I am surprised that Prime Minister Brown is on holiday.

It is a wonder that British Premier Gordon Brown is taking a holiday and a good long one considering the pressure he puts himself under. Apparently, Lord Peter Mandelson has had a spell of bossing the UK from his holiday in Corfu. This entails "working the phones". I remember once there was a political flare-up during the holiday season and the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock had to make his views known through a poor phone connection. Nowadays, the media technology is much
better.
Let's hope we don't have the same Mandelson/Osborne media relations disaster of last year with a cast including the Russian oligarch Oleg Depriaska.
I take the view that the holidays should be a break for the politicians from cluttering our airwaves. There used to be a "silly season" during August but we are being made afraid by government announcements over swine flu and the possible use of tamiflu.

So more quantitative easing but it is not the same as...

The Bank of England does not think we are out of the woods yet and it is doing some more quantitative easing. It is technically not the same as printing money but it could still debase the currency (Zimbabwe anybody!!). It is going to be painful when the central bank does attempt to raise interest rates. The Bank of England would not want to do this just before the coming general election. Governor Mervyn King must be hoping that his boss Gordon Brown goes for a poll in October. Waiting until May 2010 when the unemployment figures could be pretty bad does not seem the sensible option.

One of my favourite publicatons is Money Marketing especially the articles by Brian Tora. He considers that Ireland is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and 7,000 teachers will be sacked combined with the closure of many rural schools. Is this was to happen in the UK, the equivalent of 250,000 teachers would go. It is not going to take place but it is nice dreaming about it. In Great Britain we are churning out quite a few kids, who have not benefited from the education process at all, the so-called neets.

Argos really knows how to get the price increases in!!

British retailer Argos really knows how to get the price increases in!! With its latest catalogue, the company lifted the price of its cheapest, plastic pedometer from £2.89 each to £2.99. I thought the UK economy was suffering from deflation!!
Unfortunately, I soon broke the pedometer by getting something out of my left pocket forgetting that I had put the damn thing on.
Argos.co.uk
UK petrol prices are going up a clip. I suppose this is due to the U.S dollar denominated commodity being affected by the collapse of sterling. The Bank of England must be worried about the price increases washing through the UK economy.
I think we could see a change in interest rate policy soon with a 0.25 pct rise soon especially if the British stock market is getting ahead of itself. With the country counting the days until the May 2010 election (could it be October), the British central bank would want to get non-political interest increases in soon. Perhaps, we are really ahead of the curve!!

Sorry to go off-piste as it were but here is a BBC reply.

For my Dear Blog readers, sorry to go off-piste as it were but I thought I might copy
to this forum a BBC reply to a complaint of mine on unsuitable material broadcast to
young children. I was quite surprised by the Beeb's arrogance. They will never admit they are wrong.

Dear Mr *******

Thanks for your e-mail regarding 'Horrible Histories' broadcast on 23 July 2009.

I understand that you felt a number of scenes in the programme were inappropriate
for broadcast on children's television and it was it insensitive for the programme
to feature corpses during this episode which looked at the reign of Henry VIII.

The series aims to introduce history to children by taking an irreverent look at
various historical events. It's certainly not intended to shock or cause offence,
merely to bring a fresh approach to introducing history to younger viewers.

Having said this, I understand that you were left unimpressed the show and to that
end I would like to assure you that we have registered your feelings on our audience
log.

This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all
programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior
management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are
circulated and considered across the BBC.

Thank you once again for taking the trouble to share your views with us.

Regards

Gerald McCusker
BBC Complaints
____________________________
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

-----Original Message-----

I want to complain about the graphic scenes on the kids programme discussing the
reign of Henry VIII. The idea of having heads sowed back on deathly white bodies
defies comprehension. What are you guys on? I thought that could be an X rating.
Those responsible for the programme should be sacked forwith. Yours, ******

(Sorry to retain anonymity but I don't want to be a celeb in celebrity mad Britain).

Sir Richard Dannatt lays a few blows on the British Government.

The head of the British Army, Sir Richard Dannatt, is laying a few blows on Her Majesty's Government over the lack of resources (helicopters etc) in Afghanistan
to help our troops. Apparently, New Labour sources are muttering about possibly Sir Richard being "political". I suppose there is a fine line between "fighting your corner" and being openly disloyal.
UK Premier Gordon Brown looked absolutely awful yesterday in front of the Defence Select Committee by trying to avoid giving a direct answer. Apparently, Defence Minister
Bob Ainsworth is 21 out of 23 Labour portfolio holders and gives mediocrity a bad name according to Jeff Randall in today's Daily Telegraph. There have been five defence secretaries since 2005.
If I was Brown, I would have blamed the NATO allies for not stumping up combat troops
such as the Germans just to divert attention.

Gordon Brown is taking a few blows to his body.

Estimed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems to be a sitting duck for the criticism of past and serving UK military officers. His bright idea of appointing experts to his government, such as Lord Darzi and Lord Malloch-Brown, has fizzled out as they are leaving the sinking ship. Former minister and ex-CBI luminary Digby Jones appears to be a one-man opposition party as he vigorously takes on the fight to New Labour.
The British unemployment figures are just awful and give testimony to the recent negative forecasts of over 3m for 2010. The Chief Medical Officer looks uncomfortable on breakfast TV as the BBC presenter does not believe a word he says.
I supposes this follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) contradicting the British government on the future availability of a vaccine for swine flu.
http://www.searchaccountant.co.uk/Accountants/Accountants-In-Dundee.html

Gordon Brown is having a poor war in Afghanistan.

Folllowing the recent dreadful casualties suffered by the British Army, Gordon Brown is having a poor war in Afghanistan. In a trenchant article in the Independent, Bruce Anderson accuses the UK premier of corporate manslaughter. Brown has not spent the money required on helicopters and armoured vehicles. Anderson argues, however, if the West pulls out then the Taleban would regain control.
I remember reading that UK forces would sometimes pass by Victorian memorials to earlier campaigns in Afghanistan.
In the Times Matthew Parris simply says we will not win. The tribal politics are too complicated for a start.

I suppose the Afghanistan campaign has suffered from mission creep. The initial plan from what I gather was to kill Bin Laden and wipe out as much as the Taleban as possible. Then, the objectives have been expanded to introducing development and Western-style democracy. These are very expensive. Now, another objective is to protect Pakistan through our presence in Afghanistan.

Fighting wars (and not paying for them) is not very good for currencies, interest rates etc. The UK will probably run out of money to fund its involvement in Afghanistan.