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.

By Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter
8:55AM GMT 11 Jan 2015
Analysis of business accounts shows just how expensive former PM's life as an international fixer has become

He criss-crosses the globe in private jets, rents offices in a townhouse in one of London’s most exclusive squares and stays in some of the world’s finest hotels.

But Tony Blair’s life as an international fixer has become a costly business.

Just how expensive can now be disclosed – for an analysis of Mr Blair’s business accounts shows the former prime minister and his advisers and consultants have run up expenses and salaries totalling around £57 million in just four years – equivalent to £350,000 a year for each of his staff.

Running Blair Inc does not come cheap.

The Telegraph examined accounts for Mr Blair’s complex network of companies set up following his departure from Downing Street in 2007, and which channel money for Tony Blair Associates, the umbrella organisation for Mr Blair’s various commercial interests.

Last week, Mr Blair filed accounts for six companies and partnerships registered with Companies House. What they show is a consultancy business spending a fortune on travel, hotels, rent and salaries.

Mr Blair insists he is worth only £10 million, but the accounts suggest he runs a thriving business worth far more than that.

Investigations show that Mr Blair has divided his commercial activities into two broad groupings: one a consultancy which advises governments around the world, funded through a group of companies called Windrush Ventures; and another which advises companies and sovereign wealth funds through the trading arm Firerush Ventures.

According to the latest accounts, Windrush Ventures employs 37 staff at its headquarters in Grosvenor Square, London, and in such far-flung countries as Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Kuwait. It requires constant travel between London and its satellite offices.

Windrush Ventures Ltd, a company set up to run the business, spent almost £13  million in the 12 months to March 31 last year, paying wages, air fares and subsistence for staff, including Mr Blair. It also spends £550,000 a year renting the London headquarters. Windrush paid just less than £300,000 in corporation tax, on gross profits reduced by the large expenses bill. Its post-tax profits were just over £800,000.

In the previous three years, it spent £35 million on ''administrative expenses’’, although details of this cost were not disclosed.

The money Mr Blair earns from Windrush cannot be determined because he hides its income in another entity he set up on leaving Downing Street called Windrush Ventures Limited Partnership. As a limited partnership, it is under no obligation to file accounts with Companies House. What it does do is pay a fee to Windrush Ventures Ltd for its services in running Mr Blair’s business.

Mr Blair employs the same structure with Firerush Ventures, the part of Blair Inc that offers advice to companies and investment funds such as Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund owned by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.

Firerush, for example, was at one stage being paid about $65,000 (£40,000) a month for strategic advice for a Saudi Arabian oil company linked to the Saudi ruling family. The fee included introducing the company to investors in China, where Mr Blair has also been a frequent visitor.

Clients of Firerush pay their fees into Firerush Ventures Limited Partnership, which ultimately pays a management fee to Firerush Ventures Limited.

Last year, Firerush Ventures Ltd was paid £2.4 million to manage that arm of Mr Blair’s business. But the scale of the fees paid into the Limited Partnership also remains hidden from public view. The total £57 million figure consists of around £48 million of “administrative expenses” to Windrush and an estimated £8.5 million in “management services” to Firerush.

A senior accountant who studied Mr Blair’s accounts last week said: “He is rather artfully putting his income into a partnership that has no requirement to file public accounts. You can never get to the bottom of what his income is because it always goes into an entity that has to file nowhere other than with HM Revenue & Customs.”

The accountant went on: “The expenditure is enormous. If he has 37 staff and a wage bill of £2.7 million then that leaves £10 million on other expenses.

“That is an awful lot of travel. It is a huge sum of money. The expenses are incredible.”

Mr Blair has taken to travelling the world in a private jet, preferring to use a £30 million Bombardier Global Express, which he leases on a regular basis and which has been dubbed Blair Force One.

