groundsmen (Bob Woolmer in South Africa) and drugs being smuggled in the pads again ...

Not like Condon to let us down ... not the same since all these Blair Babes and that funny lookig Greek Lord Adonis came in to bat at this end.

Chaps word used to be his bond they said.

Old Truscott was recalling the good old days before the riff raff moved in .. fancy another ?

POST SCIPT - Wonderfully funny article plugging the crooked and corrupt Sir Allan Stamford by Simon Wilder in the Times when his plans were unveiled. It wasn't meant to be funny - oddly the name of Sir Richard Branson with extensive Carib interests pops up. (As we speak the bearded genius is on BBC4 Radio saving the Honda F1 team .... maybe)

POSTSCRIPT 2 Chief Scout of the Antigua and Barbuda Branch of The Scout Association, Freemason , 7th Day Adventist and Governer General Sir James Beethoven Carlisle was responsible for making the award of a Knighthood to Sir Allan Stamford (anyone know when ?) - the second awarded by Antigua.

Despite Stamford's alleged billions they still don't have decent cricket pitch on Antigua, nor golfcourse or Polo field.

Zionists send Obama out on road to ground zero of economic recession.'

As the Christian Festival of Christmas wound down we reminded readers on Friday, December 26, 2008 Obama "the first Jewish president" - has a deep understanding of issues that confront Israel and the Jewish community - Alan Solow .. Alan Solow, is an attorney (Goldberg ,Cohn) from Chicago. He is a widely respected leader of the Jewish community. He was inaugurated as Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations early this month .. At a democratic forum In Cleveland , Ohio , in October 2008, 700 people heard Alan Solow and Denis Ross, Middle East advisor to Obama, and previously director for policy planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush and special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton as well a co- founder of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reassured Jewish voters that Obama would not only strengthen Israel’s security but also do a far better job of it than his rival Sen. John McCain.

This was after AIPAC hd sprinkled their advisors, guides, confidants, gtekeeperes, lobbyists, spies in to the White House.

We also said that as they now commanded the heights of the economy O'Bomber would be used for what he does best - campaign for the Presidency nd forecst he would be criss crossing the US glad handing, looking Pesidential in downtown Palookaville.

After all there no room for a rookie Senator on the Beltway with the likes of Joe Biden, Bahm and his bro's - Geithin to feed tax payers money to Wall Street (even if he overlooks feeding the IS their due) , Summers and the rest of the gang have no need for him.

As he passes through he can learn that the Senate have scraped his US$800 (plus) (ish) giveaway to Main Street for State and County funded schemes to rustle up some boondoggle and pork.

So it's off to Elkhart IN. (again - he was there 6 months ago) (Pop 52,000) (109) miles from Chicago, (134) miles from Indianapolis and (203) from Detroit deep in Amish teritory. "Elkhart's thriving Business economy is due in large part to the entrepreneurial spirit that has been prevalent in our community for more than a century" says the ebsite whose "Future Events" failed to tell everyone he was coming(Town Hall speech in full)

Then carefully spliced with a re-eneactment of that speech for the prime time TV he is off now to Fort Myers FL - Miami Herald today Florida officials welcome spotlight on Fort Myers
The national media descend on Florida Tuesday as President Barack Obama hosts a town hall meeting on the economy in Fort Myers.

Although after heavy lifting by Joe Biden they schmoozed the FL ticket the locals are a bit nn-plussed t his arrival trailing clouds of recession . Depression . Slump. "Will Prather, chairman of the local Democratic party. ``It's a bittersweet pill and a dubious honor that he is coming to our community because it is ground zero of this economic recession.''

Meanwhile the ttack dogs in Washington seem to have scraped his key Senate vote on his much vaunted nationl economic stimulus plan Closely followed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's bank rescue plan to spray more unknown and undocumented sums of tazpapeyes funds around his Fed cums nd Wall Street.

The $838 billion economic bill survived a key test vote in the Senate late last night , setting up a final vote for today . The plan must then be reconciled with an $819 billion version from the House of Representatives.

En passant Washington headed for sunny bt subdued Florida after Wll Street closed he pushed his bill (no questions allowed) for the stimulus plan, warning that failing to act swiftly and boldly "could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."

"could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
Don'tcha just get the feeling those words are going to come back and haunt him ?

