91Èȱ¬

JUST WAR RHETORIC

I gather that when 'they' keep fighting us because we are in 'their' land, it has some deranged quality. But did not Churchill say: 'We will never surrender'?
I gather when 'they' lay mines it is desperation because frontal attack doesn't work. I thought mines were our sort of thing. Don't we export them?
I gather they have changed their strategy because they are losing but we are changing ours to win.
I'm confused. Will Desperate Des be issuing a little red book of some sort?

Hi Kirsty / whomever,


Apologies for using you as a conduit of information, and my text does not relate to your question, so apologies again, however........

Could you ask one of the grown-ups in the 91Èȱ¬ why Newsnight disappeared from Catch Up TV around 3 weeks ago.

I work in the city and am in bed at it's normal transmission time selflessly preparing for another day of hard graft for scant reward.

(I watch your programme a day behind - it works well).

FYI - It's nothing to do with I-Player.

Therefore, may I, and others have Newsnight back on Catch-Up TV - the same as it always was.

I also add a third apology for using this blog to complain.

My apologies are now done for the rest of the year.

Thank-you,


Paul.

I hope the Burma film may include an assessment of the risk of disease outbreaks that may enter into Thailand etc. I am surprised if medicine and food was not reaching the population that poor water supplies and malnutrition did not spark off an outbreak.

On Afghanistan I chirped on this morning but one thing I forgot was now that McCain and Obama are chosen do we have any feedback on policy impacts on the Pakistan border and the government attitude to that.

Do they actually know where the Taleban and bin Laden are or is it guess work?

On the economy its two party fascisim again - why no Vince Cable? If he's on the list I always had faith in you.

Really like the new-look Newsletter with pictures. Any plans to develop the newsletter further - possibly even have links to individual stories, so we can watch those items we'd like to via email?

How is the crunch affecting me?

A while ago, I was involved in a car crash courtesy of the police chasing a criminal who put me in hospital for three months with 13 broken bones after he hit my stationary car head on at 55mph.

My nice, kind employer of seven years then sacked me because I had been off...

I have no income whatsoever - and do not receive any benefits. I have been desperately seeking work for three months to no avail.

I am still expected to pay my rent, council tax and buy food and fuel and what tiny bit of savings I had built up have now been exhausted.

I am having to borrow money from friends simply to stop myself being evicted.

I have been a law abiding, tax paying citizen all my life and am now reduced to this by the current establishment - who incidentally allowed the person who crippled me for life to walk free from court with a suspended sentence for what was his fourth offence.

Great living here isn't it?

SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY MY FARCE

Hi Steve in Liverpool. I am embarrassed to blog away here for sport when you have genuine need. I have never had to undergo anything remotely like you describe; I can only wish you better fortune and a job before it gets any more fraught.

I have always felt that with the facilities now at hand, the old Z-cars bee-baa chase, should be a thing of the past. In a proper surveillance society 'they' would know where you are. Perhaps this is one for Michael Crick. It is not long ago the police were found to be playing hide and seek in patrol cars, as I remember. How much of a step is it from H and S to Z cars?

Good luck Steve.

Has everyone forgot about the pensioners? our state pension was set out over 12 months ago and in now so far out of touch with reality, and I don,t see any MP,s even broaching the subject while they still squabble over their future jobs as MEP,s ( I assume thats the reason for ratifying the lisbon treaty )
Help we are slowly disappearing from view
Regards
Goodfather

CRUNCH TIME:
i hope that alastair can pull out "magical" bunny from the hat....to bring in some money to the coffers...

AFGHANISTAN:
i thought that we should be winning the war against Al-Qaeda and The Taliban

FRENCH ECONOMY:
how can the french blamed the irish for its problems?

AFTER NAGRIS:
it is only several weeks since the horrible day in the world...i hope that people in the affected areas are getting the help they need now.

Small money, big money


It is pretty clear a 4% increase on £100,000 is significantly different to a 4% increase on £12,000. A 40% hike in fuel bills has a totally different impact on the lower end of this scale.

So why just report the percentage increase in salaries? There are more realistic and revealing evaluations, which should include all associated benefits such as bonuses, pensions package, private health care, special allowances etc.

Possibly we need more stringent or precise evaluations for those who receive larger rewards funded by the public purse, such as Ministers, MPs, senior civil servants, senior local government officials, senior administrators in hospital trusts etc.

