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sharpdealer

Listed below are comments made by sharpdealer between Monday, 13th October 2008 and Thursday, 15th October 2009.

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The PM Glass Box. 5:42pm on 15 Oct 2009 Lord Drayson seemed to think the criticsms in the report were new. They are not and have been made over and over again. Perhaps he meant they were new to him?
He said he would do his best - this is unlikely to resolve the problem.
There probably should be more "ownership" by the end user. The current procurement process seems to favour the supplier not the customer (the Armed Forces. The continual movement / "improvement" of specifications causes delays, allows confusion and frustration leading to overruns. Value is not well understood. Deadlines and penalties seem not to be used.
A strong dose of leadership is needed.
Afghanistan: Is It Mission Impossible? 2:15pm on 08 Oct 2009 Eddie asked the panel to answer:
1. What is the Mission? - all the answers worked from the premise that the UK reacted to the events of 9 / 11. However why did 9/11 happen? Possibly to provoke a reaction from the USA and others which would set off a chain reaction of events which can not be resolved in a place with a history of failure for the foreign invader. Being beguiled into Afghanistan (and Iraq)has put the UN and NATO, the USA and UK into a dangerous reactive mode - reacting to the game of Al Qaeda. - Consequences: threats to the unity of NATO, alliances between USA and European nations, an increase in terrorist threats and the rooting of an eternal conflict between cultures. The Mission in Afghanistan does not address the fundamental goal which should be the security of the UK and its citizens.

2. What is working - from what was said by Dr John Mackinlay, our home fight against terrorism threats is being more effective than our military operation in Afghanistan.

3. What is a Win? For the people of Afghanistan - a strong and benign leader who can balance the many tribal factions and provide the ordinary people with security for their children and opportunities for them to live in peace and realise their potential for the good of the Afghan nation (not democracy). For the UK - a shift towards a proactive strategy to engage the terrorists on ground of our choosing which provides increased security for this country. This will mean considerable rethinking of why these events happened in the first place. As the moment The Win is to win in Afghanistan because of the cost of losing is unthinkable - think again.
How to solve the crisis 08:06am on 13 Aug 2009 Lloyds and RBS are retreating back to "prudent" high street banking - something they know about - they will be tight on loans as they educate their staff and their customers to re-learn that Banks are about the safety of our money, and that lending must be second to the primary role of protecting it for those who have entrusted them with its care.

Clearly customers and the Banks want their savings to grow, but steadily over the long term. Maybe these Banks will learn to corner the markets in investing in companies who are run by Managements in it for the long term, have a real pride and responsibility towards staff, customers and shareholders. Who will employ staff who know how to do their jobs and not waste money on external advisors who are "milking2 the system and encouraging risky strategies (whilst ignoring the prime objective of a Bank).

QE - possibly a short term panic measure to indicate that something has to / is being done. Abusing our money in this way for the foreign market makers to exploit is a strange way to play British Political games.
Speaker Week: Gordon Brown's statement to the Commons today. 9:15pm on 10 Jun 2009 "But let us stand together for integrity and democracy; that is now more essential than ever. And I commend this statement to the House."

First step towards democracy would be to have the election now. First step towards a Parliament of integrity would be to have a House of Commons with Members selected for their integrity - we need an election now.

We do not need hasty changes to our consitutional procedures. The FOI has already done its job and exposed the problem.

We also need courage and integrity shown by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. We need a leader with a clear mandate from the people. It would seem an act of cowardice to have asked our soldiers to risk their lives and die for freedom and democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan whilst the country's Government fails to match their honour, loyalty, bravery and integrity.

