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.

No wonder Cameron is avoiding the press and one can feel safer without his hand at the tiller!

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/david-cameron-is-failing-to-pr-himself-in-the-middle-east-maybe-he-should-start-looking-closer-to-home-10447516.html

ROBERT FISK

Monday 10 August 2015
David Cameron is failing to PR himself in the Middle East. Maybe he should start looking closer to home
Latest blunders include "delayed" reports, confused allegiances and invited dignitaries who never arrive. It seems Cameron isn't quite cut out for the region

David Cameron is failing to PR himself in the Middle East. Maybe he should start looking closer to home
Latest blunders include "delayed" reports, confused allegiances and invited dignitaries who never arrive. It seems Cameron isn't quite cut out for the region

-=-=-=-
PR Dave is my favourite British prime minister – because you can never be sure of his next blunder in the Middle East. Last year, you may recall, he demanded a report on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood by our former ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, in the happy expectation that it would condemn the group as a bunch of terrorists. It was important, he said then, “that we understand... what its beliefs are in terms of the path of extremism and violent extremism...”


PR Dave knew very well, of course, that Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi – victor of Egypt’s first democratic election – had been overthrown in 2013 in an army coup led by Field Marshal Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, which provoked a bloodbath at the hands of al-Sisi’s “security” forces.

READ MORE:
CAMERON FACES PROTESTS AFTER INVITING AL-SISI TO LONDON
AL-SISI 'REGRETS' JAILING OF AL JAZEERA JOURNALISTS
CAMERON SHOULDN'T DELUDE HIMSELF ABOUT WESTERN POWER IN THE MIDDLE EAST

PR Dave also knew very well that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states loathed the Brotherhood, now designated an “illegal terrorist organisation” in Egypt, and that Sir John’s report on the iniquities of this foul organisation would curry favour with the Wahhabist regime in Riyadh – whose late king’s death, we all remember, prompted Dave, in mourning mode, to fly the British flag at half mast.

But the “whoops” factor intervened. Sir John’s report, which Dave described as “an important piece of work”, did not after all label the almost 87-year-old Brotherhood – the most influential pan-Islamic group in the world – a “terrorist” organisation.

So what does a good public relations man do when his minions don’t produce what he demanded? In March, he simply “postponed” the report indefinitely. In other words, for ever.

Then he decided to invite al-Sisi, now the elected president, to London. Yes, just two months ago, right on cue, Dave asked the field marshal to pop over to Downing Street for a chat, exactly one day after ex-president Morsi had been condemned to death by an Egyptian court.

It was important, Dave’s factotum announced, that “we engage with countries where there are issues which are important to the UK’s national interest”. Note here the giveaway vocabulary of every public relations man: “engage” and “issues”. Certainly Dave could chat about the mass killing of at least 817 Egyptian male and female supporters of the Brotherhood at the Rabaa al-Adawiya square in 2013 – the second anniversary of which, by chance, falls this very week. Or he could discuss the slaughter that followed near Ramses station; or the burning to death of alleged Brotherhood members in a police truck two days later.

He could even produce the witness statement I have just been sent by an Egyptian doctor working in Britain who went to the aid of his wounded countrymen and women in Cairo, more than 60 of whom were killed a month before the Rabaa slaughter. This doctor discovered that many of the dead and dying had gunshot wounds to the head – “patients with their heads blown off” – the first of whom was a middle- aged man who had “quite literally a fountain of blood pouring from his head”. The man died on the operating table.

The same doctor discovered a dead body in a street on the way to his Cairo hospital. The man “had been severely tortured. There were signs of electrocution on various parts of the body, skid marks all over the body, particularly the thighs, buttocks and torso, and there were rope marks on the wrist.”



Every few days, the doctor writes, “we would get random dead bodies that were found on the roads, tortured to death in prison and thrown into the streets to scare protesters off”.

When family members, some clearly Brotherhood supporters, arrived for the bodies, “there were people crying all around, and some rejoicing that their relatives were martyrs. It was the most mortifying scene.”

