Money Category
Money in the news and how you are going to pay and pay and pay
Reuters Staff Say They Are As Powerless As Egyptians Under Mubarak
HOSNI Mubarak is ousted in Egypt. The Egyptian Army rejoices that someone else from their ranks gets the keys to vaults and Thompson Reuters uses the moment of history to attack the Newspaper Guild of America:
In a letter circulated Friday shortly after Egyptian protesters succeeded in ousting Hosni Mubarak from his 30-year autocratic rule, the Guild, which represents 420 U.S. Reuters employees (mostly editorial staffers, of which there are 2,900 globally), circulated a letter that seized on the timing of the revolution, which Reuters journalists have been covering.
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Property Developers Say Deptford Is In West Greenwich
IN Deptford, the property gurus are rebranding the place as West Greenwich.
The Theatro development is not a tarted up old school in Deptford, rather it is a place of “pioneering design” in the heart of “Greenwich cultural quarter”.
Anyone in the area looking for Greenwich can cross the creek and ask for directions…
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The Seacoalers Of Hartlepool: The Moon Miners
FOLLOWING the recent stormy weather the North Sea, a thick layer of coal from former mine workings and undersea coal seams has formed on the beaches of Hartlepool.
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Posted: 10th, February 2011 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Reggie Krays Rubbish Paintings Bought At Auction
REGGIE Kray painted pictures. They are not all that good. He also wrote letters. They too as not all that good. But the creator makes them salable. At Gorringes auction house in Lewes, East Sussex, Carol-Ann Kelly was flogging pictures and letters, the gangster gangster. And someone bought them for £1,360. Who?
no images were found
Posted: 9th, February 2011 | In: Money | Comments (8)
Save The Libraries By Charging By The Hour
LIBRARIES are closing. Philip Pullman looks at how they can be saved in a world where everything is about profit:
That branch – how much money did it make last year? Why aren’t you charging higher fines? Why don’t you charge for library cards? Why don’t you charge for every catalogue search? Reserving books – you should charge a lot more for that. Those bookshelves over there – what’s on them? Philosophy? And how many people looked at them last week? Three? Empty those shelves and fill them up with celebrity memoirs.
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Posted: 8th, February 2011 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Fat Cat Mervyn King Says Tighten Your Belts
MERVYN King, head of the Bank of England, has secured for himself a £1.4 million top-up to his pension pot. It now stands at £5.36m.
Mervyn King advises us to “tighten our belts“.
Come the revolutions, comrades…
Anarchists For More Control: United Against Cuts To Public Services Hit RBS In Glasgow
THERE’S a protest by United Against Cuts to Public Services inside a Royal Bank of Scotland building in Glasgow, Scotland. It’s all good stuff. And the best bit is that the world is now so demented that the rebels are demanding more taxes and more state control. The anarchists have been routed!
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Unemployed Students Get £20.999 Wage Promise*
THE big news is that one in five of the country’s 16- to 24-year-olds are out of work. On a brighter note, it means that all the college leavers fearing they need to pay back that debt once their earning reach £21,000. Employers should be able to negotiate a wage of £20.999* with any number of desperate youth.
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Goldman Sachs Partners Just Keep Getting Richer
GOLDMAN Sachs is in the money. And until we have suitable system to better investment banks growing the economy, the bankers will get to take home the company’s product. Lots of it.
Because bankers are despised – they bet against their own clients to win – we can reveal that the story of Goldman Sachs’s hostile take over of Haitian blood bank reserves are wide of the mark. One experts assures us that the bank just doesn’t have the money since it opened a book on piracy in Somalia and the company’s golf arm shorted rain.
So. The bankers are still making lots of money.
Average pay per 35,700 of the bank’s workers was £269,000 for 2010. That includes bonuses.
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Alcatel-Lucent Appoints Nazi
THE company Alcatel-Lucent has appointed Nazi to its Quality Assurance and Customer Care team.
Not A Nazi. This is G. Nazi – George Nazi. Says the press release:
Reporting to Janet Davidson, executive vice president of Alcatel-Lucent and president of Quality Assurance and Customer Care, Nazi will be based in Paris, France.
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Banks Want Cambridge Student’s Chip-And-PIN Expose Censored: University Replies
THE letter to Cambridge University came from the UK Cards Association – a UK card payments industry body whose chief aims is to “Promote best practice across the card payment industry“. It has read a student’s master’s thesis that comments on a flaw in the Chip-and-PIN system. It wants the thesis censored.
The UKCA received a reply from the Cambridge’s Ross Anderson sent a reply.
