Someone has to comment on the latest non-news item - Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross being abusive on the telephone to old people.
Should they lose their jobs - or are we over-reacting?
Who cares? The key thing is; these two guys are paid Entertainers, they are required to entertain.
Would it be more entertaining if:
a) they apologise and keep their jobs or
b) get sacked and jailed for breaking some Privacy/Obscenity laws?
Of course, it's "b". We'll get months of entertainment out of this scandal; their dismissal, incarceration, release, re-hab and re-integration into the BBC.
Plus, all the saucy stories of the pair of them being asked to pick up the soap. Personally, I find both of them hysterically funny. But, alas, I grow bored easily.
So Entertain us on her majesties pleasure - you lisping, dickless wonders!! It is, after all, your job.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Nearly Killed
I just stepped outside the front door and went ass over tit. Some twat had conveniently left what looks like a couple of old fish boxes right in front of the door.
Luckily they just about managed to fit in the bin.
Luckily they just about managed to fit in the bin.
Monday, October 27, 2008
It's Not Our Fault
So the Isle of Man depositors compensation scheme that was a waste of space is going to get changed to include other non personal depositors, up to a maximum of £20,000. On top of that the amount the banks will pay in has been reduced (because they didn't like it) and the income tax paying public will chuck in £150,000,000 instead. That is half of the governments reserves. More on that later.
The thing is that this new scheme will only be in place for 12 months. I think it has been worked out to try and do as much damage limitation as is possible for the customers of KSF and to salvage some of the Isle of Man's reputation. Will it work, only time will tell? One thing is for sure though it's certainly not a long term solution or guarantee against deposits in the Isle of Man. The government must be praying that another bank doesn't go under in the mean time because how many £150 millions can we afford, not many! Another bank going under will finish us off in my opinion.
This is what happens when you bank offshore, but it's not our fault. Not so long ago the Isle of Man had booming tourism and fishing industries, I'm not talking about hundreds of years here, just a few decades ago. Boats from other countries pillaged our fish stocks and with the advent of cheap foreign holidays to Spain the tourism industry almost vanished over night. As a country what are you supposed to do? We took the step that any other small country with no viable export/industry would do, we set ourselves up as a finance centre/tax heaven. We tried to attract business by offering them a low tax regime under which to work. It has worked very well, up to now.
The trouble is that with all deposits under management going well over 100 billion we don't have the economy in other areas to support that, it's impossible with an island with only 80,000 inhabitants, only 40,000 of which work and only 30,000 that aren't on the government payroll. There is no way that our economy can support those deposits if things go wrong. Even with all those billions on deposit for so many years we still only have a reserve fund of £300 million. Our government lives almost hand to mouth in terms of income/expenditure in order to provide the best environment for business. Just look at Douglas for example, it's a shit hole! With all the money kept here if the government was really raking it in do you not think that might do something about at least making the place look clean? Instead we borrow big for our big projects and get ripped off left and right by consultants. Our government is run by shop keepers FFS!
When our other industries were taken away the Isle of Man had 2 choices. Mass emigration and die or do whatever it takes to survive. The island took the second option and established one of the most well regulated finance centres in the world. You want to see the shit we have to go through just to open a bank account! BUT, there will always be more risk in depositing money in economies that can't afford to shaw up failing financial institutes, it's just a case of economies of scale. We are totally dependent on the finance sector as a country, if you deposit £2 million here and the bank goes bust then I'm sorry but we can't afford to give you free money, blame the bank for not operating a suitable business plan, and blame yourself for chasing the highest interest rate instead of using any form of caution. Blame anybody but us, because it's not our fault.
The thing is that this new scheme will only be in place for 12 months. I think it has been worked out to try and do as much damage limitation as is possible for the customers of KSF and to salvage some of the Isle of Man's reputation. Will it work, only time will tell? One thing is for sure though it's certainly not a long term solution or guarantee against deposits in the Isle of Man. The government must be praying that another bank doesn't go under in the mean time because how many £150 millions can we afford, not many! Another bank going under will finish us off in my opinion.
This is what happens when you bank offshore, but it's not our fault. Not so long ago the Isle of Man had booming tourism and fishing industries, I'm not talking about hundreds of years here, just a few decades ago. Boats from other countries pillaged our fish stocks and with the advent of cheap foreign holidays to Spain the tourism industry almost vanished over night. As a country what are you supposed to do? We took the step that any other small country with no viable export/industry would do, we set ourselves up as a finance centre/tax heaven. We tried to attract business by offering them a low tax regime under which to work. It has worked very well, up to now.
The trouble is that with all deposits under management going well over 100 billion we don't have the economy in other areas to support that, it's impossible with an island with only 80,000 inhabitants, only 40,000 of which work and only 30,000 that aren't on the government payroll. There is no way that our economy can support those deposits if things go wrong. Even with all those billions on deposit for so many years we still only have a reserve fund of £300 million. Our government lives almost hand to mouth in terms of income/expenditure in order to provide the best environment for business. Just look at Douglas for example, it's a shit hole! With all the money kept here if the government was really raking it in do you not think that might do something about at least making the place look clean? Instead we borrow big for our big projects and get ripped off left and right by consultants. Our government is run by shop keepers FFS!
When our other industries were taken away the Isle of Man had 2 choices. Mass emigration and die or do whatever it takes to survive. The island took the second option and established one of the most well regulated finance centres in the world. You want to see the shit we have to go through just to open a bank account! BUT, there will always be more risk in depositing money in economies that can't afford to shaw up failing financial institutes, it's just a case of economies of scale. We are totally dependent on the finance sector as a country, if you deposit £2 million here and the bank goes bust then I'm sorry but we can't afford to give you free money, blame the bank for not operating a suitable business plan, and blame yourself for chasing the highest interest rate instead of using any form of caution. Blame anybody but us, because it's not our fault.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Remember This Day Well...
Everybody on the Isle of Man should make a note of this day, it's the day that the islands financial services industry (the finance sector) started its swift route to doom.
The manx government have just approved a new depositors protection scheme that will protect PERSONAL savings up to £50k. This new scheme offers no security at all to corporate/trust accounts. How much of our ecomony is based on corporate/trust work, shifting numbers on spreadsheets between banks? Shit loads. Who in their right mind will risk their money in such a small economy in the current environment? The shockwaves are already travelling around the internet at lightning speed at the news of the "local" savers at Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (IoM)Ltd who have just been screwed. Like most of our banks, they are seperate entities to their UK/intl counterparts. Great when you're looking at tax saving when things are good not so great when things go tits up! If you're doing business in the Isle of Man you'll need a local account and all the risks that go with it.
I'm of to buy a gun and a fishing rod. Not worth worrying about money, cos fairly soon none of us are going to have any.
The manx government have just approved a new depositors protection scheme that will protect PERSONAL savings up to £50k. This new scheme offers no security at all to corporate/trust accounts. How much of our ecomony is based on corporate/trust work, shifting numbers on spreadsheets between banks? Shit loads. Who in their right mind will risk their money in such a small economy in the current environment? The shockwaves are already travelling around the internet at lightning speed at the news of the "local" savers at Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (IoM)Ltd who have just been screwed. Like most of our banks, they are seperate entities to their UK/intl counterparts. Great when you're looking at tax saving when things are good not so great when things go tits up! If you're doing business in the Isle of Man you'll need a local account and all the risks that go with it.
I'm of to buy a gun and a fishing rod. Not worth worrying about money, cos fairly soon none of us are going to have any.
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