But Dave’s a public relations man to his bones and this, I promise, will not be an “issue” in which he will want to “engage” the Field Marshal. Far more likely, he will want to mull over the £7.58bn deal that BP signed in Egypt this year to help the country through its energy crisis. Or perhaps the “new” Suez Canal launched with ludicrous fanfare only last week. Dave would understand the public relations success of the word “new”, when all that was constructed was a 20-mile bypass system for ships on the 120-mile canal.

He could comment on what a noble figure the Egyptian civilian president cut when he appeared on King Farouk’s old royal yacht at the opening – he was once more in military costume adorned with lots of medals – to watch an air display by more fighter aircraft than Britain can produce for its “new Battle of Britain” against Isis; those were the words of Dave’s Defence Secretary Michael “Chocks Away” Fallon, of course, who doesn’t possess Dave’s PR skills.

But public relations were scarcely up to the mark at the canal last week. Egyptian banners with the state eagle missing from the national flag ... Egyptians dressed up in Pharaonic dress like the soldiers at the late Shah’s grotesque Persepolis party before the 1979 Iranian revolution ... the presence of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan – wasn’t he supposed to be in The Hague on war crime charges?

Now, however, many are asking when (or if) al-Sisi will actually come to London. The president-field marshal long ago conflated his Muslim Brotherhood antagonists with the ferocious Isis faction that is now massacring his soldiers and policemen in Sinai and attacking Egyptian naval vessels off the coast. And in Cairo itself, there are now disturbing signs that the Brotherhood is suffering its own divisions, its leadership neutered and its youth asking whether their “blood sacrifice” might not better be pursued with Isis-style violence.

Wasn’t there another Arab regime in 2011 whose opponents were condemned as “terrorists”, only to be replaced by Isis itself? Yes, maybe the Downing Street invitation should also be “postponed”. Then Dave can find a sandpit closer to home in which he’ll make fewer blunders.

Here's 'a bit what it's like to fly like an eagle' (over Dubai). At the end of the clip the eagle drops quickly and comes back to its handler's gloved hand:

How ISIS plans to take over the world:



More at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-unveils-chilling-new-map-6224227

Choose anyone but Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader, says Alastair Campbell


Former No 10 communications director changes his mind about intervening in campaign, saying party would head for ‘car crash’ under Islington MP


Rowena Mason Political correspondent

Monday 10 August 2015 14.33 BST





Labour could be finished if Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former chief spin doctor, has said.

In a lengthy blogpost, the former Downing Street head of communications and strategy urged the party to choose “anyone but Corbyn”, despite having previously said he would not intervene in the contest.

He changed his mind about intervening because he believes the party would head for a “car crash, and more” under the Islington MP’s leadership.

“Whatever the niceness and the current warm glow, Corbyn will be a leader of the hard left, for the hard left, and espousing both general politics and specific positions that the public just are not going to accept in many of the seats that Labour is going to have to win to get back in power,” Campbell wrote.

In stark terms, he said that Labour’s consideration of Corbyn must stop if it wants to be a serious party of power rather than just a “party of protest that marches, campaigns, backs strikes, calls for ministerial resignations, more money for every cause going, shouts and bawls and fingerjabs”.



More panic here: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/10/anyone-but-jeremy-corbyn-labour-leader-alastair-campbell

Anyone using Chromecast, is it worth trying?

Jeremy Corbyn hints at Russia ties as he surges to 53pc in Labour leadership poll

New polling gives Jeremy Corbyn the support of more than half of those with a vote, while the leftwinger hints at closer ties with Russia






By Michael Wilkinson, Political Correspondent

7:45AM BST 11 Aug 2015


Britain should create closer ties with Russia, Jeremy Corbyn has hinted as he surged ahead in the latest Labour leadership poll.


Mr Corbyn, who takes 53% of support in the latest YouGov polling, told Russia Today that Britain should treat international opponents with more respect.


Mr Corbyn told the channel: "What is security? Is security the ability to bomb, maim, kill, destroy, or is security the ability to get on with other people and have some kind of respectful existence with them?"



The leftwinger now has the support of more than half of those with a vote in the Labour leadership contest, the new opinion poll suggested.


