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.

Alan,

There is a saying that if you look hard enough you will find some good in everyone.
Don't know who the saying is attributed to but he/she must be a contender for idiot of the century.
I firmly believe that the world would be far better off without a fair number of these people. They put nothing into society, but just take out.

We, IE the powers that be continue to pussy foot around with these people until the next atrocity then we will hear the usual platitudes and promises to do something drastic. All wind p**s and no action is the usual result.

By the way, why are most thugs on TV called Shane?

Oh well must calm down for the weekend. Have a good one all.

In his second day of testimony, Steve Wright insisted to jurors at Ipswich Crown Court that he had nothing to do with the deaths of the five prostitutes he had been with.

This was despite similarities between the killings and the night shift pattern of Wright's partner Pamela -- who did not know about his trysts.

Under a barrage of prosecution questions on Friday, the 49-year-old claimed it was a coincidence that he had picked up the five women he is accused of killing and in in the order that they died.

Yeah Steve, just a coincidence. We believe you, but thousands wouldn't.

My 5 says the jury won't take any longer than a couple of hours to decide on this.

Greekman, there are similar views to yours on the other side of the fence.

I suggest that Rowan Williams's lecture should be read in full before it is condemned, one may possibly understand what he is addressing.

I don't think that he is advocating the primitive aspects or translated Sharia law, Judaism or Christian law or culture, but there aspects of all which can be incorporated into secular British law without distortion of its fundamental values.

As stated many times I am an atheist but do respect the role that various religions have given the malority of us a moral code and form the basis of secular law and respect of othere.

Greekman, there are similar views to yours on the other side of the fence.

I suggest that Rowan Williams's lecture should be read in full before it is condemned, one may possibly understand what he is addressing.

I don't think that he is advocating the primitive aspects or translated Sharia law, Judaism or Christian law or culture, but there aspects of all which can be incorporated into secular British law without distortion of its fundamental values.

As stated many times I am an atheist but do respect the role that various religions have given the majority of us a moral code and form the basis of secular law and respect of others.

What is going on with the country, was listening to the radio earlier and some Bishop is being critisied for saying we should adopt some aspects of other religions.... Thats great, we might finally fill a few churchs in Sunday mass.... I vote also for the cutting off of the offending part and also stoneing in public, what a great idea.. Honestly though I'm not religious and they already have their own Islamic Bank of Britian plus Mosques so what does it all really matter....

Alan - You still flogging mortgages/advice? If so what was the web site again??... If not I hope you do very well in the scrap missed target cruise missle business...

For my sins, explosive, I'm still in the finance business.
New company now, so the site is well out of date................
Got rid of the business partner, stole the key staff / directors and created a new one, as I always thought t'other one should be.
If you could do with any hints, e-mail me. if its an FSA complaint, ring Rowan Williams. He can sort anything out...............

Actully Alan am looking to buy a bigger house, just wanted to know what percentage deposit I need inorder for a no questions asked mortgage e.g. so I don't have to produce wage slips etc....

Simple answer, but I am a little wary of putting great details on here, cos the warnings the FSA demand take about 40 pages, so here goes the short version;

Most high street lenders will ask for 25% deposit and allow the application to "fast track" if your personal rating is very good and let you have the choice of all their deals. "Fast track" is not self certification. It is merely the lenders choosing not to ask for evidence.
The niche lenders will offer specific products on a true self cert basis with about 15% deposit, but the cost will be a little higher than the high street.
There are about 4 lenders out there with 10% deposit products who offer a hybrid self cert. these do not ask for your income proof, but will need proof that you do actually earn and will be subject to reasonableness tests. These final products are usually only available for purchases.
None of the above is intended as advice and should not be read as such by anyone, as rates and suitability will vary from person to person and will depend upon your individual circumstances and requirements. It is an offence to knowingly submit false information on an application for credit and your home may be repossessed if you fail to keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured on it. The Financial Services Authority offer a factsheet on self certification mortgages and we urge you to read it. The typical cost for comparison is 6.8% APR.

Hope that helps, Explosive, and sorry about the legal stuff at the bottom.
Daft thing is, if my wief had provided the same answer, she would not have to put that stuff as she is not regulated as an advisor, only as a controlling function!
Typical strange FSA approach to stuff.
Alan

FSA? F***ing Stupid Ar**holes.......allegedly.

The Camden fire is really sad, one of my favourite places to visit when I'm in London; especially liked the food stalls, have never had food poisoning from any of them! The Hawley Arms, hmm, not my favourite place but my daughter likes it; there'll be a few people not too upset at seeing it burn but that's what some may think of Camden itself, each to their own; I like the buzz, though I am always sure to keep aware of who is around me!

