I just had to nip over to Iceland to see how all the local authority, hospital, university and other British money held on deposit in Icelandic banks was doing. Not very well which is why Gordon Brown in a “Dr Strangelove” moment invoked the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the The Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008.
I am grateful to Liadnan for explaining so clearly what the exercise by global leader Brown means. So there I was, in Reykjavik, drinking a spot of Rioja from my hip flask, an island described by The Times as ‘an island on the outer fringe of Europe with sheep, haddock and an orthopaedic limb factory.’ The Icelandic prime minister Mr Haarde, who spoke yesterday to Chancellor Alistair Darling by telephone, said Britain’s use of the anti-terror laws to freeze the assets of Icelandic banks in the UK was a “completely unfriendly act…. I told the Chancellor that we were not pleased with that, that they could not regard us in any way as the people that this Act is supposed to apply to – terrorists. I think he agreed,” he said.”
It is quite possible that thoughts of the 1975-1976 Cod War with Iceland were not far from Brown’s elephantine mind when he pressed the Treasury nuclear button – who knows?… anything is possible in these turbulent times. It is, however, wonderfully ironic that local government, the NHS, our universities are all popping into Iceland to deposit taxpayer money instead of putting it into UK banks. On that note, I read in The Times yesterday: “If savers are still doubtful about the safety of their money in British banks they may like to brush up on their Setswana. Confidence in Britain’s banking system has fallen to such depths that it now ranks below Botswana in a league table compiled by the World Economic Forum. British banks, which two years ago were considered the safest in the world, have sunk to 44th position in a survey of banks across 134 countries. Botswana has risen to 38th. It would also be safer to deposit your savings in Namibia (17th), Chile (18th), Brazil (24th), Senegal (33rd), Peru (42nd) or El Salvador (43rd), according to a survey of 12,000 executives based around the world.”
(Pic inspired by a cartoon I saw in one of the broadsheets.)
Well… if being rogered by the stock markets, taken over by ultra conservative Lloyds TSB, and the trashing of banking stocks generally by the market doesn’t wipe the inane grin off Howard’s HBOS face, their falling share price certainly will. It is also, some say, quite possible that Brown may end up having to nationalize most British Banks if the current bail out plans don’t work.
Anyway… enough of all this financial talk. You can get back to PANIC!!! on Monday when the markets open and BBC News autocuties and reporters start hyperventilating again.
And… I just love the quotation from a recent marketing campaign by HBOS for their “I want Extra” campaign: “We’re looking to ‘wow’ customers with extra value products and extra special service. Sales are soaring, business is booming and we’re achieving stunning results. And the best is yet to come….”
The sun is shining… it is time for lunch. I shall return with Postcard 2… later…
Best wishes…. wish you were Iceland with me etc.. etc…
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