Meanwhile the Another war for the Jews Paty ooks happy with the election results in West Jerusalem and Beersheba (Pop 531,000)

Arrest in Langbar fraud case in which Lord Levy's "cash for Coronets " sidekick Barry Townsley was involved with other N London football supporters

Spanish police arrested six people tied to a $600 million fraud committed at Langbar International Ltd., (AKA Crown Corp) is a murky Bermuda-based "investment company" . It has been the subject of leisurely scrutiny by the Serious Fraud Office since 2005.

In a nutshell Crown/Langbar is a Bermuda-registered company, founded by a Polish-Canadian, backed by Israeli money, which traded in Argentina, banked its money in Brazil (Banco de Brasil) , had its accounts audited in Spain (Barcelona based Gironella Velasco ) ... and, which thanks to British financial advisers (see below - all keen supporters of North London football clubs) , listed its shares on the London stock market.

The Spanish police have just arrested 6 people ( between 56 and 76 years old at residences in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante) in what they claim is a US$600 Mn. fraud .

The company operated as a "cash shell" quoted on London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) , shareholders included at one time Merrill Lynch and Gartmore . The fraud originally came to notice when it was announced £ 370 Mn. had evaporated from its accounts.

“The present board of Langbar International is determined to discover exactly what has transpired concerning company funds and to pursue their recovery,” the company said on its Web site. “Our aim is to restore value for shareholders to the maximum that can be achieved.”

The fraud appears to date back to 2003, when the suspects allegedly attracted investors through false claims about the company’s assets, police said. This involved all sorts of floated lies that there was the “very exciting” $294m demerger of Crown Pharmaceutical, which was going to buy a Russian drugs company, and Crown Development, an eastern European property company.Once the shares rose, the suspects sold their holdings, according to the Spanish police.

El Pais reported that the six men arrested were charged and released and that one of the suspects was a former Israeli Mossad agent - believed to be 2 metre tall, 30 lb gorilla Abraham “Avi” Arad, and said to be a mathematical genius - who is understood to be the same person as one of the men arrested on January 21 as the fascinating and much sought after, Abraham Hochman.

The SFO declined to comment on any plans to extradite the arrested men.
Officials at the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority declined to comment, as did those at the City of London Police and the London Stock Exchange.

In April Langbar’s founder, Mariusz Rybak, agreed to pay about 30 million pounds in April to settle a lawsuit brought by the company’s directors and the judge made him sell his house in Monaco. They alleged that Rybak falsified the company’s assets as part of a fraud against investors. Mrs Izabela Rybak (‘‘Mrs Rybak’’), and a company incorporated in Monaco, SCI Atol a company allegedly owned and controlled by Mrs Rybak and her daughter also seems to feature sonwehere in this tangled tale.

In 2007 Nabarro Wells, the finance house that floated Langbar, was fined £250,000 by the London Stock Exchange for failings related to the affair. NW has since April 2008 been part of Ambrian Capital plc , an AIM listed specialist investment banking group focused on the mining, oil & gas, alternative energy and new technology sectors.

Mariusz Rybak, is / was described as a Canadian technology executive, and Jean-Pierre Regli, a Swiss-Italian banker were the co-founders . It may surprise many to discover that they were on good terms with Barry Townsley and Simon Fox of stockbroker Insinger Townsley. Barry was of course also a great supporter of frank Donson's abortive bid to be Mayor of London.

Barry of course was/is a good friend of the Karaoke King (AKA Lord Levy and pal of the Qratet's envoy in the Middle East Tony Blair) who promised him and Earldom and half of Surrey, and a string of live in chorus girls as well as eternal life , in exchange for a loan to the New Labour Party. Read more here about the men who run David Miliband's favourite footie team. and post Monday, September 18, 2006 Panorama exposes the corruption at the heart of European football ...again. Also see Times 4/12/2005 A Crown farce: how Langbar mislaid £365m. Accountant David Buchler was involved at one time trying to sort out the mess.

See also Wikipedia entry on Langbar

What you see is definitely not what you get

To anyone familiar with physics and the nature of string instruments elegaic John Williams piece (who also provided music for Obama's election night rally in Chicago 's Grant Park) which appeared to be created by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Anthony McGill, a principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera, and the pianist Gabriela Montero seemed to defy reason.

It did.

The piece the listening millions heard was pre-recorded the previous Sunday at the Marine Barracks in Washington.