The jet can comfortably accommodate his sizeable entourage, including personal assistants and Metropolitan Police close protection officers paid for by the British taxpayer. Mr Blair will often stay in the world’s smartest hotels, including the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, where suites typically cost £5,000 a night.

But Mr Blair’s staff also need their travel and accommodation paid for. Dr Andreas Baumgartner, for example, an Austrian lawyer and a partner in Tony Blair Associates, is based in Abu Dhabi.

In April, he turned up in Kyzylorda, an obscure city in the Kazakh desert, where he met Krymbek Kusherbayev, the regional governor. Kyzylorda is rich in oil fields, and China especially has invested heavily in the region.

Last week, Mr Blair’s office issued a statement insisting that “the financial results released today present the operating costs of the businesses, and additional sums that may be held back in corporate reserves for investment in future years.

“Mr Blair is a UK taxpayer and pays full personal tax on all his earnings worldwide.”

A spokesman disputed the £57 million figure.

It is easier to determine what is not a useful degree. Teaching students a subject for which there is little demand is pointless. Media studies is a good example. The lower grade universities offer it because it is easy to teach and is in big demand due to its low entry requirements. The trouble is that there are very few jobs in the media industry and the employers don't give the jobs to graduates from low grade colleges. There are large numbers of universities in name only. Once they would have been technical colleges and offer shorter courses or take students in at 16 instead of the sixth form. Technical colleges used to teach vocational studies such as metalwork, woodwork etc. The students that used to attend tech colleges now expect to go to university, but they don't know why. There are universities that will take anyone. There is a university in Luton that will accept you with grade D or even no A levels. There is a supposed university in Canterbury that is almost as bad and it turns out teachers. It is the pattern across the country.

Freedom of speech laws in this country surely need to be reviewed:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905075/Hate-preacher-backs-massacres-says-Britain-enemy-Islam.html

Who was responsible for the change of the "status" of Technical and Polytechnic Colleges into Universities?

What was the motivation?

ahoj - 11 Jan 2015 10:07 - 54814 of 54824
Does anyone else has Agrokultura AB (originally landkom shares).
A company has over 95% of shares and is going to delist (stop trading) in end February.

Can they do this? What about our shares?

Any idea please.

Don't know if this helps ahoj ?


Magna intends to offer minority shareholders in Agrokultura the opportunity to sell shares after delisting
Thu, Dec 18, 2014 09:00 CET



http://news.cision.com/steenord-corp/r/magna-intends-to-offer-minority-shareholders-in-agrokultura-the-opportunity-to-sell-shares-after-del,c9698671

Technical Colleges, Colleges of Technology, Colleges of Advanced Technology, Polytechnics were all turned into Universities. Polytechnics and Colleges of Advanced Technology were already giving degrees under accreditation arrangements. Colleges of technology and some Technical Colleges gave out ONC, OND, HNC and HNDs.

That wasn't the real problem. It was the change of culture that said everyone should go to university.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_University

Haze and Manuel.

How safe is the NHS in this torrid party.


Hospital chiefs turned ambulances away from busy A&E units 58 TIMES over Christmas
The figures were almost double that seen during the last four years
Cancer patients had their operations cancelled and were 'lost' on wards
At least 10 hospitals are on the verge of declaring major incidents

PUBLISHED: 13:46, 11 January 2015 | UPDATED: 13:54, 11 January 2015


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905381/Hospital-chiefs-turned-ambulances-away-busy-E-units-58-TIMES-Christmas.html#ixzz3OWZWOc9w
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Haze.

Who was responsible for the change of culture in the 80s and 90s.


Why did many of the most able and senior lecturers leave the UK for America and other countries to continue their research.

Under which government and PM did those changes occur?
========

Who is at present F---- up the education system?

What ideological base for doing so?

Is it I am all right Jack of the Bullingdon club bullies and the lesser or minor public school mentality?

Keep them divided and rule.

Rarely buy the Sunday Times, but did so to see its coverage of the France's problem.


