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.

This Greek bail-out really pisses me off.

Here's why. (This article first appeared in the Daily Mail on 25 July 2011):

The Big Fat Greek Gravy Train: A special investigation into the EU-funded culture of greed, tax evasion and scandalous waste

By Andrew Malone
Created 11:42 PM on 24th June 2011

Even on a stiflingly hot summer's day, the Athens underground is a pleasure. It is air-conditioned, with plasma screens to entertain passengers relaxing in cool, cavernous departure halls - and the trains even run on time.

There is another bonus for users of this state-of-the-art rapid transport system: it is, in effect, free for the five million people of the Greek capital.

With no barriers to prevent free entry or exit to this impressive tube network, the good citizens of Athens are instead asked to 'validate' their tickets at honesty machines before boarding. Few bother.

This is not surprising: fiddling on a Herculean scale from the owner of the smallest shop to the most powerful figures in business and politics has become as much a part of Greek life as ouzo and olives.

Indeed, as well as not paying for their metro tickets, the people of Greece barely paid a penny of the undergrounds 1.5 billion cost a sweetener from Brussels (and, therefore, the UK taxpayer) to help the country put on an impressive 2004 Olympics free of the citys notorious traffic jams.

The transport perks are not confined to the customers. Incredibly, the average salary on Greeces railways is 60,000, which includes cleaners and track workers - treble the earnings of the average private sector employee here.

The overground rail network is as big a racket as the EU-funded underground. While its annual income is only 80 million from ticket sales, the wage bill is more than 500m a year prompting one Greek politician to famously remark that it would be cheaper to put all the commuters into private taxis.

We have a railroad company which is bankrupt beyond comprehension, says Stefans Manos, a former Greek finance minister. And yet, there isnt a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay.

Significantly, since entering Europe as part of an ill-fated dream by politicians of creating a European super-state, the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled in a decade. At the same time, perks and fiddles reminiscent of Britain in the union-controlled 1970s have flourished.

Ridiculously, Greek pastry chefs, radio announcers, hairdressers and masseurs in steam baths are among more than 600 professions allowed to retire at 50 (with a state pension of 95 per cent of their last working years earnings) on account of the arduous and perilous nature of their work.

This week, it was reported that every family in Britain could face a 14,000 bill to pay for Greeces self-inflicted financial crisis. Such fears were denied yesterday after Brussels voted a massive new 100bn rescue package which, it insisted, would not need a contribution from Britain.

After running battles with riot police, who used tear gas to disperse protesters, thousands are still camped out in the square ahead of a vote by Greek politicians next week on whether to accept Europe-imposed austerity measures.Even if this is true and many British MPs have their doubts we will still have to stump up 1billion to the bailout through the International Monetary Fund.

In return for this loan, European leaders want the Greeks free-spending ways to end immediately if the country is to be prevented from infecting the worlds financial system. Naturally, the Greek people are not happy about this.

In Constitution Square this week, opposite the parliament, I witnessed thousands gathering to campaign against government cuts designed to save the country from bankruptcy.

After running battles with riot police, who used tear gas to disperse protesters, thousands are still camped out in the square ahead of a vote by Greek politicians next week on whether to accept Europe-imposed austerity measures.

Yet these protesters should direct their anger closer to home to those Greeks who have for many years done their damndest to deny their country the dues they owe it.

Take a short trip on the metro to the citys cooler northern suburbs, and you will find an enclave of staggering opulence.

Here, in the suburb of Kifissia, amid clean, tree-lined streets full of designer boutiques and car showrooms selling luxury marques such as Porsche and Ferrari, live some of the richest men and women in the world.

With its streets paved with marble, and dotted with charming parks and cafes, this suburb is home to shipping tycoons such as Spiros Latsis, a billionaire and friend of Prince Charles, as well as countless other wealthy industrialists and politicians.

One of the reasons they are so rich is that rather than paying millions in tax to the Greek state, as they rightfully should, many of these residents are living entirely tax-free.

Along street after street of opulent mansions and villas, surrounded by high walls and with their own pools, most of the millionaires living here are, officially, virtually paupers.

How so? Simple: they are allowed to state their own earnings for tax purposes, figures which are rarely challenged. And rich Greeks take full advantage.

Astonishingly, only 5,000 people in a country of 12 million admit to earning more than 90,000 a year a salary that would not be enough to buy a garden shed in Kifissia.

Yet studies have shown that more than 60,000 Greek homes each have investments worth more than 1m, let alone unknown quantities in overseas banks, prompting one economist to describe Greece as a poor country full of rich people.

