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TODAY’S
FAYRE – Tuesday 4th December 2012
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“The woman is perfected
Her dead
Body wears the smile of accomplishment,
The illusion of a Greek necessity
Flows in the scrolls of her toga,
Her bare
Feet seem to be saying:
We have come so far, it is over.
Each dead child coiled, a white serpent,
One at each little
Pitcher of milk, now empty
She has folded
Them back into her body as petals
Of a rose close when the garden
Stiffens and odors bleed
From the sweet, deep throats of the night flower.
The moon has nothing to be sad about,
Staring from her hood of bone.
She is used to this sort of thing.
Her blacks crackle and drag. “
Her dead
Body wears the smile of accomplishment,
The illusion of a Greek necessity
Flows in the scrolls of her toga,
Her bare
Feet seem to be saying:
We have come so far, it is over.
Each dead child coiled, a white serpent,
One at each little
Pitcher of milk, now empty
She has folded
Them back into her body as petals
Of a rose close when the garden
Stiffens and odors bleed
From the sweet, deep throats of the night flower.
The moon has nothing to be sad about,
Staring from her hood of bone.
She is used to this sort of thing.
Her blacks crackle and drag. “
Sylvia Plath – poet – 1932-1963
On Sunday Michael Palin gave one of his exemplary, amusing one man
shows, which he does so brilliantly at the Playhouse Theatre in aid of the
Michael Palin Centre for stammering children. He gave us a really informative
précis of his recent trip to Brazil plus hugely enjoyable and amusing anecdotes
from the ‘Monty Python Days!’ As you can imagine his timing and delivery were
par excellence! The theatre was packed with his acolytes and how they enjoyed
it. The icing on the cake came at the end with Eric Idle giving us
another witty and rib-tickling rendition of ‘Always look on the Bright Side!”
Driving to Normandy and back again in one day is not an occupational
hazard I would recommend to anyone, having done in yesterday in less than
clement weather conditions. However I did have the foresight to take the CD box
set of the “Sceptred Isle” – The history of the 20th century,
superbly narrated by Anna Massey and Robert Powell – Fantastic! Should be on
your Amazon Christmas list to help them pay some tax!
Today’s missive is going to be an unequivocal whinge and bleat – once I
have highlighted a few very short observations on what happened in markets
yesterday and the outlook today. Initially European stocks wanted to
crack on, particularly as many folk in Europe are getting euphoric about a
really satisfactory outcome to Greece’s debt problem! Clearly people see dire
situations such as this debt crisis in a far better light than I do!
However when it became clear that the GOP were continuing with their hardball
strategy over the Fiscal cliff in Congress, in addition to the unexpected
posting of US Manufacturing data, markets lost their appetite for taking on
further risk, resulting the gilt coming off the gingerbread on the Street of
Dreams. No sign of panic, but investors just tuned out!
Having very succinctly got that out of the way, I turn my attention and
venom in the direction, FIRSTLY of Banque de France’s Christian Noyer.
How ridiculous was that statement he made to the FT – “Most of the euro business should be done inside the euro
area. It's linked to the capacity of the central bank to provide liquidity and
ensure oversight of its own currency." I imagine he will be
subjected to not only to a tongue lashing from Mayor Johnson, but also just
about everyone else connected with the financial sector!
Let’s be clear about this. When the Treaty of Lisbon was signed, there was
always a danger that the UK would surrender regulatory sovereignty to the EU –
Thank you Gordon Brown! Despite the EU quest to form a banking union,
with the ECB as the ‘obergruppenfuhrer’, the fact remains that Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid, Amsterdam and Milan are all
‘Micky Mouse’ centres in comparison to London. In fact rolled together
they are probably not as influential as London as an international centre. To
suggest that markets in the single currency should be repatriated has a fearful
stench of protectionism! He jests!
May I remind the head honcho of La Banque de France that London is the
centre of the time zone, English is the international trading language and that
London’s prowess as a contender as the leading financial centre is unchallenged
anywhere but France! May I also respectfully remind him that in 1946
France was within a paper thin ace of becoming a communist country and now is
heavily embedded in socialism with a bloated public sector – hardly the
credentials required to be the standard bearer for banking or for that matter
of the free enterprise system. I suggest M Noyer look at his own economy,
which could well start to ‘hang in rags’ and be in for a real shake up, rather
than pilfer the UK’s family silver. French auto sales did not make great
reading!
Now I turn to venting my spleen in the direction of (Sir) James Crosby
of HBOS fame and that iconic retail magnate Andy Hornby, who initially came
from ASDA and ended up as Prince Regent and then King of HBOS. I am
amazed that it has taken 4 years for these two so called bastions of the
banking community to come up before the beak and explain themselves! Paul
Moore has been vindicated as the whistle blower and only Paul Cummings has been
brought to book over HBOS’S transgressions. In the first year after the merger
with Lloyds a gargantuan £26 billion was written off. Hardly the time for
an apology – a tad late don’t you think? Any chance that Sir James might
surrender part of his £524k annual pension or maybe the PM will feel that in
concert with Fred Goodwin, his knighthood should be withdrawn. We also need an
explanation on the sale of Crosby’s shares prior to the collapse. I am
sure it’s fine, but give us some details for comfort! The irony is that the
losses were not really incurred by Halifax, but by reckless, wilful and
injudicious lending to all dodgy property deals. Also Lord Stevenson, hang your
head in shame!
Andy Haldane’s comments on the fact that it may be our grandchildren,
who finally clear up this mess left by the banking and credit crisis, comes as
no surprise. Let’s hope that it takes just a decade rather a score and
ten! Remuneration remains a bugbear of Mr Haldane’s. Bonuses are
down and remuneration packages are becoming more temperate. It was interesting
to note that just 6 banks utilised the BOE’s facilities (FLS) to push cheap
loans, though they cut their over all lending by £1.04 billion since August.
However the authorities make lending attractive, there is still a credit risk
and banks have assets that are toxic and they also need more capital!
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