bridge too far

That could be the icing on the muffins!

Too right although my name means 'beauty' and it suits me perfectly

I think it's a very pretty name indeed. I must tell my daughter (also with a Greek name) as she's dithering about names for her soon-to-arrive sproglet.

True

But she might have had 5 Caesarians - had you thought of that? Had you?

I thought Alan Smith too

What's that then? Even more :confused:

Why is that then? :confused:

He could have got a flat but he would have been disappointed.

What - in its blowhole :shock: No, they were convicted of w***ing a male dolphin I believe.

Or Morph - who TBF never promised a thing but seemed to be very much ITK and who was, I always imagined, a benign old man with white hair and a stick...... All IMHO of course

Yes, I understand that bit I_N_S but deflation is as damaging isn't it? Whereas with (controlled) inflation, some demand will rematerialise, keeping businesses afloat and people in jobs. I guess the middle ground is the wise option, eh?

No.2 - I thought one of the reasons that the US banks got jittery about the Paulson proposals was because the £700 billion was going to be released in tranches? I don't see any reason why citizens in the UK couldn't organise, mobilise and bombard our MPs if we didn't like forthcoming legislation? Mind you, it only works if there's an election coming up, doesn't it

The girl's name Ianthe \i(a)-nthe, ian-the\ is pronounced eye-AH-thee. It is of Greek origin, and its meaning is "violet flower". Mythology: a sea nymph, daughter of Oceanus HTH

She's quite clever though, isn't she? Off to read Law I thought I saw?

Bless - but she has probably only just passed her driving test (she's 17 / 18?). Sounds like a very sensible young lady to me

Don't they rely on perverted humans to do it for them? Weren't some blokes convicted of this recently?

The article I quoted above, by Ann Pettifor for the Guardian, posits that central banks should CUT interest rates and governments should stoke up inflation temporarily by creating jobs and increasing wages. These inflationary measures will result in higher spending and a growing economy. This will put profit back into business and revenue back into government coffers. It is a Keynsian theory apparently. It sounds good but there has to be a downside to the theory. Can anyone explain it to me (in very simple terms )

I'd really like to work in a living museum. We were in Ironbridge last week and I'd love to dress up in Victorian clothes and 'pretend' to have lived in those times at a place like that. Alternatively I'd like to be a museum / tour guide (in Oxford) or work in a bookshop. Or work in a theatre, either back stage or as an usherperson. But these jobs don't pay enough

I think I meant to say that 20-25p was a realistic price (=£6m) rather than the hugely inflated price of 18 months ago. You're right of course - he wouldn't WAIT for a low price but he might be more willing to consider a takeover if he saw that the share price was heading south.

Here, there is a glut of rental properties and rents have fallen.

No.2 - I don't know . If the taxpayer bears the risk now, he / she could reap the reward in years to come if the markets are reformed and recover, surely? I think, with B & B, taxpayer risk has been nullified by the requirement for 'the banking industry' to pay back the taxpayer if the debt hasn't been eradicated in x years? That's what spooked the banks in the UK yesterday, wasn't it?

Way back, in the dim and distant past, in the era formerly known as 'Paul Allen', didn't we speculate that Rupert would sell if the price dropped to around 20-25p? Or is that my rose-tinted glasses at work again?

Another relevant factor is the buy-to-let market. Bradford & Bingley was the main mover and shaker in this field. What is happening in that market is that firstly the increase in buy-to-let transactions bumped up property prices, particularly at the 'bottom' end fo the market, thus pricing out most first-time buyers. Because of the expansion of this sector, there is now a glut of rental properties (swollen also by potential house sellers renting out their houses because they have to move / are waiting for prices to rise). So rental properties are not realising the income they once did and the owners are defaulting on the BTL mortgages.

I don't understand Economics (and, since they constantly disagree, I don't think economists do either) but I found this article in the Guardian today to be quite thought-provoking: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/wallstreet.marketturmoil Have you ever played 'What If'? I'm trying to think through what would happen if all banks went bust. I'm not getting very far, but I really can't imagine life without some sort of banking system. I was listening to people this morning saying they were going to convert their savings into gold bars. I thought 'stupid people, they're acting like lemmings'. Then, when I couldn't log into my bank account, I started to panic. Turned out it was routine maintenance lol. I believe the whole expansion of the credit market started in the 80s when regulations were relaxed by the incumbent government. I hope that tight fiscal rules are introduced and soon. But, as we've seen this week, as soon as governments threaten these rules, the bankers take fright and the share prices, especially in finance houses, fall.