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.

UK Government does more mean less ?

From a diverse range of sources it appears that the Brown Gubment payroll has swelled even more ..

1.There are now 121 ministers, whips or law officers.

2. The eager beaver crew has also got bigger Paul Waugh says ( adding in 5 backbenchers with titles as regional ministers' assistants and 2 who are "government representatives" (ie, "envoys"), 44% of the all Labour MPs have an official government post of some kind.

3. After his shuffle the Brown Cabinet has 23 members ...another 10 ministers have the right to attend on some or all occasions.

4. Canny Scot at saving the bawbees Brown has secured the services of 13 ministers or whips working without a ministerial salary.


The indefatigable and glamorous Torygraph hackette Rosa Prince ( see pic) tells us she has been truffling around the 15 members of the 2001 Labour intake who signed the letter calling for Tony Blair to shuffle off his immortal coil and let Gordy take on the heavy responsibilities of state.

Well their loyalty has been rewarded ;
Chris Bryant - Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Tom Watson - Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (described by Tony as "disloyal, discourteous and wrong" for signing the letter urging him to go.)
Sion Simon - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Wayne David - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Wales Office
Ian Lucas - Assistant Government Whip
Hywel Francis - Chairman, Welsh Affairs Select Committee
Mark Tami - Assistant Government Whip
Kevan Jones - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence
Mark Lazarowicz - Special representative of the Prime Minister on carbon trading working with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Ann McKechin - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scotland Office - and one time romatically linked with Kelvinside MP Gorgeous George Galloway.

Chris Mole - Assistant Government Whip

Which leaves Khalid Mahmood, ***Jim Sheridan, David Wright, David Hamilton still waiting for the phone to ring.

*** he took the seat from geoff (now unbelievably Lord Rooker) who sponsors the Improving The Prospects Of People Living In Areas Of Multiple Deprivation In England and he chairs the chairs the Project Advisory Group a member of which is Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs (Oxford First) who is the Director of the Barrow-Cadbury Trust (and a Sikh)- she is also a member of the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands . She also stood against Mr Khalid ( a community development officer ) as a Labour Party candidate and lost amongst tales of vote rigging and was said in scurrilpous articles to be a bedmate of the noble Lord.

Labour's Perry Barr branch executive committee voted to continue campaigning to have the selection of Khalid (a Kashmiri Muslim) over-turned and to force an investigation into an unusually large number of postal votes cast in Mr Mahmood's favour.

Almost half the 290 members in Handsworth ward, a Mahmood stronghold, applied for a postal vote - a virtually unprecedented percentage in constituency selection meetings.

Pre-election complaints against Mahmood included his sudden disappearance from Birmingham for over a year shortly after first being elected city councillor, and the mysterious and unexplained collapse of the council-backed British Kashmiri Association with huge debts in 1994.
see also Khalid Mahmood: A long-term embarrassment for Labour

Mr Mahmood is probably not ministerial material under Gordon. But watch out for the rise and rise of Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs (pic)

This hurts us more than it will hurt you.

"“promoting a competitive financial services sector leading the world and supporting continued economic innovation.”...remeber that was the Bush plan ... now Hank the Bank according to the Guradian today ...An insider said Paulson dictated the terms after summoning chief executives on Monday. "It wasn't a debate."

More bollocks from Hank ... Government owning a stake in any private U.S. company is objectionable to most Americans, me included. Yet the alternative of leaving businesses and consumers without access to financing is totally unacceptable." ...This hurts me more than it hurts you.

Harvey Pitt briefly held the Chairmanship of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for two years until 2003 when he resigned on election day.

He is quoted by the BBC as having said yesterday on BBC World News, "We've got a 21st century financial services marketplace and a 19th century regulatory model."

He further added that there was a lack of transparency both within and between organisations and businesses in the financial / insurance sectors in the US.

Belatedly he has placed his finger on the problem that has been glaringly evident to many outside the incestuous world of international finance. The current problems of credit lockdown are a SYMPTOM not a CAUSE.

The falire to close down credit both with individuals (when were you last chased down a mall to open anew Credit card ?) businesses but also between banks and quasi (investment) banks - resulting in the soaring LIBOR rate (whose calculation has been rigged for years - see Friday, April 18, 2008 British Bankers Association caught lying about LIBOR rates ) only reflects that the gig is up for the lying bankers.

Banks of all shapes, sources and sizes have been producing fraudulent balance sheets and declaring non-existent profits and paying massive bonuses and dividends for years -

1. Lloyds bank was offering a higher yield on shares than on their best deposit accounts.
2. 60% of Sacks of Gold Gross Trading profit went in remuneration of staff.
3. leveraging of 30 - 1 was (and still is) common , ie they borrowed £30 for every £1 deposits.

The result is not lack of confidence but confusion, wrought by criminal behaviour of many (but not all) - politicians bereft of ideas have decided to throw the taxpayers money at the problem.

Hank was on the blower again the last few days but we couldn't help him... he had this crazy idea of buying into banks, taking preference shares with a 5% coupon (so he gets his (taxpapyers) money back in 20 years).

