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So Danny Alexander, the former lib dem treasury minister, has been appointed vice president of the new Chinese led Asian Investment Bank. FT paywall link, not copy-pasting since good journalism is worth paying for. He'll be representing the European countries in it. Osborne put him forward for it, even though he's not really qualified for the job (he has bugger all international finance experience, and it's hacked off some people in China). He'll be one of five vice presidents. It's a bad judgment call on Osborne's part, and I think it'll come back to haunt him. Apparently he's been knighted. Huh, did not know that.
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Feb 5, 2016 21:59
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Dabir posted:O2's data service does it by getting you to give them a quid from a credit card, then they give it back. I mean that has its own set of flaws, it means I still can't get past it even though I'm well over 18 cause I don't have a credit card. Working as intended. Porn is for successful people. If you've got time to spank, you've got time to be working paupers.
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Feb 16, 2016 20:02
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Do we need a honeypot referendum thread to help keep the forrins out of this thread and maintain our posting purity. UK borrowing likely to miss target (FT paywall). OBR is likely to revise their forecasts soon. Osborne's political giveaway in the Autumn spending review was justified based on those forecasts, but they're looking more in doubt now (which at the time, we said was likely - for starters the OBR doesn't get data in a timely manner from HMT and they've been often over-optimistic in their projections). Still, the EU referendum talk will make a nice cover, and no one really cares. Chalk one up to Osborne.
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Feb 19, 2016 23:41
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IceAgeComing posted:going way back before we got visited by the odd europol racists to how bad London is chat; you're making me feel bad. I have an interview on Thursday for a job in London and you're kinda making me not want to go. its one of those things where london is one of the few options for it though (civil service fast stream: scotland had their own grad scheme last year but that hasn't appeared yet this year for some reason: they've let the domain lapse which is a good sign) and apparently i could end up working somewhere else in the UK which I'd be fine with: lets hope that its somewhere nice and not Middlesborough... Good luck. London owns. You get out of it what you put in. Yeah the last train home or the night buses can be horrible, but you learn to get the penultimate train home, or see if you can split a cab. Live there for a few years in zone 3 or further out, then sell out and work for the private sector for more money and move a bit further out and buy. It's a great city, full of culture, things to do. It can be a lonely place, so make friends with your colleagues, and double down on doing hobbies and activities where you meet people. Or get a WoW subscription. e: Some people just can't hack big cities. You shouldn't let their prejudices affect you until you've tried it for yourself. You're still young presumably. Milotic fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Feb 22, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 23:14
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Paxman posted:Friends tell me Uber is great and much cheaper than a taxi and will get you home (in London where I live) at a time convenient to me. Should I start using Uber or is that a bad idea UKMT? I've used Addison Lee, black cabs and random private hires in the past, they're OK usually. Not that cheap though. As for Uber, I'm not really convinced by their vetting practices, so bear in mind that is one of the reasons they're cheap. Additionally, whilst sat nav does mitigate not knowing some of the knowledge, it's also good to know which streets or routes in London will be utter carnage.
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Feb 23, 2016 08:15
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It's clearly meant to be that he comes across as slightly eldritch. Listen to how he speaks sometimes. Some of you are really reaching on this one.
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Feb 26, 2016 11:59
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The OBR projections were off, as expected, so he'd have to do something if he wants to stick to the daft rod his made for his back with the 2020 target. But I think the reason he is doing it now is to put a floor beneath how low sterling will drop. The recent drop isn't just about people realising that there is going to be a referendum, but also people taking a fresh look at other fundamentals, which admittedly would become worse if the UK were to leave the EU.
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Feb 26, 2016 21:11
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Capital requirements for Banks are better these days, and automatic conversion of debt to equity, bail ins, a half-hearted stab at separation of retail and other types of banking and other things should make another financial crisis less likely. On the other hand, in the search for returns, there's always pressure to go after weirder and more exotic instruments. Additionally, because many in the US senate/congress are utter morons and hate any form of state based interventions, they ended up stripping a lot of powers from the Fed without first requiring approval from congress. Which sometimes you don't have time to do, or indeed get - during the crisis some of the banks and other institutions only had a weekend to be rescued. 8 years on from the crisis, RBS is still effectively nationalised and has posted its 8th year of losses (in the billions each year). So it'll be interesting to see if Osborne is wary of doing any large scale intervention. But yeah,, we are staring down the barrel of a downturn in the global economy, and there's probably some really rancid and dark stuff on the various Chinese Banks' books. So that'll be fun!
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Feb 26, 2016 23:19
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Spangly A posted:A Keynesian might argue that we don't have any more buttons to push should we need to. Amusingly, EU rules on state aid reduce the number of buttons the Government of the time has, and it's one of the few decent reasons I can think of for not being in the EU since it constrains a nation's ability to weather a crisis or ensure energy or food security.
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Feb 27, 2016 00:06
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Spangly A posted:An open question to you or anyone who follows the EU closer than I do, is there any traction with Belgiums assertation that our new energy deal is nothing more than a bailout to the Chinese in return for (insert favour/probably housing related)? I think Austria were a bit salty about it a while back too. I don't think it will go anywhere, since unless EDF pull out (which could happen, they're not doing a grand job of securing finance), France is obviously interested in the project going ahead. If EDF pulls out, I don't think the project would go ahead. I don't think the Government could sell to the British public a Chinese led or run venture to build nuclear power plants in Britain. I've just read that EDF is now due to take over large chunks of another failing French nuclear power company (previously mostly state owned), so that's possibly going to make it less likely Hinkley happens if EDF is already struggling with the financing. drat things should be built by state actors really.
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Feb 27, 2016 00:25
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PiCroft posted:Maybe I'm misunderstanding what has happened with the prospective nuke plants, but isn't the Chinese building them (and the hugely inflated cost of energy we'll be paying them) a fait accompli? It's meant to be a joint venture between China and EDF. Although the Government announced it when Osborne was in China, it was one of those 'not really' announcements. The terms are still being finalised, EDF has a lot of existing commitments with old plants that need maintenance or having to be run for longer than expected, also a general downturn in demand for nuclear reactors globally. The guaranteed price of over £90/MwH is looking more and more foolish - it was meant to seal the deal, but it hasn't yet.
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Feb 27, 2016 00:41
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LemonDrizzle posted:
Puts a lie to their professed love for returning power to local organisations. Also I don't get why you'd piss off your most actively involved base like that. Between that, the self inflicted referendum and some Tory MPs having to lose their constituencies in 2020, the Tories are really inflicting some wounds on themselves they really don't need to. It's not quite Labour levels of dysfunction, but it's getting there.
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Feb 29, 2016 23:11
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Guavanaut posted:Use a straw instead of gross things that have been touched by hundreds of other people, some of them bankers. That's how you get sinusitis. I've been to a cash distribution facility which had responsibility for removing old notes from circulation. Large amounts of old money really stinks from all the bacteria on it.
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Feb 29, 2016 23:18
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