Member Info for Love_You

No - Unilever is a terrible investment, they are trying to make money from downgrading UK food culture by filling up the shops with products containing palm oil. Palm oil is a very unhealthy fat and they only use it because it is cheap. No chef would voluntarily add palm oil to the vast majority of their food. This company is putting profit before people - will end up with a massive backlash against it like tobacco companies and investment banks.

Mark, I feel your pain. The people who run publicly listed companies (and the markets who set the share prices) seem to have lost all their morals. There is so much corruption that it is almost impossible for private investors to profit from even a fairly sensible investment strategy (doing due diligence, having patience, waiting for good value/sensible prices to buy in, investing in companies which would contribute positively to the wider economy).

It seems that the markets have given a load of money to already very wealthy individuals and are now trying to recoup it by devaluing the shareholdings of private investors and pension funds. I was not really in favour of QE and bailing out the bankers the first time around. However, this market has become a joke because the people profiting appear to not to want to contribute anything to maintaining living standards and the pace of business in our economy. Hence I would now support more QE and also negative share interest rates if this would boost share prices and stop people betting on the failure of our economy (people who have sold all their shares at irrationally low prices or are even net short) from making even larger profits from the stock market.

If the market continue to reward financially irrational behaviour then in the future things will become even more irrational. The current path is a road to nowhere but increasing irrationality and unpredictability in the financial markets.

Hi Calisto,

How can the productive base of the economy genuinely be widened without land reform? Lots of people who own land don't want to use it productively but won't let anyone else do so either. How can this issue be addressed in a democratic manner?

"I like to wander among the dewy orchards first thing in the morning; it often inspires the day’s menu."

Calisto.

I envisage the cuisine in the NHS and state schools being equivalent to Le Manoir or the Fat Duck.

Competition drives up standards and the above would drive Heston Blumenthal and Raymond Blanc to take their restaurants to an even higher standard of cuisine (as why would anyone pay £200 for a meal that their child had for lunch in school for free).

:-)

There is only one true form of wealth creation given the human brain runs on electrical energy. The only true form of wealth creation is energy production.

If Lloyds were a self-interested bank wishing to provide shareholders with positive investment returns they need to focus on one thing only first and that is energy production, i.e. oil production, wind power, gas production, tidal power, coal.

After the UK is not in energy poverty any longer - would take about five years to sort out the energy crisis the UK has got itself into - the next thing to reform is the productive base of the economy (as Calisto rightly said). The productive base of the economy needs to be widened so that more is contributed to society by the lower classes. What good are thousands of low paid jobs in the NHS when there is a great shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables in the UK? The only way the low paid jobs in the NHS can be maintained in the future is if the drug addicts and people who contribute nothing start to contribute something to the economy - market gardening may be a good place to start for them.

Those dealing for financial gain really need to examine their own conscience for sure - and if that isn't enough then of course I would support lawful intervention to ban their illegal dealing.

Previously I wanted to highlight that the way I wrote about Tony Bliar and John Major was just a turn of rhetoric. Of course I can have no idea of what the intentions of those two men actually were. Only personally I thought John major seemed more traditional and to recognise that the UK in many ways was experiencing a very healthy economy and standard of living. On the other hand it's hard to believe that someone of Blair's education couldn't foresee that Labour's policies would lead to rapidly worsening (insurmountable) pressures on public services. Also that their policy of the fuel price escalator would lead to travel becoming too expensive at the margins for many and would eventually negatively impact B&Bs, smaller music festivals, pubs and country inns, leisure and tourism, the high street, and small-and-medium sized enterprises. If Labour wanted to negatively impact all of the above then what resulted from the fuel price escalator was exactly what could have been expected - but to want to negatively impact the free time and recreation of tens of millions of UK citizens would seem rather perverse from a government.

And finally the BBC seems to have become completely warped in its view and is not standing up for the economy nor the majority of UK citizens. The people least effected by draconian fossil fuel targets will be the very wealthy - the most affected will be the backbone of the UK economy and the ordinary hardworking citizens. Also, emissions from the UK has virtually no effect on the global climate given that the biggest users of fossil fuels are the USA, Canada, India, China, Mexico, Brazil etc.