Manipulating a corrupt tax system, many of the residents simply say that they earn below the basic tax threshold of around 10,000 a year, even though they own boats, second homes on Greek islands and properties overseas.

And, should the taxman rumble this common ruse, it can be dealt with using a fakelaki an envelope stuffed with cash. There is even a semi-official rate for bribes: passing a false tax return requires a payment of up to 10,000 euros (the average Greek family is reckoned to pay out 2,000 a year in fakelaki.)

Even more incredibly, Greek shipping magnates the king of kings among the wealthy of Kifissia are automatically exempt from tax, supposedly on account of the great benefits they bring the country.

Yet the shipyards are empty; once employing 15,000, they now have less than 500 to service the once-mighty Greek shipping lines which, like the rest of the country, are in terminal decline.

With Greek President George Papandreou calling for a crackdown on these tax dodgers who are believed to cost the economy as much as 40bn a year he is now resorting to bizarre means to identify the cheats. After issuing warnings last year, government officials say he is set to deploy helicopter snoopers, along with scrutiny of Google Earth satellite pictures, to show who has a swimming pool in the northern suburbs an indicator, officials say, of the owners wealth.

Officially, just over 300 Kifissia residents admitted to having a pool. The true figure is believed to be 20,000. There is even a boom in sales of tarpaulins to cover pools and make them invisible to the aerial tax inspectors.

But faced with the threat of a crackdown, money is now pouring out of the country into overseas tax havens such as Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and Cyprus.

Other popular alternatives include setting up offshore companies in Cyprus or the British Virgin Islands, or the purchase of real estate abroad, says one doctor, who declares an income of less than 90,000 yet earns five times that amount.

There has also been a boom in London property purchases by Athens-based Greeks in an attempt to hide their true worth from their domestic tax authorities.

These anti-tax evasion measures by the government force us to resort to even more detailed tax evasion ploys, admits Petros Iliopoulos, a civil engineer.

Hotlines have been set up offering rewards for people who inform on tax dodgers. Last month, to show the government is serious, it named and shamed 68 high-earning doctors found guilty of tax evasion.

Hotlines have been set up offering rewards for people who inform on tax dodgers.

Last month, to show the government is serious, it named and shamed 68 high-earning doctors found guilty of tax evasion.We will spare no effort to collect what is due to the state, said Evangelos Venizelos, the new Greek finance minister of the socialist ruling party. We promise to draft and apply a new and honest tax system, one that has been needed for decades, so that taxes are duly paid by those who should pay.

Yet, already, it is too late. Greece is effectively bust relying on EU cash from richer northern European countries, but this has been the case ever since the country finally joined the euro in 2001.

Two years earlier, the country was barred from entering because it did not meet the financial criteria.

No matter: the Greeks simply cooked the books. Two years later, having falsely claimed to have met standards relating to manufacturing and industrial production and low inflation, the Greeks were allowed in.

Funds poured into the country from across Europe and the Greeks started spending like there was no tomorrow.

Money flowed into all areas of public life. As a result, for example, the Greek school system is now an over-staffed shambles, employing four times more teachers per pupil than Finland, the country with the highest-rated education system in Europe. But we still have to pay for tutors for our two children, says Helena, an Athens mother. The teachers are hopeless they seem to spend their time off sick.
Although Brussels has now agreed to provide the next stage of its debt payment programme to safeguard the countrys immediate economic future, the Greek media still carries ominous warnings that the military may be forced to step in should the countrys foray into Europe end in ignominy, bankruptcy and rising violence.

For now, the crisis has simply been delayed. With European taxpayers facing the prospect of saving Greece from bankruptcy for the second year in a row, some say even the 100bn on offer will pay off only the interest on the countrys debts meaning it will be broke again within two years.

Meanwhile, there are doom-laden warnings that the collapse of the Greek economy could be the catalyst for another global recession.

Perhaps if the Greeks themselves had shown more willingness to tighten their belts and pay taxes due to the state, voters across Europe might not now be feeling such anger towards them.

