Computer Disasters Inc.
Some years ago, I was discussing, what we might do with someone in Metier, if the whole venture had gone bust. I suggested an idea, which keeps coming back to me called Computer Disasters Inc.
NatWorst now is in need of such a company, which I envisaged as the Red Adair of the computer industry. NatWorst will certainly be paying out fees on a scale Red Adair would have thought reasonable.
Zopa in the Belfast Telegraph
Zopa has a good plug in the Belfast Telegraph today.
It’s probably opportune given the problems at Ulster Bank, which has a high presence in the province. On the other hand, if people haven’t got a working bank account, how are they going to repay their loan?
NatWorst in the Observer
I’ve been trying to see, if I can find any reference to NatWest as NatWorst on the internet. I found this interesting article from the Observer from September 1999. This is the interesting bit and it isn’t about the bank.
Listen, very carefully…is that the sound of a Wall Street crash? The Dow Jones has slithered back like a rattlesnake on a slagheap: not so much irrational exuberance as ungainly correction. It’s how it always starts: a large rise, followed by a stuttering correction followed by a crash. Oh, and it always happens in October. Look at 1987; look at 1929. So then, five days to go until we can kiss our assets goodbye.
I wonder if the journalist who wrote this, realises now what he said. So he was a few years early.
Eurozone Agrees Financial Transaction Tax
Well not quite, if you read the report on RTE, the Irish national broadcaster.
The Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, said the following.
We have stamp duty on share transactions at 1% – we don’t want to go beyond that at present. The British aren’t prepared to go beyond that, Luxembourg isn’t prepared to go beyond that.
“The risk of the activities in financial services moving from Ireland to other centres, particularly London, Luxembourg, the Netherlands is quite high.
One idea behind the financial transaction tax, which is also supported by France, is that it could create a fund to cushion taxpayers from having to bailout banks.
Reading what he said in full, seems to indicate that Ireland, the UK, Luxembourg and perhaps The Netherlands won’t have anything to do with it.
I don’t think any sensible person, would join a club, that would fine you every time you invested anything, especially if you paid all your taxes.
I see a personal problem with it, in that London is going to attract many more rich people, who will want to clog the city with their cars.
The Return of NatWorst
Some years ago, I used to do the programming and processing for a company called PressWatch, that rated the coverage of major companies in the UK printed media.
Some time before I programmed the system, NatWest had a string of bottom places and were labelled NatWorst by some financial journalists.
It would appear from its current computer problems, that along with other banks in the RBS Group, it is attempting to claim the bottom place again. Read about it here.
The article says it is a computer glitch. I would describe it as a computer disaster.
A computer glitch is what I’ve just suffered from Nationwide. They said my credit card statement would be ready online on Wednesday. It didn’t arrive until today. But at least, it didn’t cost me any money, although I did worry, that there might have been some illegal transactions, they were sorting out. Especially, as it’s the VISA card, I use for Olympic tickets. But all is now fine.
A Sandwich Board in Islington
This guy was selling pensions in Islington yesterday.
I admire his methods, but I wouldn’t be sure about his products.
But saying that, trying to sell pensions to most people is very difficult.
My First Time on Stage
Surprisingly, a few weeks from my 65th birthday, I went on a theatrical stage for the first time last night.
On Stage at the Hackney Empire
It was a fundraising event for the Hackney Empire. The picture doesn’t really do justice to the interior of the theatre.
Peer-To-Peer Lending Gets a Plug in the Scotsman
The Scots like to think they are canny and one even thought he was prudent, so this article from the premier Scottish newspaper, the Scotsman should be very much welcomed by the peer-to-peer lending industry or at least its three major players; Zopa, Funding Circle and Ratesetter.
She’ll Regret That Photo
The Times has an awful picture on the front page of Angela Merkel.
She looks in a terrible mood and if it wasn’t for her age, you might think that she was pregnant.
But then she has a lot of problems to solve!
The Spanish Bailout and Gibraltar
Spain makes two sets of headlines today; it has got a massive loan to sort out its banks and it is expected to protest loudly at the Wessexes visit to Gibraltar. Although, we are not directly effected by the Spanish bailout, we could be in future, through the London market or the IMF.
Spain remember has a row going with Argentina over the nationalisation of Repsol’s assets in that country.
And then there’s the Falklands! Where Spain has usually supported Argentina.
There are reasons to believe that relations between Spain and the UK are going to be difficult in the next few months.
The Anonymous Widower 