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.

Haze seemsto have missed this:


Labour lead at 2
Latest YouGov / The Sun results 24th April - Con 33%, Lab 35%, LD 8%, UKIP 13%, GRN 6%; APP -11

David Cameron has blamed a “brain fade” for forgetting his football team during his speech in Croydon, urging the audience to back Wet Spam instead of Aston Vanilla . The blunder has resulted in many jokes and criticisms by the PM’s rivals and laughter!

"Forgetting" your football team? What an idiot!.. he will be forgetting his own name next -):

but less important than forgetting to mention immigration in one of your key speeches don't you think?

Less important than Miliband forgetting to mention the economy and the defecit in his conference speach

I saw a news broadcast on the election about journalists who have to follow round Miliband. They were complaining that Ed doesn't even travel on the bus most of the time meaning there are no opportunities to interview him. He is always surrounded by a sea of Labour minders as they are terrified that he will commit some awful gaff if he actually speaks to anyone. No wonder he is getting bad press.

oh it was the economy he forgot was it .... thought it was immigration, but no matter

It was immigration as well. He obviously forgets a lot

bet he wishes he could forget NS and AS!

EU chiefs brand Greek finance minister 'a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur' amid warnings that Grexit is now a 'serious option'

Yanis Varoufakis in furious exchanges with EU counterparts
Private talks in Riga described as ‘hammering’ for Greece
Warnings that a Greek exit from the single currency is now a ‘serious’ option

Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was yesterday branded ‘a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur’ during furious exchanges with his European counterparts.

In private talks that were described as a ‘hammering’ for Greece in the Latvian capital of Riga, eurozone finance ministers hurled abuse at Varoufakis, pictured, amid warnings that a Greek exit from the single currency is now a ‘serious’ option.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the Eurogroup of treasury chiefs, could barely contain his anger at the failure by Athens to deliver the economic reforms required to secure further emergency funding to keep Greece afloat.

Greece desperately needs the next tranche of its bailout to survive – worth around £5.2billion – but is at loggerheads with Europe and the International Monetary Fund over what is required to release the funds.

‘A comprehensive and detailed list of reforms is needed,’ said Dijsselbloem. ‘We are all aware that time is running out. Too much time has been lost. The responsibility lies mainly on the side of the Greek authorities.’

Varoufakis insisted that the two sides have come ‘much closer together’ and that Athens is ready to make ‘big compromises’ to secure the funding required to stave off bankruptcy. But Dijsselbloem said there are still ‘big, big problems to be solved’. Malta’s finance minister Edward Scicluna said: ‘I would describe today’s meeting as a complete breakdown in communication with Greece.’

Manfred Weber, an ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel, said: ‘Today it’s the case that the entire eurozone stands against Greece. There are more serious discussions about Grexit.’

According to Bloomberg, finance chiefs at the Eurogroup meeting in Riga said Varoufakis’s handling of the situation was ‘irresponsible’ and accused him of being ‘a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur’. If Greece does not sign up to painful reforms in order to secure fresh funding, it may not be able to repay the IMF the £720million it owes next month. Failure to repay the money would lead to default – and could force Greece out of the euro.

Cameron suffering from “brain fade”... Any excuse, more like he doesn't like football full stop the Lying toe rag!

Could be worse Stan he could have said Burnley! Going down going down going down! Just like Labour in Scotland GOING DOWN!!!!! :o)

The only reason he didn't say Burnley was because he probably doesn't know we are in the Premadona.

So if it's all so terrible with having to deal with the Greeks, why don't they pull the plug and have done with it?


quote:'a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur'


Could it be they have a problem with the French and German banks?

Naughty little nasties tucked away where no one can see them?

I had to look up where Burnley was. I had heard the name, but had no idea where it was. I discovered that it is up north.

Why don't they pull the plug on Greece and have done with it?

The loans can never be repaid in a proper fashion, they are simply to high.

Read the next post

There are a few charts in the article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11554692/Greeces-grand-plan-default-and-stay-in-the-euro.html

Greece's grand plan: default and stay in the euro

With the country coming ever closer to defaulting to its creditors, here's how Athens could stiff its lenders but still remain in the euro

There's a new theory doing the rounds in the "Grexit or no Grexit" debate.

Unlike the widely-held conjecture that a default would lead inexorably to Greece's ejection from the eurozone, analysts and economists now think there are a number of ways the debt-addled country can retain its membership of the euro while stiffing its international lenders.

With the country's bail-out drama continuing into another month, even Berlin has reportedly begun drafting plans to deal with Athens failing to make its obligations without a "Grexit".

A default within the euro is not as unprecedented as it sounds. Greece effectively defaulted on lenders when it underwent the largest private sector bond restructuring in history in 2012.

In his former life as an academic economist, the country's outspoken finance minister also advocated Greece defaulting on its obligations while remaining in the currency union.

"The actual cost of severing Greece will prove equal to that of dismantling the eurozone itself painfully, slowly, catastrophically," Yanis Varoufakis wrote in his blog in three years ago.

Athens’ Leftist government was elected on a clear mandate to retain the euro. But faced with a cash crisis that will force them to choose between paying public sector workers, rather than the Troika, the prospect of an intra-euro default is now a very real one.

Here's how it all could work.

Stopping repayments - but which ones?

Greece has 15 separate debt payments to make between now and the end of July, totalling €16.5bn. These include redemption of its short-term government debt (T-bills), paying down IMF loans, and calling-in maturing bonds held by the European Central Bank.

The viability of a default within the euro would depend heavily on which of these payments is not fulfilled, say analysts.

The ECB

The "most straightforward default event" would be triggered by Greece's failure to redeem government bonds held by the European Central Bank, says Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING.