But having strolled the streets of Kifissia, and watched the Greek hordes stream past the honesty boxes on the underground, it does not take a degree in European economics to know when somebody is taking advantage at our expense.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007949/The-Big-Fat-Greek-Gravy-Train-A-special-investigation-EU-funded-culture-greed-tax-evasion-scandalous-waste.html#ixzz1T6nlsWZ5

I am thinking of going to my mortgage lender latter today with the following idea for a new type of payment plan.
This plan would greatly assist anyone who is having difficulty playing off their mortgage.
Say they owe 100,000 over 10 years. Lend them 200,000, repayments over 20 years, at the same rate, resulting that they then pay back the initial 100,000 straight away.
Of course they would still be paying the same amount monthly, but they would have another 100,000 to spend as they wish. Of course they could invest this money, which would over the 20 year term make money that could result in paying off the mortgage earlier than the 20 year term.
Both the lender and borrower would benefit.
Of course the temptation would be to spend some or all of the extra 100,000, which would result in the debt increasing due to the earnings of the borrower spiraling downward due to the general world financial situation.
Still no problem as the borrower could then go back for a further loan, say 300,000 as promised if required, add ad infinitum.

For lender read banks, and therefore the Tax Payer.
For Borrower read Greece, and soon Ireland, Spain, Portugal and perhaps a couple more.

Of course things will turn out OK, as obviously the Greek Government as promised will not waste the money, but will invest it wisely into growth, all backed by the Greek people, agreeing to all the austerity measures, such as retiring at 65 or later, taking drastic pay cuts and of course paying all their taxes.
The other EU countries, mainly Germany and France will of course readily accept that they will be paying for their far poorer partners for many years to come.

So there is absolutely nothing wrong with the latest bailout plans.
The EU problem re self financing is solved.

Simples

No doubt many of you have received spam e-mails re bank security problems, you have won a lottery prize etc.
Just lately I have received an increase of these e-mails, so I decided to have a bit of fun with a couple of them.
I have replied with completely false info, re name, address and so on.
Playing a thicky, after all I have informed them I am a 82 year old who obviously due to my grammar is a few pence short of a Greek Bond, it has taken several e-mails for them to elicit my bank details, all false of course.
My they are so polite and patient!

I am hoping that my replies will at least waste a bit of their time.
As to wasting my time, I have my own pro-forma replies.

Advice please

I never open any attachments to these e-mails, but my query is, could I be leaving my computer open to either a virus, hacking or both even if I only open the e-mail itself.

Would appreciate views.
Thanks in anticipation.

Greek.

Well, the people who do this stuff to make their money are certainly high risk players, IMHO. And who knows at what kind of level is their playing field?

My advice to myself, would be "Definitely do not get involved with them, in any way, shape or form."

But there again, I think you're an ex-copper, aren't you? Shouldn't you should be telling/advising this to us. ;-)

" Well I think that there are not enough warnings on tv or in the papers about the dangers of pot, cocaine or any of the other crap that mainly young people seem to find it necessary to indulge in....."

You must be joking , they know all about the dangers

Also Alcohol ,smoking and being obese is a far bigger killer [ and its legal ]

Norway gunman 'has accomplices'

Norwegian police are investigating claims by Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted carrying out Friday's twin attacks in Norway, that he has "two more cells" working with him.

Hi ExecLine,

Firstly your post re The Greek bailout is spot on.

As to not getting involved with the e-mail spammers, I sort of agree, the thing is I am becoming more and more fed up with them. They annoy me as much as those cold callers by telephone, who I have also started to mess with. At present I am in negotiations with an 'accident chaser' who is putting me in touch with a 'no win, no fee' solicitor after no doubt receiving a nice fat commission.
Again, I am inventing an accident. I got this idea from a newspaper, who had made several false claims in order to show that there were connections between insurance companies, hospitals and these n win no fee solicitors. Of course I will only let it go so far. If I can be cold called and told by someone who does not know me from Adam, that they can help me with an accident that I have never had, then hard luck on them.
Why should about 25% of any insurance premium that I pay, go to commission to these people.
Perhaps if we all did the same, it would result in them only contacting genuine accident victims.
Its no good waiting for the government to do anything, after all they aren't hacking government ministers and MPs phones are they.

So I will, at least till I get fed up, continue to contact them although as all my details are false, it is not like I am getting involved with them. After all they contacted me.
Must go, as I am about to apply for a bond, I knew nothing about, from what I think is a very kind Jamaican Solicitor who has discovered I can claim this bond of 1,5000,000 by sending him my bank details so that amount can be transfered to me.

Note.............I read some time ago that these e-mails could be forwarded to an organization that would spam them back. Unfortunately, I have lost their e-mail address. Anyone know or heard anything about them.

Edited. A friend has just sent me this. It explain why that 'spamming the spammers' site now can't be found.

http://www.guard-privacy-and-online-security.com/spam-spammers.html

Regards Greek.