Apparently hidden away somewhere was the power for him to do this with the money in his swag bag.

Can you imagine the organisation that must be put in place to oversee this massive shareholding in banks ? Who will staff it ?

Maybe the guys lining Wall Street round the corner from the door marked EXIT at Lehman Bros.

In the UK Gordon Brown...

...says he doesn't want to run banks... Ho.Ho.Ho...This on the day when the Cabinet are ready to give the go ahead to having a National database on every individual which will have details of our web browsing, phone calls .....?

Is this the end of the beginning ? NO way...not even the begining of the start of the early part of the financial holocaust that is on it's way. Especially on those nations where financial jugglery has overtekn real economies, where people make things and sell things with worth, asset value and utility.

Next up for a shock horror explosion of concern and worry is the insurance industry.

One good bit of nes is that the EU is dismantling the nonsense of carbon trading .... Old Lord Patel's Almanac says you will here no more about Global warming in 5 years time as wesern economies fight energy costs to keep their populations fed and watered.

A free Web-based Virtual Computer for every human being - G.ho.st

G.ho.st ...the shortest, neatest, url around and the product of an extrordinary alliance. Palestinian programmers in Ramallah and Israeli programmers in Israel who meet in a petrol station cafe on the Dead Sea or by teleconferencing.


G.ho.st (the Global Hosted Operating SysTem pronounced “ghost”), offers what they term ,Web-based G.ho.st Virtual Computer (VC) free of charge to every human being.

The G.ho.st Virtual Computer already allows users to access their desktop, files, settings and apps from any browser. Now they have launched a G.ho.st Mobile service which allows the same users to access their files, settings and apps from any mobile phone! The main VC service is live at http://g.ho.st/ and the new Mobile service may be accessed from any mobile phone browser at http://G.ho.st/m .

The G.ho.st VC, together with G.ho.st Mobile allows a user to keep their entire digital life professionally hosted at G.ho.st, which in turn uses Amazon.com’s data center (AWS). A user can then access heir digital life from any browser or mobile phone.

The solution requires no administration, such as installing software, backing-up or syncing, and is provided completely free of charge. For people who travel or use different devices in different locations, the G.ho.st solution provides a complete alternative to Microsoft Windows® + Windows CE which are tied to specific devices, are expensive and require syncing and other administration

Of course if you want your entire digital history accessible to an Israeli based hitech software outfit that is a choice you are welcome to make.

G.ho.st lead investor is Benchmark Capital which operates in California and Israel, has US$2.5 Bn. under management, and is known for such successes as EBay and MySQL.

Several individual investors are also claimed , including ex-Microsoft executives and veteran industry investors, and have participated in investment rounds in a personal capacity. These included Paul Maritz, (Zimbabwean / S African) who managed the development of Windows at Microsoft(which he left in 2000). Prior to that, he spent five years at Intel Corporation.

The plastic newspaper gets nearer the street - Plastic Logic reaches take - off soon.

We first brought your attention to Plastic Logic in March 2007 - Enfucell Oy's SoftBattery™ - a solution for a problem with their "flexible active-matrix displays" (which they were exhibiting at the Flex-Idis seminar Kings College Cambridge 29th March 2007).

Things have moved on since then - the first factory was opened in Dresden In early September and the company site video demonstrates the use of the technology in supporting paperless newspaper (or any other) production.

The Dresden factory (started construction May 2007) is, they claim, a fully automated and integrated facility that has now begun volume production of portable displays based on Plastic Logic's patented and proprietary plastic electronics technology.

CEO Richard Archuleta said portentously , "Today marks an extraordinary achievement for our company and the plastic electronics industry. It also marks a major milestone in preparation for the delivery of our first consumer electronics product early next year."

Plastic Logic's core , proprietary and heavily patented technology solves the critical issue in manufacturing high-resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates using a low-temperature. The process is simpler than conventional glass silicon processes, and produces active matrix displays that are thinner, lighter and more robust than glass.

Founded in 2000 by researchers out of the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory, the Company has received more than US$200 million in funding from leading international technology firms and investors. Plastic Logic has research and development in Cambridge, England, high-volume, state-of-the-art manufacturing in Dresden, Germany, and executive management, product engineering, sales and marketing headquartered in Mountain View, California. NYT article September 19, 2008, Will This E-Reader Replace Papers? iRex Reader device launched ...Amazon Kindle has sold 300K devices so far.

Typhoon now to be used in air to ground support role ?

Lt Col Mark Kenyon who is the top guy with 2 Lancs tells me about his whizz bang ride as a passenger in a Typhoon with 29(R) Squadron.

This involved the simulated interdiction of a hostile aircraft from the runway at RAF Akrotiri.

" the feeling of speed was tremendous"

"2 Lancs will be relying on such aircraft to support them in the air to ground role in future operations "

?

Air to ground ?

They have a cannon which they cannot and won't use. They have dropped one single laser guided (Paveway) bomb - only with the help of another aircraft to "light" the target.

Are we going to soak the Taliban in air to ground missiles at £350K per throw ?