Second, you seem to think that we might censor a student’s thesis, which is lawful and already in the public domain, simply because a powerful interest finds it inconvenient. This shows a deep misconception of what universities are and how we work. Cambridge is the University of Erasmus, of Newton, and of Darwin; censoring writings that offend the powerful is offensive to our deepest values. Thus even though the decision to put the thesis online was Omar’s, we have no choice but to back him. That would hold even if we did not agree with the material! Accordingly I have authorised the thesis to be issued as a Computer Laboratory Technical Report. This will make it easier for people to find and to cite, and will ensure that its presence on our web site is permanent…
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Posted: 27th, December 2010 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Santa Claus Glues Himself To Dorothy Perkins In Brighton: Photos
BEFORE our gallery of Father Christmas’s being arrested, news from Brighton, where a Santa has glued himself to a branch of BHS. It’s the National Day of Action Against Tax Avoidance protests.
Sir Philip Green’s business empire is being targeted again. His company is owned by his wife – a South African who, lives in Monaco. Her cunning ploy is to avoid paying tax in the UK by not being British nor living here. Shop assistants at BHS and Top Shop may care to try it.
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Wikileaks Fight With Bank Of America Is One It Can Only Lose
WIKILEAKS is now persona non grata at Bank of America Corp. This might be a badge of honour given the reputation of banks. But it can only damage Wikileaks’s ability to raise funds.
Says BOA:
“This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments.”
Of course, there will no small irony in any bank refusing a client on the strength of their moral compass. But, still, odd behaviour and inconsistency is rife on all sides. Michael Moore bought into the Wikileaks story and then in a matter of days managed to reveal just how flawed the US cable leaks are. Julian Assange was reluctant to reveal his home address.
Wikileaks responds to the BOA move with this doomed piece of polemic:
“We ask that all people who love freedom close out their accounts at Bank of America.”
Egads! Now Wikileaks is asking people to join its cause with their cash. Will they? We think not. Closing a bank account is never easy. It’s a lot harder than clicking a button to create a denial of service.
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Posted: 18th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment
Julian Assange’s New Target Is Desperate Stock Trader John Bell
WIKILEAKS is a sanitary towel and a condom. But can it be an aide to tip-top stock market trading by man of the moment John Bell?
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That Irish Bailout Joke: A German Tourist Arrives
IT is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted.
Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.
The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
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Posted: 13th, December 2010 | In: Money | Comments (2)
Kiwi Death Blast Mine Goes Bust – None Recovered
THE worst possible news has come for the grieving families of 29 coal miners killed in explosions last month. The firm which ran the Kiwi coal mine where the 29 including two Britons died, has gone under.
The still blazing mine’s ventilation shaft, above, was sealed and capped off yesterday and today, Pike River Coal chairman John Dow said NZ Oil & Gas, the company’s largest shareholder, has appointed accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers as receivers. Mass redundancies are expected later today, December 13, 2010.
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Manchester Arndale Centre Tax Protest: Top Shop And Vodafone Are The Wrong Targets
TO Manchester’s Arndale Centre where Saturday shoppers have been infiltrated by anti-tax avoidance campaigners. Ire is directed at Vodafone and Top Shop. The campaign has been organised by University of Manchester Students’ Union and UK uncut:
But the man of the moment is Tom Mason, 25, whose photos occupies the BBC and Manchester Evening News. Says he:
“I saw a crowd surrounding a Topshop store. It looked like they were hanging on to the shutters and some were trying to get in. Police arrived after about a minute and peace was restored relatively easily.”
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Posted: 11th, December 2010 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Did Bernie Madoff’s Son Mark Commit Suicide?
MARK Madoff was Bernie Madoff’s son. The elder Madoff is doing 150 years bird for a massive swindle.
Mark Madoff was found hanged in his Manhattan apartment. Was it suicide?
(And is Mark Madoff a victim of nominative determinism?)
Spotter: Cheryl, via Fox
Somali Pirates Secure Biggest Ransom To Date: Piracy Bucks Recession?
SOMALI Pirates have bucked the recession and earned an impressive £7.5m in mooring fees for Samho Dream, a South Korean oil tanker carrying $170m of crude and 24 crew (5.8m) and Golden a Singaporean flagged ship with 23 Chinese crew (£1.7m).
Says Hussain, spokesman for Pirates Inc.:
“We are now counting our cash. Soon we shall get down from the ship.”
Pirates are currently storing around 25 vessels.
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The Google Security Email Scam Is Admirably Deceitful
THE 419 scam is old hat. We all know more Nigerian gazillionaires than is seemly and the head of the Cotonou Chamber of Commerce Mines and Agriculture is on speed dial. We need a new angle. So. here’s the Google security scam. (It is a scam, isn’t it?)
Ahem:
The Google Corporate Services & Tools Team has recently launched Google webmail software to protect and secure all Google Accounts. This system also enhanced efficient networking and fully supported browser system. To upgrade your Account with this fully supported browser system, you must provide the full details below for validation purpose and to confirm your registration details on the new webmail central system. User’s Name: Password: Present Country: Note: Your Account will be deleted permanently if you failed to provide the details below. Gmail will not be heard responsible for your negligence. Thanks for your Co-operation.