Resisting the idea of using their priceless string instruments ,Ma and Perlman used new instruments that looked as though they came straight out of the box at Macy's. Their earpieces were a dead giveaway as well.

Is this what O'Bomber means by the "transparency - the new touchstone" ?

Hank Paulson to help out Madoff clients with TARP funds - could there be anything more toxic ?

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, GMAC LLC Chairman J. Ezra Merkin and former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman who all invested in Wall Street veteran Bernard Madoff's alleged giant Ponzi scheme have called for Hank Paulson to use some of his TARP funds to cover their losses.

You can't find funds that are more toxic than this says Superwoman Nicola Horlick of Bramdean Alternatives Ltd. in London (10% of their funds have evaporated) and is supported by Union Bancaire Privee, Fairfield Greenwich Group and Tremont Capital Management of New York , Maxam Capital Management LLC reported a combined loss of $280 million on funds they had invested with Mr. Madoff.

BNP Paribas, Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc. and Neue Privat Bank in Zurich are also in the hole for billions on behalf of their private clients.

More > Gothamist
Seeking Alpha

Irish American flame haired temptress Samantha Power to kick ass for Obama on Foreign Policy

"I am confused by what's happened to Gordon Brown. I thought he was impressive."

March 2008 Daily Telegraph

"We fucked up in Ohio. In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win...... She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything... You just look at her and think, 'Ergh.' But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."
March 6th The Scotsman

The Obama transition team have now made it public that outspoken, Irish/ American flame haired temptress Samantha Power has been on board from the very beginning of the State Department transition team as a member of the National Security Team see change.gov .



An expert on genocide and a historian of the Bosnian genocide (A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide - "A Problem From Hell" is what Secretary of State Warren Christopher called the Bosnia war. ) when the Bosnians were aided by the US in the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Serbs in Krajina she naturally supported General Wesley Clark (who organised bombing Yugoslavia from 22,000 feet) in the 2004 Presidential elections. For the role of the US in "Operation Lightning Storm", see Friday, December 09, 2005 - Ante Gotovina - A man with interesting friends in Virginia

The current Economic Team for “Bold, Clear, Decisive Steps” was declared on Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary-designate
Larry Summers, Director-designate of the National Economic Council
Peter Orszag, Director-designate of the White House Office of Management and Budget

All said to be disciples of former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, *** one of the key Democratic architects of the financial deregulation undertaken in the Clinton years.

Christina Romer, Director-designate of the President's Council of Economic Advisors
Melody C. Barnes, Director-designate of the Domestic Policy Council
Paul Volcker, Chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board

This supports the view held by many observers that those printed in red form the core of the Zionist cabal led by Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that represents the views and policy positions of the AIPAC.

Meanwhile the world waits to see if Shrillary is going to get the nod for State.



Democrats who voted for Obama who thought they were getting a progressive, liberal minded, inclusive tolerant leader and not a man taking on the mantle of the worlds policeman.

UPDATE 3/12/08 WSJ :re *** Mr Rubin - 'No Line Responsibilities' What Robert Rubin did for his $115 million.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122826632081174473.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

" Mr. Rubin was reportedly critical to securing the latest federal bailout of Citi -- $20 billion in preferred shares plus taxpayers taking on most of the risk in a $306 billion portfolio of dodgy assets. This is on top of the $25 billion in Citi preferred shares that taxpayers bought in October. Giving Mr. Rubin the benefit of the doubt that he is the fixer who delivered the federal cash, this could make his paycheck appear more reasonable to many shareholders." .. regarding his US$115 Mn paycheck over the years.

Scottish con - man , even the politicians were fooled by his money , charm and wit

One has to feel sorry for excessively generous Liberal Democrat Party donor Michael Brown who has been convicted by a jury jury of three men and nine women of theft of the inherited millions of pounds (in excess of £8Mn.) from the notoriously tight fisted ex-Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards.

He was unanimously convicted four counts - two thefts, one of furnishing false information and one of perverting the course of justice between February 9, 2005 and April 17, 2006.

42 year old goatee bearded Michael Brown, disgracefully pretended his father was a Lord, (such people should be avoided at all costs) claimed connections with royalty and promised investors staggering returns of up to 50%.

Brown lived a life of lies and claimed he had clients "vetted" by US embassy officials and Special Branch before accepting their money, and the Glasgow-born businessman eventually netted some £36 - £2.4 million found it's way by way of a a company called 5th Avenue Partners without questions being asked into the Lib Dems' 2005 General Election war chest.

