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.

i think DB in particular kept having a pop at him, but i may have got the person wrong

Perhaps you should reflect on the Europhobes in the Fascist or UKIP loby party:

I saw the White van heroes as the typical football hooligans who would be at home in the UKIP band.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6469078/MPs-expenses-Bernard-Jenkins-wife-had-holiday-home-while-he-claimed-for-other-house.html

MPs' expenses: Bernard Jenkin's wife had holiday home while he claimed for other house
The wife of Bernard Jenkin, the senior Conservative MP, rented out a holiday home in his constituency while he claimed £63,000 in expenses to live in her sister's house, it can be disclosed.

By Jon Swaine and Martin Beckford8:00AM GMT 31 Oct 2009

Mr Jenkin, a former shadow defence secretary, was left with the biggest repayment bill of all MPs following the audit by Sir Thomas Legg of parliamentary expenses claims since 2004.

The MP for North Essex was told to give back the £1,000 a month in public funds he paid Mary Fraser, the sister of his wife Anne, to rent her farmhouse as his “second home”.
Mr Jenkin said the arrangement was approved by Commons officials and that the rent charged by his sister-in-law was “somewhat less” than market rate, meaning that taxpayers got a good deal.
Yet today it can be disclosed that the Jenkins also own and rent out a seaside holiday home nearby. The house, which is registered in Mrs Jenkin’s name, is listed on tourist websites as being available for £650 a week in high season.
While the holiday home, which is advertised as housing six people, is in Mr Jenkin's constituency, the farmhouse he designated as his second home is in the neighbouring seat of Braintree, represented by his Tory colleague Brooks Newmark.
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MPs' expenses: repayments will top £1 million 31 Oct 2009
The holiday home cost £150,000 when bought in August 2004. If its entire value was mortgaged, it is unlikely that the monthly interest payments on the loan – which Mr Jenkin could have claimed on expenses – would have totalled £1,000 a month.
The disclosure therefore raises the question of why Mr Jenkin needed to bill taxpayers for a second home outside his constituency when he could have lived more cheaply inside it.
Mr Jenkin yesterday said: "The fact that I am an MP does not preclude my wife from running her own business. She acquired a small two-bed holiday let property on a buy-to-let mortgage. It would not have been appropriate to claim taxpayers' money to pay my wife's mortgage on a holiday home.
Of the farmhouse, he said: "We needed to rent a family home with easy access to London and to all parts of my constituency, one of the the largest rural constituencies in Essex, and near to my wife's elderly mother. This arrangement with my sister-in-law was openly agreed in writing by the House of Commons Fees Office."
The controversial living arrangements of Mr Jenkin, who has been an MP since 1992, were disclosed earlier this year during The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into MPs’ expenses.
He claimed the farmhouse owned by his sister-in-law was his "second home" while designating a house in London that he shared with his wife as his "main home".
Since 2006, MPs have been banned from entering into financial arrangements with family members, yet Mr Jenkin continued to do so until August this year.
In the course of his audit Sir Thomas, a retired senior civil servant, has also said that agreements with family members dating back to 2004 are "tainted" and should not have been allowed.
This has left Mr Jenkin with a £63,000 bill. The MP has appealed against the ruling, insisting he was not aware of the rule change and was assured by Commons officials that the arrangement was acceptable.
The farmhouse, which is near Chelmsford, is owned outright by Mrs Fraser, Mrs Jenkin’s older sister, who lives at Moniack Castle near Inverness, which has been in her husband’s family since 1580.
On the other side of a lane from the farmhouse is a historic country house owned equally by Mrs Fraser and Mrs Jenkin, where their mother lives.
Mrs Jenkin, a PR consultant, went out with Richard Curtis, the screenwriter, while the pair were studying at Oxford University.Curtis has said that Mrs Jenkin, his first proper girlfriend, broke his heart.
He has included an idiotic character called “Bernard” in many of television series and films, including Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral, prompting Mr Jenkin to accuse him of being "eaten up with jealousy that I got the girl".


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Why he wasn't prosecuted I cannot understand?

But reading about "Finks" and Tory slush funds I understand!
=-=-==-

No wonder the Church are questioning the morality of the Cons Party who for me are using the techniques of Goebbels when they blamed the Jews for the problems of Germany and vilified them along with the weakest or most defenceless in society.


The present tory party are living up to the name of the "Nasty Party". Personally there is a stench around their present leadership.

But perhaps they are offering the right wing voters what they wish for.

Fred , now a working class/retired snob

Fred's new pin up girl

Projected results


Cons Lab libs Also rans

244 313 18 75

Hung Parliament. Labour short by 13

Greece is interesting.

If they decide that the offer of the EU is not satisfactory and opt for asking Russia (who is in economic difficulties itself) for loans, and the loans are based on Russia having military bases on one of the Greek Isle, I think there maybe a lot more squawking than we are having at the moment.

certainly the threat of russia in the med is not an unlikely card to be played, and thus a very interesting thought of yours - unlike most of your other stuff i'm afraid :-)

Manuel,

Unfortunately you are not maturing like good port.

I would think you miss the contents of my postings by scanning.

Sometimes I question why I send epistles to the great unwashed.

Anyway, the market doesn't know what to make of Ukraine or Greece.

======

Serious question has the oil market bottomed out or has it got further to go.

Looking for a 2 year long.

.

Today is 'Pancake Day'.

This is how Raymond Blanc makes them:

Best ever pancakes from Brasserie Blanc on Vimeo.

Today is 'Pancake Day'.

This is how Raymond Blanc makes them:

Best ever pancakes from Raymond Blanc on HD Vimeo

fred - if you didn't just skate past my posts, you'ld have noticed 56663 from yesterday :-)

oil
it very much looks that Saudi is cutting back on oil production, regardless of what they may be broadcasting
in the last 2 months Aramco, for which read Saudi Oil, has pretty much stopped developing new or even existing wells
while there will not be a sudden surge in crude prices, the effects will slowly filter through
i'ld still bet on it settling at perhaps $60/70, though longer term Saudi will want it back above $85 as that is the sort of level around which their budget is structured

pancake filling
instead of boring old sugar and lemon try this ......
philadelphia cheese or similar
stem ginger in syrup
fresh raspberries

chop up some stem ginger
whip it into the philly adding some of the syrup

put a dollop inside your pancake and add some fresh raspberries

it's stunning, and better still if you can make the philly + ginger mix the day before

Or try a galette, stuff whatever you like into them.

http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/galettes-de-sarrasin/

ah yes .... galettes are excellent and very versatile, but better with savoury than sweet
my recollection is that there is still a good proportion of white flour, though that's no good if you're gluten intolerant

mozarella, tuna, anchovies and tomato
chicken in a good white sauce with sweet corn
loads and loads of possibilities

they're best if made on the big 30cm+ round steel plates
then fill, form into a flat parcel with the filling in the middle and griddle with some butter until moderately crispy

Talking of maybe taking advantage of the Oil price rise, do any of you use a good "liquid ETC" ?

do you not mean ETF?

Could do, but as Oil is a commodity I just thought it would be an ETC rather then a ETF.

confess i have no idea as i've never tried them

Yeh, ISF is a good one for the ft 100, lots of liquidity and no stamp duty.