Stark warnings from a string of senior party figures that choosing the veteran left-winger would be catastrophic for its chances of returning to power appeared to have had little effect.





More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11795420/Jeremy-Corbyn-surges-ahead-in-Labour-leadership.html

Max,

Have a look at business ties with supporting Russia and the Russian money being laundered through the City financial services.

But again you may prefer this:

What as that to do with Jeremy making overtures to Russia Fred?

Think and compare!

I know of several people who have joined the Labour party recently with the specific intention of voting for Corbyn.

Unfortunately, a few have been rumbled and blacklisted as a result, but about half have slipped through the net. :o)

C'mon Jezzer!!!

An interesting read is just in from 'Money Morning' (you get this by subscribing to 'Money Week').

Since there are links on it for sharing with Facebook, Twitter and a massive pile of other social media sites (* see below) I'll post it up here:

China has just launched another salvo in the global currency wars.

The country has devalued its currency – the yuan renminbi – by nearly 2%. That’s the biggest such devaluation under the current currency regime, which started in 1994.

The era of yuan appreciation is over, said one former adviser to China’s central bank.

So what does the shift mean for the rest of us?

Why has China weakened the yuan?

Until now, China’s yuan has been one of the world’s stronger currencies. Indeed, judging by the real effective exchange rate – which compares currencies adjusted for inflation and trade – the yuan was one of the strongest currencies in the world, according to the Bank for International Settlements, notes Bloomberg.

China had been willing to maintain the relatively high yuan. That’s partly to protect companies who have borrowed money in foreign currencies (a weaker yuan will make it harder for them to repay their debts). However, it looks as though something has cracked.

It’s possible that the 8.3% slide in exports last month has rattled the authorities. The People’s Bank of China (the Chinese central bank) noted that the strong yuan is putting pressure on exports.

Also, China would like the yuan to be made an official reserve currency by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF delayed a decision on whether to do so or not earlier this month. Basically, the IMF wants the yuan to have a more flexible exchange rate. Now it seems to be getting what it wants.

Until now, China’s central bank has managed the currency tightly, setting the exchange rate each morning and then allowing it to trade within a 2% band of that point.

But today, the currency was devalued by nearly 2%. And now the new exchange rate regime will have to take account of supply and demand, the previous day’s spot price, and various other factors that were not considered before. In short, it’s “a new currency regime”, noted one analyst on Bloomberg.

Given that the market pressure is now for the yuan to fall rather than rise, this looks like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Keeping the IMF happy provides political cover for the move, which allows China to get a weaker currency to help boost growth and imports.

Why we’re likely to see more yuan weakness

It seems unlikely that this is the last such move we’ll see. Ex-Morgan Stanley man Stephen Roach, now at Yale University, said that if China really wants to jumpstart its exports, the yuan will have to get a lot weaker. But other countries in the region aren’t just going to sit back and take that.

Already this morning, currencies throughout Asia slid as markets bet on rival exporters – such as South Korea – looking to weaken their own exchange rates.

“That raises the distinct possibility of a new and increasingly destabilising skirmish in the ever-widening global currency war. The race to the bottom just became a good deal more treacherous,” notes Roach.

Charles Dumas of Lombard Street Research notes that a devaluation of the yuan will make China’s internal rebalancing less painful. But it will “export the deflationary impact to its trade competitors in the rest of the world.” If China starts to export deflation, then competition from cheap imports could hurt US corporate profits.

However, that doesn’t mean a crash would come right away. Because at the same time, says Dumas, if money leaves China looking for a home elsewhere, then “real foreign assets, no doubt concentrated in North America” could be the beneficiaries. As a result, “Chinese capital inflows and a buoyant US economy could lift the stockmarket substantially before the erosion of profits kicked in.”

Meanwhile, in the short term, it’s bad news for commodities in that China won’t be able to afford to import as much. But given that Chinese demand has clearly already dropped off, I suspect this isn’t especially significant in the context of a sector that has already crashed badly. Moreover, if a weaker currency helps to boost Chinese growth, then overall, that would boost demand for commodities.

