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distressedone

Listed below are comments made by distressedone between Friday, 8th May 2009 and Tuesday, 3rd November 2009.

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RBS and Lloyds re-made by Europe 9:24pm on 03 Nov 2009 Robert,
Instead of commenting ( the easy part )you are now given the opportunity to run a bank. The LBG website suggests it will set up a new Bank ( TSB Group ? ) based on LTSB Scotland, C&G, IF and maybe 250+ LTSB branches in E&W. Given that LTSBS is the third equal bank in Scotland, LBG commented earlier this year that it was to close C&G branches as fewer and fewer people were visiting them and IF has never set the world alight. You are then offered 250 of LTSB's least profitable, worst positioned, poorest maintained branches with least potential. I say branches as the Beeb is quoted on its site as saying the customers of these branches will be TOLD that their accounts are being transferred, without any choice. Except, of course they will rebel and stay with LTSB,so what new customer base south of the border.
All this is in the name of added competition and to get Darling Gordon some sort of accolade ( aside from Nellie undermining British banking even more ). Will you put your money where your mouthh is? Comment please.
The Treasury hedge fund 3:51pm on 03 Nov 2009 I see that a key element of the announcement is that more competition will be created by sell offs. Nice bit of spin but how do you do it in practice? What practical value are a few Nat West branches in Scotland and how do you sell RBS branches in England without an infrastructure unless someone wants to invest heavily in IT and admin etc? LTSB Scotland is relatively self contained and LBG says it will sell off maybe 300 branches in E&W as part of reliving the TSB brand. What makes anyone want such branches when LBG will identify its least profitable, worst sited and poorest maintained with least potential? Even after that what makes Darling Gordon think that customers will be willingly sold off to some other institution? LTSBS customers would see little change but people with NW/RBS and LTSB have chosen to be with those banks. Their contract is with the Bank not the branch.So what happens when LTSB customers vote to stay not transfer - what company in its right mind will pay for property and not customers. Call me cynical but I wonder how much will happen by 4 years' time?
RBS and Lloyds re-made by Europe 6:25pm on 02 Nov 2009 As far as I had thought all Lloyds TSB mortgages are managed through C&G so obviously the only element of value sold with C&G will be its own mortgage book - what proportion of the mortgage market is that for adding to competition?. No point in losing its brand name so can't see Tesco/Virgin being bidders - another Santander aquisition?
As for setting up TSB once again then this could only be done through LTSB Scotland dropping the Lloyds title and seeking to extend into E&W and who would finance that?. Makes no sense breaking up the integrated LTSB retail bank other than the alternative is that LBG sells Bank of Scotland and we all know why Gordon won't allow that. Maybe the SNP will challenge the LBG strategy of offloading LTSB Scotland - that would make for a jolly party north of the border and in No10.
Politicians, the press and the police 8:33pm on 09 Jul 2009 Amazing how the arch self publicist Prescott was so quickly available for media quotes this morning. He really must be gutted that the police have now said that he was not on the list for hacking his phone. I suppose that there haven't been any discussions between the Grauniad editor and the Labour Comms Director about this story as Gordon is obviously not making the headlines at the G20?
10p tax rebellion 8:41pm on 07 Jul 2009 So 42 dhwilkinson we have no concern for the poor. All I can say is that I watched the original budget presentation by Brown and could not believe that a Labour Chancellor could present such a proposal - worse that the Labour Cabinet could agree it. Don't lecture me on Thatcher as I did not support her. However, my support for Labour disappeared that Budget day as no longer could the "son of the manse" be seen as having any credibility as a Chancellor, let alone as future PM. Whether the Tories have got it or not, the thought of seeing a party continue in power under Brown can only leave Britain's poor worse and worse off. The sham of soaking the rich is just that - a political ploy - it won't help those who still lose from the loss of the 10p rate
An equality of shame? 8:59pm on 21 May 2009 7 dontcon me - I think you are wrong about the imminent release of the documents and the early politicising of the issue by the Telegraph publications. I believe that the July documents will not show which properties the expenses were paid for as addresses are not to be shown. This would mean that we could not understand if there was "misapplication". True, Labour MPs got more publicity at the start but there have been too many Tory miscreants for the public not to make up its mind. You seem to have forgotten how many Labour MPs wanted the Speaker out so don't make it all seem one sided and a political vendetta against him.
An equality of shame? 8:08pm on 21 May 2009 29 boabycat - you are absolutely correct. The BBC announced at lunchtime that it has the HMRC rules governing MPs' tax liabilty in the event of selling a second home. Apparently, not only are MPs exempt from tax on
" benefits in kind " unlike the rest of us, but the HMRC effectively tells MPs that they can avoid CGT on property sales even if they tell the Revenue and the Expenses office different things about which is their secondary home. This is scandalous. If this is all true then HMRC is actively defrauding the British taxpayer by allowing double standards for MPs. Who signed off that MPs could get this double benefit??? - get the taxpayer to pay for your second home and then get the benefit of the improved selling price.No wonder Brown is now in a flap - one minute criticising Blears and then backing Hoon and Purnell despite them allegedly doing the same thing. Before you go, Nick, please make sure that this issue is fully investigated by the BBC - and no cover up.
Parliament's reputation brought low 9:29pm on 10 May 2009 Sagamix 358 you suggest that allowances need to be high to balance poor MP salaries which are more than twice the average salary for the uk. I would consider higher MP salaries if I had faith that the quality of the incumbents justified it. It would be interesting to assess all the MP CVs before they joined the Commons and establish what actual level of management etc they would achieve in practice in their working lives if they were to get a real job? I would imagine many would be on much less than twice the UK average. I would suggest that prospective MPs have to be vetted according to some psychometric testing as to capability and then they might deserve to be paid more.
Parliament's reputation brought low 9:22pm on 09 May 2009 By July, if not published earlier, the electorate will have a full description of the expenses " earnings " of all MPs. It will be absolutely clear who has been milking the system and who should be got rid of. A decade or so ago Martin Bell stood as a beacon candidate and got elected. What we need over the next few months is a comprehensive list of those MPs to be ousted and "peoples" candidates to stand against them. Sure, the party machines might be strong ( can they really back up the fraudsters? ) but here is a real chance to show the miscreants that their gravy train is ended and that the people want to be heard. A new chance for political change.
Parliament's reputation brought low 8:54pm on 08 May 2009 I think that there has been mention of Geoff Hoon amassing a £1.7m property portfolio. Can someone analyse all the Cabinet members property dealings over the last 12 years - how many have been bought and sold? - how many have been transferred between first/second homes to escape CGT? - how many have had renovations paid for by the tax payer? - what profit has been amassed through the transactions? how many ministers have claimed for properties when occupying grace and favour facilities?
And hopefully how much their house values have shrunk because of the recession, just like the rest of us? Many people have worked hard to get on the property ladder and benefit from hours of work of renovation. Only the taxpayer hasn't financed all the work just like with MPs. It's a scandal made worse by the contemptuous response from ministers today.

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