Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Ok just looked up the news ,it does seem he had spent and paid out a lot of his cash , i wonder if work was not coming his way ? , you wouldn't think so but who knows .

My favourite memory of him is , i was watching Good Morning America while living in the US and he was making the hosts laugh so much they had to keep going to a commercial break , he was nuts but a real one off and intelligent .

There are 5 Robin Williams films in post production at the moment. He doesn't seem Broke.

2 divorces have cost him over £20 million dollars.

Thats why he was approaching Bankruptcy.

'Good will Hunting' was my favourite.

How taxpayers helped fund £1m home of minister who can't live on MP's pay

Foreign Office minister bought seven-bedroom 17th century abbey set in 15 acres of land after selling his taxpayer-funded home in London for £1.2 million



Mark Simmonds MP pictured with his £1 million house, a Grade II listed building in Lincolnshire



By Steven Swinford, and Holly Watt

10:00PM BST 12 Aug 2014



A foreign office minister who resigned from the Government after claiming his expenses were too meagre used a windfall from the sale of his taxpayer-funded home to buy a £1 million former abbey in his constituency.


Mark Simmonds sold his home in Putney, South London, for £1.2 million in 2010, making a profit of more than £500,000.


He used his expenses to claim the mortgage interest payments on the property for almost the entire time he owned it.


He and his wife then bought Swineshead Abbey in Lincolnshire for £900,000, a Grade II listed 17th century building with seven bedrooms, stables, a heated outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court and 15 acres of parkland.


More hard luck here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/conservative-mps-expenses/11029709/How-taxpayers-helped-fund-1m-home-of-minister-who-cant-live-on-MPs-pay.html

ISIS SUPPORTERS giving out leaflets in central London. NewsWeek.

Just out....................

Michael Hewson ‏@mhewson_CMC
*U.K. Q2 AVERAGE EARNINGS FALL 0.2%, FIRST DECLINE SINCE 2009

A WIN WIN situation for Labour leading up to the GE, if Labour dont nab the tories on % rates they will nab them on the falling living standards.

Lets see what inflation brings latter at 10.30am..

A blip on earnings, or start of a trend?

Dunno but doesnt sound very positive with Carney also warning slack in economy taken up quicker than BoE thought, which points to interest rate rise.

gf
You have the wrong details again. It was not wages falling. It was a fall in the growth rate of wages. So wages still rising but not so fast.

I see this as a good thing at the moment. It means that an interest rate rise is far less likely.

A very nice fall in unemployment today. The best figures for employment levels since 2008.

All going well for a Conservative victory at GE.

August 13, 2014
BoE sharply cuts wage growth forecast

It is noted that the Bank of England has sharply cut its forecast for wage growth this year as it confirmed interest rate rises will be gradual, striking a doveish tone in its latest assessment.

In its quarterly Inflation Report, the BoE lowered its wage estimate for 2014 from 2.5 per cent to 1.25 per cent, also shading down its estimate for 2015.

The Bank also cut its unemployment forecast sharply and also signalled wage growth has become its key indicator for determining when interest rates are likely to rise. The assessment used data which showed, despite further declines in unemployment, wages were being squeezed as they fell for the first time since 2009, pushing the pound down to a ten-week low.

“The Committee will be placing particular importance on the prospective paths for wages and unit labour costs,” Mr Carney said, while emphasing the Monetary Policy Committee did not have a new “wages threshold” to determine when rates would start to rise.

The estimate for the amount of slack in the economy has been reduced from 1-1.5 per cent to 1 per cent, but there was little change to the inflation forecast, with the outlook for 2015 reduced to 1.7 per cent from 1.8 per cent and in 2016 to 1.8 per cent from 1.9 per cent.

The assessment comes amid heightened expectations of interest rate increases, with some economists predicting a move as soon as this year. However, while our BoE acknowledged the sharp improvement in the jobs market, it laid special emphasis on the weakness of wages as an indicator of slack.

