Imagine if you were in a plane and you looked down and spread out beneath you, majestic in the ocean, was an entire mighty battle fleet. And then it sank; Not just one, but every ship in quick succession. What would you think? Would you think it likely that in each ship, by some amazing coincidence, […]

We ended the last part of Propaganda Wars with the question, “So what are the ways the banks ditched safety and robustness in favour of performance, profit and bonus package?” To answer this we are going to look in more detail at the money banks lend out and are owed back (bank income) which is the Assets

So far in Propaganda Wars we have looked at the Bank’s version of reality in which the banks were blameless victims of unscrupulous and fiendishly clever paupers who ‘took’ loans from the banks against the bankers better judgelment and will. In the next part we began to turn the tables and attack the banks where

The core claim of the Big banks and those who support them is that the financial system, as it is presently constituted, is not only fair and fit for purpose, but essential for our continued welfare. People should therefore stop complaining and knuckle down to suffer whatever deprivation is necessary. All must serve the greater

The Guardian, on its breaking news ticker, is now running a report from PA news wire under the headline “Hague: Syrian Leader should quit..” The article says, Some 137 countries backed a non-binding resolution at the UN General Assembly in New York supporting an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to step down and

Back in June of last year (2011) I wrote about how there was such a demand for safe deposit boxes in Switzerland that,  …if you want a bank box in Zurich today, they will require that you have a minum of half a million swiss francs on deposit in the bank, before they will even

Just a quick comment on banker bonuses and specifically the bonus of Mr Hester at massively bailed out but STILL loss making RBS. The argument I have heard frequently in the media (most recently this morning on the Today Programme on radio 4 this morning) is that the bonus really has to be paid because

So I’ve been away for an age. Sorry about that. Filming is now over and I am catching up with domestic duties. The children look reasonably tidy and washed and meals are abundant if sometimes a little surprising. So let’s see…. Greece is heading for a blow out with its bond holders. Greece wants/has to

A little over a year ago on 1st November 2010 I wrote what I called “…a little bit of scurrilous speculation.”  In it I speculated that an unintended consequence of QE had been to spur several countries to think very seriously of how they could replace the dollar as their settlement currency for international deals. The