Very interesting article in Flight about the German experience with Typhooon / Eurofighter here

Jörg Haider - killed in car / alone / at night

The VW Phaeton V6 car in which Jorg Heider was killed just outside Klagenfurt ina 50 Km zone.

Traudl Herrhausen, is the widow of Alfred Herrhausen. He was was the chairman of the Deutsche Bank , West Germany's largest, and a major member of the German business elite who had driven Germany's post war economic success - whilst East Germany declined.

She has maintained a public silence about his violent assassination on November 30th 1989.

His death was the result of plot executed with flawless military precision. A sack of armour piercing explosive on a parked bicycle was triggered remotely by an infra red beam as the first of the 3 car convoy passed. An observer then activated the device.

Construction workers had previously carefully laid the wire connecting the bomb and it's trigger under the pavement in the days preceding this extraordinarily well planned event - on a route he rarely used.

His death (it was said) represented a remarkable 3rd generation of the Red Army Faction utilising new techniques and technology.

With the wall down, known Red Army cadres who had been previously been granted political asylum in East Germany were rounded up. Beginning in about 1980, the Stasi granted refuge to 10 members of the Red Army Faction in East Germany and gave them assumed identities.

They all had solid alibis.



The car in which Alfred Herrhausen was killed November 30th 1989.

Lord King saw it all coming , how it would happen ... and did nothing.

Lord Mervyn King's address to the assembled City Glitterati at the Mansion House on Wednesday 20 June 2007 will be seen historically as the turning point when the double firsts in Threadneedle Street finally understood the mess they had overlooked (in the sense they had been responsible for) ...but which they had overlooked (in the sense of ignored what was happening) ...

Well worth a re - visit (We brought this to your attention previously)

Your decision to grant independence to the Bank of England ten years ago is widely and rightly regarded as a fundamental improvement to the conduct of economic policy in this country, and we in the Bank are grateful to you for giving us the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of an independent central bank.

This is of course a delusion - for example King , 30 odd working days later he was asked by Loyds Bank to be allowed to take over Northern Wreck with support from the BOE but handed this hot potato very swiftly (within hours) to the Chancellor in the lievely expectation that he would refuse. Which he did.

Financial stability more generally is a topical concern in financial markets. More than
one banker and merchant in the City has said to me recently, “I cannot recall a time when credit was more easily available”. How worried should we be?

His answer takes some time to deliver - it is one that changed the world. It's force has been overlooked, misjudged and largely unheard.

Securitisation is transforming banking from the traditional model in which banks
originate and retain credit risk on their balance sheets into a new model in which credit risk is distributed around a much wider range of investors. As a result, risks are no longer so concentrated in a small number of regulated institutions but are spread across thefinancial system. That is a positive development because it has reduced the market failure associated with traditional banking – the mismatch between illiquid assets and liquid liabilities – that led Henry Thornton and, later, Walter Bagehot to promote the role of the Bank of England as the “lender of last resort” in a financial crisis.

Distributing credit risk around may spread it, but it fails to reduce it. The result is that the "the mismatch between illiquid assets and liquid liabilities" is further from understanding, monitoring and control. The total risk is the same but identification is more difficult and deliberate concealment on many, many more balance sheets, not only within the control of the FSA but often offfshore is not only made possible , but certain. Control by the Central Bank has evaporated.

As we have remarked many times the bnk of England was out of control - int he sense that the Bank of England was not in control.... and the supine fucker at the top just let the good times roll.

New and ever more complex financial instruments create different risks. Exotic instruments are now issued for which the distribution of returns is considerably more complicated than that on the basic loans underlying them. A standard collateralised debt obligation divides the risk and return of a portfolio of bonds, or credit default swaps, into tranches. But what is known as a CDO-squared instrument invests in tranches of CDOs. It has a distribution of returns which is highly sensitive to small changes in the correlations of underlying returns which we do not understand with any great precision. The risk of the entire return being wiped out can be much greater than on simpler instruments. Higher returns come at the expense of higher risk.

Mervyn has identified the increase in risk - he fails to say what he intends to do about it, unless the key is here ...

Whether in banking, reinsurance or portfolio management, risk assessment is a matter of judgement as much as quantitative analysis. Ever more complex instruments are designed almost every day. Some of the important risks that could affect all instruments – from terrorist attacks, invasion of computer systems, or even the consequences of a flu pandemic – are almost impossible to quantify, and past experience offers little guide.

Then he adds a lesson we all learnt at a very early age... are we to assume this modest understatement encapsulates a policy ?

Be cautious about how much you borrow is not a bad maxim for each and every one of us here tonight.

The wonderfully understated double negative is a kicker - he continues....

The development of complex financial instruments and the spate of loan arrangements without traditional covenants suggest another maxim: be cautious about how much you lend, especially when you know rather little about the activities of the borrower. It may say champagne – AAA – on the label of an increasing number of structured creditinstruments. But by the time investors get to what’s left in the bottle, it could taste rather flat. Assessing the effective degree of leverage in an ever-changing financial system is far from straightforward, and the liquidity of the markets in complex instruments, especially in conditions when many players would be trying to reduce the leverage of their portfolios at the same time, is unpredictable. Excessive leverage is the common theme of many financial crises of the past.

