Lloyds Unloads Bad Loans
It is reported that Lloyds Banking Group has unloaded £809 million worth of bad Australian loans for £388 million.
That looks like bad business to me. Did they claw back the bonuses of the twits that signed off that rubbish in the first place?
The Last Corinthian
Colin Murray has been visiting all of Great Britain’s Olympic gold medallists and I may have missed it or he could have been referring to a previous program, but he closed by talking about Jim Fox. As he won his gold medal in the modern pentathlon way back in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, he has probably dropped off the sporting radar a bit. However this article in the Independent from 1998 gives a lot more details about Jim and his various fights, against Russian cheats, bureaucracy and Parkinson’s Disease.
This the first paragraph from the Independent.
One figure stood out among the galaxy of personalities on parade at the 50th anniversary bash of the Sports Writer’s Association last week. Indeed, Jim Fox stood out because he insisted on standing, albeit more stiffly than the rest, declining a proffered seat, his dignified presence a sobering reminder of a gentler, more romantic era before the pursuit of sporting glory became suffused by greed, drugs and duplicity.
Remember Foxy? Once he led the charge down sport’s superhighway, a swashbuckling, Corinthian hero in an age when sportsmen were men, and women seemed happy to be ladies. And Foxy was a ladies’ man, a ruggedly handsome, 6ft 3in dashing white sergeant, single, and single-minded who, on his own admission was a bit of a stud; swordsman supreme, in every sense. Now, at 57, the old soldier who was, arguably, Britain’s outstanding all- round sportsman is a victim of Parkinson’s Disease and fights on two fronts – for his own future and that of the sport with which he became identified.
I met him in the early 1990’s, when he was making a comeback and attempted to get into the British Eventing Team. We just chatted about the horses and he talked about his problems, which he put down to falling off too many horses. I don’t know whether the real diagnosis had been made.
He was an impressive man and that meeting left an indelible mark on my mind.
He must be the Last Corinthian, as sport now is just too well-funded and professional, so another will not come along. Fox was as professional in the five disciplines of modern pentathlon as anybody, but he competed in the true Corinthian spirit in the tradition of those like C. B. Fry.
I am afraid, that we won’t see the mavericks too at the Olympics in the future.
Australia has one of the bravest in Bill Roycroft. All it says in Wikipedia about his winning of the gold medal in eventing is this.
Although seriously injured during the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he left his hospital bed to compete in Show Jumping, which was the final event. He rode a flawless round, and Australia won the Gold Medal.
The truth, is more out of Aussie versions of Greek Heroic Myths.
The deed for which Bill Roycroft will forever be renowned occurred at the Rome Olympics in 1960. On the last day of the three-day equestrian event, Australia faced a grim predicament. Two riders, Laurie Morgan and Neale Lavis, were doing well; Brian Crago’s horse had broken down, and the fourth member of the team, Bill Roycroft, was in hospital – concussed, sedated, with extensive bruising and muscle damage. Doctors refused to sanction his release from hospital. The problem was that, if Australia was to win the team event, it needed three finishers. Roycroft had fallen during the steeplechase phase the previous day after his horse, Our Solo, somersaulted over pipes and landed on him. He had climbed groggily back, finished the course, then been given oxygen (and whisky) and flown by helicopter to a hospital outside Rome.
Next morning, with the final phase, the show-jumping, due to start soon, Roycroft insisted on signing himself out of hospital. The doctors said no, and refused to give him his clothes; he then threatened to leave in his underpants. Finally, he signed a document taking responsibility for his safety, and was allowed to go. He was 45, laced heavily with pain-killers, unable to bend, and his comrades had to dress him for the last ride. He was virtually folded onto Our Solo, and the reins were placed in his hands. Stiffly, flawlessly, he completed the round of 12 jumps, ensuring team gold for Australia. (Morgan also won the individual event). Roycroft, patriarch of a legendary riding family, competed in four more Olympics, winning team bronze in 1968 and 1976. He also carried the flag at the Mexico Opening Ceremony in 1968.
It can’t be a myth as it’s on the Internet. But even the author, left out the bit about jumping the round with his arm in a sling. Roycroft won his bronze medal in 1976 at over sixty.
