And so here is PC from The Boat (2) for this weekend. (PC 1 is here or the next post below)
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I decided the postcard stamp frank should be a ‘homage’ to the final journey of The QE2 given that it has left Liverpool for the last time without being jacked up on bricks. I have, of course, altered the logo to reflect my own identity. I particularly liked the “Carried Aboard” from the original postmark used on QE2 letters.
This postcard shall be free (possibly) of all finance, reference to hyperventilating autocuties, banks and sundry other vanities who are now burning in the bonfire flames of social outrage and opprobium.
On the other hand, a bit of law… or, to be more sanguine…. the idiocy of law. The Telegraph reports: “A judge has ordered the Crown prosecution Service to make a public apology to a gardener who was arrested for carrying a scythe (in his enclosed van) which he said he needed for work.” Judge Paul Darlow freed Mr Drew and said: “I want to find out why we have got to the start of the trial and the CPS is suddenly saying ‘Oops’.
I have no idea about the pressures the Police and lawyers at the CPS work under – but even I would have been able to work out that a gardener carrying a scythe in his van, with other gardening tools, was not a knifed up geezer or hoodie about to run amok in public. Clients of the gardener were ready to give evidence that he did use the scythe to prune their gardens. The judge was right to rebuke and demand a public apology here.
Regular readers will know that I got a notice earlier in the year, when I lived in a house, to cut my hedge from PCSOs who were most concerned that criminals might hide behind my hedge and not be visible. These men were “The Untouchables”, crime fighters in a different league, working unceasingly to protect, in this case, the wonderful people of Chiswick, West London. This may explain why I am writing about gardners and scythes at 1.00 am on a Saturday night. I’m like Gordon Brown, according to a psychologist on BBCs Politics Today prog, I’m obsessed by hedges, even hedges I no longer have, and am into a cycle of repetitive behaviour, self harm and general nuttery, by continually bringing up the orders from PCSOs to cut my hedge in my blog posts… I’m fine… really… I’ll just have a tablet.
I know that I said that this postcard would be free of greedy bankers, but I just could not resist this story from The News of The Word:
FATCATS at a crippled insurance company bailed out by £50billion of public money have laughed in the faces of taxpayers . . . by splashing out £50,000 on a SHOOTING PARTY.
The story continues…“The bosses who guided Man United sponsors AIG to financial disaster frittered away a fortune on fine wines and lavish food. And the group of just EIGHT swapped pinstripe trousers for aristocratic PLUS FOURS as they BAGGED PARTRIDGE while the world money markets crashed last week” It was the AIG insurance company rescued from oblivion by the US only a week or so ago.
The good news is…. when Gordon Brown and Alistair Brown, assisted by assorted hyperventilating traders, investors who do and don’t know their arse from their elbow, and the possible misuse of leaked information by TV and other pundits, nationalise all the banks in Britain – we will ensure that there will be no more fatcatting going on in the banking sector. Is it possible that the people of Britain will own most of the major banks in a few weeks time? I have no idea….. but…
The Sunday Times is reporting today that: “THE government will launch the biggest rescue of Britain’s high-street banks tomorrow when the UK’s four biggest institutions ask for a £35 billion financial lifeline.” The unprecedented move will make the government the biggest shareholder in at least two banks.
Newspapers are all going to be gunning for ‘Fatcats’ for some time. The broadsheets will talk in subtle terms of reward, open markets (the focus will change from finance to economics shortly) and the reality that bankers are still prime beef in a global market. The Tabloid headlines will be more concerned with jollies to Italy, fatcats shooting pheasants and the change in circumstance’ of those who lost millions on the stock markets, the out of work bankers and the insecurity of the house / flat to let buying community – I give it another three to four days before stories start to appear in earnest. The Times did run a story on saturday about Russian billionaire oligarchs losing billions.
So… what are the law bloggers up to?…
Well… in a quite extraordinary change in UK blogging terms… all those who blog about law, without mentioning the law, and have a surreal take on life, are either working or spending a fair amount of time on Twitter…. so, in keeping with the spirit of this blog at weekends, I have to report that all the UK Law blogs I follow, save for the aforementioned surreal bloggers, appear to be writing quite sensibly about law – so they will appear in Insitelaw next week.
So… moving on….
And so… I end this postcard… commemorative edition.. with a rather good quote: ” By nationalising only two banks, NR and B&B, Darling has effectvely undermined the others. If he now buys their shares cheap, he must be guilty of shorting them. – Simon Jenkins
Hat tip to Capitalists@Work for the link.
Well… as ever…. good to write to you… even if I don’t make sense…
Best regards
Update Sunday 12 Oct 2.28 am: It is great to learn from NOTW that the Ingerland footer team beat Kazakhstan 5 – 1. Great pic of Rooney. Not interested in football – but with the news that British banks are now ranked 44th in the world behind Senegal (33rd) and El Salvador (43rd) I am doing my best to find news that is good in Britain… this is it for tonight.
the law seems quite sensible – slaps crap prosecution service about for bringing ridiculous prosecution. what could be better?
i assume your contact with builders has not (yet) led you to the nether reaches of the sun. i believe a case was reported there ‘tother day of a pcso having a swift hand shandy in his car. he was found guilty and fined £1. (sound of charon exploding in a rush of schadenfreude). no shrubbery was mentioned in the case.
and some of the journalism slagging off the government for something they have not created and are almost entirely powerless to stop (simple equation: amount of money in ‘the market’ = lots; amount of money in uk gdp = less) strikes me as every bit as sensible and articulate as the monkeys booing at the england footballers because they weren’t 8-0 up by half time. so when the governement takes action that may save the investments of millions of people in some major banks, they are criticised for shitting on the others. ‘really mr schindler, where are the rest of them????’
funny the lack of articles from financial journos about what a bad idea all this capitalism stuff was before it all wents toxically titsup … what a bunch of pcsos.