What a load of bankers!

The banks really are putting themselves in a difficult corner.  All the things that have gone against them in recent time, it is really little wonder that Mervyn King has said something.  On this morning's Breakfast there were 'experts' talking about the way that the banks are organised currently have caused problems in the past.  So as an historian put it, "the only thing that studying history does is prove that people do not learn from history."  The banks being the latest examples.

Do you know the group that are the most upset about this?  The investors!  Their complaint is that they cannot trust the banks and there is no guarantee that there will not be a criminal enquiry and stiffer fines than the £290m, dished out already, to contend with.  This depresses the share price, and the investers, who include our pension funds, lose money, on top of the money that they have already lost through the illegal manipulation of interest rates.

Stephan Hester has decided, for the second year running that he will forego his bonus of some £2.4m.  Good!  he does not deserve a bonus after his latest bank cock-up meant that some people could not access funds for an extended period of time and some people suffered some real hardship!  Maybe RBS would like to take that £2.4m and distribute it among the people that have suffered.  A bit too left wing methinks!

There is a report that is supposed to sort these problems out.  Separating the investment arm form the retail arm seems to be the solution.  As was described on this morning's TV show, both of these have different attitudes and when you have them playing on the same team, it does not work.  So don't expect change to happen any time soon.  You can guarantee that there will be some serious lobbying from the people who will have their ability to earn oodles of cash curtailed by this re-organisation.

Nurse! Nurse!

Today comes the news that an NHS Trust has become 'bankrupt'.  It has been losing money at the rate of £1 million per week for the last three years, meaning that it now has debts of £150 million (yes I know that the rules of mathematics have been broken, but just run with it.).  When the NHS was set up, believe it or not, those involved thought that expenditure would shrink as the health of the population improved.  Instead it has ballooned to its present levels.  We are told that the South East London NHS Trust has some of the best mortality rates and lowest infection rates in the country.  Is that going to be put at risk by the NHS Administrators who will try to turn this Trust around so that it is financially stable?  Several teams of managers have been tried, and none of them have managed to stop the hemorrhage of funds.  So what is the solution?  The usual solution to problems of this nature is to cut expenditure, which inevitably means a cut in the services you provide.  This could mean the figures that the Trust are so rightly proud of are under threat.  The Tories have blamed Labour as there was a PFI initiative to re-build two of the hospitals which take away £61 million which equates to 14% of the Budget (using the rules of maths means that the total budget is over £450 million!).  The obvious reason for pointing this out is that without this debt, the Trust would be running with a £60 million profit!  However, they would have to look after the hospitals they had before they were replaced, and they must have been replaced for a reason! 

What is the solution?

'Tax needn't be taxing'

Oh well, everyone is getting their knickers in a twist over Jimmy Carr, Gary Barlow, and other people avoiding tax by sending their cash on holiday to a warmer climate.  There are also calls for David Cameron to have the details of his tax freely available for everyone to see.  The major problem is that he was one of the critics of Jimmy Carr's behaviour, for which he has apologised, and it is now seen as hypocritical of him to criticise someone else, whose tax affairs became public, when he is not prepared to reciprocate. 
Why should the tax affairs of someone be available to public view? 
Why should the tax affairs of the Cabinet of the Government be available to public view?
There is a Scandinavian country, I forget which one, has just that system in place.  Interestingly, their privacy laws are stiffer than ours.  A journalist was interviewed and asked if this was strange, his reply was that everyone was in the same situation, so why should it be strange?  He also made the point that no-one looks at their next door neighbours tax returns, although they were perfectly entitled to do this.
Revealing the tax affairs of public servants would avoid the expenses scandal that cost some people their jobs, and others their liberty.  The other advantage to this would be that 'we would all be in this together' which is something that the Government keeps on calling for. 
The thousands of public sector workers have done their part, by having their jobs taken away, saving the country money.  What about the rich paying the taxes that they are supposed to.  Jimmy Carr has gone up in my estimation for recognising that he had made a mistake, rectifying it and apologising for it.  Who is going to be next?

Education, Education, Education

The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Honourable Michael Gove, is doing what all previous Secretaries of State for Education have done, grind their political axes, put forward their politically driven ideologies, have very little experience in education, yet make policies, sometimes, it seems, on the hoof, that the education system has to follow!  However I think that education is devolved in Scotland and Wales, let us see what rabbits they pull out of the hat to keep up with the Joneses.
The present upset is the latest idea is to turn back the clock to the 1950's or 1960's and have linear exams, and call them 'O'Levels for the brighter kids and have 'simpler' exams for those of lower ability.  Plus ca change, pus ca meme chose!  Isn't that what a well designed education system designed to do?  Haven't we had that since the Tories messed around with the education system 20 years ago?
My solution is quite simple.  Make Education apolitical.  Have Education run by people who know about Education.  Once you have decided what children need to know, stick to it.  The reason that we have had 'grade inflation' in the past years may indeed have something to do with the exams 'getting easier', but everyone has ignored the fact that the teaching of these exams has improved because teachers have become familiar with what is required.  Is 'teaching to the test' a bad thing?  I guess it is alright if the test tests real learning.
We only have a few more weeks before the annual rite of "'A' Levels are getting easier", as the A/A* rates go up.  That is one of the biggest insults to young people that I have ever heard!  As an 'A' Level teacher, I know how hard students have to work to get an A/A*.  The country should be rightly proud of these young people for the efforts that they have put in.  But I know that on August 13th what the headlines in the newspapers will be...............

The Eurozone, and all that................

Currently, the leader of the G20 economic club are meeting in Mexico to talk about the current global financial crises (plural).  Most of them could be grouped under one heading and called the Eurozone crisis (singular).  The head of the E.U. has been interviewed and laid the blame of the crisis firmly at the door of the Americans for their inventive practices in some financial products.  However, is that not just a ploy to try and divert attention form the problems in his own back yard?  Greece was on the verge of becoming the first country to go bankrupt and leave the Eurozone, but there are several countries that are not that far behind.
Greece seems to be populated by people who spend most of their waking hours thinking up ways to avoid paying tax.  Obviously, with very little money raised by taxation, then it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that the Government will run out of money at some point.
Spain has had run away property inflation.  Prices of houses just kept on going up and up, rather like they do in London. (£450,000 for a two bed flat in London, would buy you a very significant property elsewhere in the U,K,). eventually, the economy ran out of money as it all became tied up in loans to buy houses.  Spain currently cannot afford to borrow money to stimulate its economy as it is being charged interest rates at over 7%, which is unheard of.
Then we come to good old Blighty.  the only country in the E.U. that has experienced a double-dip recession.  Critics of Gideon have said that he took too much money out of the economy too fast and the economy slowed down, again.  Let me give you this analogy.  In most households, a lack of money means that you cut back, fewer trips to the cinema, meals out etc.  But what you do not do is leave yourself so short that you do not have enough money to get to work!  That is what has happened here.  They pontificate about the private sector 'picking up the slack', but when people do not have the money to buy the goods and services offered by the private sector, it will be unable to pick up the slack at all.  Have they realised this too late?  Report are now coming out that the Government is offering the banks 'cheap money' (there's a concept!)  Money that the banks will lend to small businesses.  when Gordon tried this it did not work, perhaps Gideon will have more success.