Brown besides hob-nobbing with the then alcoholic party leader Charles Kennedy also splashed out £2.5m on a private jet, £400,000 on an ocean-going yacht and £327,000 on an entertainment system for his home in Majorca.

The reason for feeling sorry is that he or his solicitor chose to use the services of that star at the bar , Julian Bevan, QC, who told London's Southwark Crown Court (evidently without much conviction) his client had done nothing wrong.

Probably the most inept and incompetent barrister around - who saw his client Sally Clark imprisoned for 2.5 years of a double murder of her children before she was acquitted. the first time he saw his client was when she appeared in the dock. see Sally Clark Part 1 2/17/2006

His appearances for the prosecution have been as outstanding - he will never be forgotten for the way he conducted the case for 93 days at a cost of £20Mn. against seven soldiers in the dock in connection with the death and the alleged assaults and ill-treatment received by Iraqi civilians held for a period of about 36 hours at a temporary detention facility in Basra on 14 and 15 September 2003. see - Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Julian Bevan ..The Star at the Bar

Only one was found guilty and that was an honest man, Cpl Donald Payne , 35, formerly of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, now of the renamed Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, who admitted inhumanely treating civilians in Basra four months after the official end of the war but not guilty to manslaughter and perverting the course of justice at the start of the first court martial of British troops accused of war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act (ICCA) 2001.

The Iraqis had been moved to a detention facility where they were repeatedly beaten, kicked and punched while handcuffed and hooded with sacks, made to maintain a stress position for prolonged periods and deprived of sleep. They were kept hooded with hessian sacks while the temperature rose to 60C. Some who pleaded thirst had water poured on their heads instead of being given drinks. "One civilian, Baha Mousa, died as a result, in part, from the multiple injuries he had received there being no less than 93 injuries on his body at the post-mortem stage, including fractured ribs and a broken nose."

However one might feel sorry for Julian Bevan, the gilded ornament of the bar, Brown has done a runner , so probably Bevan will end up without payment of his no doubt modest fees for representing this very effective Scottish con-man.

Presidential debate ? ... and who the fuck is Joe the Plumber with a Qtr Mill in his back pocket ?

The pics you don't get to see... Protesters and police clash outside Hofstra University on Oct. 15, 2008 in Hempstead, N.Y., venue of the third and final debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Several protesters were arrested and some were injured by equestrian police. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

For anyone seeking information, clear insights into the candidates policies, a rational and clear explanation of the "change" both candidates want, the overseas observer doesn't only suffer from sleep loss but boredom.

The nadir of rational thought and discussion was reached when the brown guy said - "in my 4 years we will make sure the US no longer relies on the Middle East and Venezuela for oil" - this followed the childlike understanding of economic matters revealed by the remark that - "We should no longer borrow 550 Billion from China to pay for Middle East Oil"

Well Mr Brown man , where ARE you going to rely on for your oil ? Certainly not the Caspian region where your brown sister Condi arrived the other day to a forest of cold shoulders and a complete lack of interest in the Nabucco pipeline. - for those interested see the article US standing in Caspian drips away By M K Bhadrakumar in the Asia Times this week.

Well you are not going to buy oil from Mr Chavez .. it's near, it's plentiful ? Oh we forgot that Mr Chavez nationalised the oilcos didn't he ? Shame on him as Mr Paulson told the 9 major banks he was buying their shares with more money the Gubment had printed ... fiat currency for Gubment by fiat. You have no choice Hank the Bank said.

Perhaps you are going to rely more on those nice Nigerian guys - whose Gubments regularly steal the revenues and launder their massive assets through Barclays Bank in London. Or maybe the colourful Government of Equatorial Guinea which Lebanese millionaire (millions made from shady deals in Nigerian oil) and close friend of Lord Mandelson , Eli Calil tried to overthrow.

"President" Obiang ( El Jefe The Boss or more formally Brig. Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo) has ruled Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer, since 1979.He was elected in 1989 as the only candidate. After other parties were permitted to organize, he was reelected in 1996 and 2002 elections which were described as fraudulent by international observers.

Obiang runs most corrupt, ethnocentric, oppressive and undemocratic states in the world with the support of the US whose oilcos (ExxonMobil Corp. and Amerada Hess Corp) have a major hold on the oil fields.