Also why has the BBC not been protesting about the people who feel very let down by what society had done for their standard of living over the past few decades? I thought the BBC was meant to report things without bias - if thousands of people feel they need to come out on the streets across France every weekend then I for one would like to know more about their grievances - what exactly are they protesting about?

It says something about your state broadcaster and other media outlets when you have to depend on ‘Darren of Plymouth’ for footage of events in Paris. (No offence Darren).
#GiletJaunes
@DarrenPlymouth
France has become a police state. Crazy scenes at this time of the morning in #Paris.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Akabilky/status/1175363262407434240

Slean, I agree that there was too much of an increase in population without enough GPs, new hospitals, new schools, new reservoirs, new power stations, etc. etc.

Governments should hang their heads in shame. They thought they could make society better through "social engineering" - the worrying thing is that people who secretly wanted to play god ever got elected by the general citizenship of their countries. I always thought John Major wasn't half as keen as Tony Blair to mess up the good thing that the UK had going on in the 1990s. Of course Tony Blair thought that he wasn't messing anything up but that multiculturalism and a sudden population increase wouldn't come with any negative effects? Deluded or just trying to push up property prices?

Anyway, banks better keep investing in fossil fuels or they are not getting their hands on my pension. Premier Oil has two large projects (Zama and SeaLion waiting to be funded for development) and I hope the banks see sense and provide the funding asap - otherwise the protests in France rather than being somewhat manageable may become the sign of a general collapse in the standard of living across Europe which (quite rightly) the citizens will find intolerable partly because it is completely unnecessary given the amount of oil projects 'in waiting' that could go ahead right now given the funding from the banks.

It says something about your state broadcaster and other media outlets when you have to depend on ‘Darren of Plymouth’ for footage of events in Paris.
#GiletJaunes

(No offence Darren)
Quote Tweet

Darren of Plymouth ????
@DarrenPlymouth
· 21 Sep
France has become a police state. Crazy scenes at this time of the morning in #Paris.
https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/GiletJaunes?src=hashtag_click

I also find it sad that the BBC is lying to the people - that they are blaming the poor economy on everything except one of the actual main causes - this being the rise in fuel prices above 80p per litre which was ideologically driven as there is still plenty of untapped oilfields to be developed in Russia and offshore Brazil and Mexico. Also the deeper they drill in the Gulf of Mexico the more oil they find - some of these fields are apparently so massive that if tapped a single field will produce as much oil as the North Sea produced from all of its many different fields in its 50 year history thus far.

Personally I don't particulate want twenty long haul flights a year - but I don't think the BBC should be verging on becoming a mouthpiece of propaganda that civilisation needs to ban all long-haul flights, cruise ships, lorries for transportation, and cars. Fighting fuel poverty would be an amazing thing that would give the economy a massive boost and which would really provide citizens with many amazing experiences which the world has to offer.

Re: hooky61b

One solution would be to talk to them - I think the government were on the right lines with IAPT (improving access to counselling/psyhcological therapy). An addiction doesn't really lead to these people achieving anything other than poverty ... if they recognise this then they can change given the right psychological strategies and advice. Of course the incentive should be economic .... for them to want to contribute positively to UK culture and the UK economy.

Thanks Hooky61b. That doesn't sound like a bad idea. However, I assume many people who take drugs are genuinely addicted - it's a very difficult problem but I don't think just substituting methadone for heroin is helping these people. Rather society is letting these people down by allowing them to continue their addiction using government prescribed drugs. Surely this is amoral?

If you truly place society before profit then you would be talking about eradicating poverty is a far more natural instinct than caring about polar bears - you shouldn't even be taking flights to Canada/Greenland whilst there is still so much poverty in the UK. I'm sorry but your daughter (as is natural for a young child born to a lifestyle provided by fossil fuels) sounds rather inhuman - has she been to her local council estate recently. The good work should start there - the polar bears haven't worked in real jobs for years to try and create a decent standard of living for the majority of UK citizens.

Then again I don't know why I bother really as I don't agree with a lot of government policy....and personally I think that land redistribution would be the best way to alleviate poverty and food insecurity in the UK ....but that would be way to socialist an idea for many on here I'm sure. At least with land redistribution it would be guaranteed that any hardworking person would not be spending 95% of their income on rent and feeding themselves to a decent standard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU6yzzESX8Y - Oasis - Don't Go Away.