So. We sign up?
Spotter: Tim Worstall
Baronet’s Widow Jailed For Benefit Fraud: Former Husband Had 100-Room Mansion
IN court a baronet’s widow and partner have been jailed in a benefits case. Graham Young was at Isleworth Crown Court, in west London, where he was jailed today, along with his partner Oriol Bowden, over a housing benefits scam of more than 90,000. She as once the wife of Sir Frank Bowden, whose grandad set up the Raleigh cycle firm.
Sir Frank owned a 100-room Oxfordshire home. He was an avid collector of Japanese swords and armour. His pet cheetah Chiu was allowed in the house and to ride on the passenger seat of Sir Frank’s car. Oriol Bath became his third wife in 1989.
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Katrin Radmacher Prenuptial Runs Roughshod Over UK Law And God
KATRIN Radmacher, 40, is the German paper company heiress who has established in the Supreme Court that prenuptial agreements are binding. The deal leaves her former husband, Frenchman Nicolas Granatino, 38, with 1 million of her estimated £106 million fortune. The Court of Appeal had slashed his divorce settlement of £5.85m .
Pre-nups do not currently have a place in British family law.
And Granatino seems to have done pretty well – the original 1998 agreement stipulated that neither party would benefit financially if the marriage ended.
Says Radmacher:
“I am really pleased with the ruling but saddened at the four-year process that brought us to this point. I am delighted that Britain has upheld fairness. It is important to me that no one else should have to go through this.”
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Mukesh Ambani’s Home Big Enough For India’s Olympic Village
MUKESH Ambani’s house in Mumbai is called Antilia. It costs £630, has 27 storeys, a 50 seat cinema, a ballroom, a roof garden with an actual roof high enough to accommodate trees and has parking for 160 cars. It is less a home than it is a district.
It is hideous, a carbuncle in a sprawling city of low-rise squalor and flashy new money.
Should India follow its Commonwealth Games efforts with a successful bid for the Olympics, they could stage it in Ambani’s home and forgo any need for a new stadium.
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Posted: 14th, October 2010 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment (1)
Card Provider MBNA Launch Two New Products In UK
Sponsored post from MBNA
Bank of America subsidiary MBNA has announced the launch of two brand new cards for the UK market, both of which come with lengthy 0% balance transfer periods. They provide holders with market leading credit card offers, one aimed at customers seeking a balance switch*; and the other for those wanting both a transfer and purchase package.
Speaking about the new cards, Will Curley, product executive for Bank of America Europe Card Services, said: “We know from speaking to our customers, and potential customers, that they are looking for credit card lenders to deliver greater choice and better offers to the UK credit card market. Once customers are approved for one of our cards, they will be able to transfer a balance of up to 95% of their credit limit, as the cap MBNA sets on balances transfers is higher than most other lenders in the UK market.”
The new MBNA Balance Transfer credit card comes with 0% on balance transfers for 16 months (made within the first 60 days from account opening) as well as 0% on card purchases for the first three months. It has a transfer fee of just 2.9% and a lower than average standard interest rate of 16.8% APR (typical) variable.
The second card, called the MBNA Dual credit card gives holders 0% for 12 months on both balance transfers and card purchases. Transfers must be made within the first 60 days and a low 2.98% handling fee for balance and money transfers applies. The standard rate of interest is 18.9% APR (typical) variable.
Speaking about the additional benefits of being with MBNA UK, Mr Curley said: “We are one of only a handful of UK lenders who already allocate our customers’ repayments to their highest interest-bearing balances first; we stopped issuing credit card cheques all together earlier this year, we are developing new and exciting improvements to our mobile and online channels, and we are continuing to deliver a suite of products that offer real value for customers.”
Those interested in applying for either credit card can do so at MBNA’s website: http://www.mbna.co.uk.
* Note: As of 3pm on Thursday 23rd September 2010
Posted: 6th, October 2010 | In: Money | Comments (7)
Joe McNamara You Legend: Irish Hero Takes On Toxic Anglo Irish Bank In Cement Lorry (Photos)
JOE McNamara – You Legend. It was Mr McNamara, originally from Achill Island, Co Mayo, who daubed the legend “Toxic Bank Anglo” on barrel of his cement truck and drove it into the guarded gates of the Dail at Leinster House on Kildare Street, Dublin. You could hear the cheer in London.
Mr McNamara was nicked. He went to Dublin District Court with his solicitor Cahir O’Higgins after he was charged with one count of criminal damage.
Meanwhile, the Irish economy is shafted. It’s Black Thursday. The country’s Financial Regulator expects the final cost to the Irish taxpayer to bail out Anglo Irish Bank to be as much as 34bn euros.
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Posted: 30th, September 2010 | In: Money | Comments (4)