Obiang deposited more than half a billion dollars into accounts controlled by him and his family at Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C

Perhaps Angola ? Well in 2003 The London-based group Global Witness, which likes to investigate the oil business in Africa, estimated that at least $1.4 billion of Angola's energy revenue disappeared.

Perhaps Iraq ? Well oil production stays stubbornly at the levels pre ilegal invasion - maybe be due to the failure to monitor oil production as testified by Stuart W. Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

In addition to the estimated $16 billion loss of potential oil export revenue between January 2004 and March 2006 alone, Bowen says Iraq is paying billions of dollar to import refined petroleum products it needs.

US$16Bn stolen whilst the US Army keeps watch ... what happens when they pull out ?

The White man looked so like Aardvarks Wallace it was difficult to believe a word he said but boy did he rile the brown man when he started talking terrorism.

But terrism is a tricky business for the Repugs...So, when the question is whether to deport right-wing Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face charges for the in-air bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in 1976 (a classic act of terrorism that killed 73 people), the Bush administration finds any number of reasons why Posada must be allowed to live safely in the United States.

Suddenly the notion of “harbouring terrorists,” which President George W. Bush famously declared to be adequate grounds for invading a country anywhere in the world, doesn’t seem so bad – when his administration is doing the harbouring.

But then we are all terrists now .. there are more than 540,000 names on the U.S. government’s “terrorist watch list.” Some must deserve the government’s interest, but many others are there by mistake (in 2007, for instance, nearly 23,700 individuals’ names were removed from the database when it was determined they were improperly included).

Whoever gets in, and Lord Patel's money is on the white man / AKA Wallace .. we have 4 more years of US colonialism with an expanded military and big bucks for the military industrial complex.

Korean White Horse for Lehman turns out to be a Unicorn - Nemesis nigh ? Or is that ne... ei ...igh ?

State owned Korea Development Bank (with plans to privatise by 2012) may be riding to the rescue of Lehman Bros. with global gossip suggesting a straight cash infusion - enough to boost the shares 5% on Friday.

This apparently welcome news followed hot on the heels of reports that Lehman Chief Executive Officer Dick Fuld has been eagerly (if not desperately) looking for an emergency cash boost to mainline on from an overseas bank. Some reports talk of him anxiously eyeing the exit door to follow CFO the fragrant and beautiful Erin Callan.

So far, unlike other rivals with fictional balance sheets, Lehman has yet to make any large asset sales in hopes of boosting its bleeding balance sheet.The bank has more than US $60 Bn. (£32.4 Bn) of mortgage-related assets - and the market says they are hugely undercapitalized, even insolvent.

Another day, another dollar. Lehamn Bros, closed down today 6.66% or 96 cents down @ US$13.45 (They were down to US$12 a couple of weeks ago) At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 241.81 points, or 2.08 %, and the broader Standard &Poor's 500-stock index had declined 25.36 points, or 1.96 %.

Apparently normally inscrutable South Korean Financial Services Commission Chairman Jun Kwang-woo told reporters, when asked about KDB's proposed investment, "That would be an international marriage. Would you get married just after one or two blind dates?"

Cross-border acquisitions by South Korean companies should be led by the private sector, and state-run institutions such as KDB should play a "cheerleader role," Jun added and the shares dropped like a stone.

UPDATE : Tuesday Business Week Online Korean Bank Unlikely to Bid for Lehman by Moon Ihlwan. At the close shares were up 4.3% on the day @ US$14.03.

*** The pic of the lip glossed, nylon sheathed and gently sussurating thighs of Erin, as she exits her shining limo, is not added in any way, to add weight to the story but only in the sure and certain knowledge that one particular sad banker , and regular reader will now have to go and change his trousers.

Israeli Onshore Oil License - Tomco buys into Heletz fields

TomCo Energy (reg Isle of Man) announced yesterday that TomCo and its wholly owned Israeli subsidiary, Luton-Kennedy Limited (LKL) completed the acquisition of interests in two onshore petroleum licenses in Israel from Avenue Group Inc (AVNU.OB), a New York based US listed Oil & Gas Company, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Avenue Energy Israel Limited (together referred to as AEI). The interests acquired are a 50% interest in the Heletz-Blur-Kokhav Licence and a 25% interest in the integral Iris License, which include the original Heletz-Blur-Kokhav oilfield (Heletz).

