The Zopa Login
Adnmittedly, I know the people at Zopa well, but is there a financial site, that has such a simple, foolproof and I think secure, login. All you need to remember is your e-mail address and password and know the answers to a set of personal questions, whose answers, most people would know about themselves.
So what would happen if you someone broke my login? They might find out how much I had invested, but they wouldn’t be able to withdraw any money without first setting up a link to their bank account and then authorising the link. Not something that is easily done without leaving a trail of evidence. I suspect too, that alarms would ring at Zopa.
Everybody, who designs a secure login could do no better, than build on the excellent work Zopa has done.
Why Is The BBC Going To Salford?
I can’t see any good reason and now the Evening Standard is claiming the move is causing marital problems.
I have always thought it a silly move to move a lot of the BBC to Salford. This is especially silly with respect to programs like BBCBreakfast, which has always got quality guests to grace the sofa. Are they going to go to Manchester? Some will of course, but why would a film star in the UK for say a day to promote a film, waste half of that in travelling to a studio up north?
The only reason I can think for the move is that it is some Machiavellian plot dreamed up by NuLabor to reduce the effectiveness of the BBC. Did Tony Blair instigate this to please his friends in News International? Of course not, but you could make a case for it.
One thing it will do, is lower quality, as the best producers, directors, program makers and presenters have the power to say that they don’t want the hassle and they will be snapped up quickly by other networks. Many of this experienced group are probably at an age when they can retire too, which will make the decision to go a lot easier.
How Times Change
This was posted in the local newsletter.
The Rosemary Branch is looking to borrow a gentleman’s pipe from the 1950s for use a prop for an opera opening tomorrow. If you can help, you will get a couple of free tickets from a grateful Cec at the Rosie.
My father had loads of pipes in the 1950s. The last time I saw anybody smoking a pipe, it was clamped between a Belgian’s teeth as he drove towards me going the wrong way down a Belgian motorway.
Selfish Smoker
I was waiting outside a friend of mine’s offices, when an attractive shop assistant walked out of the back entrance of Heals, bought a coffee in the shop next to me and then crossed the road to where my friend worked and then proceeded to have a fag on the steps in front of the building.
The shop assistant suddenly wasn’t so attractive anymore. I bet she’ll be a lined old bag when she’s forty, if she continues to be attracted to the dreaded weed.
A Very Stupid Question
Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5 Live, has just asked the comedian, Paul Foot , if after his degree in Mathemetics at Oxford, he was planning to be an accountant. Mathematicians would never lower themselves so much to do something as boring as accountancy.
Does this just show how narrow the average interviewer on the media is?
The Greenway Bridge Over Stratford High Street
The structure of this important bridge, which is just known as Olympic Bridge T12, is now in place.
It will be much needed to get Olympic visitors from West Ham station to the site. There’s more on the bridge here.
The Greeks Can’t Spell Tax
Just heard David Bewick of BGC Partners on BBC Radio 5.
He said the above in a rather far-reaching appraisal of the economic state of the world.
He said two other points of note.
- The Greeks have no commerce or manufacturing of note.
- When did you last hear a profits warning, from a company that wasn’t a bank?
It was all very entertaining.
I’ll add some good news of my own. In July, I earned 5.88% before tax on the money I have in Zopa. In August, it was down to 5.40%. So what has been my return for the first 24 days of September? It’s back up to 5.88%! They always say about investments that they can go down as well as up.
White Sound: An Urban Seascape
I just had to go and see White Sound: An Urban Seascape outside the Wellcome Collection on the Euston Road.
Unusual and definitely worth a visit.
The Prince of Pace
I have been meaning for some time to photograph the statue of Prince Alexander Obelensky in Ipswich and finally got to do it last Monday, when I was in the town.
It is rather unusual and celebrates both his rugby and his short and tragic flying career in the RAF.
I also think it is the only public statue in Ipswich of anybody with a royal title.
I like it.
The Door Finally Broke
I said in my post on Eastfield, that a child was constantly playing with the electric door.
A Broken Door at Eastfield
The door eventually broke, as the picture shows.
The Anonymous Widower 