Caught up with trev this weekend. He was, as usual, slightly the worse for drink, and tapping people up for a beer.
"I'm celebrating, Al", as he tried to sit on his smoking area stool.
"I picked all the right numbers on the Euro lottery on Friday".
This made me ask why he wasn't buying me a drink.
"Cos I never put my 1.50 on, thats why". I couldn't see why this was a cause for celebration. Suicide perhaps, but not celebration. So he told me.
"Narrowest escape of my life". Now I was perplexed, or even a little flummoxed.
"Imagine 95 Million. No way I could spend that. Ever."
"I tried" he said, "In my head, like, but it's not possible". I asked what he had tried to spend it on. "Well I'd pay my bar tab, obviously, and I might get you a drink. I was thinking about one of them right to buy things with my council flat, but what with the housing market and stuff, I might lose a bit on that. So then I thought about a car. One of those sporty Ferrari types." (As opposed to the much rarer non-sporty type).
"Anyway, I changed my mind about that on account of I can't drive and the kids would smash it up in the tower block car park. So then I thought I haven't had a holiday for a while so i might go on one of them real luxury ones where its like a hotel and not a caravan, somewhere tropical and distant, like Newquay".
"Well thats sensible Trev. You'd enjoy that".
"Yeah but its the water at these long away places innit? With my feet I don't want to be running to the privvy every 15 minutes, and I checked in the paper and it can cost a couple of hundred quid and the beers not very good. Anyway, I can't surf. Not with these feet". I was left wondering which feet he could surf with.
"So then I thought, Trev, what have you always wanted? And the answer came just like that. I always wanted to be covered in chocolate and fed to a group of 17 year old cheerleaders, so I went to see Madam Maggie in Cheap Street and asked for a quote, and she told me to bugger off, cos her house of ill repute has a good reputation".
"Yeah, but Trev," says I, "With 95 million you could have all that and more".
"Thats the point though, Al. Firstly would I be happy?" (I bloody would). "And secondly, I learned in time that my dole and housing benefit would be stopped and I've guarded that for decades, So thats why I never put my ticket on">
And with that, he fell off his stool and waddled off to the bar to see if he could get an overdraft facility on his tab for a packet of dry roasted.

Read a report in this mornings news which leaves me shocked and bemused.
Apparantly ASBO's (Anti Social Behaviour Orders) are criminalizing kids.
I didn't think any comment was necessary, but apparantly the report thinks this, so I better explain. Here goes for the hard of thinking.........
How do ASBO's criminalize???? Surely they commit a crime before getting an ASBO? By definition, having an ASBO means you are a criminal so how can an ASBO criminalize a criminal? The government has spent money on educated(?) people to get this claptrap?
Okay, I'll try one. Passing your driving test makes you want to drive a car. That'll be 20million please for my report.
It goes on to say that ASBO's are too often used as a way of punishing kids. I was under the impression it was a punishment, not a reward for good school attendance or excellent handwriting.
So in summary, well behaved and adjusted kids who happen to go round trashing cars and scaring the bejesus out of old Mrs Clough next door are being put into a reward system that turns them into worse criminals, and its all the fault of the people who complain about them and a judiciary who desire to see them punished and off the streets.
NURSE!!!! They're out of bed again!!!!

The main problem with Sharia Law is not so much the draconian punishments as we could do with some of them in this country, it's their so called justice system. Guilty till found innocent, especially if you're female.
Would anyone out there trust to such a court for a fair hearing.

Alan,

Re above comment on ASBO's. Now if we gave the little S**T* a Sharia ASBO (Amputation, Stoning, Beheading Order) it might just work.

Years ago I was in a Magistrates Court when the mother of a youth with multiple convictions stood up and said (and she was being serious) that her little cherub would not have a criminal record at all if the Police did not keep locking him up. Twisted logic or what.
Another stupid statement often spouted by the lefties is that Prisons are a university of crime. As a person has to break the law (and be caught) many times before prison is even considered, unless of course the offense is VERY serious, they have already been well versed in all aspects of criminal behavior. They learn all they need to know from their mates outside. This is what they discuss, standing on street corners, or loitering outside beer offs and takeaways.
There are many kids younger than 10 year old who can and do hot wire cars, motorbikes and the like. I met a 9 year old kid years ago who told me how to use a spark pug to break into a car via the window without making any noise.
The Police learn most tricks of the villains trade from the villains themselves.

Whatever happened to that short sharp shock politicians kept spouting a few years ago?

Anybody remember Eric Burdon and the Animals singing the Nina Simone song,

"Baby, do you understand me now?
Sometimes I feel a little mad ...
But don't you know that no one alive -
Can always be an angel -
When things go wrong, I seem to be bad.
But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good:
Oh Lord! Please don't let me be misunderstood ..."

Rowan Williams is doing a cover version.....but since music is of the devil, there soon will be a fatwa against him........then we will be "rid..of this turbulent priest".

He has always had something of the Antichrist about him - it's the eyebrows I think.

.

Gosh ! They've chopped off his head already !

MrCharts,

Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) did a fine version of it on his 'comeback' album a year or so back.

sorry just testing

Sorry to get all serious, but I detect a new breeze blowing in the subprime arena that may well be a short term help to the economy, even if it is a long term drain.
let me explain.
The downturn is predicted based on the inability of low credit families to raise money, which they had done for years and spent at the supermarket or on cars and holidays. The credit crunch and unwillingness of banks to lend to each other caused this.
Sub prime lenders responded by toughening criteria and restricting loan to value to the point where raising money this way was pointless.
Capitalism abhors a vacuum, and I said as much 4 or 5 months ago. The lenders (not the banks) would source their money elsewhere and fill a gaping hole in the market. This they have done, by sourcing their sub prime lending requirements from stable economies and offering the loans as sterling to avoid the client having a currency risk.
Today, I am notified of the launch of sub prime lending where the criteria is as it was 12 months ago but the rates are not attached to the LIBOR rate, they are based on the Swiss Franc equivilent of LIBOR, which runs at 2.75%.
This means clients with ccj's and arrears can now lend at a rate as good as our own high street, without currency risk and spend, spend, spend as they did before, while the lenders are getting their money wholesale from a stable economy, with a stable currency, build in their own currency risk margin and make a good margin from the loans, which will make them attractive as a SIV to others.
Could be good news on the economy, short term, but long term it is a client lost by british banks and the UK economy.