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 know what a lodge is, but not sure of Fred's reference as many Labour MPs are members of the Freemasons. One lodge was set up specifically for them and entry was only for Labour Party MPs. It was the New Welcome Lodge (it is open to other MPs now). It is credited with influencing the 1935 Parliamentary leadership elections of the Labour Party or 'fixing' it depending on who's account you accept. There has been a long association between the Labour Party and the Freemasons. You have to remeber that the Freemasons were set up by masons guilds which were almost a type of union. These days the unions and their secret deals with Labour are more secret Freemasons than the Freemasons themselves.

Hays,

Not the answer to the question asked.

I was asking about Cons. and the Brotherhood.

If you believe the Masons are an open society, I think it would be reasonable to enquire further into their activities.

What surprised me when I enquired into their set up and actions I was surprised one at the information I was able to gather, but also the reluctance by many to give some of that information.

( That was some years ago, but at the time I couldn't understand some voting patterns of a committee, until I "informed" about association of many of the committee members.)


Wouldn't suggest that many members of Labour party were Masons, or that some of the lodges were based on the mythology of the guilds, but lodges are are/were rampant through, various areas of judiciary, police, Universities, other public institutions.

The name or game which is "never spoken".

There is a lodge for Old Etonians, look it up.

(Ps. I was asked the Masons a long time ago, and refused to on the grounds I didn't like secret societies.)

Blackballed eh Fred? Aint life a bitch! :O)

Louise Armitstead and Richard Blackden, 0:25, Saturday 16 July 2011

Rupert Murdoch's empire suffered another blow tonight with the resignation of Les Hinton, the trusted lieutenant who ran Dow Jones (DJI: ^DJI - news) , the owner of the Wall Street Journal .

The resignation of Mr Hinton marks the departure of one of Mr Murdoch's oldest allies and most respected executives.

Mr Hinton was chairman of News International, News Corp's UK newspaper division, during a decade that covered the allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World .

"That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp," the 67 year-old said.

Mr Hinton has run Dow Jones since Mr Murdoch's controversial acquisition of the company in late 2007. The Bancroft family, which previously owned it, says it would not have agreed the sale had it known about the phone-hacking.

Mr Hinton's resignation, which is likely to cause considerable turmoil at the Wall Street Journal , came hours after Tom Mockridge was appointed chief executive of News International.

The boss of Sky Italia replaced Rebekah Brooks, who also resigned yesterday amid intense pressure from the phone-hacking scandal.

Top shareholders in News Corp most of which are big American institutions were said to have played a "significant role" in the timing of Ms Brooks' resignation, according to insiders.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire who is the second-biggest shareholder in News Corp, indicated that he believed Ms Brooks should resign.

Since the scandal erupted two weeks ago, the share price of News Corp, the US parent company of News International, has dropped by 14pc.

The shares closed up 1.3pc at $15.64 tonight on Wall Street. Shares in BSkyB (LSE: BSY.L - news) , in which News Corp holds a 39pc stake, have also plunged.

Pressure is mounting on James Murdoch, a director of News Corp and chairman of BSkyB. He is also a director responsible for corporate governance at GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF.PK - news) . Yesterday GSK said Mr Murdoch would continue to serve as a non-executive director.

Newsletter - Issue 27, July 2011

Gold at Record High - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!


So we have seen a new record high for gold. You aint seen nothing yet. In a few months time $1590 the peak seen this week will be a distant memory. We expect $1700 to be topped this year and $2,000 in 2012. Others are far more bullish than that.

So what has caused the recent jump in the gold price. In the US ,the Federal Reserve gave a leg up with talk that some members are potentially in favour of additional monetary policy accommodation if economic growth and unemployment fail to improve. The latest US Jobs statistics were the worst since the 1930s. Meanwhile Congress and Obama are still in deadlock over whether the US Government goes bust on August 2nd. Of course the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling will be lifted but it will do so via shoddy compromise and everyone will know that it is a shoddy compromise. US Government finances are bazookered!

