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furtlefinch

Listed below are comments made by furtlefinch between Thursday, 21st May 2009 and Wednesday, 21st October 2009.

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Bank reform: The radical way 4:36pm on 21 Oct 2009 Thanks for excellent clear article.

This may be too easy, but what about making the banks bond all our savings? If you 'invest' £1000 in a holiday and pay the tour operator in advance, that money has to be bonded. If the operator goes bust, you are protected.

But if you put £1000 into a bank, it is the taxpayer that guarantees your savings. Surely this is effectively a government subsidy to banks?

The tour operator needs to pay the cost of bonding the money paid to him. So why not make the banks pay the 'bonding' cost of
the amount guaranteed by the UK government to each depositor?

Simpelz.
BAE: Can't pay, would like to pay 3:52pm on 01 Oct 2009 And another thing - I wonder what the Saudi beneficiaries of all this BAE munificence actually spent their money on? Haven't they got enough from oil to build palaces and stuff? Or was this all usefully un-traceable cash for somewhat more dodgy activities?

I think al Quaeda gets most of its money from Saudi, doesn't it? Hmmm...
BAE: Can't pay, would like to pay 3:47pm on 01 Oct 2009 Oh, I see, the arms trade is just a great Job Creation Scheme, is it?

Remember that each arms sale kills twice - once if it can be used for its main purpose, and once by further impoverishing the ordinary people of the purchasing country - where the money would be better spent on health care, infrastructure, and, in some of the poorest, food for survival.

This is especially true of countries which need a bribe to achieve the sale. Almost by definition, the greater the bribe, the less the people of that country would actually benefit from the arms.

I can think of better Job Creation Schemes than this one, which, oh yes, remember,also gave us General Galtieri and Saddam Hussein, both champion arms customers of their time.
BAE: Can't pay, would like to pay 10:37am on 01 Oct 2009 Lots of posts here saying 'if we didn't do it, someone else would'.

This is the drug-dealer's defence - does it justify selling crack cocaine?

We have double standards here. When it comes to giving humanitarian aid to some of these countries, it's 'You've got to have good governance first'. But when it comes to arms dealing, it's: 'Corruption? Yes, that'll do nicely, sir'.
Weather update. 5:49pm on 15 Sep 2009 No, all you need to do is split up the forecast into areas and do the whole lot for each area - tonight, tomorrow and outlook.

At the moment it is done from the weather's perspective: ..tonight, the rain will edge from Wales up into the Lakes, then in the morning it will be over Scotland etc...

Far better to do it from the perspective of a listener: just do an area at a time - then we can listen, absorb, and tune out for the rest. I can follow and remember the shipping forecast for my area - so why not do the weather like that?
Caption Competition 08:09am on 10 Jul 2009 Strewth mate great stag night in Sydney, where am I and who wants their clobber back?
The return of politics' 'N' word 09:24am on 17 Jun 2009 Funny how most other developed countries don't seem to need this essential 'deterrent'. The Swedes, Germans, Spaniards et al must be quaking in their boots. I don't know how they sleep at night.

This is a POLITICAL weapon. It has no other use. I thought we'd established that through years of argument. It buys us a seat at the 'top table' of countries, ie the UN security council.

The question is whether the cost of £20bn is worth it for this ticket. It may be, I don't know, but would like to see it carefully argued, and not get muddied with all this deterrent nonsense.
West Brom: Three-quarters mutual 11:23am on 12 Jun 2009 Well, the obvious answer is contained in your last sentence - why not merge the football club with the building society?

I mean, who on earth would want to put their money in a building society these days with interest rates as they are? And who on earth would want to support a club like West Brom? Answer: The same diehard fanatics. Mad they may be, but there's no denying their loyalty.

No interest on your savings? Well, how about a free ticket or two? No mortgage for a house? At least you could spend a few hours at the ground.

I'm amazed no-one has thought of this before, truly I am.
Starting gun fired on leadership contest 5:43pm on 03 Jun 2009 Another nonentity goes - yawn - so who's left standing? Mandy's keeping very quiet. Getting ready to emerge from the wreckage as the saviour?
Indebted Britain 4:35pm on 21 May 2009 What about the bit where they said debt would be 100% of GDP by 2013?

How high will it have to get before we are allowed to panic?

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