Mavericks too, must include Dick Fosbury, who developed a new method of high-jumping and then turned up at the US Olympic Trials in 1968, won it and then went on to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Mexico. Without his method, Mary Peters would never have got her gold in Munich.
The Dominions Stick Together
In some ways it’s one of the best pieces of news for Africa in a long time, but the decision of the SKA organisation to site their new radio telescope in remote parts of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, is to be welcomed. The details are here on the BBC’s web site.
Milton Nkosi from the BBC says this about the project.
This decision will help to change the perception that Africa is a dark continent full of death and destruction and where little scientific research is carried out.
The telescope will deliver thousands of jobs and will showcase South Africa’s rich history in astronomy.
The SKA will have 3,000 antennas across a vast semi-desert part of South Africa known as the Karoo. The site is already home to seven massive Gregorian dish antennas that form part of the Karoo Array Telescope, or Kat7.
The only thing history tells us about it, is that the project will get bigger. And it will be joined by other large instruments.
Fracking May be Good for You
There is a great deal of opposition to the use of fracking to extract gas from shale in this country.
I went to a lecture at the Royal Geograhical Society yesterday called Unconventional Gas. It was very enlightening and I can draw various conclusions from the lecture. You can find out more about the lecture here.
The first is that there is a very large amount of gas available to be extracted using fracking and a lot of it is in countries, with pretty stable regimes, like Australia, Canada and the United States.
The second is that gas prices in North America are falling fast, because of the large amounts of gas now available. I believe, that Canada has far too much gas for its own use and will soon start to export.
So it is not inconceivable, that Europe will start to import gas from North America rather than from regimes like Russia and Qatar.
Am I wrong to therefore suggest that because of fracking, we may well find that our gas prices start to drop?
I have deliberately not discussed the use of fracking in the UK and Europe.
The technologies employed are still very much under development and have been used mainly in the very underpopulated parts of the United States and Canada. The extraction is now moving towards more populous states, like Pennsylvania, and only when it is totally accepted by the inhabitants there, will it be time to use it in Europe.
In the meantime we should keep a strong watching brief, investing in resarch in the best universities, as I outlined here.
But as with many things, there are many against the technology, when it starts to be used, but now it is totally accepted. Just look at the opposition Brunel, Stephenson and others had when they started building railways!
Apple Have Problems With iPads in Australia
According to this report on the BBC, Apple is having to give refunds on iPads in Australia.
Perhaps they don’t work upside down! Or is it all those kangaroos jumping about, setting up odd vibrations at the wrong frequencies!
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.
Drunk In Charge of a Coolbox
You can hardly believe this man could be so stupid.
I suppose his only defence is that he is from Queensland.
Oops! It was Murder, but it Smelled Phenomenal!
That was a quote from this story from Australia, where a container of expensive wine was dropped.
It all goes to show that their fork-lift truck drivers are like their cricketers!
They drop everything!
Australia Proposes a Carbon Tax
Australia depends heavily on coal, which is the fuel that in my view should be banned beause of the large amounts of carbon dioxide it emits when it is burned. Because of the hydrogen in natural gas, when you burn that you get less carbon dioxide for the same energy. But in truth, it would be better if we didn’t burn fossil fuels.
So I was very surprised that the Australian Prime Minister has announced a carbon tax. It doesn’t appear to be popular.
Australia is one of the world’s worst emitters of greenhouse gases per head of population.
The country relies on coal for 80% of its electricity generation, and is a major coal exporter.
The energy industry and the political opposition have mounted a vociferous campaign against a carbon tax, with protests in all of Australia’s major cities in March.
Critics argue a levy would damage economic competitiveness.
Opinion polls show roughly 60% of voters against the policy.
The government hopes to win them over by spending some of the cash raised by the carbon tax to compensate households for higher energy bills.
It is promising tax cuts for low and middle-income households, as well as increased state pension and welfare payments.
At least it is a start and the United States, China, Europe and the other polluting country should follow suit.
Kangaroos in Walthamstow
I went to the Village Kitchen today in Walthamstow and had a kangaroo steak for lunch.
It was good! And gluten-free too!
I’ve been skipping down the road since, as a friend will confirm, as we met for a coffee afterwards at the Angel.
The Anonymous Widower 