Following on from this we can say that financial institutions that have required financial support from the taxpayer should similarly be accountable to the tax payer before they distribute financial rewards disproportionate to proven performance.

Paul-Clifford (2)

I think the Catch Up TV thing was a trial which has now ended - I'll aim to find out more.

In the meantime, iPlayer is the best bet for watching the programme a day late

Peter

Hi barriesingleton,

I hope that the moderators will allow me to say a quick but sincere and hertfelt 'thanks' to you for your kind words...

I really appreciate your taking the time to wish me well.

I hope that life is always good to you and yours!

Take care :)

Perhaps you could get the French Finance Minister to clarify why Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty is being treated so differently to France's rejection of the EU Constitution?

I'd also be interested to hear if France recognises any democratic or legal means for completely rejecting the Lisbon Treaty.

Regarding energy prices...

I trade crude oil and coal for a living. I have no doubt that the derivatives markets contribute to higher prices. There is also no doubt that banks and hedge funds trying to gain exposure to the physical markets have contributed to higher prices.

The reason derivatives markets contribute to higher prices is because consumers of physical coal and oil (the power utilities and the airlines) hedge themselves against rising prices by buying the derivative (paper). In so doing they push the price higher. These higher paper prices lead to higher physical prices i.e. the producer of the physical can always sell the physical at a higher premium than the paper, no matter what the paper price. It is the snake that eats its own tail and it will only stop when there are no more buyers of the physical so that producers are forced to sell at a discount to paper prices.

There are currently no natural shorts in the paper markets because physical producers have no need to hedge themselves because demand is marginally outstripping supply. Producers also buy the paper markets when they need to sell physical cargoes but it's best not to go there....

Lastly, the EU Emissions market has also contributed to higher energy prices. You would have thought that a rising emissions price would lead to some discounts on dirty fuels such as coal. However, with China being a net importer of coal there is simply no reason for global coal prices to fall so instead European power prices are having to rise to accomodate higher emissions prices.

Basically everyone has now bought into the fact that energy prices are rising so no-one wants to be short and everyone is piling in on the long side. Is it a bubble? Probably. But I'm certainly not brave enough or rich enough to try and pop it, much as I'd like to try. So I must instead follow the herd and buy.

Whilst the debate rages about public workers seeking pay rises and the general state of economic affairs in the UK, no one mentions the continuing Fat Cat pay-offs, which this Labour Government promised to deal with after the Tory sleaze years. Surely the moment has come to put a rein on these obscene payments, often made to people who have under-performed from their elevated positions. The ex-boss of Northern Rock springs to mind. People are struggling to keep going and yet nobody seems prepared to halt the bonuses, both in the City and privately, which only enhance the frustration and anger felt by ordinary people trying to get by in this new disastrous economic climate.

INCOME POLICY

Is it me, or does clarity of diction decline with rising income on Newsnight? There were some truly surreal utterances tonight.

Excellent Newsnight programme and will Mr Darling ever place an embargo on the huge bonus payments to CEO's and their cadets, this week Marks and Spencer share price has reached an all time low - but they all get a bonus of half a million plus shares and some a Knighthood, but let the nurses please accept two percent ?

Move over Darling and wake up soon please !!

Pantsman

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Steve_In_Liverpool's post strikes me as more important than any other item today. This is because his story has brought to life the reality of New Britain under New Labour. His treatment is disgraceful, just as bad as stories of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq that are not being looked after by the country when they come home, injured or not.

I wish Steve well, and hope that he can somehow get justice and fairness.

Just like to say Kirsty was using that womans brain tonight. Her questions delivered in almost break neck speed with nice links from previous guest and keeping it altogether; a multi task performance if ever there was one, with the added bonus of her displaying her own shock at the forcasted power supply price hike, the Newsnight viewer was with you on that one Kirsty....no doubt about that.

Thanks Kirsty---i am very sorry for not saying that in my earlier notes...

please accept that....my lost matters.!