"A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business."

Why can't such people earn their money for drugs/alcohol by becoming market gardeners ...many towns are offering allotments for free and restaurants are constantly short of fresh/local produce. This is why mainland Europe and North America draws the best of our talent to it .... their societies seem far more responsive to when things have become socially/economically dysfunctional and in self-correcting.

By self-correcting I mean they appear to sort out their economic issues so as the results is a net positive economic contribution to their society at large.

They are living the good life in France, working 32 hours a week, great food, good wine, generous social benefits, and yet their society seems to still function. I sense that generally there is more of a socialist ethic in mainland Europe. Also citizens with more common sense seems to find it easier to reach positions of responsibility. This probably helps all of their society to help create positive functioning economies as part of their communities (not just favouring already privileged groups, or the top 5% of earners, or professional pen pushers).

David Harrison @DaveHarrisonBBC
Sep 30
A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business. He has to eject people who are smoking crack or passed out on a weekly basis from the shop on Anlaby Road & says custom is falling as a result.

"A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business."

Why can't such people earn their money for drugs/alcohol by becoming market gardeners ...many towns are offering allotments for free and restaurants are constantly short of fresh/local produce. This is why mainland Europe and North America draws the best of our talent to it .... their societies seem far more responsive to when things have become socially/economically dysfunctional and in self-correcting.

By self-correcting I mean they appear to sort out their economic issues so as the results is a net positive economic contribution to their society at large.

They are living the good life in France, working 32 hours a week, great food, good wine, generous social benefits, and yet their society seems to still function. I sense that generally there is more of a socialist ethic in mainland Europe. Also citizens with more common sense seems to find it easier to reach positions of responsibility. This probably helps all of their society to help create positive functioning economies as part of their communities (not just favouring already privileged groups, or the top 5% of earners, or professional pen pushers).

David Harrison @DaveHarrisonBBC
Sep 30
A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business. He has to eject people who are smoking crack or passed out on a weekly basis from the shop on Anlaby Road & says custom is falling as a result.

"A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business."

Why can't such people earn their money for drugs/alcohol by becoming market gardeners ...many towns are offering allotments for free and restaurants are constantly short of fresh/local produce. This is why mainland Europe and North America draws the best of our talent to it .... their societies still seem to responsive to when things have become socially/economically dysfunctional.

Then they sort the issue out in such a way as to make a net positive contribution to their economy/society at large. They are living the good life in France, working 32 hours a week, great food, good wine, generous social benefits, and yet their society seems to still function. I sense that generally there is more of a social ethic to not be a dick in mainland Europe. Also citizens with more common sense seems to find it easier in mainland Europe to reach positions of responsibility. This probably helps all of their society to help create positive functioning communities (not just favoured groups, or the top 5% of earners, or professional pen pushers).

David Harrison
@DaveHarrisonBBC
Sep 30

A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business. He has to eject people who are smoking crack or passed out on a weekly basis from the shop on Anlaby Road & says custom is falling as a result.

"A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business."

Why can't such people earn their money for drugs/alcohol by becoming market gardeners ...many towns are offering allotments for free and restaurants are constantly short of fresh/local produce. This is why mainland Europe and North America draws the best of our talent to it .... their societies still seem to responsive to when things have become socially/economically dysfunctional.

Then they sort the issue out in such a way as to make a net positive contribution to their economy/society at large. They are living the good life in France, working 32 hours a week, great food, good wine, generous social benefits, and yet their society seems to still function. I sense that generally there is more of a social ethic to not be a dick in mainland Europe. Also citizens with more common sense seems to find it easier in mainland Europe to reach positions of responsibility. This probably helps all of their society to help create positive functioning communities (not just favoured groups, or the top 5% of earners, or professional pen pushers).

David Harrison
@DaveHarrisonBBC
Sep 30

A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business. He has to eject people who are smoking crack or passed out on a weekly basis from the shop on Anlaby Road & says custom is falling as a result.

John46 - I would prefer to trust a local survey rather than to believe figures I have found on the internet.

What is the evidence for that statistic?