To which he adds ..

Are we really so much cleverer than the financiers of the past?

So there we have it , Uncle Mervyn's Old fashioned Home Remedy for Financial Stability ...be careful how much you borrow - be careful how much you lend

Nearer at home the rate at which bankers charged for interbank lending reflected Uncle Mervyn's Old fashioned Home Remedy for Financial Stability be careful how much you borrow - be careful how much you lend .... was kicking in.

Read the full speech here
Lord King's silence during the last few weeks has been deafening.

Hank's unresolved dilemma and the power of prayer

Apologies for the break in transmission since Friday . It has been rather busy round here this weekend since Hank called up having read - Hanks Dilemma - How to get a Goodeal for both Uncle Sam and the cousins on Wall Street .

Still he has US$700 very, very, very, big ones to splurge with, and want's to get on the inside track about what Gordon and Alastair are up to. We have to tell him that Gordon is on the other line hanging on for some goodideas(sic).

Anyway the bottom line this side of the turbid fishpond is that the UK Government now own ..

Northern Rock ... at least £27 Billion in the hole so far
Bradford and Bingley .... Ditto £4 Bn for those nice Spanish gents and £45 Bn (and counting) for te "assets"
Royal Bank of Scotland .... Ditto £20 Bn for a 60 % chunk - the result- shares drop even further in the market. Down 7%
HBOS / Lloyds ...Ditto £17 Bn for 41% odd chunk - the result- shares drop even further in the market. HBOS down 27% Lloyds down 18%

Plus all interbank loans guaranteed

Like rats in a corner, the tax payers money has been pissed away supporting banks who for years have been producing under the noses of the triumvirate of regulators fraudulent balance sheets, declaring non-existent profits and leaking capital away in unsupported dividend payments.

The whole principle of unregulated markets is to let them fail.

Now we have endless needs for even greater taxation, more unemployment, dearer food costs, dearer energy costs.

Remarkably the Government have just ensured the latter by handing their 33% of British Energy to EDF (AKA Mr Sarkozy's French Government).

So we explained the follow of Gordon's plan to Hank and he said..."Well Lord Patel what do we do now ?"

Lord Patel asked Hank if he was a religious man.

Hank said he was, maybe he choked a bit on that.

Well said Lord Patel ..."the best thing to do now is to pray"

Wall Street feels the "surge" .......

Lord Patel's favourite bank - Bank Santander , (STD)has taken up the remaining part of Wyomissing, Pa.-based Sovereign Bancorp.(SOV: Sovereign Bancorp Inc) in which they bought 24.9% three years ago.
The WSJ reported late yesterday they would announce buying the company shares at the Friday close price of US $3.81-a-share, or US$2.53 billion.

When they bought in Santander had an option to pay $38-a-share for the entire bank - it is unlikely that they paid anuythign above Friday's price.

Sovereign shares have dropped nearly 80% on the year and 60% in the last month - Long time Head Jay Sidhu collected his lunch pail recently - last week named Paul Perrault was named as CEO to replace Joseph Campanelli, who ran the bank following Jay Sidhu.

Morgan Stanley feels the heat from the Asian Tigers

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MTU )has closed the deal on a US$9 Bn. equity investment in Morgan Stanley (MS) which gives it a whopping 21% stake. (Press release)

MUFG has picked up US$7.8 Bn of perpetual non-cumulative convertible preferred stock with a 10% dividend and a conversion price of $25.25 a share. Under the revised terms of the deal, MUFG also gets US$1.2 billion of non-convertible preferred stock with a 10% dividend.

Morgan Stanley shares closed Friday at US$9.68 (80% down YTD).MS have slimmed down and now claim that , " As of today, total assets are now under $900 billion, down from $987 billion at August 31, 2008 "

Regulatory approval obtained

" The investment has been approved by the Federal Reserve in the United States and other key global regulators. Additionally, “early termination” under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act has been granted by the U.S. government. The transaction is expected to close promptly after the expiration of the Federal Reserve five-day post-approval waiting period."

Sarah Palin - was well prepared for Joe Biden

Sent by one of Lord Patel's many female admirers who retains the entertaining and juvenile belief that Mr Obama will, come November ,(f he is still alive) be beaten by Mr McCain (if he is still alive).

Kaupthing - The Bank that liked to say YES and Mr Putin stirs up the mix with NATO and Japan

Iceland's government has seized control of Kaupthing Bank hf, the nation's biggest bank, which makes a royal flush for them of septic banks as the Icelandic banking industry has finally ( and predictably) collapsed under the massive weight of foreign debt.

Iceland is guaranteeing Kaupthing's domestic deposits and taking control of banks in an attempt to provide a ``functioning domestic banking system,'' the country's Financial Supervisory Authority said in a statement on its Web site this aftrenoon....

