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.

Enjoy the banter on here. No political allegiance, but Gordon Brown's unctuous pomposity makes me regret voting Labour in 1997.

When I was a lad in the 1950s banking was perceived as a nice safe job which paid peanuts, gave you a decent pension when you finished working for the same bank for 40 odd years and had about 5 women employees for every man.The culture was like a big family ( incest apart!) and indeed some families had run big banks for many generations. Banking profits tended to ebb and flow with the state of the economy. That culture began to change in the Thatcher era and as more influence came from across the pond the leadership style became much more aggressive, staff were encouraged to be motivated by greed and they had an ignorant market to plunder. In the old days, it did not matter that the average personal customer knew next to nothing about money issues, because he/she would be guided by their bank manager.Once that manager was motivated to keep his/her job by selling them products they might not want or need then the game changed and we have seen the results. The sooner basic finance is taught in schools from age 7 or 8 the better.

Same applied in the business world. "Socially useless" (I like that term dreampt up I think by Mr Mynors) products were developed to sell to a gullible client base, brought up to trust its bankers. Bank balance sheets began to inflate put of control around the turn of the millenium and the longer it went on the bigger the inevitable crash.

Still undecided who to vote for this time, but it won't be Mr Brown and his crew.

Fred Hung Parliament a certainty.and it will pay for our vacancesthe May election has made a good startIve made money the honest way from Politiceans pity it dont work the other way round?

"A very short while ago on a different thread your were lauding the polls as indicating a massive tory election win."

You're the only one with Alzheimer's around here, Freddy!

If you stopped filing your willie to a point for 5 seconds and had bothered to read the other thread properly, you would understand that I was pointing to the anomolies between the opinion polls and the bookies. Everybody knows that, when it comes to elections, the opinion polls aren't worth a light and the bookies always manage to get it spot on. A Conservative majority is still odds on with the bookies.

.

Only just Hilary4/5 Conservative majority.13/8 No Overall Majority.not exactly a certainty.Cameron is just as much a liability to the Toriesas Brown is to the Labour Partythe one difference is Labour have no options.also Vince Cable convincingly won the Chancellors TV debate Alistair Darling was second by defaultdue to George Osborne thinking he was in a boy band.

A majority is a majority and it doesn't really matter by how much, Tabster. They need 626 seats for a majority.

Betfair today are calling a 56% chance of a Tory majority and are suggesting they'll get 333 seats. That's fluctuated between a 50/50 call on budget day, and a 62% chance of an outright majority around a week or so back.

If you like looking at charts, it's also evident that the Betfair Tory downtrend which has been in place since February has now been broken to the upside.

Thanks mnamreh - A few years ago, post retirement, I was invited by an enterprising teacher to visit local secondary school and offer basic guidance on financial matters to volunteers in their lunch break. Their ignorance was quite frightening. Other side of the coin is that I cringe if I pay in a cheque at my bank and am asked ( by someone who hasn't got a clue, but is told to ask me) if I know what to do with the money.

Hilary,

Your phantasies are interesting and seemingly fascinating to yourelf. Firstly pointed "willies" and especially mine and then Sheep@shagging.

I would suggest rereading all your posts and check some of your statements.

I would consider being careful when trading or driving.

Have a nice day.

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

UKIP, be careful the tories are coming!

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

Tabs,

What are the odds to-morrow?

Only asking 8-)

"They need 626 seats for a majority."

326 seats actually, I think, Hils. :-)

I was talking to someone the other day and they said how important was the vote from the armed services and not to forget it. It could swing things in one hell of a direction.

Today the Lib Dems produced their manifesto promising all of our military 'risk takers' a nice pay rise, together with a credible proof on 'how' and 'with what' this and other goodies were going to be paid for.

I think thing are still up for grabs and the Lib Dems are going to take a bigger share of the vote as time goes on and things get nearer to Election Day.

Both Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have done very well today and so have the Lib Dems.

There are a lot of undecided people out there, including myself, and this whole thing is going to go down to the wire. If we get a hung parliament, which is currently the favourite thing to happen, then deals are there to be struck. The Lib Dems have got some sensible entrenched key points to do their deals with.

I was interested to hear Clegg's views on 'jails and sentencing'. He seems quite strong on a solution to solve fact that "92% of offenders only get short sentences and then, having been sent inside for a 12 weeks holiday (or even less!), where they learn a bit more on perfecting their crime skills, they come out, commit another crime and then get sent back to jail. Clegg's strength for me, was on just how to go about doing this without building even more jails. He actually has a well thought out plan on it.

Personally speaking, I'm quite fed up with the red or blue 'voting promises' fiasco, which we've had for the last umpteen years, with its unfair taxation, poor solutions to the crime and education problems, and also a whole lot more and I actually fancy and am up for a bit of a change.

Well spotted, Doc.

:o)

.

PartridgeI have a friend whos son had a job with a very well known Big Bank in the Green Park areahe was literally persuaded/told to get rich foreigners to sign up to various schemes that he knowingly ripped off the customerwhen he questioned the Banks actionshe was told in no uncertain terms to carry out these instructionshe also told the Bank in no uncertain terms to hire a crook if they wanted to commit crimehe maintained his integrity and leftthe Bank found a crook to replace

tab..your friend's son had courage and youth on his side. Suspect that some decent people who have been there many years suffer a crisis of conscience as they cannot afford to go elsewhere.

Exec,

8869 interesting post.

Would you like a 12 week holiday in one of HM rest homes or prisons?

One of the problems with policies are delivering the changes suggested.

But one of my gripes is that we have had too many changes in too short a time and it would be more sensible to allow things to bed down and then make the smallest changes to improve functioning.

I think the constant changes have been the cause of much dissatisfaction, disharmony and "air" of resentment in the public services.

Excellent posts Hilary. Everyone wise and intelligent.

The banks shuld have definately been allowed to go bust. Brown has engineered the bigest bust in the history of our country.

The pseudo-intellectual Guardian reading idiot Fred is the type that got the country into the mess it is in at present.

On a lighter note:



I just applied for a Planning permission for a new house.



It was going to be 100 ft tall and 400 ft wide with 9 turrets at



various heights and windows all over the place and a loud outside entertainment sound system.



It would have parking for 200 cars and I was going to paint it snot green with tatty pink trim.



The Council Planning Department told me to clear off.



So I sent in the application again, but this time I called it a Mosque.



Work starts on Monday ......

PS, That is why I think the current "policies" on schools and police forces, advocated by the tories are daft.

This is me ,very funny , but unfortunately would be the case .

This-is-me.

Spot on yet again.

Tabasco.

You say re Gordon Brown, "there could still be a future for him in waiting as a Catholic Priest". True but the difference is GB has shafted just about everyone, whereas Catholic Priests have only (OK you fill in the rest).

TIM,

I am not certain whether you are a member of the BNP, but with your obvious intellect and leanings, I am sure Nick Griffin could find a useful position for you.

I would think you would feel at home in their company.

Buy the Guardian and expand yourself, it is better than comics.