Senior Greek officials have hinted this is their preferred default option, as it has been the central bank which has kept the country on a tight leash since Syriza were swept into power at the end of January.

But the prospect of a sovereign bond default would have to wait until July, when €3.5bn of ECB debt is due to mature. Whether or not the cash-starved government will be able to limp on until then remains in doubt.

The IMF

Greece's immediate cash crunch comes in the form of payments to its senior creditor - the International Monetary Fund.

With a disbursement of cash looking unlikely until well into May, the most likely date Greece could stall on the Fund is on May 12 when it has to make a €760m loan payment.

But as noted here, missing an IMF payment would not immediately trigger a default scenario. The government would be afforded a 30-day grace period, after which a silent arrears process would kick in and lead to no further disbursement of aid until obligations are met.

However, a failure to pay the IMF on time would immediately call into question Greece's other loans from the European Financial Stability Fund and the ECB.

Whether or not Greece will be considered to be in default on these payments will depend heavily on political sentiment among its creditor partners. There is enough ambiguity in the legal documentation to allow creditors to continue providing emergency assistance to Greece even if it can't fulfill its obligations to the Fund.

T-bills

The bulk of Greece's upcoming cash crunch - €12bn - is in the form of maturing T-bills.

So far, the cash-starved government has managed to rollover this short-term paper with domestic buyers continuing to snap up most of the debt. Foreign appetite has been decidedly muted however. The only notable interest has come from the Chinese who have chipped in with around €200m in recent bond auctions.

Should this continue however, and Athens could well manage to trundle along rolling over the debt, making a default on T-bills unlikely despite the liquidity squeeze, according to analysts at ING.

It's all about the banks

In any possible default scenario, it is the health of the Greek banking system which will determine how close the country will come to the abyss of a euro exit.

As the largest holders of Greek debt, the fate of the banks is tied inextricably to the stricken government's finances. Should default ensue, the position taken by the ECB will be the key determining factor in triggering a Grexit.

The central bank, which has been drip feeding emergency cash (ELA) to the country for three months, has already prevented banks from increasing their sovereign debt holdings. The limits on ELA have also been repeatedly hit and now stand at €75.5bn. But the assistance is conditional on Greek banks remaining solvent and having enough collateral to receive the funds.

In the event lenders are left with dud government debt on their balance sheets, the ECB is almost certain to pull the plug.

"The "E" in ELA stands for "emergency", not "eternity"," notes Giles Moec, Europe economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

"It would be difficult for the central bank to look the other way for too long on the solvency issues, but we suggest that there are ways to keep the Greek financial system minimally functional even after a missed payment for some time," adds Mr Moec.

A post-default world

Should Greece fall into arrears, markets will be gripped by chaos. The rush to withdraw money would mean capital controls will quickly become necessary. Enforced bank holidays, deposit withdrawal limits and caps on external transaction would help the government stem the tide of money fleeing the country.

The prospect of such draconian controls has already been touted in the highest echelons of the Troika.

ECB vice president Vitor Contancio has said resorting to such measures would not lead ineluctably to the ECB pulling the plug on Greece. Flexibility around collateral rules could also see the ECB continuing to keep banks afloat following a default.

"In theory the ECB could do almost whatever it wants to do in the event of a Greek default," says Mr Brzeski.

With controls in place, the government would have to start issuing IOU's to pay suppliers, salaries and pensions. This paper would effectively take on the role of a parallel scrip currency, say analysts at Citi.

The next crucial job facing the government would be to find the funds to recapitalise the beleaguered banking system and stave off a full-blown financial collapse.

Greece would face no alternative to turn cap into hand to Europe or find themselves a "sugar daddy", notes Mr Brzeski.

Despite courting Russian and Chinese aid, it is highly uncertain either powers would want to pump cash into Greece's financial black hole just to keep it afloat for a matter of weeks.

At this point politics will takeover.

'Playing with fire'

Pushing Greece to default may be the inevitable result of the dangerous brinkmanship on display from both sides.

"It would be playing with fire", says Mr Brzeski.

"The creditors think they need to push Greece over the edge, to finally get on top of this. The Greeks are threatening to default because they believe this is the last thing the Europeans want, and they will eventually bow down."

With its creditor powers refusing to blink, falling into arrears may seem the best stick the Leftist government can wield against their paymasters. But defaulting would only provide short lived financial relief.

Athens will still need a new bail-out package at the end of June, further relief on its €320bn debt mountain and a relaxation of its fiscal targets, if it is ever to get its finances back on a stable footing.

Risking political acrimony, a dissenting populace and the prospect of a plebiscite on its euro membership, would leave Greece and the eurozone in truly uncharted territory in a post-default world.

In the more recent words of Mr Varoufakis: "Anyone who pretends they know what would happen the day we'll be pushed over the cliff is talking nonsense".

Ed Miliband's wife was on her way somewhere when she came across a little boy selling puppies. She stops and asks the boy "What kind of puppies are they?"

The boy replies, "They're Labour puppies, Ma'am." With this she smiles and walks off.

Later on that day she mentions to Ed about the boy and his puppies and suggested that it might be nice to have a puppy around the house. The next week Ed was on his way home and saw the boy and his puppies. He stops and asks the boy, "What kind of puppies are they?" The boy replies, "They're Conservative puppies, Sir."

"Conservative puppies?" Ed asked. "Last week you told my wife they were Labour puppies." The boy replied, "I know, Sir. But since then they opened their eyes."

Greece's (Germany) grand plan:


Turn €170b debt into €340b debt, shag what was left of it's economy, sell off whatever wasn't nailed down, force 25% unemployment with 50%+ under 25 unemployment, shore up the €urobanks balance sheets with fictional money, and then start having tantrums when the bloke in the street says he cant pay the loan back.


Sounds like a workable plan!