Meanwhile over in Europe, the EU debt crisis worsened as credit rating agency Moodys sent yet another Eurozone member to the Junkyard. Ireland followed both Greece and Portugal to non investment grade status shortly before the close of the US markets on Tuesday. Where is next? Italy? Spain? This crisis is not over and will only end when the Euro as it now stands is scrapped.

The Irish downgrade is one thing, the majority of astute investors realise that as the country is insolvent and all but frozen out of the debt market, a second EU bailout will be needed at some point. However, Italian debt whisperings should be seen as a developing problem likely to rattle global markets further as debt contagion will now inevitably be likely to engulf the country, followed by Spain. It will be interesting to see the results of the stress tests on the 91 EU banks which are set to be published after the close of the EU markets today. Taking this into account the big three rating agencies are still reeling from the bad press received following the fall out of the 2007/8 crisis, and their rating AAA rating of toxic debt, so it is more than likely that all three will take a harder stance this time around. We have just seen S&P follow Moodys by putting the US on credit downgrade watch.

Certainty is currently short lived and it is likely that some of the focus on Europe will transiently dissipate when the earnings season across the Atlantic gets fully underway. We saw on Thursday how Bernankes comments to the Senate let some air out of the stimulus balloon. But the elephant in the room (which is not going away) is the developing US debt crisis. If the debt limit is not raised by 2nd August the Worlds largest economy will quite simply default on its debt. This will send the global markets into madness, lending will dry up and we will almost certainly enter a period of complete uncertainty in regard to the future. In reality this will not happen as the debt ceiling has already been raised circa 90 times since inception, and once a year since the beginning of the century. What should, and inevitably will, be realised is that, like the indebted EU nations, the US has a structural issue. Put simply it spends far more than it earns. 40 cents of every Dollar spent is borrowed.

This is not to mention that in June unemployment ticked back up to 9.2% but in reality more than 15% of the country is unemployed. US jobless claims did in fact surprise on the upside this Thursday but put in the context of the continued lack of robust hiring (the majority of hires have been on the low income side which will generate lower revenues for the Government) an additional 18,000 jobs goes no way to remedying the issue. Over the past year in the US, private employers have added 1.7 million to their bank role. However the net result of 659,000 cuts in government jobs (roughly half of those were temporary Census workers) means total U.S. payrolls were up by only 1 million over the last year. This leaves the country with 7 million fewer jobs than when the recession started in late 2007. This subpar job growth will continue to restrain domestic consumer spending, preventing the US economy from gaining any real traction. A jump in US inventories again on Thursday, coupled with declining sales indicates this clearly.

Less than one month after the end of the last bond buying programme there is already whisperings and hope for a third bout of stimulus. Although Bernanke has stated that there is no immediate plan to widen the Fed balance sheet further we suggest that this is an act of containment. The Fed knows too well that any uttering of QE3 will see the next sugar rush ensue. In reality in one form or another we can expect the US to step in to hold up its economy and subsequently equity markets.

Despite the price of Gold having consistently held above $1,500 throughout the past two months mining equities have struggled. Markets are short sighted and despite an uncertain environment and a developing global debt crisis, as we have detailed previously, the valuation gap between Gold itself and the rating of equities has continued to widen dramatically. We have subsequently seen the valuations of a number of our holdings marked down by forced/panicked sellers with buyers relatively nonexistent, sitting on the side lines. According to Barclays Capital, July is set to be the worst month in regard to trading volumes so far this year, with year on year volumes down 23% (arguably even more across the small cap market)! This has simply compounded the issue over the last two months but we have very recently enjoyed an uplift in the prices of the majority of our holdings. Over just the last three trading sessions we have seen our NAV tick up by 3.4% (Source: Financial Express). The key point however is that the value in this sector is now, in our view, quite stunning. You do not get to buy gold producers on less than two times cashflows. You can now.

Erste Group recommends that in a typical scenario five to ten percent of a portfolio should be allocated to Gold with scope for further diversification into mining equities, citing currency devaluation and negative real interest rates as the main drivers for pushing Gold higher. We would argue that even on the upper side of this range a portfolio would be underweight Gold/mining equities given the wider risks to investors currently. Admittedly the argument that Gold does not provide an income stream is valid but we believe that in this inflationary environment the modest yields offered by even the big FTSE payers are not adequate. Strong capital growth is far more attractive and this is what we aim to provide.