There is an article "Bloody road from betrayal in Algeria to Paris banlieus" by Patrick Marnham.

I think is covers one of the pathways which has led to the present problems in France with it minorities.

Worth a read and might even by the S. Times again.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/focus/article1505716.ece

hypocrisy, genuine support or making political capital?
any views on the political leaders or their nominees attending the freedomrallies in paris today?

is it "right" that the leaders from turkey and russia (high profile nominee) should be present, given their own human rights history and suppression of the press and freedom of speech?

is it not a bit rich that marie le pen, now leading the french far right, should be there?

is it wrong that many of these politicians will now make political speeches on the back of this outrage to bolster their own party's public image?

A British hate preacher backed the Paris massacres just hours after the bloody events unfolded and told his followers ‘Britain is the enemy of Islam’.
Cleric Mizanur Rahman, of Palmers Green, north London, defended the brutal murder of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo offices, saying ‘insulting Islam…they can’t expect a different result.’

this guy is apparently out on bail
why has he not been re-arrested?
why do we allow some damn-fool clause in the human rights act prevent us from deporting him whence he came?

Le Pen was not invited.

Cameron is running scared from TV election debates, says Ed Miliband

Labour leader also challenges Tories and Lib Dems to support vote to force energy companies to pass on price reductions


Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent


The Guardian, Sunday 11 January 2015 11.54 GMT



David Cameron is behaving in a “pretty disreputable” way over the proposed UK television election debates, Ed Miliband has said as he confirmed that he would be prepared to take part in an “empty chair” debate without the prime minister.

The Labour leader accused the prime minister of running scared after Cameron said that he was minded not to take part in the three planned television debates unless the Green party is included.

Tory strategists have said in private they want to use the Greens as an excuse to avoid the debates taking place amid fears that they would boost the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage.


More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/11/ed-miliband-cameron-uk-tv-election-debates-energy-companies-andrew-marr

Cynic - post 54832 I agree with you, it is utter madness that he is allowed to stay in this country. String him up by the balls, stick him in a cage, put him in the cargo hold and fly him out to wherever he came from.

Call Me Dave was going to end the human rights bullshit...but of course, that was just another promise, and we all know what they are worth.

If muslims want to help : they should denounce the killers and conspirators that hide within their community worldwide: I don't see much help coming from these quarters at all, specially in Europe ! as it is.....it's as if they are sympathetic with these fanatics !....

Manuel and DB4,

Are you advocating lynch mob mentality.

If Cleric "Mizanur Rahman, of Palmers Green," (I have never heard of him until now) has broken UK law and is resident here, Charge him with the offence, prosecute him in a court of law.

If found guilty, sentence as appropriate.

You are making similar suggestions as those you seek to condemn.

-=-=-=-

Paris.

Not sure, but I think what has happened there to-day may have taken some heat out of the "situation" and allowed many to step back and think rather than escalating the raised "emotions" and playing into the hands of the fanatics on belonging to any of the sides in the "argument".

---------
I would put Marie le Pen, Nigel Farage and the BNP in same group and using the similar techniques of rabble rousing to enhance their own political and personal ambitions.

===-=

Read the coverage in the STimes. Interesting and some of the French history I had forgotten!

----------

Max,

Cameron said of TV political debates at the time of the last elections "he would have them in all future elections and they were a good thing for democracy". (or said in similar words of intent.)

In my humble" opinion, he was a liar then and and is even bigger liar now, but suitable for the rabble who will vote for him.

cynic have sent a e mail to the met on the issue he and all is family must be deported this week .

as I said Friday morning they should use stun bombs they did in the end if they had acted when I said it may have saved lives you can not talk to these scum you must act on the minute instant .

If muslims want to help : they should denounce the killers and conspirators that hide within their community worldwide: I don't see much help coming from these quarters at all ! as it is.....it's as if they are sympathetic with these fanatics .
because they never help to address the problems tell you all they are one
and you can never trust them .