At completion TomCo paid a US$1 million fee to Avenue Group Inc. in respect of the transfer of the 50% and 25% interests in the Heletz oil fields from Avenue to TomCo.

Discovered in 1955, The Heletz-Kokhav oilfield license, covers 60,000 acres in south Israel near Ashkelon.There are 3 defined fields , Heletz, Brur and Kochav .The first well (Heletz 1) was drilled to a depth of 4800 feet (1515 Meters) and recognized as a producing well on 12 October 1955.Peak production occurred between 1959-1967 when daily production was between 2,500 and 4,000 barrels of oil per day ("BOPD").

In a report last September by Avenue Group (OTCBB:AVNU.OB) Heletz is said to have produced 17.2 Million barrels of oil to date out of an estimated 19.1 Million barrels of primary recoverable reserves and has been and reamins the most prolific oil field discovered onshore Israel.

Lapidoth Israel Oil Prospectors Corp. Ltd., act as a contractor for the State of Israel and they have been producing approximately 70 BOPD from 6 producing wells. It was this company who originally doscovered the oil. Lapidoth was Deborah's husband.

Avenue Energy Israel Ltd (AEI) a subsidiary of Avenue Group (Sales 2006 : US$61,368 ) was issued a License September 2007 in which AEI agreed to a 3 year work program of field studies, well workovers, initiating 3D seismic and the drilling of a new well - the license would be lost if they didn't but if successful could result in a 30 year lease.

There are 533 idle wells to workover and some "significant" infill drilling potential on the acreage which is spaced at 80 acres offering higher density-drilling opportunities.There are also posibilities of waterflooding to increase recoverable oil reserves.The Israeli Government estimates the original oil-in-place (OOIP) for the field to be 50.7 million bbls with 2 million bbls of primary recoverable oil remaining, and studies suggest over 5 million bbls of secondary recovery potential may exist 19.1 - 17.2 already recovered) . A number of undrilled, deeper exploration prospects on the licenses have estimated potential in excess of 100 million bbls. Wow
Levi Mochkin, chairman and CEO of Avenue Group, (his brother Mendel Mochkin is Vice President) said in September , "Being awarded the Heletz-Kokhav License represents a transformational event for Avenue. Heletz-Kokhav, with its ability to generate near term cash flow from its base production, coupled with attendant meaningful upside, represents an excellent opportunity for Avenue and its shareholders. We also are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to significantly increase production levels at Heletz-Kokhav, thereby underscoring the significant oil and gas potential in Israel."

Uri Bar Ner is a Director and was after a long diplomatic career , Ambassador of Israel to Turkey from 1998-2001. He has held senior diplomatic positions in the United States, Europe and Asia and is a former Deputy General Director of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Bar-Ner currently acts as Vice Chairman of the American-Israel Friendship League, an organization that arranges missions of US dignitaries to Israel. Ambassador Bar-Ner holds a masters degree in political science from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and a bachelors degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A Press report when he took up the Turkish Ambassadorship says inter alia May 9th 1998 "Responding to the questions of reporters Bar Ner said Turkish-Israeli defense cooperation has been improved in the recent 3 or 4 years "

The Company geologist is Vladimir Gerchkov. He graduated in 1980 from the Oil and Chemistry University of Baku, Azerbaijan with a M.Sc. in Geology, Oil and Gas Deposits Prospecting. Mr. Gerchikov has over 20 years experience in the International exploration for oil and gas prospects and production in Russia, Vietnam, Israel, Colombia, and the Caspian region. He has extensive experience in the Sakhalin Islands where he was part of a Russian-Japanese joint venture that discovered the large Chaivo-sea and Odoptu-sea offshore fields. He worked in Vietnam where he was chief geologist on the rig and drill ship which discovered the large White Tiger and Dragon fields.

Howard Crosby, TomCo's CEO, commented. "To have the potential for in excess of 100 million bbls at deeper levels is truly exciting and would, on its own, transform your company into a serious E&P player within the oil & gas sector.

Indeed it would. Tomco shares rose 0.23 p on the news a to 2.05 p a rise of 12.33%

Howard Crosby and John Ryan were directors of Cadence Resources which rose in value from under US$1 million in 2001, when the company adopted its oil and gas investment strategy, to over $450 million in June 2006 when Mr Crosby stepped down as director. Howard and John May, FD, are also directors of Platinum Diversified Mining Inc (now ICM) which acquired International Consolidated Minerals Inc for $240m and remains quoted on AIM.