Despite having ticked up over the last few days the team at T1ps Investment Management (IoM) remains of the view that, having absorbed a lot of downward pressure over the last two months, the portfolio is significantly undervalued. We have purchased more of what we already own, notably Ariana Resources, and just yesterday Senior Tom Winnifrith took taken advantage of the low valuations and made a further investment into the Fund at a personal level. We are confident that we are invested in the right places and that the outlook for our underlying investee companies remains bright.

Ross Jones

aldwick - I recieved the same e-mail, can see the advantage in researching the stocks they have bought for theire fund and purchasing them individually,or through spreadbets or CFD'S etc, as a trader why would I pay an initial charge of 5.25% (minimum lump sum investment 500) and a annual management fee of 1.5%?

I can feel a song coming on, Im singing in the rain just singing in the rain. Is it raining
any where else at present in the uk or are you in the sun. Perhaps it will come to the south east.lol

Had a morning in Cambridge today, came across this chap. The music is rubbish.
He is even on utube.

http://youtu.be/-tCAaQn2NjA

I know that the PM has to see the Queen at regular intervals, in order to inform her of his next policy reversal or changes, but having to report to Muddydock, via his executives, 26 times since he has become PM is really going something.


He is looking tired so perhaps, he was asking for instructions, as he seems to have run out of his own policies to reverse.

Power is said "to corrupt", many seem to be already asking is this government already corrupt.

What an advertisement for UK democracy.


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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14173150

=========

PM defended over News International links
Comments (245)
Rupert Murdoch Rupert Murdoch's printed apology promises further steps "to make amends for the damage caused".
Continue reading the main story
Phone-hacking scandal

Murdoch apology in press adverts
What next for News Corp?
Q&A: Phone-hacking scandal
Timeline

Foreign Secretary William Hague has defended David Cameron, saying he was "not embarrassed" by the extent of the PM's dealings with News International.

Mr Cameron has met its top executives 26 times in the 15 months since he became prime minister, it emerged.

..Hague backs PM over Coulson invite

Press Association 2 hours 0 minutes ago
....tweet2EmailPrint......Related Content.
..
Enlarge Photo.Foreign Secretary William Hague has defended David Cameron's decision to host Andy
....Foreign Secretary William Hague has defended David Cameron's decision to invite Andy Coulson to Chequers as a "normal, human thing" after his resignation as Downing Street director of communications.

Mr Hague said he was not embarrassed "in any way" by the Government's relationship with News International executives and he defended the Prime Minister's decision to entertain Mr Coulson, the former News of the World editor, at his Buckinghamshire retreat in March.

Mr Coulson resigned from Number 10 in January as claims were growing about the extent of phone hacking under his editorship of the Sunday tabloid. Last week he was arrested - and later bailed - over the allegations.

Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In inviting Andy Coulson back the Prime Minister has invited someone back to thank him for his work, he's worked for him for several years, that is a normal, human thing to do, I think it shows a positive side to his character."

Downing Street has also disclosed that Rebekah Brooks, who has resigned as chief executive of News International, received hospitality at Chequers twice last year, once in June and again in August.

Rupert Murdoch used adverts in national newspapers to apologise for the News of the World's "serious wrongdoing". A second advert will appear in newspapers on Sunday and Monday, outlining the steps that News International and parent company News Corp have taken to investigate and address previous wrongdoing and prevent it from happening again.

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown said he is referring to the police an emailed letter he had received from The Sunday Times challenging his allegations about the newspaper. In a statement, the former prime minister's office claimed that The Sunday Times had sought to "manufacture claims which were never made and to distort those that were".

Earlier this week Mr Brown claimed in the Commons that News International newspapers including The Sunday Times had illegally obtained information about him and his family.

In a statement, the newspaper said: "Mr Brown made serious false allegations last week that the Sunday Times paid 'known criminals' to work against 'completely defenceless people'.

"To date he has provided no evidence whatsoever for this slur. We sent a letter to him asking him to justify his claims."
...

Always thought Hague had a thick skin.

Mind he needs one.
=====

What a bunch of ?

