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desmoh

Listed below are comments made by desmoh between Wednesday, 25th June 2008 and Thursday, 14th May 2009.

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Count it, don't follow it 5:26pm on 14 May 2009 Interesting piece of sophestry, Stephanie. You'd make a great Jesuit if they ever let women in. The difference here is that the items were the justifier of the spending. If the MPs who cleaned their pool and bought spectacular TVs could have "done a Cameron" and laid it all on interest payments they would have. Instead they were able to buy anything posssible once it went down to "good faith". The problem for them is we taxpayers are not singing from the same hymnbook. We have to follow the cathechism of HMRC and they burn heretics for expense infringements. The Hon Members just didn't expect the Telegraph Inquisition and the laiety do enjoy a nice Auto da Fe.
'Coach Crash Syndrome' 3:27pm on 11 Mar 2009 Your Coach Crash analogy is more apt than you may think. In the 1990s a school bus driven late at night on a motorway crashed into a parked lorry on the hard shoulder. Sadly all the pupils on board and the teacher driving were killed.
Parliament, as ever, worked itself into a fit of rhetoric and tub-tumping. Something must be done and they were the ones to do it. Their solution ? Another law, of course. But what law could ban bad driving ? None. Instead they ordered all coaches to fit seatbelts. Nobody uses them, they make uncomfortable seats more uncomfortable and they would have been of no benefit in the crash. But MPs felt they were "making a difference" and that is what matters. If MPs are happy then the Minister is happy. If the Minister is happy the Civil Service is happy. The taxpayer's personal freedom is more constrained and they are a little poorer but they are at the bottom of the heap so that doesn't matter.
As is so often the case we already have laws to cover all human behaviour in the UK, even if some are badly written. We just need enforcement that works. If we had personal financial consequences for the enforcers when they fail the taxpayer we'd have an innovation that matters
Spotting a sociopath 5:17pm on 26 Nov 2008 Excellent article Mark. You managed to explain how these people do awful things and get away with them without using the explanation to excuse them. They are one of the last truly hidden menaces to society

But people should not imagine from these two horrible cases that physical brutality is their only trait - the "psycho killer". I have had the misfortune to come across a couple of "middle class" versions of these people. No criminal record but a chain of broken relationships and shameless actions. They are attracted to preying upon the weak and vulnerable so political groups (especially those on the fringe or with easy access to power) charities and religious groups are prime hunting grounds for them. Also, imagine the mentality of the sort of person who can invest your pension fund in something worthless and walk away calmly with their bonus. Sociopaths can wear suits too.

Think of the number of people you have heard of for whom the phrase "how did they ever imagine they could get away with that ?" comes to mind. One characteristic of the sociopath is they plan ahead poorly. How could they plan when they, literally, cannot understand the consequences of their actions ? If you come across somebody whose attitude to something outrageous is "Whatever. Get over it", you know the time has come to walk away from them and never come back. I have and thoroughly recommend it.
Holiday club fraud 10:38am on 22 Oct 2008 Well done to the film maker for his honesty. There are always people who will prey on everyone's need to feel special. Isolation and "love bombing" work frighteningly quickly. But even TV isn't above these techniques too. How else can anyone else explain the truly awful programme "How to look good naked" ?
The deleveraging vortex 09:36am on 09 Oct 2008 Spot on Robert. Central bank guarantees might unlock the safes for interbank trading again, but what about the horrors in there which closed them first ?

The lack of credit which some consider the cause of the recession is merely a symptom. It is a decade of insane lending which is to blame and has to be "unwound". Unwound meaning millions of people in the rich world having huge amounts of personal debt for most of their lives.

This recession is misnamed as the "Credit Crunch". It will eventually be known as the "Deleveraging Disaster".
How to solve the crisis 4:54pm on 04 Oct 2008 Robert; I think you mean DEFCON 1. But a good idea and very interesting article on Iceland too. So that is where all the Iceland cash came from over the last few years. Another group of people who were called "shrewd investors" by the commentariat when they really shouls have been called "berserk borrowers". Yours in pedantry..
Feeling the crunch? Wait 'til you feel January... 11:39pm on 25 Sep 2008 Just saw the end of your report, with the terrifying graph of credit as a percentage over the last 100 years, on tonight's Newsnight, Paul. Could you post that graph and your explanation of its importance as an article on the BBC News website ? That will finally get even the dullest denialist to finally click that this really is global financial armageddon for those with debt.
Irish No under scrutiny 09:52am on 25 Jun 2008 Mark, you say "above all analyse the Irish people"

As we were reminded by Matt Damon in the film "The Departed", Freud was quoted as saying about the Irish, "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." As one myself, I agree.

Analysis Shmanalysis. It is the EU which needs to look at itself. Fascinating that it doesn't now do so, for such a normally inward looking body.

Only one nation had the chance to state their views on the Lisbon treaty and they said No. And they are the most pro-EU people in the EU.

If the EU is so proud and sure of this treaty they should INSIST that it be put to the vote in every country. They know they bet all on Lisbon and have lost. Instead they just trundle on regardless, ignoring reality until their pensions become due.

Lisbon is dead. Killed by Europe's only true democracy. How fitting.

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