Not one for the widders 'n' orfans.

Commons Metronet Fiasco report due as PFI funding is threatened as Monoline Insurers of PFI Bonds struggle for credibility and new credit lines

The House of Commons’ Transport Select Committee chaired by vinegar faced Gwyneth Dunwoody (see pic - details below) publishes their report into the London Underground and its Public-Private Partnership Agreements tommorow.

High powered, highly paid consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) (£21.4 Mn.as lead Financial advisors and with a large PFI practice of 132 projects across the UK, ) Ernst & Young (£1 Mn.) , and KPMG (£2.4 Mn. ) were paid over £25m for advising on this wonderful deal which has collapsed leaving the tax / London rate payer with an embarassingly large bill to pay to simply keep the Underground working.

That of course was only a small part of the total fees of £445 Mn in fees the The Public Accounts Committee found had been paid to put the 30 year project together : more than the equity put in by Metronet's shareholders -"world-class companies"; Thames Water, Balfour Beatty, French electricity supplier EDF (employees of Pm's bro.), Canadian train maker Bombardier and engineers WS Atkins.

Metronet had responsibility for renewing nine of the twelve lines on the entire London Underground network and were projected to spend £17 billion during its 30-year contract - of which £7 Bn. would be spenty in the first 7.5 years.

Ernst & Young got two bites at the cherry because they are now handling the administration which Alan Bloom of E&Y admitted to the Committee in November was costing £13m a day to run - not including work that Metronet is still contracted to carry out - meaning more costs for prospective new owners Transport for London - who had guaranteed 95% of the £2bn debt the five-member Metronet consortium took out which carry commercial interest rates and can be called in by the banks in 6 months. Loans from the European Investment Bank that are paying for infrastructure investment in the London Underground are insured with Monoline insurer Ambac (see below).

Bloom ( who guided Railtrack back into public hands) also refused to disclose information relating to the value that had been put on the ailing company by advisers Rothschild. 'It's very confidential, he said.


Train Naming ceremony: (From left) MD of London Underground Tim O'Toole, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, John Smith and Metronet Chief Executive Andrew Lezala with Gwyneth Dunwwody MP at the naming of Metronet's Class 66 engineering locomotives

Gwyneth Dunwoody, named by Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chair of the Parliamentary Transport Committee.
METRO-LAND, named by Tim O'Toole
Metronet Pathfinder, named by Sam Ellis, a 27-year-old project engineer who entered Metronet through its graduate scheme
Harry Beck, named by John Smith, MD of GB Railfreight honouring the designer of the modern tube map.
Sir Edward Watkin, chosen by David Jukes, winner of a competition run by RAIL magazine. Sir Edward was the pioneering chairman of the Metropolitan Railway

PS : Historically, funding for PFI came from bank debt, but bonds have proved an attractive form of long term financing. Bonds require an international rating. To secure a good rating and lower the cost of funding, companies buy insurance for their bond issues from Monolines. Monoline insurers in the UK are US owned AMBAC UK and MBIA - for example a £30m bond issue by the Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group, for the Greenwich University PFI in 2004 .

They were at it again jut before Christmas ... NEW YORK, December 20, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) announced today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided a triple-A credit enhancement for the financing (£146.4 million) of new and updated roads in Northern Ireland. This financing was completed as part of the Government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) investment in the provision (of) transport services.

NEW YORK, December 6, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) said today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided a triple-A credit enhancement for a major U.K. hospital financing (£192.65 million ) completed as part of the British Government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) investment in the provision of health care services. Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust (“the Trust”) procured the scheme for a new 5-storey hospital and a multi-storey car park. The hospital is situated approximately 40 miles to the north east of London.

NEW YORK, November 26, 2007-- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) said today that Ambac Assurance UK Limited recently provided triple-A credit enhancement to two major U.K. hospital financings completed as part of the British government's ongoing Private Finance Initiative ("PFI") investment in the provision of health care services.

The two bond issues by Consort Healthcare in September 2007 were for GBP 122 million (Salford Hospital) and GBP 78m (Tameside Hospital).

"These monoline insurers, the biggest of which are MBIA and Ambac, are hanging on to their crucial triple-A credit ratings by a thread. " Financial Times today

"US insurance bonds meltdown bad news for UK" James Doran in New York, Evening Standard today.