For now, no one can really complain about China devaluing – the yuan has been one of the stronger currencies for a long time, and China’s economy is clearly suffering. But an ongoing slide in the yuan could well result in retaliation from other countries aiming to keep their own export share high.

For now, we’d stick with China. A weaker currency is generally good news for a country’s stockmarket as we’ve seen elsewhere in the world. We looked at some of the best ways to invest in China in a recent issue of MoneyWeek magazine.

Got a comment on this article? Leave a comment on the MoneyWeek website.

Until tomorrow,

John Stepek
Editor, MoneyWeek

(*) Other Social Media Web Sites (Cor Blimey! There ain't half a lot of them!

Also:

How much is the Calais Immigrant Crisis Costing?

There's more -but here we are with some of it just for starters:

One major distributor of pharmaceuticals carrying drugs for NHS hospitals had to write off stock worth £2.5m after migrants broke into one of its lorries, according to the FTA. Figures from the Fresh Produce Consortium suggest at least £10m of food imports had to be thrown away in the first six months of the year due to the “contamination risk” posed by stowaways.

The Road Haulage Association estimates that 90% of road freight between Britain and mainland Europe travels through Kent, accounting for goods worth about £200bn, with as many as 10,000 loads crossing the Channel each day. They say that even if only 1% of stock is tampered with, that’s an average loss of £30,000 a trailer, amounting to £3m a day or about £1bn a year.

Be careful for what you cheer for.

It may come back to haunt you!

Doc,

I said on this thread several weeks ago that China was a bigger market influence than Greece.

Now here's a clue. Which developed country rich in coal and other minerals exports most of their mined produce to China?

Thousands of British workers aged under 22 could lose their tax credits so ministers can axe benefits for migrants

Ministers want to ban migrants receiving benefits for first four years in UK
But under EU rules the proposal is illegal because it is 'discriminatory'
Ministers considering applying the four year ban to British workers as well
It would mean 50,000 under 22s losing tax credits or housing benefit

By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline

Published: 08:47, 11 August 2015 | Updated: 09:23, 11 August 2015


Tens of thousands of young British workers could lose their tax credits and housing benefit under controversial government plans.

Ministers are considering stopping anyone receiving the benefits for the first four years of their working lives after turning 18.

The move is designed to stop EU chiefs claiming it is 'discriminatory' to ban migrants from receiving tax credits for four years after moving to the UK.

The proposal to ban migrants receiving benefits for four years is a key plank of David Cameron's planned Brussels renegotiation but is currently illegal under EU law.

A government document, seen by the BBC, says: 'Imposing additional requirements on EU workers that do not apply to a member state's own workers constitutes direct discrimination which is prohibited under current EU law.'

Ministers have therefore drawn up plans for everyone - including British citizens - to have to pay into the system for four years before being able to receive tax credits and housing benefit.

The test would apply from the age of 18, meaning that anyone aged under 22 who had lived here all their life would not be eligible for tax credits.

Currently, about 50,000 UK citizens under the age of 22 receive tax credits, and most of them have children.



More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193381/Thousands-British-workers-aged-22-lose-tax-credits-housing-benefit-radical-new-government-plan.html

Re: #61982 ..... Australia?

Corbyn may well be in the lead in the polls for leadership. I haven't yet seen a poll across the country of voters and what they think of him.

Max,

Yep. I challenge you to get a quote on the renminbi, but GBP/AUD is very tradeable and it has been on a tear for a couple of years now - particularly so this year. Its trends are so, so easily defined and 300 pips in a day is not uncommon at the moment.

Thanks for the trading tip, Hils.

On Donald Trump, who is doing well in the USA's Republican Presidential polls....

I think Trump is a potential political disaster waiting to happen and is someone who has the capability to maybe start a 'nuclear' WWIII.

However, Trump does speak his mind and you get it straight from the heart

A lot of people might care what Gene Simmons has to say about Trump. I'm a fan of his (Gene's) and he certainly does have his head screwed on the right way round, so here's what it is (By the way, like Gene, I'm a Hilary voter):

Wan`t Gene Simmons married to Stewart Grainger, must have been one of the earliest of such?