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majorroadahead

Listed below are comments made by majorroadahead between Wednesday, 22nd October 2008 and Thursday, 18th December 2008.

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Fixing the Jag 6:37pm on 18 Dec 2008 I am not sure about Jaguar, which has been variously British, American and now Indian. I dont see many Jaguars on the road in UK now so perhaps it might be a bit like Woolworths - a great company in historic terms but not a company that can live with BMW or Mercedes. Sadly that would mean more job losses - if I had a choice I would rather see the Board of Lloyds TSB on the dole where they belong for destroying our best British bank. There would be no pay-offs there when the day of reckoning comes, as it surely will for people who have thrown caution to the wind and done the bidding of the Government at the expense of shareholders.
Made off with $50bn 10:32pm on 12 Dec 2008 Talking about Made Off, there may have been an equally scandalous con over a bank merger in this country, with the Government in on the proceedings. You are a fund with a large share holding in a profligate collapsing bank with mountains of toxic debt. You also own a large holding in another bank which has been prudent and has little exposure to that of its rival.

You vote for both banks in the merger, thereby ensuring that it goes through. Hey presto - you have reduced your losses by sharing them with the good bank. All the little shareholders of the prudent bank are stuffed, and presumably can do nothing about it, even though the large shareholders have probably stitched them up.

I have been investing since 1967, and if I ever see my money back from the prudent bank then I will never invest in shares again because I think it is all rigged.
The £5,000bn bailout 6:50pm on 28 Oct 2008 Robert,

One sixth of all we produce in a year is one sixtieth of all we produce in ten years. Which is probably a more realistic and less scary timescale.

I am apopectic over the treatment of Lloyds TSB shareholders since you first announced the merger proposal. My greatest concern is something prudent people have been saying for donkeys years - if you are going to take something over be sure to undertake proper DUE DILIGENCE. In a normal uncomplicated bid with transparent and meaningful balance sheets it can take weeks - here we have a "hurry up offensive" for a hugely complex merger with the overhanging threat of lurking evils in HBOS opaque books, of the kind that sent the share price plummeting by almost 90% in a year. It has almost done for LLoyds too - the share price halved from the time of your announcement to now. What does the Board of Lloyds know that we (the shareholders) do not know?

It is said that it could be the deal of the century. If so, why didnt the Board of HBOS make a fight of it? Why has the Board of HBOS got their parachutes ready?

Of course, I sense the stench of people toadying up to Gordon Brown, who will probably finish up with 45% of the joint bank. That is bound to mean drastic dilution for Lloyds TSB shareholders who have been told ad nauseum what a prudent and well financed bank we own.

We have been told nothing about the bid as of now, but apparently we are soon to learn that we will be asked to vote in November (that could be in four days time) with completion in January. If Mr Daniels is the genius that his approach suggests he might be I will be happy to eat my words. If not, no doubt he will eventually be found at Heathrow boarding a plane back to the States.

As of now I wish he would drop the bid, say thanks and no thanks to Gordon Brown, and get on with running our bank. Do you know something that I dont please?i
Why the record-breaking falls 10:13pm on 27 Oct 2008 140

You've turned my world upside down. A friend of mine from army days played football for Hereford United in the 60s. When I last saw him at a reunion he bet me specifically that Hereford United would win the FA Cup in 2035. Better get the Maris Piper ready - Ps I'll only be 98 and Sir Alex will still be running Manchester United (with Ronaldo as his Deputy).
Why the record-breaking falls 7:32pm on 27 Oct 2008 Ive read 114 comments and pretty much 114 different opinions. There is a lot of sound common sense in most of them. Meanwhile, there are 54 million people out there who havent got a clue what you are all talking about. They are the lucky ones, the 95% who still have a job, dont have any shares and just want to listen to those daft two morons who are in trouble at the BBC for arrogance and verbal pornography. It will all work out, but we wont know about it until those companies with cash (and there are some out there) start snapping up great companies at bargain basement prices. Take M&S. In 2001 they dropped to £1.50 and every analyst was talking dirty about them. They were going to the wall. Six years later they were at £7. Now they are back at £2.30. We introduced a casino into our lives, and put all our futures like pensions into the casino.
Incidentally, I still cannot understand why the Board of prudent and well managed LLoyds TSB (their words) has not resigned for spending our (shareholder) money on the dead duck that is HBOS. It shows the power of Mr Brown.... At least the market has got that one right.
Sterling shunned 2:37pm on 26 Oct 2008 Re 243

I would be pleased to be accused of not knowing the first thing about the EU as you have done. I am not very keen on it, not least because it seems to me to be both a gravy train and an excuse to misuse our money. Take the rebate. When Mrs Thatcher boasted about getting £2bn back nobody said anything about all the years we had overpaid by £2bn. Still, if you know so much about it good luck to you.