"Massachussets Regulator Subpoenas Bond Insurers MBIA, Ambac" Reuters Today

Red Ken has trouble with wind : It is someone else's fault- the race is not to the Swift Mk. I

Peter Hulme Cross: (One London Party member of the London Assembly Environment Committee) Please can the Mayor update me on progress with the faulty wind turbines removed from the LDA head office roof?

Ken Livingstone: The wind turbines were removed due to a product recall (Swift turbines manufactured by Renewable Devices in stalled Nov. 2006 and recalled after 6 weeks). The LDA is pursuing the installation of replacement wind turbines following the re-engineering of the software that controls the wind turbines as soon as possible.

At the time the Great and Noble Leader said: "This innovative renewable energy scheme will provide clean, green electricity for the new headquarters of the London Development Agency and the London Climate Change Agency. It demonstrates my commitment for the Greater London Authority organisations to lead the way in taking measures to tackle climate change through reducing carbon emissions.

"The London Climate Change Agency has provided the expertise for this project which will act as a living example of how the Agency can help other organisations to become more sustainable in their use of energy."

Barry Marsh, Director of Solar Technologies, the contractor installing the project at Palestra, said: "This is a renewable energy first and complements our other renewable energy projects"

The installation of the wind turbines on Palestra was supported by an Energy Saving Trust grant of £155,276 under the DTI Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme. The total cost was £436,000 and the project comprised an 84kW renewable energy system - a combination of 63kWp of photovoltaic panels on the roof and 21kW of fourteen building-integrated wind turbines also on the roof. The combined renewable energy system was designed to generate 3,397,000kWh of renewable electricity . The total amount of electricity produced since the solar panels were installed and connected to the distribution network in October 2006 to September 2007 is 45,264kWh (11 months operation) and was claimed to exceed the predicted output of the solar panels. The economic value of this electricity was said by the LDA to be £3,560 in its first year of operation. Also see here see here

On the 8th January the LDA announced that they will trial the new Swift II wind turbine - which has been developed by Renewable Devices using re-engineered software and different construction to the original Swift Turbines - and one other turbine. Full installation will be subject to the results of the trial installation and is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2008.

Nothing in the LDA is ever straightforward or simple and "Scottish and Southern Energy have refused to re-install the wind turbines on behalf of Solar Technologies Ltd. Therefore the London Climate Change Agency ( LCCA ) has decided to re-install the new turbines outside of the Solar Technologies Ltd original contract."

Sounds a splendid way of ;
a) Spending the tax payers money
b) Demonstrating how uneconomic, such small scale "renewable energy" schemes are (Capital Payback 100 years ?).

The charming, polite, helpful Rachel Clark at the LDA Media Team on 020 7593 8616 or email rachelclark@lda.gov.uk. will answer ay questions you might have.

Red Ken - Drunk in Charge

If you watch Martin Bright's Dispatches documentary on Channel Four tonight you will read Tom Griffin's posting about Dean Godson's neoconservative crowd at Policy Exchange.
and the history of the Godson family / father (US labour attache at the London Embassy) / brother, and their fascinating role in post war political smears - including the work of Brian Crozier (Institute for the Study of Conflict) , Lord Chalfont (who gave Dieogo Garcia (less it's troublesome inhabitants) , Woodrow Wyatt squirrel expert and father to the luscious Petronella AKA "Petsy" bicycle of the right and the mother of Boris Johnson's aborted love child, and latterly to David Frum, Telegraph/Spectator writers Charles Moore and Frank Johnson who have been so helpful to Martin.

It doesn't mean of course that Red Ken isn't a conceited, hopeless, arrogant and aggressive drunk who has happily diverted his gaze whilst some of the people who surround him have continued to benefit remarkably from having their hands in the trough of GLA funds... or benefit from ... well ... the Olympics is going to benefit many.... many people with interests in the Thames Estuary.. and they aren't all Ken's friends.

There is not shortage of shits, shysters and free - loaders amongst the Metropolitan muttering classes.

Who the Fuck is Frank Luntz ?

Indebted to Aangirfan ( and the nuns) for this introduction to Newnight's favourite pollster Frank Luntz ... apologies before you view ...you will have to see clips of Fix TV.

Could there be any connection...

...between the diving pound sterling against the Euro and the willingness of the BOE to spirit up (and away ) unimagineable sums of money to support a second mortgage lender / bank (no make that 4th string) bank ...?

I only ask.