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.

Results....John Lewis sales ahead.

The John Lewis Partnership has halted a run of recent poor trading at its 26 department stores.

The CEO stated that trading had improved due to all the tax payers money that our MP's are spending.
According to a friend in the Press Association, Gordon Brown is considering a press release stating this as a reason why the JL list should be retained, and that their allowances re this list should increase. He wants to convince us that if more of our money is spent there the more profit for JL, resulting in higher Corporation Tax, therefor the country benefits.
After all it's worth a try, he does seem to believe the general public is stupid enough to believe anything.

Amazing Stuff:

Very interesting and extremely clever.

Pinched from another site, as a link so no prob re-posting.
It's said to be a sort of Tongue in Cheek to Shorting, although most will recognize many used traits.


http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=11147432

2 very interesting articles on skynews.com this morning.

First one is a survey of those in the property game (estate agents etc.). They are reporting that they still have many potential buyers who are simply waiting. When asked why, they say because the media tells them prices are falling and they should wait. The prophecy is therefore self fulfilling. There is also a comparison with the 90's crash, when media was not available 24/7 and the internet was not widely used which seems to point to the problems being worsened by the media, though obviously not caused by them.

Second one is a regional "ad lib" survey of CBI members and the like. The responses of local CBI and CoC secretarys is that most of their members are predicting a slowdown in the economy and a reduction in trade and saying they think that due to what they are reading in the press. When asked about their own business, many are bullish and even predicting growth and hiring more staff.

One is left to wonder whether this slump would be more of a blip if not reported as sensationally and whether we are seeing a lie become the truth because people believe it.

I think that appears to be the modern trend, with a sort of loop of bad news, and once in that loop it's hard to reverse direction, gloom follows gloom talk follows more gloom and so on. As to many being bullish re their own businesses, I'm sure many posters follow the director buys/sells etc, and noticed that those buying far out weight those selling, meaning that there is a huge percentage of business leaders/owners out there who strongly believe that their companies shares at the current levels are a bargain. The percentage of buys over sells are far higher than the average. OK I appreciate those in the know don't always make the right decisions, but it does show as already said in the previous post, confidence in these companies, if not in the financial markets as a whole.

As to reporting things in a sensational manner, hoping that the more often you report something the more likely it is believed, now that's a well used Government ploy, unless of course it's a message that they don't want us to take note of (the burying bad news type).

There's a lot to learned from the saying "no news is good news" it would seem!

Perhaps, Greek, the good ship Murdoch has started a trend of reporting their own power over the people. If this is the case, then it may be a start of the circle being broken.
You never know our luck!!!!

Yes could be. Also Warren Buffett has started dipping his toes back in the water, and whilst excepting that he does not always get the timing right, I would not mind being right half the time that he is. I'm only a few billion behind him in my portfolio value.

Duplicate post

Duplicate post.

Why not go for the accumulator?

New Border Control Agency Employed Illegal Immigrant.

The above agency who are responsible for tracking down illegal immigrants, and has recently been 'naming and shamming' companies that employ illegal immigrants has admitted employing an illegal immigrant as a cleaner in one of it's own offices.
A bit like the fiasco of employing some as security guards, in Scotland Yard, Whitehall and in protecting the PM's car.
Whoops.

An owner of a Lamborghini in Qatar has flown his prized supercar to London and back for nothing more than a scheduled oil change.

so this is what our money is being spent on!

'Our money?'

Elton John, after being asked whether the astronomic bills for the flowers for his homes were reasonable, said "I like lots of flowers."

The point being, that if it's his money, then he can spend it on what he damn well likes.

For today's dose of Very High Quality Culture, turn on your sound and click on

Swan Lake Ballet - a la Cirque du Soleil

Tip: This keeps getting better and better, so do keep watching after the frogs have done their bit.

Also, when the download starts, don't maximise your picture window, but do stretch it about a bit if you don't have a wide screen monitor, so as to remove any wide screen distortion.

Enjoy.

Fantastic clip. Unbelievable strength and skill.
The wife and I are giving it a try tonight

That is amazing!

I thought pah!, that's easy, I can do that. I can hear the ambulance coming down the road now.

For Hangon, re the Plus Markets Question on Bugs Problem Thread.
Did not want to take up space on the Bugs/Problem thread.

http://www.plusmarketsgroup.com/pdf/PressReleasePMG20080723PlatformDevelopment.pdf

If you look at the link you will see that there are greater flexibility and improvements to come. I find that some companies now have more trades via Plus than they do on the other market trades quoted. Like you I find it often leaves a false picture unless you look at plus trades added to the other platforms.
I believe that for companies to have trades quoted, on this platform is less costly. (although I do stand to be corrected).
I would hope that sometime in the future sites such as MoneyAm incorporate and combine all the trading platform 'trades' into their Stockwatch and Trades links.

Regards Greekman.

Gotta tell someone...............

Today my son, Eddie, took part in the regional qualifiers for the UK Young Masters Golf and managed a very respectable 4th place in his age group (under 8) only just missing out on the national finals (by one hole)................well chuffed.

Yours sincerely,
A very proud dad.