Also, I know nothing about the Daily Mail or UKIP as you mentioned and nor am I a supporter of any political party.. I do know when I see a negative blog which adds nothing to the debate.

Incidentally, my real objection to Mandelson stems from the first time he resigned. From my point of view I would rather not have people like that in Public life, and taking him back twice is rather like what Newcastle has done with Joey Barton.
Sterling shunned 12:50pm on 26 Oct 2008 171 "For the next 30 years you will be able to walk past the Palace of Westminster and see Lord Mandy waving two fingers at you".

I am glad Mandelson is back here where we (the Press on our behalf) can keep an eye on him. He was unelected in Europe, and had the opportunity to practice dark arts had he been so minded apparently with little scrutiny. I think he will be a disaster for Brown, and hand the election to Cameron, assuming the latter can decide what to do with Osborne, who looks like damaged goods.

Incidentally, I would be 101 when Lord Mandy's fingers had stopped waving at me -a promising scenario which I will diarise.
Sterling shunned 10:42am on 25 Oct 2008 The Bank of England, like the Government and the Board of Lloyds TSB, is populated by people with a singular lack of imagination.

The Bank meets once a month to discuss interest rates - no matter that the world is collapsing around them they will have their meeting and sit around like wise old owls. OK, they broke the mould (sic) this month when they were part of a concerted half point rate cut, but that was only because the Americans were driving the initiative. Most people who seem to know suggest that there should be a massive cut (some say 2%) but presumably consideration of that would have to wait until the monthly meeting. And then they wont have the bottle. Some say that if you cut our interest rates further then sterling will collapse. What did it do yesterday without the rate cut?

As for the Government, Mr Brown has long boasted about his skill with our economy. Now is the chance to show how it is done. Forget Darling, he is just a glove puppet. We need a stimulus package which does not include bailing out dead-duck banks like HBOS but putting those billions to work keeping what we have left of non financial businesses going during the slump.

As for Lloyds TSB - the shares of HBOS are trading at a 43% discount to the offer price, which itself has been lowered twice. Mr Daniels and his colleagues have a chance to redeem themselves by scrapping a bid that has never made sense - who wants to have 30% of a market in mortgages when there arent any? Or 30% of savings when nobody has saved since Mr Brown came to power.

For those who have never lived through a slump - I lived in Germany in the 70s when driving on a Sunday was banned. You could see families walking up the autobahn as part of their day out. Luckily, as a Senor Citizen I have one of Mr Brown's free bus passes, so I am not looking to walk up the M3 any day soon.
What Mervyn didn't say 7:16pm on 22 Oct 2008 re Strateshootr (50) You say "we pay Brown, King etc serious sums of money". What we pay as an annual salary to the man we expect to run our country is what John Terry earns in 10 days. Perhaps the PM's salary is performance related?

PS Sorry that this has little to do with Mervyn King but I see the Board of Lloyds TSB still hasnt resigned although I note from the CEO that while granny and orphan shareholders are likely to miss out on their dividends some of the staff are going to get their bonuses.
What Mervyn didn't say 09:48am on 22 Oct 2008 It is good to see that the Governor has woken up at last from his deep sleep over our economy. Now that he is awake he should pause over his corn flakes just long enough to ring colleagues and say that we are going to cut interest rates by 2%. Not a quarter or a half as usual, but something bold and brave, and entirely in tune with what we need right now. And while he is at it, he can tell his friends in Government that Lord Mandeson should stop threatening LLoyds TSB shareholders that if they do not agree to the merger with HBOS he is going to take his (sorry our) money away. Most of us think that the merger is as stupid as Lord Mandelson and George Osborne going on a yacht with a Russian oligarch - they should know from the Profumo case that Russians and parties are political suicide.

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