26 meetings?

Muddydock's empire must be important business.

What a bunch of bananas
wan----
grapes

What?
Come on Fred the suspense.lol

Sky News


....Sky News has learned of further links between the Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and arrested former News Of The World executive Neil Wallis.

It emerged earlier this week that Mr Wallis, who was quizzed by police investigating phone hacking allegations and later released on bail, had worked for the Met as a media consultant.

Sky News has now learnt that Sir Paul spent time at a health farm where Mr Wallis was working as a PR consultant.

Sir Paul had an operation on his leg before Christmas to remove a pre-cancerous tumour.

And he needed a second procedure just after Christmas to repair a fracture to a bone in that leg.

He then spent some time recuperating at a Champneys health resort.


The operation was funded by the Met's healthcare scheme but the accommodation was free as it was paid for by a friend of Sir Paul's, who was the managing director at the farm, Sky sources say.

And it is understood that Mr Wallis was working as a consultant for the resort.

Sky's Tom Parmenter said: "There is no suggestion at this stage that there is any overt wrongdoing between Sir Paul Stephenson staying at this health farm and their PR person being Neil Wallis.

"But nevertheless, it is about public perception and the questions that will inevitably follow."

A Met Police spokesman told Sky News that Sir Paul only learned of the connection between Mr Wallis and Champneys today.


A Met statement said: "Following his operations, the commissioner stayed with his wife, at Champneys Medical from Monday to Friday over a period of five weeks earlier this year where he underwent an extensive programme of hydro and physiotherapy.

"This enabled him to return to work six weeks earlier than anticipated. As with many officers, the Met paid the intensive physiotherapy costs.

"The accommodation and meals were arranged and provided by Stephen Purdew, MD of Champneys, a personal family friend who has no connection with or links to his professional life."

A spokesman said: "Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson is not considering his position. He declared it ingifts and hospitality for the sake of full transparency."

Phil Smith, Neil Wallis' solicitor, has told Sky News: "There is no connection whatsoever between any stay that Sir Paul Stephenson may have had at Champneys and Neil Wallis.

"Neither Neil Wallis nor anyone connected to him had any involvement whatsoever in any visit or stay by Sir Paul Stephenson at Champneys."


Meanwhile, police have told two senior Mail On Sunday journalists their phones may have been hacked by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Their names have been found in notebooks belonging to Mulcaire, who was hired by the News Of The World (NOTW) and jailed in 2007 for phone hacking.

One of the journalists is former news editor Sebastian Hamilton while the other is ex-investigations editor Dennis Rice, the Mail On Sunday confirmed.

Four years ago, Mulcaire was sentenced to six months in prison for plotting to hack into the telephone messages of Royal aides.

Police have said around 4,000 people could have had their phones targeted as officers continue their investigation, named Operation Weeting, into the phone-hacking scandal.


Sky's Jeff Randall said: "Sebastian Hamilton is currently editor of the Mail On Sunday in Ireland.

"He told me that Scotland Yard assumes Mulcaire was going into his phone - one to see if it (he) could pinch any stories.

"And two for commercial advantage. Did he have any information about the purchase of serialisation rights, that sort of thing.

"In effect, what the News Of The World was up to was nothing sort of industrial espionage."

A spokesman for the Mail On Sunday said: "I can confirm that two senior journalists have been contacted by Operation Weeting officers and told that their phones may have been hacked by Glenn Mulcaire."

It has previously been reported that Mr Rice was launching legal action against the News Of The World over the alleged hacking.

..

Chris

So do i , but VGM lost me money and KYS as underperformed while waiting for funding from their Chinese partners, And they sold MML because of political risk and they shot up to 500p and also sold CEY to soon.

.......Newspapers face uncertain future
....Media groups vied Sunday to attract readers of the defunct News of the World tabloid, but analysts warned that a short-term sales surge could be followed by long-term collapse in the market.

The closure of the paper a week ago amid the phone hacking scandal could see many readers abandoning newspapers altogether, while the problems facing Rupert Murdoch, an avowed fan of newsprint, are bad for an already ailing industry.

