An Enterprising Aussie
it has been reported on the BBC, that outside the ladies singles final in Melbourne today, between those two grunters; Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, there was a man selling ear-plugs at $3 a pair.
Zopa In Hard Times
I have been examining my detailed figures on Zopa, the peer-to-peer lending site I use to hold my deposit account money. You’d think that the real interest, I’d be getting would be lower than it was last year, as reading the papers and you’d think that everybody was going belly-up. But surprisingly in January the real interest, which is actual interest paid out, adjusted for any bad debts, has risen by about a percentage point. And I’m still waiting for the big payments that come at the end of every month, around the 25th!
So why could this be?
I think that it’s partly due to the improved lending policy of the company, in that bad borrowers are less likely to be loaned money and over the last couple of years, the dodgy customers have not got loans. And of course for every dodgy customer who doesn’t get a loan, there is more money to lend out to good ones!
Or it could be that those who have loans out with reputable banks and companies, make sure that whatever they do, they make certain they repay the loan?
I do think though, that this improvement will probably apply to all banks and companies that do personal loans in a professional and traditional manner. So as banks are constantly being criticised for not lending enough money could it be that they’re doing the right thing?
To return to Zopa, I also have noted that I have not picked up a loan using their Rapid Return system for eight months. This system allows good loans to be effectively sold on to other lenders.
It may be that I’ve not been lucky in picking one up, but it could be that people like the Zopa rates and would prefer to live off the interest rather than cash in the loans.
I don’t know, but it does seem to me that Zopa is getting to be a better investment and that the majority of the good British public are not as stupid ass they are made out.
The Olympics Will Start With A Ring of Class
I was a bit surprised when Danny Boyle was asked to devise the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics. But he is certainly crestive as his films show.
The first thing to be published about the ceremonies is that the Opening Ceremony will start with a bell and it will also be used in the Closing Ceremony.
But it won’t be any bell!
It will be a bell cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, just a few miles away from the Olympic site. It is the oldest manufacturing company in the UK and can trace itself back to the fifteenth century.
Will the French Presidential Election Throw a Big Spanner in the Eurodeal?
The front page article in The Times is all about how Francois Hollande will change the economic direction of France when he becomes President. I said when rather than if, as the polls are strongly in his favour. He also said he would rip-up the EU’s fiscal treaty.
The psaper gives a detsiled analysis of what his policies will mean and I suspect David Cameron, Angela Merkel and anybody in France, who earns more than the average wage won’t like it. A lot of his proposals would also be against the rules of the single market.
Having read what Hollande said, I think it will be good for Britain and especially London and the City, as his proposed rules will drive entrepreneurs from France. Not that they have had many since Mitterand.
One thing I suspect that he won’t like is foreigners, who keep a house in France. I suspect thery’ll be taxed heavily and a pleasure will suddenly have become a nightmare.
Credit Unions
THe BBC is plugging credit unions this morning. I am all for that, as I think they are a good alternative to banks for a lot of people with simple financial needs.
but type in “credit union Hackney” into Google and you get this message.
Hackney Credit Union has ceased trading and the branch has closed.
So not a good start!
Type in “find credit union hackney” and you get some assorted credit check and loan adverts.
You do get this page from Hackney Council, which tells you about credit unions. But it doesn’t give the branches in the borough.
So unless you know about credit unions and where one is located, you haven’t really got much help.
If we want to get more people to use credit unions, then they must get control of the Internet. Especially typing “find credit union” should not get a loan shark.
Credit unions are much more successful in the US, but then they are much bigger with probably more branches. Look at the web site of the Credit Union of Southern California. IT certainly doesn’t look to be a small organisation. Where is the Londonwide credit union?
Could it be that the banks have got their friends in Government to effectively ban them?
Hester’s Bonus
A lot of people are outraged about the size of Stephen Hester’s bonus at the Royal Bank of United Kingdom Taxpayers. I’m not because although he got £963,000 it’s all in shares, which means it’s in his interest to raise the share price as much as possible by running the bank to the best of his ability. After all, there are still quite a few small shareholders in the bank and they would be glad to see their worthless investment be worth something. And of course, there’s the big shareholding in the hands of UK Taxpayers. So if Hester looks after himself with these shares, we’ll all benefit.
But if he fails, we’ll have a worthless bank on our hands, which will probably be closed with the loss of many jobs.
I actually think that it should have been liquidated, but that would have been a disaster for all the small shareholders out there. Gordon Brown couldn’t afford all those lost votes in Scotland. Or in England too!
Looking At the Thames Tunnel
The Thames Tunnel is the oldest underwater tunnel in the world and was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel and his more famous son Isambard. It is now used to carry the East London line under the Thames and you can actually look into the tunnel from the platforms at Wapping station.
I was looking from the Northbound platform, just by the exit and the stairs that lead up to the street. When the station was designed, they decided to put protective railing to stop you failing on the line, but these do not obscure the view down the tunnel as the train approaches.
Around Chambers Wharf
Chambers Wharf has made the news recently, as Thames Water want to make it one of the sites from where London’s Thames Super Sewer is to be built. So I went and had a look round this lunchtime.
I couldn’t actually see much of the site as it is surrounded by blue fencing. But it strikes me that if they do any serious digging from here, that because the site is so close to the Thames, any serious engineer would take the spoil out that way. If Thames Water don’t do that it will probably cost them a lot more, as lorry journeys through a city like London are always delayed by traffic and only carry a few tonnes, whereas a proper barge can carry many times more. If we look at the Olympic site, a lot of materials like concrete and spoil were moved in and out by rail. Also go to Pudding Mill Lane and look at the portal for CrossRail, which is for two much larger tunnels, where the spoil will probably be removed by train. So opponents of the use of the Chambers Wharf site, who say there will be thousands of lorry journeys are not talking engineering sense. The site is also quite large and the hole is only going to be under thirty metres wide, so there should be quite a lot of space for machinery to move the spoil to the river.
I have no direct interest in whether the sewer is built, but I have a friend, who used to live in an area of London, that flooded badly every ten or so years. The sewer will hopefully stop all that.
Although I should say, that as someone who has spent a lot of time around project management and managers, I will say that what gets built in the end, will be quite unlike what was originally proposed. That’s what good project management is about. It makes a project better, cheaper and less disruptive. Hopefully, because of the sensitivity of this project, Thames Water will follow the example of Transport for London on the East London Line and hire the best people and contractors to build the sewer.
I was upset though to see the bench that had held Doctor Salter’s statue is now bare. A picture of it is in this set of pictures.
Three Months Junk Mail
This box contains three months junk mail.
Three Months Junk Mail
It went in the recycling this morning. But why should Hackney Council and my Council Tax pay to dispose of assorted rubbish from fast food shops, catalogue retailers and other junk mailers?
The New Island Platform at Cambridge
This view of the new platform, shows the problem we have at many stations in the UK.
The New Island Platform at Cambridge
The only way to and from the far platforms and the one where the picture was taken is by the bridge at the end, which either means a climb and a descent of stairs or two lift rides. One of the problems of overhead lines is that the bridge needs to be high with a lot of steps. In fact at Cambridge a subway as at Stratford would be better, but that would have increased the cost substantially.
But surely, in this day and age something better can be designed, that was quick and easy to install and could be installed at many stations.
The Anonymous Widower 