Member Info for torquay

As the pool of cheap money shrinks - people cashing their holdings in frustration and because they need the money due to rising prices and the falling value of the pound and the market. This is also made worse by the exorbitant management fees charged by the investment funds who then make such good investments that you lose money. Mr Cameron's chickens - the private sector - who have created so many jobs, but made very little money in spite of the tidal wave of funds (QE) and low interest rates are now coming home to roost. In order to replace the money that they have lost, the government introduced compulsory participation in a pension scheme which is quite clever really - just as long as the sheep grow enough wool to be sheared - which translates to keeping their jobs in an era of increasing debt and zero hours contracts. We have now reached a point where the clever people in the city are going to have to exert themselves and not just enjoy the ride as previously because Brexit approaches at what seems like an accelerating pace. Ten years of almost free money and here we are - I smell an election coming - just like the DUP here "when you don't know what to do, scuttle the ship." Young Osborne has much to answer for. Good luck all.

that the share is being kept down in order to attract a takeover bid - I recall Michael Noonan being very uncomplimentary about both banks and expressing the wish - if he could - to give them away.????? Good luck all..and well done the slammers.

Here's hoping that it will be good enough to buy a proper bottle of something - the nephew is getting married so I will have to treat the Colleen when we travel over to Dorset for this years bunfight - they are already planning next years when my niece in London pushes the boat out. Thank god the snow has gone - the wind has dropped and we saw the sun today - yippee.... Good luck all.

The share price does not indeed do normal Martin - but for the moment and until our politicians have finished HONKING their horns and the dust settles we would be unwise to expect anything exciting to happen. The bunch up here are particularly good at making a noise and talking at great length whilst doing it - when they stop and draw breath what have they said that is either constructive or useful - nothing. Nigel Dodds is the rabbit that Arlene pushes into the headlights in case her weakness is exposed, but really he is no better than she is. Cold and damp up here 1oC and thawing - the only walking today was around Tesco this morning and up to Mass this evening. Good Luck all..

That was our holiday home and my granny really lived in it.

Bet it hasn't got those real Dublin granny waitresses - the craic they had with the country people - are there any left besides the two from Kerry who provide the entertainment in the Dail. The wooden floor will be gone too - the atmosphere and the feeling of being so long established - it used to feel like a family business and so it was and uniquely Irish. Much better to reflect on these things than the current weather and political chaos - here we have one certainty but no RTE which is why I have just collected the IMac from the store - so we can have RTE Player and better sound than the laptop. Off now to top up the oil - which decided to run out this morning - which only leaves the oven and a drop of rum for heating. Good luck all...

Delighted with your news, roll on Grafton Street in August - pity Bewley's is gone - I used to love my morning visits before the brand merchants took it over. Not good news today over here with Toys R Us and Maplin's running out of cheap money and the shareholders failing to bail them out - I suspect for the first time and the flag came down immediately. Don't you just love the NEW ECONOMY !!! Putting the head down now - good luck all - from the "drifting" part of the island.

Bitterly cold here 0oC with a windchill of -5C - we are about 100 yards from the water and the wind that blows off it is wicked and seldom seems to slacken since we got here. Even the natives are getting a bit fed up as they say that this is the worst winter for five years and the first snow in years. What we've got so far is only a dusting - even on The Mournes. Good luck - keep warm.

Your confounded by the shenanigans of the banks - I encashed a portion of a cash ISA that I had with Nationwide last week - when I asked for the current valuation on the small sum that I left with them guess what - they had lost me 2K. Thank god I did not leave a lot with them. Hope your progress continues.

The next election in Ireland will probably not happen now until next year - TD'shis nine pub empire are like turkeys - they won't vote for Christmas. Here in the North the drift is probably coming to an end sooner rather than later - so there will be change here also - it is expected that the assembly will come to an agreement this week or next if for no other reason than to have a say in the Brexit negotiations. Visited the Goat Inn last weekend, following a family christening - it was packed to the doors with the friends of Charley Chalk all feasting on the carvery. Wonder how well his nine pub empire will stand up to higher interest rates - I hope that he is the owner indeed and that he has no obligations to the bank that could embarass him. Talking last week to a friend of mine, the wrecking ball is out in the UK - one of our large hoteliers with five or six hotels and good ones including Torquay's Grand Hotel, has just been blown up by HMRC when the bank withdrew its support for him - this is how it always starts, I have seen so many times and had to live through it. Good luck all

