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.

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!

Here is something for Fred and Stan to choke on their cornflakes


Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik is Britain's richest man with a £13.17bn fortune, according to The 2015 Sunday Times Rich List.
He takes the top spot from brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, now worth £13bn.
The total wealth of the richest 1,000 individuals and families in Britain has more than doubled in the last 10 years to £547bn, the survey reported.
The Queen, who topped the first list in 1989, has dropped out of the top 300 for the first time.
There are now 117 billionaires on the list, up from 104 in 2014, with 80 of them living in London.
Mr Blavatnik, whose investments range from metals and oil to music publishing and digital media, has a £41m home in London and has donated £75m to Oxford University to found the Blavatnik School of Government.
More billionaires
The highest risers in terms of wealth are the retail family headed by Galen and George Weston, who run Selfridges and Primark in the UK.
Their fortune has grown by £3.7bn - more than 50% in a year - to £11bn.
Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich comes in at number 10 on the list with a fortune of £7.29bn, down £1.23bn on last year, while Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has seen his wealth rise from £3.6bn to £4.1bn, making him 20th richest in Britain.
A personal fortune of £100m is now required to become one of the 1,000 richest people in the country, up £15m compared with last year's entry point of £85m.
In 1997 it took a fortune of just £15m to join Britain's richest 1,000 people.
Share this story About sharing

Opinium/Observer – CON 34%, LAB 33%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 13%, GRN 6%

Survation/Mail on Sunday – CON 33%, LAB 30%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 18%, GRN 4%

I personally think if Boris was in DC's seat we would be reading a much bigger lead in the polls by the conservatives. The Labour party would truly be stuffed along with all the other duff parties.

Ps does not concern me one iota that Dave forgets which football team he supports . All you very sad voters (and one non voter) wan't to get real. What does concern me is Balls not being able to do a simple arithmetic sum . Football is so so boooooooooooring anyway. Come on Dave .
:-))

Looks like the Euro is set for a further dramatic drop if you ask me....all this Greece talk....looks like they want to default and remain within the euro......it just can't work....so....I presume with the uncertainty : the Euro can only plunge....

Why don't they sell/lease some of their small island's to rich foreigners ?

The only good thing that Gordon Brown did was to keep us out of the Euro. Blair wanted us to join, but Brown used the Treasury economic model to prove it would be bad for us.

H/S The not so secret Labour follower.

Ooooops!! (Or is it? Course we believe everything you say Ed LOL!!!!)


Ed Miliband rules out any deals with the SNP


Andrew Whitaker
10:44Sunday 26 April 2015
36
HAVE YOUR SAY
Ed Miliband has ruled out a confidence and supply deal with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament, stating that he was “not doing deals with the Scottish National Party”.

The Labour leader, when asked on the BBC’s the Andrew Marr show, if he would negotiate with Nicola Sturgeon in the event of a hung parliament said: “It’s not happening”.

The Labour leader said an SNP vote would mean a “road” to a second referendum, as he suggested that the nationalists were following a similar agenda to the Tories by setting one part of the UK against another.

Mr Miliband said that if he was Prime Minister it would be a “Labour budget” and a “Labour Queen’s speech” that he said was “not going to be written by the SNP”.

When pressed on whether he was ruling out a confidence and supply deal with the SNP as well as any formal coalition, he said: “No deals”.

Mr Miliband’s remarks came after the Tory London mayor Boris Johnson said that the prospect of a Labour-SNP alliance in charge of the UK government was “deeply disturbing”.


36 comments



What next nats?

Labour don't want you!

You don't want the Conservative and probably the feeling is mutual?

So with all these seats you believe you are going to get what are you going to do? Sit on the side lines and dream of what could have been had one of those party's taken you up on your offer?

You were so close to destroying the UK and then wheech the rug was pulled from under you.

Now you may never get the number of seats due to voters now opting for the party they really want to run the country.

Vote Conservative and they may win

Vote Labour and they may win

Vote SNP because they have the word Scottish in their title (hardly a valid reason) but no chance of winning anything

The SNP are not FOR the people of Scotland they NEED the people of Scotland to achieve control of us by stealth and deceit!




"To finally give Scotland some say in Westminster."

Labour said theres no deal.

You wont do a deal with the Tories.

So I ask now, whats the point in voting for the SNP?


"Neither the SNP nor UKIP should be dealt with by mainstream parties. Organisations like this promoting division, them/us chauvinism and bigotry have no place in 21st Century Britain" - Bamboo

It was mainstream party that caused so much division in the UK in the 80s that the fallout is still with us today.


red ed the glaikit and gormless boy can not be trusted to push a zebra crossing button so who is going to trust him with the nuclear button not the people of the nation that's for sure.
the glaikit and gormless boy red ed already has a master in the Unite union so what is the point of him making deals with other parties when he will never be PM he knows it we know it and the nation knows it.

CC now known as CP= Cut & Paste -):