TOR should put his money where his mouth is by buying $5 million worth of PVR shares on the open market. If he does that then I don't mind him staying if he has really good contacts and is also willing to take a 99% reduction in his salary (as if he gets the share price up to 60 cents a share then he would not exactly be short of money having bought $5 million worth of the shares at 5 cents per share).

This is what the government and our banks should be tackling. The UK ought be to be aiming for full employment. There shouldn't be anyone disrupting other people's business by becoming intoxicated on drugs and alcohol. If people want to have a blow out and get tipsy once in a while I don't mind .... but just to use government benefits to buy drugs/alcohol and to consume them in such a fashion as it disrupts the business of another citizens is unacceptable in my opinion. Why can't these people earn their money for drugs/alcohol by becoming market gardeners ...many councils are offering allotments for free and restaurants are constantly complaining about the lack of fresh/local produce available in the UK. This is why France and Germany take the best of out talent away .... because they can see when something has become dysfunctional and they sort it out in such a way as to contribute a net benefit to society at large.

David Harrison
?

@DaveHarrisonBBC
Sep 30

A Hull laundrette owner is calling for help to tackle street drinkers & drug takers who he says are blighting his business. He has to eject people who are smoking crack or passed out on a weekly basis from the shop on Anlaby Road & says custom is falling as a result.

I don't believe it's possible for a company to exist whereby the directors take for themselves over $1.1 million in 12 months when the company only has cash of $3.6 million.

Also, even if what I read on here had come to pass in the real world (such as the other staff not resigning when the directors relative greed became too shameful for them to put up with any longer) then what is consuming the cash of this company? They have maps, plans, seismic data, about potential areas of oil around/offshore Ireland. So all that need to be done is that this data needs to be kept safe until another company with an offshore drilling rig come along and would like to see the data because it would save them time and money (compared to randomly prospecting for oil offshore Ireland). So all this company needs is a chairman to do about 5 days work a year plus an archivist to keep the data secure. To employ a chairman for five days a year and an archivist would cost less than $75,000 per year.

How could anyone invest in this company when they treat shareholders' money with so little respect and squander it frivolously?

The voters are angry because there has been no economic upturn for the majority since 2008. Unemployment has been masked by zero hour contracts and the pitifully low wages of apprentice contracts. Also many older women gave up looking for work and decided to make do on their husband's income/pensions. However annuity rates have plunged and payouts on investments designed to pay off mortgages also plummeted (leaving many needing to top up their final mortgage payments from savings originally intended to fund other things). Taking a macros view of the global economy there has been far too much of an aversion to risk by bankers - this has meant they have only been willing to lend to people who already had capital or other assets and hence the rate of new business creation plummeted following 2008. The trouble with lowering risk in this way is that it only lowers financial risk for the bankers. The risks that it causes to increase are popular resentment, populism, a general feeling of disenchantment/unfairness/discontent within the middle ground of society. This is very dangerous and is the kind of thing which historically has led to the fall of Republics.

It has been increasingly difficult to borrow money in the "real economy." There has been a marked reduction in the pace of business and also in the appetite for banks to lend to real estate companies and travel/holiday companies.

Also more small-and-medium sized businesses have been going bust since 2008 than new businesses being created. This, coupled with the growth in sectors of the economy based around computing - (rather than real estate, infrastructure, public services, and travel and leisure) - has meant that oil demand has been declining every year since it peaked back in 2006.

In short, we are quite likely approaching a time of massive oversupply in the oil market and the price will have to head lower or the banks will have to lend more to public services, real estate, the travel and leisure sectors, and to make it easier for people to start-up their own business. In fact why is lending to small-and-medium sized enterprises being gradually cut every year - surely it is time for this trend to be reversed and for banks to encourage the backbone of economies which since the industrial revolution has been providing the finance for industrious individuals to create businesses which better the lives of those other people living in their communities.

If the problem is too little demand for oil (rather than an oversupply - global production has been gradually falling since 2008 so there appears not to be an oversupply of oil) then this problem can only be fixed by stimulating the real economy.

Politicians need to get infrastructure projects started and to increase the flow of bank lending to small-and-medium sized enterprises (especially in the sectors of house building, ship building, mining, travel and leisure, public services, resurfacing roads, and general infrastructure