None of the parties have a mandate from the voters to reform Parliament in the ways being suggested now. ... Go to the people and go quickly.
Collapse of confidence in banks 09:52am on 20 Jan 2009 Flawed analysis - dangerous speculation - the absence of responsibility – gullibility – deal making without diligence – shorting for greed – transfer of ownership of assets out of the UK – the list is endless.
The objective is to protect the security of the UK, its citizens and our way of life, not save the City of London, nor this Government; these are strategic instruments that have failed so far and are not the objective. To repeat what I wrote 3 months ago – freeze the markets, audit the real financial position of all UK based Banks and leading companies, admit the truth and handle it. Denial and fear is not helping and shows an absence of leadership.
Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, Andrew Sachs and the BBC. 12:43pm on 28 Oct 2008 There should be proper disciplinary action - first for the BBC Executives who reviewed the program before broadcast - they clearly have no sense of what is right. - Secondly for the Board of the BBC, who set the standard of Public Broadcasting - Thirdly for the presenters / performers who knew they were erring beyond the bounds of decency, and if not, they should be sacked.
Cometh the hour cometh the men? 09:24am on 15 Oct 2008 The UK have been given credit (in the media) for "leading" with a solution promoted by Gordon Brown. But the idea was drawn from Warren Buffet and his team when they pumped in $5 billion to Goldman Sachs.

It was better than the US' original option, because it was a conditional proposal, and was not going to be applied as a blanket solution. It met political concerns from left wing to right. It was helped considerably because of the great urgency for a plan.
Europe's leaders knew they would be severely criticised if they were seen to be arguing with each other, especially about whose plan was the one to follow. Action was needed, and because we were in the mess first (Northern Rock, B&B, HBOS), we were further down the road of crisis management. The US were likely to follow us, as our plan came from the States (Warren Buffet and Goldman Sachs).

The advantage our PM has over other leaders is that he served an apprenticeship as Chancelor. In a crisis it is common for people ot step back to what they know as a safety zone. Fortunately he was able to step back into his safety zone amongst people wo he knows and who know him. This isn't leadership, it is management.

Leadership will come when a vision of the way ahead is presented to us that will lead us from financial chaos to security and prosperity. If we are inspired to follow, then we might have a leader.

However to lead, he needs a mandate from the British people, not just is party.
Why hedge funds are crying 09:08am on 15 Oct 2008 It would be useful if we could be reminded what the terms of reference are for banks operating in the UK market and be reminded what each bank's original mission was when founded.

The current strategic objective has been to stabilise the banking system. Before we go regulating let's stand back and review the real purpose of our range of financial services.

We need places of safe cash deposit. We need sources of realistic funding. We need limits on the uses of cash deposits for profit making by bank so that their prime responsibility is honoured. We need a total separation of straight simple banking from investment gambling.

We need to reward companies building for the long term for the benefit of the UK and its people.

Before we go looking for whipping boys, we need to be clear about the specific objectives for the UK right now. We can sort out the bad boys and girls later.
Momentous Monday 09:21am on 13 Oct 2008 8) Stock markets and money markets are in slightly better shape this morning - which is something of a relief, because if they can't be buoyed by so much taxpayers' money being chucked at the banks, then we would be in rather more serious trouble than I feared

Swallows and Summer. The volatility is possible because of v.v. short term market making. Your blog is great for creating moves in the markets. Unfortunately it is also encouraging the cats to play, taking the focus away from the real fundamentals that have to be corrected.

We in the phase of the crisis when a level of control and calmness is needed, to be followed by two lines - one to maintain a level of sustainable economic activity and the other to deal with the very serious fundamental problems. These require a Leader to emerge and the development of a new Management.
We are only at the beginning of the start. Calm down.

Can you explain why the Governments have not suspended the markets for a few days?
Momentous Monday 09:13am on 13 Oct 2008 4) Barclays is raising £10bn from selling new shares and securities to private-sector investors, abandoning its dividend for the second half of this year, and taking other actions;

Barclays seem to be saying - yes we have a funding problem - we don't like the conditions that Big G is offering. We don't want the stigma of borrowing from Big G, and the sentiment that would arise. Oh, and we don't want Directors' remuneration to be interfered with. Is this right?

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