trousers

Any idea why they chose St Mary's? Just a random selection or Cortese interested to be seen to be on the leading edge of this sort of thing?

Ha, like it :-) Can any of you photoshop whizz kids do anything with this:

Full translation: Lithuanian commercial banks taken over by "Snoras" former major shareholders, Vladimir Antonov, and Raymond Baranauskas in the UK, on ​​Thursday reported the Lithuanian newspaper "Respublika". Baranauskas is Antonov and handed the passport in London local government and argues that not going anywhere to flee from the UK, reported "Respublika". Former "Snoras" Chairman of the Board and the second largest shareholder Baranauskas newspaper claimed that they fear to return to Lithuania, and admitted that he could ask for political asylum in Britain. "I suppose I really need to think about it seriously," interview, "Respublika" said Baranauskas, in answer to the question of possible political asylum in Britain. Already the argument goes, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General Darius Whale on Wednesday signed the European Union (EU) warrant "Snoras" the former major shareholders Antonov and Baranauskas detention. General's statement says that the Antonov, and Baranauskas allegations of misappropriation of property on a large scale, and falsification of documents, but Baranauskas - also on the accounting data distortion and abuse of office. The Latvian National Police chief Ints Ķuze said on Tuesday that the Antonov, who was a "Latvian Savings Bank" Chairman of the Board, has been declared suspects and decides on his call for a search. Detained in the "Latvian Savings Bank" former board members, but the former Board Chairman Ivar Priedītis arrested. November 16, the Lithuanian government nationalized 100% Bank "Snoras" shares, which a controlling interest - 68.1% of shares - owned Antonov, while 25.31% - Baranauskas. Lithuania's central bank received information from abroad that "Snoras" lack of security assets of more than one billion litas (204 million lats) value. The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission Board on November 21 decided to stay "Snoras" subsidiaries "Latvian Savings Bank" of all financial services. Decision was made based on the findings of the shortfall of funds in the bank. "Snoras" owns slightly more than 60% of the "Latvian Savings Bank" shares. After the asset size of "Latvian Savings Bank" in late September was the ninth largest of the 31 Latvian banks.

Hush about that young man! Before you know it you'll have the politicians coming up with the wacky idea that students should contribute towards the cost of their 'further education' once they get a decent job. And that would be bonkers...

Yeah but, no but, yeah but.... We share an element of blind faith in what we've been told about the future of our club. Don't get me wrong, I place much more credence on what we've been told about our owners than what Pompey have been told about theirs but that doesn't alter the fact that most of us "believe what we are being told". Of course, the difference is we have no reason to believe otherwise.

It just calculates a rough average as far as I can tell. Can't see where it's claiming individual statistical accuracy.

A slightly ironic thought entered my head when reading that piece....Pompey fans know more about their owners than we do... The article talks about fans having blind faith in what plans the owners have/had for their club, which is where we are, philosophically.... Then the comparison popped out of my head as quickly as it popped in. The way my mind 'works' worries me at times... ;-)

I can visualise the advertising campaign now...."A Pompey takeover saga isn't just for Christmas..."

Never any doubt :-)

Never crossed my mind for one moment....

I assume Baj and/or Steve are archiving it somewhere safe and in triplicate....? Remember the great "database crash" of 2008..... ;-)

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Yep, saw that EBAY seller in my internet trawl yesterday....lookign at some of the feedback it sounds like somone who sells "unopened" returns or American imports.... Whilst they get a high percentage of good feedback, I'll be keeping my bargepole in the garage for this one...

