angelman

I rent a house out in London. Agent takes 7% and it isn't managed by them. I can get on the telephone just as well as they can. One thing that I did take out was British Gas's landlord service, which covers water, drains, gas, electricity etc. Lump sum - no call out charges, no other costs and they do the gas safety certificates.

Can speak French. Use it for work. Have had a few dreams in French which is a bit scary as I don't want to turn into an arrogant homosexual.......!

I'm confused Durley. Are you saying Pardew is a homophobic homosexual?

I wonder how much he gets paid? I am sure that it is a lot, and that he has a comfortable lifestyle that allows him to say this. Interesting bit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/25/bonus-rbs-bankers What I find strange is that people go on and on about bonuses painting a picture that seems to suggest that every banker gets millions, which really isn't the case. From the link above, I like this bit; "The RBS bonus pot equates to an average of £80,000 each for the 16,800 investment banking staff, on top of an average salary of £80,000. "Quite a few" bankers did not get a bonus, Hampton added." I know that it is an average, but still, less than Wayne Bridge earns in a fortnight. Or what Tevez earns in a couple of days from his basic wage.

It's a strange idea. Will mean that employers will now have to take into consideration a man's age and marital status when employing them. It is bad enough for women of child baring age getting excluded by employers....

Chiken nuggets....yum yum.

Baj, I know that you said somewhere warm, but is there no where in this country that might do?

Different outlook: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/development-china-stealth-fighter-jet

Out of interest, I need to sell the Mrs's Mitsu Grandis - is Pistonheads a good place to do it?

Question - if AOC does go, do you think that the team will play any worse? While it would be nice to hang on to the kid, develop him along with ourselves, the answer might put things into perspective.

economic centralists - hmmmm - would they buy a round?

Quite a good return given that this is a blanket tax and not just for those bailed out by us. Then you sort of write it (or maybe you don't) that this money is never going to be paid back to the government, or that no collateral was taken. Last I saw was a figure of HMG being up £20bn from it's bank bail out. I presume that this is somewhat simplistic and taken from the book value (so surprised not more), which would be unachievable I would have thought if the government started selling their shares. When these banks start paying a divvy, then I presume that will be worth having. Lloyds were paying at 11% before all the hoo-ha went on (or was it 14%?). On a different point, what are the EU laws regarding state ownership. Is that only if HMG is majority?

Your bank should have an international money transfer form you just fill out. They will rape you on the F/X rate but not much you can do about that. Not sure what the banks take, something like 2% on the rate, as I have a forex dealer for work. I don't get the bet rates, but find 0.5-0.75% acceptable. Having said that, don't banks give a much better rate over £2k? And, no need to tell you, there is no such thing as free commission. OK there is, but you pay in the crap rate you get. Try a site like http://www.xe.com - not sure if the will be able to help or not

They still be paying the price of reunification, I guess.

Very true. Can't disagree with you at all there (but still doesn't make it "right").

...and some might say because they still have a good manufacturing base while ours was destroyed by, some say the Unions and others will say Maggie.

all politicians are the same. come the revolution

Buct - employees being remunerated for gambling their employers money? Possibly, but shouldn't that be predominantly their customers' money? S Joensuu - I disagree. Maybe it is the papers trying to get everyone excited, but over the last decade or more, there has always been a huge focus on the bonuses paid to the city, with bankers specifically being the target more recently. I feel (of course as it is a personal outlook, it will differ from others) that the papers do this to highlight the difference between "them and us". I guess it helps sell papers. I got a little confused with your post, but think that the gist of it was what all really should believe in, in that the richer members fund services for all via their taxes. I will stand by what I said about corporation tax avoidance being the biggest problem as they cost the country money. Bankers bonuses don't, and as you have alluded to (I think) go towards paying for services. I know that this link is the tip of the iceberg, but it goes to show what happens all the time, not that I think you need this pointed out to you. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/31/tesco.supermarkets I think that Tesco also did some land deal, selling about £900m worth, where they effectively avoided paying hundreds of millions of pounds of tax. The Grauniad claims that Tesco has avoided paying over £1bn in corporation tax and were sued for it. http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1748311/tesco-sues-the-guardian-avoidance-claims

watched Eva Green last night on TV. What a cracking pair!

The top 10% of earners pay 53% of income tax. But that's by the by. The real target should be those corporations who pay virtually nothing by shifting their profit off shore. Why should the argument of not paying bankers a bonus and see if they move be any different to those companies that pay no/very little corporation tax? And can we all be honest now. This is all about someone earning more than you, and has nothing to do with government bail outs. These discussions have been going on every year for decades. Sure the bail outs have compounded the issue and rightly so, but let's face it, it is jealousy. What I can't understand is why people don't whinge about other professions earning huge amounts. Carlos Tevez on £30m a year? How many bankers earn that? Hedge fund boys do, but not sure how many bankers do. And is there a difference between a bonus paid to a hedge fund manager and a banker? Anyway millions is peanuts, why not try billions....http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/wall-street-eclipsed-as-five-hedge-fund-managers-join-the-1bn-club-444196.html

seems the chickens are coming home to roost. A few people said that February would be interesting for Pompey.

http://carlminns.blogspot.com/2011/01/bankers-bonuses.html I thought that this was quite a good blog. The most pertinent question is : With this in mind should this profit go to the shareholders or the people who have helped create it?

On the one hand he has returned Lloyds to profitability, although as a customer I am getting severely raped by them although I doubt that their profit comes from the likes of me and my small business. On the other hand, as a customer and a share holder (not via the government bailout), I would like a bonus for staying with them, either in the form of some interest or a dividend. (With Lloyds, I think that you should ask why they got into trouble. Certainly it helped Gordon Brown out of a huge hole, but at the cost to us shareholders. HTF can you do any sort of due diligence and not find a £10bn hole in the accounts. That is accounting of the Pompey type).

Am I the only one who thinks that Ed Milliband sounds like a mincer?

As Saint-Rik says, why not go for £15m? If (and I know papers and their speculation can be somewhat different from reality) all these clubs are preparing a £10m bid, then it must be worth our while letting the big boys outbid each other.