19 Jul 2004 15:50 GMT


*EU To Launch Savings Tax On July 1, 2005

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2004 11:50 ET (15:50 GMT)

Postmaster admits 500,000 theft

A senior postmaster from Kent has admitted stealing more than 500,000 from a sorting office safe to fund his gambling habit.
Dean Williams, 34, stole the money over a two-year period while assistant manager at the office in Sevenoaks.

Williams, of Bradbourne Road, Sevenoaks, admitted theft at the town's magistrates court on Monday.

He will be sentenced at crown court at a later date - the court heard such an offence could mean nine years in jail.


Horse races

Magistrates heard Williams, who has worked for Royal Mail for 17 years, was only caught when a new manager noticed discrepancies in the amounts of money held at the branch.

He admitted spending the money gambling on a string of sporting events, including horse races.

Magistrates did not sentence Williams, saying the "serious nature" of the office took it beyond their sentencing powers.

Anthony Lenaghan, prosecuting, said theft from employers in such circumstances could attract a sentence of up to nine years in prison.

19 Jul 2004 17:40 GMT


BULLET: DOLLAR: Trader at another shop confirming what was...
DOLLAR: Trader at another shop confirming what was noted earlier, very little action in the markets despite the slight uptick in euro-dollar to near $1.2435.

hello hello what have we here then?

fredo sin crappo?

thought you'd all gone and left me...:-)

Is the USD fred the new CADU one Moon?

Hi, can I buy 3 buckets please and do you sell spades?

Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets comin' out of my ears.
Buckets of moonbeams in my hand,
I got all the love, honey baby,
You can stand.

Dolly, all we sell is sweat, tears and disappointment. We even sell it on margin.

yeh chiro it is

well men have dissapointed me all my life so no real surprises there

i thought this was a booket shop but ho hum...

10 to you dolly

You know Moon SS is all hunky dory for an FX thread since not much is posted on FX threads (peepl say msn is 'too slow').

I I can deffo kick his arse then, bulls eye..right on the ring :))))

wimme steelies

ian gave me a link for an msn group that has one...why dont you get msn messanger mg?

Not saying you would do but remember you can't edit posts, so get the charts right first off in first post.

anyway khalsas pad has got fx fred

messenger...i feel obliged to chat to people who start chatting to me. And I don't like chat or chatting.

there can be more than one fx thread in the world moon ;)

Couldn't figure wtf was going on with this chart for the first few seconds

.

hey look that'll be good for Ape...seems you can't stretch the thread.click here

Trading is ez money innit


Britons' 30bn gambling obsession
19 July 2004, Daily Mail

RITAIN'S obsession with betting has spiralled by huge sums, figures reveal. In only three years, the money staked by punters has shot up from 7.3bn annually to 29.6bn.

The astonishing statistics were revealed as the Government plans to relax gambling laws to allow Las Vegas-style casinos with 1m fruit machine jackpots.


The gambling surge began after Chancellor Gordon Brown abolished the 9% betting tax, which had to be paid by punters before October 2001. It has also been fuelled by the rise of internet betting and the wider range of bets offered by bookmakers.


There are fears - especially with proposals to allow Las Vegas-style casinos - that the huge growth in gambling will lead to more people becoming addicted and going into debt.


Rachel Lampard, of the Methodist Church, said: 'One of our concerns is debt. The average debt of gamblers is around 20,000. It can bring with it marriage problems, stress and ill-health.'


Another factor in the increase is the introduction of the 'fixed odds' machines in betting shops, which offer games such as roulette and 500 jackpots.


Experts say they are 'hugely problematic' because they allow punters to stake money very quickly.


Other new forms of gambling include exchanges, which allow people to bet among themselves rather than with a bookmaker and spread betting, in which cash is won or lost based on how far the result varies from that expected by the bookie.


The figures do not take into account the billions spent on bingo, Lottery tickets, gaming machines and in casinos. Betting tax was abolished in a bid to stop stake money going to tax-free outlets offshore.


Instead of punters paying 9% tax on bets, bookmakers were told to pay 15% on gross* profits.


The amount gambled by Britons was relatively stable between 1994 and 2001, according to HM Customs figures.


But in the year betting tax was scrapped, it rose 3bn to 10.3bn.


Over the next two years it rose sharply again, to 18.9bn and then, in the last year, to 29.6bn.

mg to be honest i set these freds up for us to chat on..i really cant be arsed starting another one kalsa one seems good..ian and hatman are over there as well