but the British are much like the Irish, their not fond of other people telling them what to do and when to do it - except when there is money in it which benefits the country. I have however preached for a long time about cheap money and how that had to end eventually because it stokes inflation. The economic cycle is the economic cycle - this is well understood by the Europeans and the discipline that it imposes on those who choose and can work within that discipline. The Germans hate inflation, because it devalues savings and erodes capital. In the UK when the economy has been over-stoked with QE or electoral stimulus interest rates have always been used as means of controlling economic growth so that investment can be maintained - we grow too quickly investment stalls, when that fails they devalue the currency and then print more money. Property has been the means of exerting discipline in the absence of interest rates over the last ten years but unfortunately combined with QE the banks have used the stimulus to pump up house prices AGAIN in order to reap the harvest now that rates are rising. We are told that the increase will be gradual and that there will not any dramatic rises - "YEH RIGHT." For our bankers the economic cycle provides them with three types of customer I'm told - Investors - Speculators and MUGS the latter being the source of much of their profits. Over the last ten years the Colleen and I have had no return worth talking about on the part of our money that we keep in cash. Happily because we invested some of it in the property that we built we have not suffered too badly because we made a good profit when we sold. Now that the market is cooling - Nationwide loaned 2 BLn less over the last twelve months and new car sales have fallen back also - evidence that the screw is being tightened at last. This will cause problems over here when interest rates rise, particularly in Dublin but there are hot spots elsewhere in the country because people have been persuaded to borrow too much money to buy a house "because there is a national shortage" - what happened to the ghost towns - bought up by investors who see profit in buy to let investment and the banks have facilitated this and happily loaned money in larger multiples where a property is being let. Nowhere was this more evident than in Gorey - the average rental being sought was 1000 euro's per month regardless of the property's condition - ridiculous, but it does explain why there is a shortage of property - letting is now an industry which has blighted the town that we have just left and is now well on the way to ruining the tourist business. When you look at house prices in Dublin 4 where my cousins live and then look at some of the cars that have been bought on cheap car loans, I can only see trouble ahead if interest rates are allowed too high and too quickly. Now Martin, I said that I would get back to you and this is part of the answer that

Your up late tonight and I have been writing EMails now that we are back On-Line, I am not going to stay up much longer because I am heavily involved in moving our stuff over here and will have a busy morning on the phone now that I have arranged storage here - which I guess will make things permanent. We are still getting used to our move and few regrets so far - will answer the points that you raise tomorrow when I catch my breath. Good luck..my friend

Now you are beginning to understand why we have moved over here - the situation here in The North is not ideal but at least we don't have a bunch of braying donkeys wasting everybody's time trying to make more noise than each other. They are still appearing in the news bulletins "occasionally" and are to be seen cutting clamps off their cars but by and large they seem to adopt a lower profile here - apart from one or two like Arlene and young Paisley today. It's colder here I think and there are quite a few requiems (a large one today with about 800 at it) but life on the whole is better the people are friendly and uncomplicated and seem at the moment to be managing very well without a daily diet of politics - Or perhaps I have put my head in the sand whilst we are waiting to buy a house. The idea that higher interest rates on the way was responsible for the fall in the stock market is frankly foolish so far as bank shares anyway are concerned. They will reap higher returns from mortgage holders, who are starting to look as though they are going to be left with debts again when the rates rise and lending slows. Choppy water ahead gentlemen for those who have to sail in the S.S.Great Britain - none more so than here, yet strangely for once I am not worried for the future over here. It's not a bed of roses I know but it does have a future, difficult perhaps but I am encouraged by the youngsters over here and the contrary nature of "The Irish" people once that Brexit is decided. Good luck all.

You speak for yourself Optimist - at this stage, about four weeks in, I'm nearly ready to drive over to Connemara for a drop of the pure. Have stopped rattling but cannot clear a dirty nose - even with Snuff - next time I visit my daughter I will ask her to put my grandson in quarentine whilst I'm with her. What was that chap saying last week about interest rates??? Good luck all.

Since you mention me, you force me to respond to your comments based on my thirty years experience running my own business in the West Country. When you have lived through two serious recessions, inflicted on over-indebted borrowers and witnessed the carnage that results when interest rates make peoples debt unmanageable, I might have some time for your simplistic solution. Radar and the longer term posters here know very well what I think of banks and the discipline that they exercise over peoples lives so I won't labour the point - suffice to say, I have lived with two attempts to render my family homeless - whilst paying �40K a year in interest. I could go on but my friend in The Kingdom would have something to say about it. Now is not the time for dramatic changes - the economy is improving, house prices are too high, because the banks have supported the growth, but it has bolstered their confidence and allowed them to sell on a lot of debt - not very well but the books are hopefully looking healthier.

My sentiments exactly - what I envy is your ability to say so much economically - thank you.

