TODAY’S FAYRE – Tuesday 20th November 2012
“Three fishers went sailing away to the West,
Away to the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbour bar be moaning.
Away to the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbour bar be moaning.
Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.
Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep;
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.”
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep;
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.”
Charles Kingsley – poet & author – 1819-1875
Fulham can only describe Sunday’s game against Sunderland as ‘a bad day at the office!’ To draw an analogy it was one of those days when it would have been better to stay in bed all day. The game against the ‘Black Cats’ looked, on all known form, to be formality – as they say in ‘bridge’ terms, a lay-down. However after 26 minutes Brede Hangeland, Fulham’s stalwart centre half and captain was sent off by the officious Lee Probert for a ‘two-footed tackle.’ According to the new rules he just about had to go. However Hangeland is not a dirty player and if ever there was a case of using some common sense, it was at 4.26pm. Unlike the opponent’s captain Lee Cattermole, who made such a meal out of the tackle and earnestly encouraged Referee Probert to send Hangeland off. The irony is that Lee Cattermole is a nasty, ‘gobby’ and petulant midfielder, who niggles his way through a match, having scant respect for human limbs.
I am less than convinced that Aung San Sui Kyi enjoyed being hugged and kissed with such public display of affection by President Obama. She almost squirmed!
As a pensioner I am delighted that European markets rallied by the best part of 2% with the Street of Dreams also responding to the cause in adding about 1.6% just on the back of a few idle comments made by President Obama and Tim Geithner that there would be a resolution of the Fiscal cliff crisis before too long. Has the GOP given up the unequal struggle in Congress? It sounds rather out of character. I remain cynical. I am sure there will be a compromise but the road to agreement will surely remain rocky. Volumes on both sides of the pond remained very light; so it gave market makers the opportunity of bringing their influence to bear not for the first time of asking!
Now that France’s President Hollande has suffered the ignominy of a cut from its AAA rating by Moody’s, Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is now all but omnipotent in ruling Europe economically with a rod of iron. So there may well be some horse trading over the €31.5 billion bail-out facility for Greece being agreed in principal today, but one suspects that a fudged agreement will be made, despite the huge reservations of Mme Christine Lagarde of the IMF, who has become a stickler for discipline. To date she has been insistent that there should be no 2 year extension, which will cost another €30 billion. Presumably the cost of borrowing for Greece will be favourably tinkered with or some sort of a hair-cut will be imposed on bond holders. The fact remains that Greece should be cut loose; let the Drachma devalue by 50% and let Greece live happily ever after! I do not subscribe to the contagion theory. If banks have not made contingency plans to write Greek debt down, then they have not done their job properly! For this charade to carry on, so Germany and the EU don’t lose face, is just laughable!
On Thursday PM Cameron’s resolve over the EU’s budget will be put to the test. He is dead right that NO ONE should contribute another CENT to the Budget. We are all suffering the vagaries of austerity. EU join the club! The budget number is circa €100 billion of which the UK share is €8.1 billion. That is plenty – more than the UK benefits from. I suspect that when the Government tells the great British public how much each individual contributes to the EU, they will say enough is enough! The PM spoke well at the CBI, sending out some home truths. As for the leader of the opposition; well I know Ed Miliband has a lead in the polls of 10%, which must be respected. But talk about sitting on the fence with a sharp stick up his backside over Europe; he has few peers in the realm in terms of prevarication!
Brady Duggan the CEO of Credit Suisse has announced fundamental restructuring changes in its investment banking division. Private banking and asset management are to be grouped together and equity trading and fixed interest will be run in a separate division. Today the market expects the merger between Glencore and Xstrata to be consummated. Hopefully the issue over rapacious bonuses for Xstrata executive will be resolved. BT intends to give its coverage of sport its best shot and maybe either the Olympic Stadium of the Shard will be used to produce the programme output! – Ambitious stuff! Chris Gibson-Smith, the rather ineffective former chairman of the LSE, has decided to stand down as chairman of British Land and will be replaced by John Gildersleeve. British Land announced that underlying pre-tax profit gained 3.8% with first half year net rental income up 1.1%. Enterprise Inns announces a full year pre-tax profit of £137m from £157m and states that it remains focused on returning its business to growth. easyJet’s Carolyn McCall posted good numbers for the year today – profit up by 28% to £317m. Sales were up 11.6% and the margins were increased by 8.2%.
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