Greek - I don't know if you saw the recent Panorama, if not, have a watch - Panorama - The Great Car Insurance Swindle

Hi Skinny,

Yes, I did see it. It did show just how big a racket it is. It also showed how easy it would be for the government to do something about it.
But like everything, fuel cost, energy cost and the like, they won't do anything because the more these items cost, the more tax revenue they take from the companies involved, and of course the extra VAT.

Greek.

I (think) it was that Panorama that showed the business that has grown up, whereby as soon as you have any kind of accident, a whole new industry springs into life. Whether it be the recovery man, your insurance company or even the police supplying your information, you will invariably be contacted by an "accident chaser" of one sort or another.

My two boys are at Lords today. Entry is free of under 16 and 20 for the rest. One of their friends has access to an unused box via their father's company. Six of their friends are sharing the box. It is fully catered with breakfast, three course lunch, afternoon teas and a free bar including free champagne. Unfortunately as the they are all around about 16 they can't use the bar. It should cost about 900 a day each and they have had it for 5 days for free.

I sent a text to one of my sons saying that on the TV it looked like there was an LBW. He replied, "yes I know - we have a TV in the box".

They sound as if they could become MPs.

The last time I was at Twickenham, we watched the majority of the game on one of the many plasmas in the box.

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/23/phone-hacking-piers-morgan-mirror

Phone hacking also rife under Piers Morgan at Mirror, claims ex-reporter
Former City Slicker reporter offers evidence for public inquiry, alleging phone hacking was widespread at Mirror and People
Saturday 23 July 2011 12.38 BST

Phone hacking was not confined to the News of the World but was widespread at other newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, a former Mirror reporter has claimed.

James Hipwell, who worked as a financial journalist under the editorship of Piers Morgan, said the practice was "seen as a bit of a wheeze" and offered to give evidence to the public inquiry into hacking ordered by David Cameron.

Hacking also took place at other titles in the newspaper group, including the People, he alleged.

"You know what people around you are doing," he told the Independent. "They would call a celebrity with one phone and when it was answered they would then hang up.

"By that stage, the other phone would be into [the celebrity's] voicemail and they would key in the code, 9999 or 0000. I saw that a lot."

He added: "It was seen as a bit of a wheeze something that was slightly underhand but something many of them did. What a laugh.

"After they'd hacked into someone's mobile, they'd delete the message so another paper couldn't get the story. There was great hilarity about it."

Piers Morgan, a former editor of the Mirror, and the News of the World, has strenuously denied any link to the phone-hacking scandal.

Hipwell said he had chosen to speak out as he was sick of all the "lies".

The death of phone-hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare fuelled his decision to talk about what went on, he said, condemning the way the former News of the World journalist had been treated as "disgraceful".

Trinity Mirror denied its journalists had broken the law. A spokesman said: "Trinity Mirror's position is clear. Our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) code of conduct."

Trinity Mirror added that Hipwell's claims were "totally unsubstantiated".

Hipwell was jailed for six months in February 2006 for pocketing nearly 41,000 by repeatedly purchasing low-priced stocks, recommending them to readers in the Mirror's City Slickers column and then quickly selling them as values soared.

Be interesting to see the economic figures, a little later to-day.

I think Dodgy Dave has be looking for Georgie Boy. The latter is locked in a dark, room checking his CV. Perhaps, he can get some references from Muddydock and Brooksie for his next job.

It is good to see Dodgy Dave and Georgie Boy so confident about the economic recovery.

We know which schools they went to, but which planet are they from.

Also, good to see that Osborne could make time to see the Murdoch "group" for advice on 17 times in recent months.

I wonder what he was selling to them.

Smells like what the dog left behind.

The last person leaving needn't turn the light out. There won't have paid the electricity bill.

The poor man of Europe is looking sicker and that is before they are bled by the future cuts.
==============

Apparently, Vince Cable is laughing in the corner waiting for the call to be Chancellor in order to try an bail out the government.


Another interesting point is the tory back benches are claiming the Cabinet are "elitist" and to "right" and won't listen to them.

That is a laugh, when you look at the tory back benches!

Osborne pleased with positive economic growth.

Do you think Murdock was asking Osborne on how he should run NI?

Was he getting paid for any advice given?

Or perhaps a promise note?

Not much value now.

Rupert Murdoch says he is touched by some of the messages on Amy's phone.....

Always thought Muddy was a man from another World.