“It seems likely that slack over the past year or two has been greater than previously thought and it also seems likely that slack is being used up at a faster rate than expected,” was the assessment.

“In light of the heightened uncertainty about the current degree of slack, the committee noted the importance of monitoring the expected path of costs, particularly wages, in assessing inflationary pressures.”

Accordingly, the BoE reiterated its previous views on the interest rate outlook in the report: “When the Bank Rate begins to rise, the committee expects it will do so only gradually, and probably to a level materially below its historic average.”

On the timing of any future rate rise Mark Carney, BoE governor, refused to be specific, saying only that he would not comment on “precise jumping around on timing”, but that we should expect there to be some increase in interest rates over the next three years.

Mr Carney said that the majority of households, in the absence of wage increases, would have to take “significant expenditure adjustments” if rates increased to 2 per cent, providing another reason for why he expects interest rate increases to “move gradually” when they do begin. Low, stable, predictable inflation remains “resolutely the focus”, he added.

An economist at Markit, said that while calls to raise rates will probably gain momentum over the next few months, it was unlikely to reach a majority vote until around February, unless wages pick up enough to consider a move in November.

“The report and recent rhetoric from policy makers gives the impression that rates will not rise until wage growth is showing clear signs of picking up,” he said.

In its outlook the MPC increased its growth forecasts for 2014 slightly to 3.5 per cent from 3.4 per cent, and to 3 per cent from 2.9 per cent in 2015, reflecting confidence in the strength of the UK’s economic recovery. Mr Carney said that the recovery was not a debt-fuelled one, and relatively broad based and he also stressed that the big question was whether productivity growth would accelerate.

“I would not be definitive that this is a healthy, sustainable path of growth, it’s still part of a transition to a more balanced economy,” he said.

The BoE's unemployment forecast was cut dramatically in 2014 to 5.9 per cent from 6.3 per cent as hiring continues to accelerate.

Hays to confirm here....

Michael Hewson ‏@mhewson_CMC
*U.K. Q2 AVERAGE EARNINGS FALL 0.2%, FIRST DECLINE SINCE 2009......................first decline since 2009.

And it doesnt mean a rate rise is less likely , see Carneys talk of less slack in the economy.

It means a rate rise is very near.

Good Mail article on Robin Williams and with lovely pictures of his $35m ranch interior:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722891/Robin-Williams-wrestled-demons-killing-himself.html

Apparently, he might well have had massive financial problems:

Because of his divorce settlements; a depletion of cash assets because of setting up trusts for his kids; a lack of highly paid work; loss of TV work and an inability to sell his $35m ranch.

A true 'nut case comedy genius' if ever there was one!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/bank-of-england/11030408/No-interest-rate-rise-this-year-as-BoE-slashes-wage-growth-forecast.html

No interest rate rise this year as BoE slashes wage growth forecast

ohhh the torygraph will always come out pro Tory, what they should be commenting on is the for ever increasing fall in living standards and labours overal majority in parliament as per 38% of the vote that they will get........

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 12th August - Con 35%, Lab 38%, LD 8%, UKIP 11%

Gives labour a 80 plus overal majority.

Not long now Hays before the Mansion tax and greater council tax rises.

Polling Report that you often quote is showing 32 majority.

It was showing that late monday.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney sparked worries over possible significant increases in interest rates today.

He stressed that any rise is likely to be “gradual” and “limited”, but then added: “That is an expectation — not a promise.”

The Bank’s forecasts suggest that rates will rise to around two and a half or three per cent over the next few years.

But Mr Carney said: “It’s not a guarantee. There are events, there are things that could happen.”


Why is Carney paid so much?

Sky is reporting interest rates rising unlikely this year.

Labour were contemplating council tax rises under Buffoon Brown, when they introduce them 'if' they form the next government then that will help the income of strapped wage earners. Plus the intrusion of meddling council officers being allowed to enter peoples home, that'll be bl--dy fantastic.
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