"Kaupthing Bank has now requested that the Icelandic Financial Supervisory
Authority, in accordance with the provisions of the new Act no. 125/2008, which
was passed into law because of the unusual circumstances in the financial
market, assume the power of Kaupthing Bank shareholders' meeting. Furthermore,
the entire board of directors of the bank has resigned. "

The banks are unable to finance about US $61 billion of debt, 12 times the size of the economy, - Pop approx 300K. The collapses have affected 420,000 British and Dutch customers, and frozen assets held by universities, hospitals, councils and even London's police force. The government is seeking a loan from Russia and may ask for aid from the International Monetary Fund to help guarantee deposits.

Trading in the krona ground to a halt today after the central bank yesterday ditched an attempt to fix the exchange rate at 131 krona to the euro. Nordea Bank AB, the biggest Scandinavian lender, said the krona hadn't been traded on the spot market today, while the last quoted price was 340 per euro, compared with 122 a month ago.

Banking Boom

Assets at Iceland's three biggest banks, Glitnir Bank hf, Landsbanki Island hf and Kaupthing, had grown five-fold since 2004 as the companies expanded massively . Most of that expansion was debt financed.

The cost of borrowing in dollars for three months in London soared to the highest level this year today as coordinated interest-rate reductions worldwide failed to revive lending among banks for any longer than a day, partly on concern over who holds Icelandic debt.

U.K. taxpayers will probably face a bill of at least £2.4 Bn. (US$4.1 billion) to compensate about 300,000 U.K. holders of accounts at Icesave, a unit of Landsbanki says the Financial Times .

All Iceand equity markets remain closed until (at least) Oct. 13.

Kaupthing's entire board of directors has resigned and the FSA has appointed a committee to wind up the lender's business, the bank said in a statement today.

The debts of the Icelandic banking system are too big for the government to repay.

The Icelandic population cannot assume responsibility for the private debt that the banks have built up yet it appears that Debt Rating Agencie were providing AA ratings for the banks

Kaupthing has 5 billion euros of debt obligations maturing, Glitnir's debt obligations over the same period are about 4 billion euros and Landsbanki has about 2 billion euros to finance.

Russia move to save NATO member state

Iceland has commenced talks with Russia on Tuesday to secure a loan of as much as 4 billion euros (U$5.48 billion), Prime Minister Geir Haarde said late yesterday. He added that loans from the IMF and Russia ``are not mutually exclusive,'' though the government hadn't, ``at this point at least,'' asked the IMF for a standby loan or an economic program.

See Sunday, October 08, 2006 Iceland - Russians pay a visit - unannounced - two Russian bombers flew through Icelandic airspace last Friday 30th September 2006(the day the last US forces left).

US pulls Defence Forces out of IcelandIn - a little noticed move, Geir Haarde the Icelandic Foreign Minister told the Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament), on March 16th 2006 that president Bush had made the final decision to end the permanent deployment of US forces in Iceland based on the recommendation of the US secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld. (See Wednesday, April 05, 2006 Arctic warms ? Iceland market cools down ?

It is expected that all forces will be withdrawn from the Keflavik base by September 2006.Icelandic employees (approx 600) have been informed that they would all be dismissed by October 1st.

In a related news story yesterday ...

Japan scrambled fighter planes on Wednesday intercepting Russian bombers on a "training exercise" over the Sea of Japan.

"Four Japanese air force F-15 fighters escorted the strategic aviation crews as they flew over the Sea of Japan," Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.

Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets were also sent up to join the bombers after the Japanese intercept to ensure that the Russian Tu-22 bombers, known in NATO parlance as "Backfire" bombers, completed their mission as planned, he said.

The Russian bombers were sent on the patrol as part of Russia's "Stability 2008" military manoeuvres in the region, the reports quoted Drik as saying.

Mr Robert Tchenguiz

It is with very deep regret that Lord Patel notes that Mr Tchenguiz sold his 10% stake (168 Mn) in Sainsbury's, at 250p a share (bought at 520-590p per share)through Kaupthing, the troubled Icelandic bank. This follows the forced sale of the Tgenguiz 25 % stake in Mitchells & Butlers, the pub group, for £137m to the British billionaire Joe Lewis (Who lost US$800 Mn on Bear Stearns) on Tuesday. Aaron Brown and Tim Smalley who are mouthpieces for Mr T have left the board.

Mr Tchenguiz seems is ready to sell his 22 % stake in SCi Entertainment, the listed holding company of Eidos, the publisher of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider computer games. Aaron Brown, the mouth piece for Mr Tchenguiz at his investment vehicle R20, stepped down from SCi Entertainment's board yesterday.

Shares in SCi Entertainment fell by 15.6%.

Michael Todd's murder refuses to be cleared up.

There was no mention of foul play or murder at the very brief inquest into the unexpected death of Michael Todd (ACPO head of terrorism) who was found dead on Snowdon on March 10th 2008.

The coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones , recorded a narrative verdict, suggesting that Mr Todd had died of exposure in conditions where the wind chill factor was -18C (0F) “when his state of mind was affected by alcohol, a drug and confusion in his personal life”.

The Times reports that Todd had drunk most of a bottle of gin, laced with the non-prescription sleeping drug Nytol, and then, in a confused, possibly hallucinatory and hypothermic state, stumbled or slid 300ft on to the snow-covered slope below, where he lay dying with his head resting on his forearms.

