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.

Without doubt the most famous person I have ever met is George Best.

Was doing a after events speech at a dinner and I had best of 3 at pool and although he was slightly intoxicated he still beat me 2-1.

What a nice guy he was although incredibly shy.

Perhaphs one of the reasons that led to his downfall.

GF,

My Dad knew Lloyd George!


I didn't!


8-)

Yes I think I remember you pointing this out before Fred.

Ive also met Harold Wilson at my former schools certificate and prize giving evening.

Alastair Cook has got to go surely? No point in him saying that he is working hard, he's been saying that for months and he's not getting any better. His body language is dreadful on the field and he is probably a very nice guy, but his batting is cr-p.

Where goes the FTSE 100 tomorrow?

Tell you in the morning.

Commentators think the oil price hasn't stopped dropping just yet and prices could go on dropping into next year.

IMHO, buy quality stocks now that will benefit from falling oil prices:

eg, Easyjet, Ryanair, IAG, Thomas Cook, Carnival, First Group, National Express, Stobart, Wincanton

The market had a good rise today and hopefully, this should follow on tomorrow. In the longer term, retailers like M&S and Next might also benefit indirectly from a drop in the oil price and because of the lower inflation we are now getting (thus more money being available to be spent). This should also be of help to the supermarkets too.

If you are in cash worth sitting on the fence what with a number of atrocities happening around the world at the moment I feel.

Trophies stolen from the Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes have been found in a lake near Sandhurst.

About 20 of the 60 trophies, which were taken 10 days ago when six men used a 4x4 to drive through the building's entrance, have been recovered.

Thames Valley Police said many of the trophies, which were spotted by a member of the public, were damaged.

The stolen trophies did not include the F1 championship and constructors prize, which were not at the factory.

Reuters

Russian ruble suffers steepest drop in 16 years
BY ALEXANDER WINNING AND VLADIMIR ABRAMOV
MOSCOW Tue Dec 16, 2014 5:26pm EST

The ruble plunged more than 11 percent against the dollar on Tuesday in its steepest intraday fall since the Russian financial crisis in 1998 as confidence in the central bank evaporated after an ineffectual rate hike.

The ruble opened around 10 percent stronger against the dollar after the central bank unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate by a hefty 650 basis points to try and halt the currency's slide, but it reversed gains in volatile trade and repeatedly set new record lows.

It has now fallen close to 20 percent this week, taking its losses this year against the dollar to more than 50 percent and stirring memories of the 1998 crisis when the currency collapsed within a matter of days, forcing Russia to default on its debt.

Although Russia's public finances and reserves are much healthier than in 1998, analysts say the country is on the brink of a full-blown currency crisis.

At 10:10 a.m. ET, the ruble was down around 11 percent against the dollar at 72.80 RUBUTSTN=MCX after earlier racing past 80 roubles per dollar for the first time to be down around 20 percent at one stage from the previous close.

Against the euro, it was more than 13 percent weaker at 91.00 EURRUBTN=MCX.

The ruble has been hammered by the slump in oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over Russia's involvement in Ukraine, but its sharp decline over the past two days also reflects declining confidence in the central bank.

The 650-basis-point rate hike, less than a week after another 100-basis-point rise, was seen as a sign of desperation by the bank, whose Governor Elvira Nabiullina now appears powerless to stop the currency's slide, raising the risk of capital controls.

The market ignored Nabiullina's comments on Tuesday that the rouble was undervalued, as well as comments by Putin's spokesman that the rouble fall was driven largely by a speculative mood.

INTERVENTIONS

The central bank's First Deputy Governor Sergei Shvetsov said the bank would implement more measures to stabilize the currency market, calling the situation "critical".

"If such an interest rate rise didn't impress the market, then they (the central bank) have left the option of interventions of $10 billion a day. They are in (the market) every day," said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank.