THE BRITISH WAY

You have to admit that the way we British do corruption is stunning. It is said: 'the best place to hide something is in full view'. It is implicit that you must behave as though it isn't there I suppose, and we certainly achieve that. You would think that Rupert Murdoch flitting across the political stage like Abenazer would be a clue. And Tony doing all those dodgy holidays. The rules of engagement for our MPs are mostly about not fiddling money; that has to be significant. What remains, just says they have very right to ignore the voters, once elected. The answer to the West Lothian question is simple: it's 'corruption'. Gordon was recently looking for a slogan to epitomise Britain. He need look no farther than: ‘Power Corrupts’.

Hi LiamMerseyside,

Again, I hope I will be allowed to say 'thank you very much' for taking the time to wish me well!

The entire sequence of events since being in the crash has taught me a lot about the country I live in - sadly, most of it cruel, uncaring and very unjust.

However, my spirits have been considerably brightened by reading the kind comments here today and I would like to wish everyone the very best for the future.

Thanks,

Steve :)

at the Mansion House I wonder if it was an eight or nine course meal that they enjoyed. In 'they' I mean the ones with generous waist lines that told the rest of us to endure a bit of 'belt tightening' It will be for our own good as this inflation thingy is creeping up. They could set an example of course by asking the energy companies to excercise 'restraint' by forcing even more pensioners into poverty and easing the strain on motorists with a reduction in tax at the pumps. This will all be lost on the City of London types and MP's who have already thrown any 'restraint' out of the window. No doubt the brothers at the TUC will be guided by their ;sacrifice'

Please please Ask A Darling this. I have asked by post no reply other than your comments have been noted.
I am a male 50 years old. The credit crunch started for me years ago.
At 46 I lost my job. My endowmnts have failed any were surrendered at less than half their value. The massive endowment failure for my age group is one on the major factors of the fall in the housing market.
Pension I will be lucky to get onedespite paying in to a private pension for over 30 years.
My wife 50 also will not get a state pension until she is 65.
My wife has taken ovr he mortage. We have had to remrtage because of the endowment failures.
I am not allowed to sign on as unemployed because I have a disability. Job Cenre Canvey Island. Despite being out of work for 4 years no benifit has beenpaid due to the fack my wife earns just over £16000.
I have put a lot onto this country. The only reasonmy disabilty will not allow me to work is bcause ofchanges made by Brussels acceped without question by the labour government.
I have been told to claim disability allowance. Why I am as fit and able to work today as I have ever been.
I am so sorry I stuck wih this country when I had the chance to leave.
My MP is Bob Spink an unelected MP now he has joined UKIP and as we all know Gordon Brown is also Unelected.
I no longer beleve in God or democracy as for finance whats the point you will lose your money anyway.
Give this to Ali Darling and ask him why

Mr John Butt Canvey Island Essex

Re-Steve_in_Liverpool/LiamMerseyside.
Great points IMO. These should be the key issues, not trundling out yet another member of the elite as per the French Financial Minister. If you didn't see it, might want to check Peter_Sym's post on same situation in his part of country (Tues's thread?)
Re#13. Roughashlar. Very informative post. Thanx.

Re #24. Belowsealevel.
Brilliant statement of the true situation IMO.
Keep fighting buddy. You are not alone.

Please please Ask A Darling this. I have asked by post no reply other than your comments have been noted.
I am a male 50 years old. The credit crunch started for me years ago.
At 46 I lost my job. My endowments have failed any were surrendered at less than half their value. The massive endowment failure for my age group is one on the major factors of the fall in the housing market.
Pension I will be lucky to get one despite paying in to a private pension for over 30 years.
My wife 50 also will not get a state pension until she is 65.
My wife has taken over he mortgage. We have had to remarriage because of the endowment failures.
I am not allowed to sign on as unemployed because I have a disability. Job Centre Canvey Island. Despite being out of work for 4 years no benefit has been paid due to the fact my wife earns just over £16000.
I have put a lot onto this country. The only reason my disability will not allow me to work is because of changes made by Brussels accepted without question by the labour government.
I have been told to claim disability allowance. Why I am as fit and able to work today as I have ever been.
I am so sorry I stuck with this country when I had the chance to leave.
My MP is Bob Spink an unelected MP now he has joined UKIP and as we all know Gordon Brown is also Unelected.
I no longer believe in God or democracy as for finance what's the point you will lose your money anyway.
Give this to Ali Darling and ask him why

Mr John Butt Canvey Island

Ps looks like the keyboard on my old laptop is on the way out also. Thanks for the comments all support helps.