In the past week, paper owners have hiked print runs, launched marketing campaigns and plans are reportedly afoot for at least one new Sunday title.

After years of falling circulations, rival publishers are desperate to woo the News of the World's estimated 7.5 million former readers.

Douglas McCabe, an analyst at London-based media watchers Enders Analysis, told AFP the next few weeks could see Sunday newspaper sales rocket.

"There is going to be an enormous amount of activity over the next few weeks," he said. "Every single title will massively increase their print runs."

He added: "Circulations might actually be quite robust. I think they might go up, really go up significantly."

It is unheard of for the most popular product in a market place to disappear almost overnight and rivals of News International, Murdoch's British newspaper wing, have piled in gleefully.

The most striking response has been from the Daily Mail which is reported to be planning a new mass-market Sunday tabloid.

A dummy edition will be circulated internally in the company this weekend and it could launch as soon as the following week, the Guardian reported.

The Mail on Sunday, which normally sells just under two million copies, is printing more than three million this weekend, while the Daily Star on Sunday is more than tripling its print run to 2.2 million, reports said.

The Sunday Express, the People and the Sunday Mirror are all said to be increasing their print runs.

But rival media companies may have only a narrow window to benefit from the disappearance of the 168-year-old News of the World.

News International is rumoured to be laying the ground to launch a Sunday version of the Sun, which sells 2.8 million copies a day.

This may not happen for several months, however, as News International waits for public outrage over the hacking scandal to subside.

Allegations the paper hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager were the first of many hacking claims to emerge in the past fortnight, which have heaped pressure on Murdoch's News Corp., the parent company of News International.

Most analysts said the effect of the most popular Sunday title disappearing could only be negative in the long run.

"I think the Sunday market will shrink because when any newspaper closes some of its readers are lost," said Ivor Gaber, a professor of political journalism at London's City Journalism.

And despite his optimism about the short term, McCabe at Enders Analysis saw a bleak future, predicting up to half of the News of the World's readers would desert newspapers for ever.

"To take a longer and broader-term view... up to half of News of the World's sales could effectively vanish," he said.

Murdoch, 80, has a sentimental attachment to his papers, despite the fact many of them do not turn a profit, and most analysts play down the likelihood of him selling off News International.

But with Labour leader Ed Miliband calling Sunday for Murdoch's British empire, which also includes pay-TV giant BSkyB, to be broken up, commentators believe anything could happen.

While the left in would celebrate the fall of the once-mighty media mogul, some raise fears about who would fill the void.

They point to the acquisition of the Independent newspapers by Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev last year, and the ownership of Express newspapers by Richard Desmond, who made much of his fortune from the pornography industry.

"A media baron who is a devotee of newspapers, a breed that is rapidly becoming extinct, (Murdoch) has patiently pumped money into 'quality titles' such as The Times of London and America's Wall Street Journal," noted the Economist magazine in an editorial this week.

"If he sold his British papers to, say, a Russian oligarch or Richard Desmond, the cost-cutting mogul behind the Express and the Red Hot TV porn channel, how many journalists would cheer?"
...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8638644/Return-of-the-Gold-Standard-as-world-order-unravels.html

All these people winning loads of money on the lottery.....

Hmmm?

Makes you want to think about buying an 'exclusive home'.

Maybe something in Beverley Hills?

eg, For something 'affordable' and cheap to run (ie. at $1357 HOA plus Taxes) check out the '211 Spalding' townhouse/condo'

(Do check out the 'exclusive car' link, which appears at the end of the movie on the first link)

ExecLine,
The old boy who won the was it 169 M stated his old cars were running fine. Talking about not changing them and staying put. I don't think his Mrs has the same ideas. Not being rude they did not look like they have missed many meals. lol

In view of the continuing "press exposures" has hit the barriers. I think the brilliant government policy of having locally elected "Heads of Police", which would be in effect be based on political allegiances,

(Another brilliant policy which won't come into fruition.8~))

But, I question what is happening and with the "Select Committee'" enquiry, especially with regards to "police actions" relating to the present corruption, and suspect it to be an attempt by the political "elite" to divert public attention from their own "corrupt actions".

26 meetings in 14months, to discuss the weather. Come off it.