I think RBS is bust but nobody is telling us.

In the old days the Bank of England used to take its time sorting out a collapsed bank such as Johnson Matthey and in some cases it would make a profit. The official
scheme is for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to keep on lending, sort out the toxic stuff, make profits and then reduce the British state holding in the bank to a more reasonable level. However, it might be that RBS is bust and would need the tender treatment of the Bank of England reserved for collapsed banks of yore.
For instance, if we are wondering about the future of the City of London, then we might have to let Edinburgh as a financial centre look after itself. I think it could survive the wounding up of RBS.
Would New Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) allow the dismantling of RBS, which is about to take a £500m hit on Cattle's according to the Sunday Telegraph, just to save a few billion? Obviously not but if it is £100bn, then there might not
be much choice. Perhaps, the regulator Financial Services Authority (FSA) could fudge
the issue for a few years.

One of my readers says I go on about football too much.

One of my readers has told me that I go on too much about football in this blog. Well, I am going to try and diversify the topics I cover rather than go on about the golden age of Manchester City and players such as Bell, Lee and Summerbee. I should try and be more considered about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who gets sliced up by Matthew Parris in his Saturday column for The Times.
For instance, interesting things are happening over the border with the SNP going steadily towards his goal of independence (Would the passport have a Saltaire?). The party is hoping to get North Sea oil revenues/European Union to finance their socialism in one country. Scotland could make it as an independent country but a lot of businesses, which have substantial interests in England, such as Standard Life might have a tough choice whether to relocate. This is if businesses don't decide to move to Dublin to benefit from lower taxes.
www.searchaccountants.co.uk.
Alex Salmond, SNP leader, is playing a canny game and the latest move towards a local income tax rather than have council tax is very interesting. The Lib-Dems want to cooperate while Labour, which has run parts of Scotland as a rotten borough, is looking lead-footed.

Gordon Brown is to highlight Labour values at Scottish conference.

Taking the fight to the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to highlight the benefit of Labour values at
a conference in Aviemore. These values will help Scotland thrive in a globalised
world. Yet in London the Labour administration justify the increased public expenditure in Scotland as due to need.

I wonder what values are these? One I suppose is the continuation of Labour rule in Scotland and it must be very upsetting to have the
SNP in control by one seat. Another one is that Labour values were betrayed by
Tony Blair. Sorry that was a joke. One value to be protected is support of the Union and the continued presence of Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster.

Meanwhile, with constitutional change in the air the SNP is having its conversation with the people while attacking Labour as being controlled from London.