Matt

I think your friends have done rather well then! The larger bank job cuts have received a lot of publicity but then there are smaller bank/brokers like Evolution and Jefferies where there have been wholesale losses too. The reality is that large parts of the financial services sector will not be as profitable as in the past, so pay and jobs will fall as a result.

They have drugs for him if he was gay in the 80s, the 80s.

On what basis is it 'looking good'? The cost of providing public pensions has been a looming headache for years. HMG doesn't fund its pensions liabilities- it just pays as it goes. If public pensions were being axed in 2006 when banks were throwing off massive profits and Gordon Brown was beaming about the UK's system of financial regulation as he hoovered up the tax receipts- who would have been asked to take the hit then? Peversely, it plays into the hands of the Government to suggest that these changes are vital because of where we are now- this is not true- these changes are being put in place in order to shape the future and force a smaller state more in line with right-wing ideology. Many of these pensions liabilities will not fall due for decades and are likely to be subject to much further tinkering before today's younger workers recieve a penny. To suggest this is a necessary course of action to save our economy is false and is used as a ruse to trick middle Englanders who are attracted by the idea that they can 'do their bit' by telling other people to tighten their belts. The whole issue boils down very simply- if the current tax regime is insufficient to cover future pensions offered to public sector workers, then either those workers will have to suffer, or others will have to contribute more. And taxing a selection of millionaires will do very little- it will be ordinary priavte sector workers who will make up the difference. So, do we or don't we pay?

OK, so now we just need to determine what an investment bank is. Do you think investment banks alone caused this unholy mess?

Investment banking jobs are being culled left right and centre, so I'd say there is rather a lot of pain being dished out. It's also very hard to tax one group of people more than others- how do you define a bank? The man in the street seems to use the term to use a plethora of businesses, only some of which are actual banks. The Bank Levy, which was supposedly a tax on risky borrowing, was yesterday outed as a revenue generator first and foremost to the tune of £2.6bn a year. This is, in reality, the tax you talk about- but in a less legally contentious way.

Why investigate these acts? You've already decided they were criminal. Eh? Do you stop investigating something because you know it's a criminal act? No you don't. Well, you've seem to have decided that for such a crisis to occur, something criminal must have been at the root of it. If it only it were, things would be much easier to resolve.

Why investigate these acts? You've already decided they were criminal.

And what they are doing now is more likely to work? How will anyone hear about them if the media are sewn up? I'm struggling to get my head round the whole concept. Surely a movement with such wide support would be able to enlist great thinkers and do-ers to put some kind of practical proposal in place.

And what if no-one seeking power agrees with them? We have a nifty system call elections, if these views represent 99% of the population then fielding candidates to further their cause shouldn't be too difficult and the outcome of the election a foregone conclusion. Saying 'it's up to politicians to sort out' is hardly going to break the stranglehold of this 1% elite, is it?

You think fuel duty is bad? Just think of all those poor fuckers who use it to put into their cars.

Sub prime mortgage crisis became bank crisis became sovereign crisis. But they'll all based on the system of loose money and unsustainable levels of growth. Until we stop feeding that monster we will continue to live in fear of debt. But debt is just money and money is not real. I'm more worried about the lack of progress towards a better solution than the crisis itself, which was in many was an inevitable outcome of capitalism.

Typically miserable stuff from Peston on the BBC website with the unsurprising reaction from his loyal band of reactionist simpletons commenting about how terrible it is that taxpayers have 'made a loss' and lots of baddies are running away with suitcases full of cash. This is a good deal all round- the price paid is well above the current price for financial institutions. No-one will ever know the precise gain or loss on the nationalisation of Northern Rock and even roughly we won't know for years as NRAM unwinds. Good to have more high-street competition as well. Virgin has been brilliant in maintaining its 'noisy upstart' image which will probably fare extremely well given the current perception of most high-street banks.

Happy Birthday feller!

Dave is less hipster, more wannabe Mr B. I used to live near Spitalfields Market and you could not move for the fuckers on a Sunday.

Some of the stories about his past paint a picture of an extremely dodgy character.

Will be very interesting to see what the renewal rate is on the additional tickets sold

I'm about 300 miles away, so no chance of that!

What do you mean, bring them down? Make them close the doors for business? I think we'd be in a bad state if overnight all the cash machines in the UK were turned off and businesses couldn't process payments. How do you bring down a stock exchange? It's just a building. This protest will do nothing to alter the trade in securities that go on at the LSE. This place has been a terrorist target for decades- they'll have backup plans on backup plans. Most London banks have entire trading floors and data centres dotted around outer London so that they can seamlessly move office with minimal disruption to operations. They aren't logo-cladded towers either- usually a nondescript 60s office block in a run-down part of town. On top of this, most of the trade can be sent elsewhere. Arguing against 'corporate greed' is bollocks because it can't be defined. What one person claims to be greed is another person's fair return on investment. I'd be far more impressed if they actually targeted the monetary system which is essentially the source of much of the ongoing misery. Unsustainable money creation through the banking system and shadow banking system led to a fundamental breakdown- now we are witnessing money destruction through forced recapitalisation of regulated institutions (though no talk of what to do of the shadow banking system). Many arguments to date re-inforce the view that the monetary system is a zero-sum game and that if one set of people is suffering, another must be benefiting- that's not the case. This is the ultimate lose-lose.

Chance of getting through to the box office phones this afternoon = 0 Clearly have decided this is the perfect opportunity to get bums on seats for the rest of the year.

Sclupp's upside yo head.

He's out of contract this summer, thank Christ.

Ramadan must have really affected him- the difference between before Villa and after is remarkable. I thought he really troubled the Wolves backlline and we folded when he went off to be replaced by a charlatan.

Should be loaned out in January. He doesn't look up to the job to me and will just end up blocking the path of younger players.

"Chieck" appears to contain a letter from an ancient alphabet.

Along the coast there are some decent little towns (some shit ones as well) and you can get the Inverness-Aberdeen rattler or endure the A96. Further afield, around Kinloss there is loads of ex-forces accomodation that have all been done out. As they've closed the base, they're vitrually giving them away.