I assume you still drive around in a 1976 Ford Cortina....? ;-) (yes, I know modern cars are better than older cars in many ways but I guess the "new gizmo" freaks will be able to list as many efficiences in newer versions of the iPhone (for example) than older versions. For instance, I believe the battery is more efficient in later versions, thus iPhone users can single handledly save the planet by upgrading....) ;-)

It's not just a tax vs benefits ratio though. They are comparing tax amounts with a combination of benefits AND value of the services a household receives. I, for example, receive no benefits but my chart on the BBC website shows that I received c.6k worth of "services" from the state per annum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15843746 We've also produced a list of things you (probably) never knew about your money and how they spend it: 1. More Of Us Are 1. Winners Than Losers Some 60% of households are net recipients from the Treasury - though it may not always feel that way. The top 10% of households contribute, on average, five times more than they get back. Our tax and spend calculator can't give you an exact account of your individual circumstances, but it will give you a ballpark figure of what households like yours pay in tax, and get back in benefits and services. It's not perfect, but it does give us a fascinating insight into whether we're net winners or losers. 2. The Big Three Are Taking a Growing Share of Your Money Public spending is increasingly dominated by three big spending areas: social security, health and education. Together, they took up 60% of the total spending pie in 2010-11. Back in 1978-9 that figure was 45% (source: IFS). That's because there's been a shift of resources away from areas like defence, and towards the welfare state in its broadest sense, which has been happening for decades - under both Labour and the Tories. 3. Peters Stringfellow and Mandelson Agree on Something… Both think that Winter Fuel Allowance - the benefit the government currently pays to all pensioners at this time of year to help with their fuel bills - should be changed. Peter Stringfellow tells me he was horrified to find he was getting an extra £200. Peter Mandelson agrees that the problem with the benefit is that it gives "a reasonably significant amount of money" to people who don't need it. So the two Peters agree, but will our frontbench politicians? Watch this debate run and run. 4. National Insurance and Income Tax are actually paying for the same things Many of us still think that National Insurance pays exclusively for our pensions and health. In fact, it all effectively goes into the same pot for general expenditure - though our confusion is often rather convenient for politicians. 5. The Rich Pay More Than You Might Think The top 1% of earners - just 300,000 people - pay 27% of all income tax. Of course, many people believe that the rich should pay more, but identifying who's "rich" - and getting them to stump up - is fiendishly difficult for our politicians. 6. The Difference Between Dog Food and Rabbit Food is… You pay VAT on dog biscuits, but you don't pay VAT on rabbit food. It's just one example of the bewildering complexity of our tax system - with which we've had some real fun in the tax film. But woe betide any well-meaning politician with big ideas about simplifying it. 7. Debt Interest Gets More Than Defence In 2010-11, we spent more paying interest on our national debt than we did defending the realm. It's worth remembering that there's an important difference between national debt - which is best thought of as the giant rolling overdraft of money we've borrowed down the years, often to pay for wars - and the deficit, which is the gap between spending and tax in any given year. That debt/deficit distinction is often confused in the heat of political debate. 8. Deficits Are The Norm Deficits have been a feature of British political life for decades. In the early 1990s, for instance, John Major's Conservative government ran up a deficit of more than £50bn, or £77bn in today's money. The deficit which the coalition inherited is much bigger, but spending money we haven't got is nothing new. 9. There's More Trouble Down The Line In a rather gloomy November, you wouldn't expect me to be bringing you good news, would you? The independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has predicted a possible double whammy for our politicians in decades to come: that our ageing population will see even more pressure on big spending areas like pensions and health, and that tax revenues from areas like fuel duty and North Sea Oil are likely to decline. As if George Osborne hasn't got enough to worry about right now. 10. We Need A More Honest Debate For much of the last 30 years, our politicians have promised higher spending, and lower taxes - and we've encouraged them. But the future pressures on spending are such that sooner or later all of us - journalists, voters, politicians - need to have a more honest debate about how our money's spent. That's likely to mean either accepting that we should do more for ourselves, or that we'll have to foot the bill. That's the really big thing I've taken away from making the series. I hope you enjoy the films - and that they kick-start that debate.

Nah, can't see the usual suspects biting on that bait....they're far less predictable than that.... ;-) (me being the master of predictability of course)

I've not got a problem with paying more for the iPad brand. I'm simply highlighting that they they appear to make much more mark up on the bolt-ons to the entry level model than the mark up on the device itself. I'd rather pay £80 for 1Tb of external storage and seletive sync films, music, etc from there to a 16gb iPad as and when required. And don't get me started on the price for a 3G enabled iPad...who needs that when one has WIFI over 3G available...

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