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.

how interesting
the umbilical cord with greece has apparently been cut - latest flash from FT - but the markets have ignored it completely ..... at least for now

=============

Greece’s bailout creditors signal negotiations over aid at an end
Greece’s creditors on Thursday issued their starkest warnings to Athens since the start of a five-month stand-off over the country’s soon-to-expire €172bn bailout, with the International Monetary Fund withdrawing its negotiating team and European leaders saying the time for compromise had ended.
The pointed language in public reflected growing private fears that Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, had overestimated the amount of time he has left to cut a deal to release the bailout’s final €7.2bn aid tranche for his cash-scrapped government.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/11/imf-walks-out-of-greece-bailout-talks

The International Monetary Fund dramatically pulled out of talks with debt-stricken Greece on Thursday after it accused Athens of failing to compromise over labour market and pension reforms.

The Washington-based lender of last resort said its team of negotiators had quit talks in Brussels after reaching a stalemate and would be returning to Washington.

The move left the Greek negotiating team with no option but to say it would also be leaving the talks and heading home to Athens.

“The ball is very much in Greece’s court,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said. “There are major differences between us in most key areas. There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently.”

The IMF’s decision followed increasingly sharp criticism from EU officials frustrated at the Greek government’s continued refusal to bow to creditors’ demands.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, earlier attempted to pressure the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, to agree terms with its creditors, warning that the time for gambling was over.

Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland, intervened in the negotiations over Greek debt repayments as Athens appeared steadfast in key areas of dispute.

Tsipras was due on Friday to resume talks in Brussels with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to resolve the ongoing dispute over Athens’ implementation of wide-ranging reforms and steep spending cuts in return for further loans. Such a meeting is now in doubt.

Greece has wrangled with creditors over the release of the remaining funds in its bailout. Without the €7.2bn available, Greece faces imminent bankruptcy, putting up capital controls and even exiting the euro.

Tusk warned that unless an agreement is signed in the next few days there is a risk that the talks will collapse and Greece will default on its existing €320bn of loans.

Speaking at the closing press conference for the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit, Tusk said that now is the time to decide.

The Greek government has to be, I think, a little bit more realistic. It is very obvious that we need decisions, not negotiations.”

He added: “There is no more time for gambling. The day is coming, I’m afraid, that someone says that the game is over.”

The market no longer cares whether the bubbles are squeaking. There's no risk of contagion, and that's all that really matters.

ITV News managed to get a photo of Christine as she left the meeting...



That's Greece's money in her bag.

I think there would be more risk of contagion if Greece got their way. The message is; if you want to elect a Marxist government with all that goes with it then you are on your own out on a limb.

That's a fair observation, Haystack, but the main crisis was averted in 2012 and neither Spain nor Italy actually needed a bailout in the end, so there's no reason for them to start making threats now. Club Med 10's are under no pressure whatsoever.

Personally, I think there's a bigger threat to the EZ from the industrialised northern powerhouses saying 'hey, why do we need this sh!t?', and forcing the issue for their own in/out referendums in the same manner as the UK.

Dave's really wowing them..



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11668317/David-Camerons-hardest-day-on-EU-reform-as-leaders-reject-migrant-plans.html

Fred and Stan's best mate for a fairer world.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11668401/tony-blair-global-business-empire-taxpayers-money.html

Hils at her best, or Max's Mum!

hils (and others) - is there a realistic risk that russia will effectively take over greece with all the ramifications that that would entail?

60762 - this bit was interesting i thought .....

While many EU leaders are relaxed about denying out-of-work benefits to migrants, some regard denying in-work benefits, such as tax credits, as a form of discrimination that is incompatible with EU values.



is it not the out-of-work benefits that really gets up our noses? ..... it certainly does mine, and i didn't realise there was any differentiation

went to a school meeting to hear a talk on the eu was surprised most of the teenagers wanted to get out of the eu .
I made a comment that I thought they would all be for staying in and I was wrong
their was 31 teenagers at the meeting .
I was very surprised how they spoke about the eu and why they wanted to come out
it just shows that our teenagers are not daft

Big Issue salespeeps are supposedly "in work", even though they earn next to nothing, but can claim everything.

It's good for keeping the unemployment figs down, and a few of the organisers are no doubt making a few quid...but that's as far as it goes.

one girl spoke and said if the gov wanted to be apart of the eu then why do we need the house of lords why do we need 365 mps if they think the eu is best for the uk then be ruled by the eu but alas she said that would mean them losing their jobs
they speak with lies and so far up their own backsides . they should allow the public to make their decisions and do not need the gov to lead them .

Tax credits for 3.7m working families on the chopping block

George Osborne is understood to be examining a cut to the benefit which could save the Government around £5billion






By Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor

12:14AM BST 12 Jun 2015


Massive Government welfare cuts will be met by removing tax credits from around 3.7million working families under plans being considered by ministers.


George Osborne is understood to be examining a cut to the benefit which could save the Government around £5billion.


It would mean that millions of low-income families would lose out on around £1,400 a year.


The Chancellor announced during the last Parliament that the Government would need to find a further £12billion of cuts to the welfare budget by 2017.


Ahead of the general election, the Conservatives refused to outline how they plan to make the spending reductions.



More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11669517/Tax-credits-for-3.7m-working-families-on-the-chopping-block.html

There are 650 MPs and not 365.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/12/ipcc-will-not-investigate-orgreave-police-action-during-miners-strike

Which is which?


-===-

Welcome to the peoples republic of mugabeland.




That'll be 175 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars, please

Zimbabwe's central bank scraps old currency at the exchange rate of $1 for 35,000,000,000,000,000 old dollars






By Reuters

8:52AM BST 12 Jun 2015





Zimbabweans will start exchanging 'quadrillions' of local dollars for a few US dollars next week, as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency, the central bank said on Thursday.


The southern African country started using foreign currencies like the US dollar and South African rand in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was ruined by hyper-inflation, which hit 500bn percent in 2008.



More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/11669652/Thatll-be-175-quadrillion-Zimbabwean-dollars-please.html