Member Info for bobbins2

Will today be the day I get pushed over the edge, and "go postal"? I think my old air pistol (Webley .177 ) might still be in the loft.

There it is - 3 days gain gone in 3 minutes.

Thanks for that Potty. Reminded me of the "Top Tips" section of "VIZ" back in the day. It's still going, but I haven't bought it in ages. The Fat ****s, Sid the Sexist, Buster Gonad, Finbarr Saunders...... Good times.
Nearly forgot Roger Mellie - still got my copy of his profanisaurus - quality.

jtan - " tomorrow is gonna be one hell of a bloodbath..."
Please tell me you are not intending to 'go postal'. We don't want to lose you.

fordm - thanks for the response- interesting stuff. Was not aware of their large military, especially given their well known neutrality.
"speak softly .... carry a big stick..." springs to mind.

Wannabeidiot - good question about potential fallout from pay award. Ordinariy I would say that this would not be well received in the markets. However, I think this is different - its only a reinstatement of what they had before, and it's only a relatively small number of staff. Balance that against the negative PR around a strike and disruption (just picture coverage of little Jimmy at the airport, crying on his mothers shoulder because their holidays have ben disrupted by "militant" BA staff). So on balance, I can't see it making a huge difference here. In other words, it will remain stubbornly and consistently s**t.

LlloydsActuary - what's really depressing is that the ftse has had a really good run over the last 3 days - up over 300 points, or roughly 4.5%. Meanwhile, we are up about 2p, or 1.7% - which will probably get wiped out in about 10mins. And where has that rise left us? £1.16. FFS. I said FFS!!!
fordm - glad to see we are singing from the same hymn sheet (ha ha). That point you make about the gun laws, and "going postal" is a good one, and one I often make about myself. If we did have their ridiculously lax gun laws, then by now my face would probably have been plastered across the news at some point, with the accompanying article ending with the phrase -" He then turned the weapon on himself".
Just out of interest, as part of the coverage of the latest awful mass shooting in the USA, and the subsequent relaxation of gun laws (work that one out) - I read a piece saying that gun ownership is relatively high in Switzerland (though nothing like the US, obvs.), yet with virtually nil gun crime. Interesting. Something to keep the sociologists/psychologists busy for a while.

I hope those threatening to strike get their 10% back - and a bit more. They have been shockingly treated, and reinstating that 10% for the management, but not for those at the sharp end, is deplorable. I hope it gets sorted out before it gets to the strike stage, but if it did, I think there would a fair bit of public sympathy for them.
This never-ending race to the bottom has to end. I've seen it first hand myself - dwindling pay accompanied by worse working conditions (split shifts anyone?). If you make the job unbearable, and pay people so little that they can't afford the rent/mortgage, or to buy proper food, fuel the car, clothe the kids etc.etc. then what have they got to lose? You are storing up trouble, and you could end up with civil unrest/blood on the streets.
I will temper that slightly by saying that many of the old timers at BA got paid too much for doing too little, but there are very few of those left now, and the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
As an investor here, I obviously want to see the company make a decent profit, but I am not that greedy/selfish/obnoxious that I want to crush people underfoot to achieve that. Besides which, i believe that attitude is likely to be counter-productive, and liable to come back and bite you in the you-know-what.
Here endeth todays sermon. God bless you all my children.

But when it drops, we'll mirror, or exceed it, right?

Been doing some very rough back-of-a-fag-packet calculations. In 2019 IAG spent about 2.2 billion euros on landing fees - BA's chunk of that was about £920 million. That was before the LHR fees shot up from about £19 to £30. Even at a reduced rate of about £26, that would represent an uplift of about 35%. Obviously LHR is not the whole story, but it is quite a chunk of it, so at VERY rough guess, and assuming pax numbers return to pre-covid levels, BA will soon be paying £1.15 billion per year, and IAG 2.6 billion euros.
Somebody's getting rich, but it ain't me - or any other small shareholder.
PS - they are welcome to use the field just up the road from me for landing- let's call it a tenner a head for cash.

Iag and Ezj both up today.
This time next year Rodney, this time next year....

jtan-I'm listening, bruv -I'm listening. To attempt an amateurish response to your questions -
a) As coronavirus/omicron dragged on and on (and a lot of travelrestrictions along with it) , IAG continued to haemorrhage cash, and subsequently has a bigger debt pile than it may have anticipated.
b) Other factors have come into play - most notably the war in Ukraine, which has driven up the cost of fuel dramatically, and helped drive up inflation. On top of(and partly caused by) that, you have the so-called cost of living crisis, staff shortages, climbing interest rates, threat of strikes, ongoing climate concerns, threat of recession etc. etc. The list is lengthy.
c) That said - I agree with you that the selloff has been overdone. That hopefully means that, while it may take longer than we anticipated and wanted, ther will be some kind of recovery in the price here.
PS - just have to say that many of the problems that are poppping up all over the place now - be they economic, social, political, health-related, etc. - are a result ( directly and tangentially) of the the pandemic; or to be more precise, some of the frankly insane responses of governments to that. Who would have thought there would be longer-term negative repercussions to some of those decisions/policies? I'm shocked I tell you - shocked!

Got a good feeling about this coming week - anticipating £1.85/ £1.90 by Friday.

Anyway, being a typically fickle bloke, I have now moved on, and transferred my affections to Billie Eilish after watching her brilliant, charismatic set at Glastonbury. She's feisty, and I like that. Although she is a little young for me. Like, 25-30 years too young.
Still, we can all dream (When we all fall asleep. where do we go?).
Diana Ross is on later - I've probably got a better shot there.

Unfortunately not. The post service around these parts is useless, so she obviously never received the invite ( a handwritten letter is so much more intimate than an email or text).
It's the only possible explanation.

I actually failed a stupidity test once.
Does that makes me really, really, REALLY stupid, or relatively intelligent?

jtan - I had forgotten all about that. It was a truly epic scandal/disgrace.

I know - it's bonkers. FTSE up 2.5%, USA airlines up 5-6%.
IAG/ EZJ down.
Seriuosly - WTF?

I've never understood why companies - and especially those in the customer service industries - seem to take pleasure in treating a lot of their staff like s**t. As well as being morally wrong, it makes no long-term sense. How expensive and time consuming is it to constantly be recruiting and training new people to replace disilusioned people who have left. Not to mention the impact on the standard of service being provided.
Listen to me with my antiquated notions of fairness and quality customer service! What a sorry old dinosaur I am. No wonder I feel so disassociated from the world around me.

" there is no limit to stupidity of big companies and their moronic bean counters...".
True dat. And I used to work for BA, so trust me, I have seen some of the incompetence/ stupidity/ laziness /arrogance / greed up close and personal. Nothing they do (or fail to do ) would surprise me. Which, to be fair, does beg the question "Why am I invested here?". A question I ask myself about 30 times a day.
PS - to be fair, a lot of the current and recent issues and problems are obviously way beyond their control.