An unopened bottle of champagne had been discarded or dropped and was found in the snow.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Evans told the inquest at the Gywynedd Council offices in Caernarfon that Mr Todd sent 319 texts to friends, colleagues and his lover between Thursday, March 6 and the following Monday night, when he was found dead. (sending texts in the dark with a wind chill of -18) - why not use the voice ?.

The Daily Telegraph report that a (un-named senior police officer contacted around 10 women to tell them that they may take leave during the inquest if they wish.

One source said: "All the women in the GMP suspected of having an affair with Mr Todd or named as being linked with him will be offered paid leave. They (were) advised to keep a low profile during the inquest.

The inquest contained many curious features ;

1. Recipients of the text messages sent by Todd were not identified other than by a coded alphabetical letter.

2. The time and location of the sending of those texts - especially on the fatal Monday have not been made public. This is important as pres rports state that the initital searches were a wild goose chase based on wrong (?) information about the location of Todd's phone.

3. The finders of the body off the well worn track in atrocious weather (the worst storm in 10 years) were not identified nor it appears gave evidence.

4. The route (and crucially the timing) of Todd's police vehicle which will have had a tracker device - which could be confirmed by the NW Wales network of Number Plate Recognition cameras remins unpublished.The inquest was aklso told that Todd had visited suicide websites and drove to Cumbria on March 9 but had “bottled out” and gone home.

5. The role / activities / liason with the Police , of the Llanberis Mountain rescue team, and the various helicopters - "men in dark suits" remains still a mystery.

GMP Condolence site

Of Stilton Cheese and Conkering Kings......

Lord Patel has played a small part in the history of Stilton Cheese manufacture.

Cheese is a plastic substance (in the engineering not chemical sense) amd requires (like many cheese) when in store to be daily rotated to even out movement of the chese fromit's true cylindrical form.

A freshly made Stilton cheese exudes both fats and salt. Until about 1965 a single cloth was used as a mat under each cheese to absorb this material. These cloths were re-cycled and became increasingly unpleasant to use.

A simple (and it proved to be a highly profitable change) substitution of a lightweight non woven fabric reduced costs and improved the way cheese were handled - the supply continues to this day. (At the same time he was also involved in manufacturing disposable ladies panties from such (then) novel materials)

Long Clawson Dairy (Long Clawson) , leading (and very log standing manufacturers have now made a bid to buy out of the Millway business of Dairy Crest Group (Millway) - which - says the Office of Fair Trading will" result in a substantial lessening of competition in any market in the UK, including that for the supply of Blue Stilton cheese (Stilton)".

The OFT claims that the merger combines two of the only three mainstream suppliers responsible for the vast majority of Stilton sold, and would gives Long Clawson over 50 % of total UK sales of Stilton - the UK market at retail value is said to be around £65 million per year in Stilton, which is a protected name under EC regulations, and can only be produced, with a proper licence, in three East Midlands counties. There is also a very healthy export market worldwide.

In another of those stupid and time wasting moves this bid had been referred to the Competition Commission under the Entreprise Sct 2002 - the CC expect to report by 24 March 2009.

The CC would like to hear from all interested parties, in writing, by Friday 24 October 2008. To submit evidence, please email james.waugh@cc.gsi.gov.uk or write to: James Waugh Inquiry Manager Competition Commission Victoria House Southampton Row LONDON WC1B 4AD

NB the Village of Long Clawson will be full of festive fun this month - Don't miss..

The Famous Vale Of Belvoir 25th Annual Conker Championships

October 19th 2008 Long Clawson Village Hall Event registration 11.30am Commencement of Conkering 12.30pm

Come and show your conkering skills and have a great day at the family event of the autumn!

For advance registration Phone Mike Dickson on O7808 098021 Adults £4,Juniors £1

Health and Safety allowing .....

World Post Day - How Mr Lukashenko controls distribution of the press in Byelorussia

Not a great one for formal celebrations but it is worth noting that the Universal Postal Union was formed on October 9th, 1874 in Berne , Switzerland, and philatelists celebrate today as World Post Day.

Today the UPU, with 189 member countries, oversees the co-ordination of the global postal service, the world's largest physical distribution network.

Despite the web and satellite based telephony Postal services in all countries provide a primary means of communication for people, organisations and business. The goal is to ensure a universal postal service that is easily accessible, efficient and affordable.... and one would like to think doesn't involve the state snooping on it's content.

The pic shows blonde and beautiful Byelorussian lady dancers performing at World Post Day celebrations organized by Belpochta, the Belarus Postal Service.

On the 28th November 2006 , Reporters Without Borders expressed their condemnation of the removal of many independent newspapers from the list of publications to be distributed next year by the Belarusian state postal service, Belpochta, which has a monopoly of subscription press delivery and believes it can pick and choose what it delivers.

The delivery ban will hit four national newspapers - Narodnaya Volya, Nasha Niva, Tovarich, Svobodnie Novosti Plus - and many regional ones, including Brestski Kurier, Vitebski Kurier, Borisovskie Novosti, Gazeta Slonimskaya, Intex-press, Lyahavitski Chas, Volnaye Hlybokaue, Hantsavitski Chas & Miastsovi Chas.