Investors were also unnerved by the prospect that Russian oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM), which recently issued 625 billion rubles ($8.67 billion) in bonds, could convert the funds into foreign currency, adding further pressure on the rouble.

Rosneft has said the money will not be used to buy foreign currency.

Russia's dollar-denominated RTS share index .IRTS was down as much as 19 percent at one point, extending heavy losses from Monday, and shares in top bank Sberbank (SBER.MM) - seen as a barometer for the wider economy - plunged more than 20 percent.

Russian sovereign dollar bonds fell and money market rates jumped.

President Vladimir Putin has blamed both the slide in oil and the ruble on speculators and the West. A weak rouble poses a major test for Putin, since his popularity in part depends on his reputation for guaranteeing prosperity and stability, and it stokes inflation.

"The central bank will have a very hard time stabilizing the rouble as long as the sharp sell-off in oil prices continues," Vladimir Miklashevsky, an economist at Danske Bank, said in a note.

Brent crude prices LCOc1 fell below $60 on Tuesday for the first time since July 2009, hurting the outlook for Russia's oil-dependent economy, which the central bank says is likely to contract early next year.

The central bank has spent more than $80 billion defending the ruble this year, including more than $8 billion since it floated the currency in November.

Russia still has ample reserves of around $416 billion but analysts say the currency is in dangerous territory as it is increasingly being driven down by sheer panic.

"What now rules the Russian currency is not oil, or even waiting for it to move, but panic fueled by a large number of rumors about the return of our country to the "98-year" regime," said Alena Afanasyeva, a senior analyst at Forex Club in Moscow, referring to the 1998 crisis.

(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly, Katya Golubkova and Elena Fabrichnaya; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and Gareth Jones)

Will the above create disloyalty towards Putin and cost him some power?

IMHO, it's going to be "watch this space".

Putin has kept his popularity by foreign aggression. As his popularity ratings fall, as they will soon, he may do things to boost his position. That could include a full scale invasion of Eastern Ukraine as he knows that the US won't go to war over it. In fact no country or NATO will intervene at all.

The irony is that once Russia gets into a major recession and currency collapse, they will need a bail out.

They'll only need a bailout...if they choose to repay foreign banks.

Be carefull.

Dil - 12 Dec 2014 01:16 - 52827 of 53153 edit this post

Three cheers for the CIA and the politician's sticking up for them .

Someone remind me how many they beheaded and posted footage of on the internet ?

They are trying to keep us safe ffs ...



Geez only 5 days later and the sh*t that has happened in the world (and I aint talking VT and our colours Stan) maybe just maybe the CIA tactics look a bit mamby pamby given the sh%t they are trying to prevent.

Can't believe Haystack hasn't blamed Israel .... yet !

Petrol set to fall to £1 per litre quite soon say the RAC

And at Westminster!

i'm not sure that i quite approve of this move - exclude scottish MPs from voting on affairs that are not their business - but there is certainly good logic and sense for it

if the scots control their own taxes and other aspects, indeed why should they have any say on what happens outside their territory?

Manuel,

"When a butterfly's flaps its wing in England, it affects Scotland, Wales and Ireland".

Because the UK has evolved and is so interwoven, it is difficult to foresee what, or how a "minor" change in "law", "tax", "subsidies", "welfare" in England has on the economy of the other and to a lesser degree the reverse is also be operating.

Therefore the partakers should be able to partake in the policy making.

Devolution, seems crazy to me.

======
There must be a better way of addressing the dissatisfactions of "localities" peripheral to London and "South East" and representation of "minority" interests.

Why do the Nats want to control the purse strings?

They say it would be a better arrangement as the English don't understand Scotlands needs.



Well, that sounds fair enough, if it was Scot's taxes that was paying - but it's not.

Scotland relies on subsidies to make ends meet (Barnet Formula)


So, what do they expect .. an (English) blank cheque with which to buy votes?

No, perhaps they would settle for a return of previous north sea oil and gas revenues.