Speaks the man looking for an increase in interest rates which just might work for the bank but would not really do a lot for the economy. Properties in Dundrum sell at just over the 500k for a three bedder and 700k for four bedrooms - what effect do you think normalizing interest rates at about 5% would have on peoples disposable income if the interest rates were to rise to that level. It could solve the current housing problems however when the first time buyers emigrate - which would not work wonders for the economy either. Brains and innovation are required to resolve this conundrum and they have been in very short supply over the last ten years. Good luck all..

We have been here now for four weeks in our rented accommodation and must have attended a requiem every week when we haven't attended two, like last week. We had three last week and there was another one today and it's only Monday. This is truly Gods Waiting Room - " people die here who have never died before" the woman who was buried today was 95 so we have some time left I hope because these houses are usually sold - which is where we come in. Good luck all - and thank's X4 for the insight regarding Apple and WahWah phones or whatever they are called... Finally shot TalkTalk today because my patience snapped - our service ended in the second week of November and they wrote and confirmed it - thankfully I saved there letter - they were looking for �261 disconnection fee as well as the bills that they have continued to invent for late payment and anything else that they could think of relating to a contract. I told them that the Direct Debit was cancelled after our final payment in December and as fas as I was concerned they could whistle for the rest of their creative accounting. After forty five minutes of back and forth we parted - when I asked them to provide any authority that they could enforce, because it bore my signature - they put up the White Flag and agreed to credit the balance OFF MY ACCOUNT - no wonder the empire fell. Good Luck all.

You must be improving - thank god - along with the share price, but really 25BLn is out of all proportion to the performance (anticipated) in the Irish economy. I would love it if it happened and would even light a few candles if I thought it would happen. Unfortunately, when the vulture funds start harvesting the discounted assets that they have bought, it won't feel for a lot of people as though the sun has just come out. It is a loathsome practice of the banks - selling off loans - when they have reaped the interest, whatever about trackers, they have been taking in all the mortgage re-payments and paying out next to nothing for a long time whilst letting staff go to the detriment of the bank. What they have left is lean alright but it is not a bank that can face up to competition where service is concerned. A lot of people here speak well of Danske Bank, which hopefully is European and not The Northern Bank in a new wrapper. When we finally settle here, which depends on finding a place that pleases my colleen, I am thinking very seriously of doing at least some of my business with a Credit Union. I am dismayed with the chaos and attitude encountered in BOI in the south and I don't just mean in Wicklow and Gorey. If Ireland is to prosper and grow over the next twenty to thirty years and create the sort of employment that will keep the young people at home, the banks will have to raise their game way beyond where they are now. They have to be able to oporate nationally supporting the new ideas which result from research and development, which in turn create employment whilst growing the economy - Ireland has the potential to become ten million, but I doubt that we will live to see it. The present outward facing management structure is not up to the job, unless the young lady from London has some magic in her handbag I can't see how BOI is going to cope. The staff are dispirited and are now spread too thinly to allow individuals to shine by putting in a little extra now that their job has become a treadmill just like the UK. Unless this problem is addressed and the bank puts resources in place, I cannot see how Ireland can properly recover to the point that our young but now quite experienced exiles can return and contribute the experience and knowledge gained back into the economy. It's too late for us X4, but at least we can hope that the light will shine in The Dail, amongst our mottley assortment of TD's, whilst there is still time to take advantage of the Brexit confusion. Whilst I am here - we are still looking for property and now understand why in this small town, five Estate Agents/ Auctioneers can make a living. There is quite a lot of rented property combined with social housing and this provides a very steady income for the agents who claim to manage it on behalf of the owners. AND THERE'S MORE....

What's not to like about the market cap - last time the peak was 12BLn - we reach that level again or close to it, I may very well take the profit, because although they put a new wing on the Vor Sprung it is not the same. Had a Nissan X Trail whilst mine was being repaired and was quite impressed - not enough however to abandon my favourite badge. Only really came on to test my new connection via Vodaphone - very shaky last night and most of today - I rang them this pm and they seem to have it sorted. The Colleen changed her phone to a real Whizz Banger - chinese called "WayWay" or something - took us two days to learn how to turn it off. The Colleen hates it, but I notice she can't put it down, because it keeps ringing with all the family that are on "Whats App." Since she found the weather forecast there's no stopping her. Everybody laughs at our phones but they work, except that mine is becoming temperamental too, a clockwork Samsung that has decided to cut me off every time almost, that I try to answer it. Our girls think that we are really old school with our phones and have nagged their mother relentlessly to get a new phone. The one that she has will apparently do everything that an I Phone will do - only its much quicker and half the price. Well this seems to be working well now, so I am going to sign off for the weekend wishing you all the best of luck next week.