“This is yet another bid by the Belarusian government to silence the independent press by depriving it of its means of existence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “As shown by the case of the newspaper Solidarnost, which stopped publishing at the end of 2005, severance of the postal delivery contract is often the prelude to closure.”

The distribution system dates back to the Soviet era. Two state companies have monopolies. Belsouzpechat delivers newspapers to news stands, while Belpochta delivers them to subscribers. The state’s control of these companies means the pro-government press gets preferential treatment while distribution of critical media can be blocked altogether



...........



An independent Byelorussian state was pronounced in March 1918 by an administration in Minsk known as Rada, but it existed only for nine months until the establishment of the Byelorussian Soviet Republic.

The military administration of Rada, known as BNR (Byelorussian National Republic) lasted for several decades.

The short-lived Rada government in Minsk issued three stamps in 1918 - this ( 2 Kopeks) is one of them.

Boeing shares slide as deliveries fall

Boeing are trading US$49.76 down US$4.07 (7.56%)
During the third quarter, Boeing delivered only 84 planes, down from 109 in the year-ago quarter. The strike is affecting assembly of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner — already a year behind schedule — along with 737s, 777s, 767s, and 747s.

Delta Air Lines (DAL), the USA's No. 3 carrier, was expecting this fall to receive four long-range Boeing 777s and 737-700s, for a total of 10 new jets this year. "All I can tell you is we are expecting some delay in our deliveries," Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.

Last week, Ryanair canceled flights on 21 routes to and from Birmingham,UK, scheduled for this month because deliveries of Boeing 737s have been delayed.

Palin uncovers Obama's ghosts in Chicago - this could get dirty.

Which is all pretty old news - except to the MSM - who have been quietly and conveniently hiding it for a long, long time.

Meanwhile here is a picture of Michelle Obama with her friend Ex Weatherwoman and Sidley Austin Partner Bernardine Dohrn at a political rally.see Monday, April 28, 2008 Obama. Ayers Rocks. Bernardine (on the right) is the wife of Weatherman ("You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," from the Bob Dylan song Subterranean Homesick Blues. ) Bill Ayers and mother of his 2 children.

Meanwhile here is a picture of Michelle Obama with her friend Ex Weatherwoman and Sidley Austin Partner Bernardine Dohrn at a political rally.see Monday, April 28, 2008 Obama. Ayers Rocks. Bernardine (on the right) is the wife of Weatherman ("You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," from the Bob Dylan song Subterranean Homesick Blues. ) Bill Ayers and mother of his 2 children.

She went to prison on various charges - Dohrn and Ayers became legal guardians of the son of former members of the Weather Underground, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, after they were convicted of murder of a security guard and 2 police officers during a 1981 Brinks armoured car robbery.The Weathermen bombed the Pentagon, the US Capitol, the New York Police Benevolent Association, the New York Board of Corrections, as well as the offices of multinational companies. Boudin, along with Cathy Wilkerson, was a survivor of the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, the premature detonation of a bomb that had been intended for a soldiers' dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Boudin was 27 at the time. Both women were awaiting trial, out on bond for their alleged actions in Days of Rage in Chicago several months earlier. Wilkerson had been released on a $20,000 bond and Boudin was out on a $40,000 bond.

Kathy Boudin’s father had connections directly to Fidel Castro: Leonard Boudin was Castro’s lawyer.

For more see Monday, April 28, 2008 Obama. Ayers Rocks. For more about the NYT story see Steve Diamond who they interviwed for the stroy but quoted selectively ...Obama/Ayers Update: New York Times Ignores Evidence of Ayers’ Role in Annenberg Board Selection see also Why is Obama Hiding the Truth About William Ayers? Follow the Money Larry Johnson April 6th 2008

Hanks Dilemma - How to get a Goodeal for both Uncle Sam and the cousins on Wall Street

Franklin Delano Roosevelt quipped, “If something happens in politics, you can be rest assured it was no accident”.

Therefore the lengthy , tangled Byzantine passage of Hank the Bank's stark 3 page proposal to shell out US$700Bn of the US taxpayers funds to shore up the bankers of Wall Street and beyond may look like a slo-mo car crash.

All the winking lights on this Christmas tree each carry the hopes and dreams of soon to be elected pols in both Houses and the last gasp of a despairing Administration.Now is not the time or place to untangle the skeins of Pork and plunder. Let's look at Hank's Dilemma.

OK - it is now US$800Bn Bill with the FDIC need for extra funds etc., but the original blackmail note from Hank and Ben stands.

So let's see how that US$700 BN will ;

1 : shelve the so called "toxic" debts
2 : Impact on the sellering banks as they re - jiggle their shaky balance sheets

ASSUME :US Treasury buys $1 trillion of mortgages at face value for 80 cents on the Dollar (which is probably what they are carrying them at) from the 8 key domestic players (The Group of 8) who we limit for this exercise to Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Merrill Lynch (MER), Morgan Stanley (MS), (PNC) and US Bancorp (USB) (The aggregate shareholders’ equity of these 8 Banks is US$590 billion(ish)) at say 80 cents on the Dollar;

The Banks have to write off nothing.

But .... but .... for every one cent of new write downs on the $1 trillion portfolio these eight firms will be writing off 1.7% of their share capital.

If Hank has to pay “pay market price” for these assets, which is well below the current carrying values - which he has to, to build in a pay back for Uncle Sam and the taxpayer - the Banks will see thei capital flow away along with their capacity to lend.

Say Hank holds out for 60 cents on the Dollar - that means that the Group of 8 would wipe out 34%, or US$200 billion, of their collective share capital in the next few days/weeks/months.

So that means they have to raise more capital, dilute their shares and further upset the market.

Even if this is an overestimate the Group of 8 alone needs to line up another $50 billion of new equity after being "bailed out" - ten times what warren Buffet handed over on the basis of a 10% fixed coupon with 100% warranty.

Hank and Ben (don't expect to hear much more from Ben the bit player in this farrago from now on ) have a Dilemma. Hank's Dillemma - like squaring the circle...

The lower price for this ordure that he pays on behalf of taxpayers the worse the pain will be for banks offloading it.

The lying bankers, who so carefully prepared their gossamer thin balance sheets can hear the beating of the wings of their chickens coming home to roost.

Eli Lilly swallows anti- colon cancer drug Erbitux and ImClone

ImClone's mystery suitor and now owner is Eli Lilly (LLY) . Their US$6.1Bn bid should have put the lid on Bristol Myer's (BMY) repeated attempts at a hostile takeover.

This deal values ImClone at US$70/share, a 51% premium over ImClone's closing price before Bristol made its first $60/share bid, and a 7% premium over Friday's closing price of $64.96.

Imclone have had a rocky ride , investors have seen shares fall as low as $6 and rise as high as $87 - and deals in them led to the jailing of founder Samuel Waksal and style guru / part time cook Martha Stewart tasting poridge in unfamiliar circumstances.

Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor and chairman of ImClone's board, who got control in 2006 will no doubt be pleased with the result and returns on his investment (14%) and has approved Lilly's offer for his shares.

Lilly is seeing big competition to their biggest drugs, including schizophrenia blockbuster Zyprexa and some observers see this is a move from weakness. As a cash deal it is going to drain the company's cash position.

Lilly say they will take a one-time charge (how big no one is saying or maybe knows) to its earnings. The company expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings on a cash basis in 2012 and on a net basis in 2013.

Lilly's ,aim anti-cancer drug, Gemzar®, loses patent protection in 2012 , it is commonly used to treat non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic, bladder and breast cancer. .

Erbitux®, which is approved to treat colon cancer and head and neck cancer and whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body and whose tumor expresses a protein called an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). , is ImClone's only marketed product, and generated $1.3 billion in sales last year.

The fate of ERBITUX® remains unclear as both Bristol and ImClone claim the rights - it is assumed the position must have been clarified.

Britannia will rule the waves - the follies of Empire Pt. 3,456

The Stock Market may tumble, the currency may crumble, but it looks like we are starting to spend serious moolah on the 2 seriusly useless aircraft carriers the Navy wants.

Orders / contracts placed worth £235 million,are announced today for gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers.

1. Thales UK, together with BVT, Babcock Marine, BAE Systems and MOD, have formed the catchy titled Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) to manufacture and assemble the new carriers. Thales UK has responsibility for leading the power and propulsion element of CVF. The company is responsible for procurement, systems design, overall systems integration, ship integration (with shipyards), programme management and safety analysis. Thales has reached a sub-alliance agreement with Rolls-Royce, Converteam and L-3 Communications

2. Rolls Royce (Bristol, Dalgety Bay and Portsmouth):
* MT30 36 MegaWatt Gas Turbine Alternator sets
* Total package integration of the propulsion plant
* Shaft lines and propellers
* Steering gear including rudders
* Stabilisers to keep the ship level and enhance operation of weapons systems
* Low voltage electrical distribution system.

Converteam (Rugby and Glasgow):
* High voltage equipment
* Electric power control and monitoring system
* Propulsion equipment
* High voltage system and electric propulsion system analysis.

L3 Communications (Bristol and Barrow):
* Integrated Platform Management System (provides automation needed to control and monitor the power and propulsion systems)
* Condition Monitoring System.

3. A contract for emergency Diesel Generators has previously been awarded to Wartsila Lips Defence, which will provide a dedicated power supply to retain a fire fighting capability, even in the unlikely event of a total loss of electrical power.

Ina novel arrangement ,each carrier will have two propellers powered by two electric motors which will make them the largest warships in the world to use electric rather than mechanical drive technology.

This physical arrangment allows the primary power untis - gas turbine driven generators that power them to be located high in the ship which provides greater space in the hull and providws greater resilience to battle damage.

The pic shows some aircraft using the decks - what they will be and where they will come from is a decision not yet finalised. More pics here

PS: Dear Worried of Wolverhampton : Just think of the 2 CVF's and the aircraft they may eventually field ,as say, 20% of the cost of nationalising the Bradford and Bungle.