Comments on: Conservatives break 50%?

By: colin

colin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:40:21 +0000

johntt

Yes you’re correct about the Conservative Party Competition Report-it did anticipate some of the oversight failures we have now seen.(Redwood was just a Panel Member-not the Author incidentally)

In my opinion-having only recently re-read that Report, Harman quoted it-not Osborne. The short passage she read out is the totality of the text in that report on Mortgages.

Two things occurred to me:-

First the Report recommended de-regulation because the “risk is borne by the lender”. That assessment now seems very wide of the mark. Failed Borrowers have suffered-as have taxpayers-indeed the global economy.
But perhaps Redwood et al could not have foreseen the tidal wave of cheap credit.Supervision should have seen it & stopped it.

Second-Alan Duncan denied knowledge of the passage quoted by Harman. Either that was a lie from someone who must have been familiar with a key Party document-or he wasn’t aware of it. Either way I was very unimpressed-and a bit worried.

I agree absolutely with the you & the Next CEO on the need for Supervision rather than more Regulation.

An intelligent & informed “feel” for what is going on based on deep contact…rather than ticking boxes.

By: thomas

thomas — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:35:07 +0000

Back to the polls, I see YouGov/Telegraph results reports a reversal of the trend.

Con: 44% (-2)
Lab: 24% (-3)
LD : 20% (+4)

So the conferences are already shaking up the picture.

By: Richard Manns

Richard Manns — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:07:27 +0000

“…ironic that the Tories seek to make capital out of the crisis in the financial sector given that only 12 months ago…”

It depends on what deregulation; certainly, Tories (including a senior banker at Coutt’s) I know have been predicting a exacerbation of any downturn for years, based upon Labour’s reliance on borrowing and hidden borrowing (PFI) with concomitant expansion of personal borrowing.

“But it’s all the Tories (and their partners worldwide) economic free market plans which is causing the collapse of capitalism….”

Jack, one could quibble about what is and is not a Tory, but I don’t think that Greenspanism/Brownism is.
Indeed, I see blatant manipulation of the markets via hidden borrowing and continuing politicised control of the interest rates.

By: Nick Keene

Nick Keene — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:08:02 +0000

I have a question for Councillor Peter Cairns and it is this
” How in his much desired independent Scotland would the speculators who bought HBOS down have been stopped”
Nick

By: john t t

john t t — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:32:18 +0000

I nominate Allister Heath for to-day’s editorial in City A.M. (Why It Was Wrong to Ban Short-Selling)

Apparently the “greed of the short-sellers” is counter-balanced by “equally voracious” bargain-hunters, and this co-existence of, erm, “voracity” prevents shares from falling below fair value “for any significant length of time.”

I wonder how many HBOS shareholders he ran that past before posting his copy?

By: Nick Keene

Nick Keene — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:28:23 +0000

It is at times like these that we need to remember our droll British sense of humour and ability to treat the threat-real or imagined- of impending disaster with disdain.
The hysterical over reaction of segments of our beloved media to any crisis can always be relied upon to provide entertainment mixed with a certain amount of irritation.
Perhaps we should introduce a prize on this site for the most inane or ludicrous article or broadcast from an economics or business editor. My entry which I am sure others will better is Anatole Keletsky of the Times. For months in denial that the financial picture could impact on the broader economic outlook he has now gone overboard in the opposite direction and also seems to be casting doubt on the ability of Lloyds tsb to survive taking over HSBOS and saying it might end in the nationalisation of all the UK banks.
For moving from ‘its all a storm in a teacup’ to ‘we are all doomed’ in one fell swoop I nominate Anatole for this months prize.

By: john t t

john t t — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:57:28 +0000

Stephen (and Colin) – redwood himself produced a report last summer in which he criticised the tri-partite regime and suggested tightening regulations (Though his general thrust was in favour of free-market capitalism and small-state,low taxes).
Harman quoted Osborne last night from last year on his desire to de-regulate the mortgage market (nothing to do with Redwood’s idea on the tri-partite thing)

An excellent point was made on QT by the CEO of Next – we need greater supervision rather than more regulations (Which just lead to more regulation dodges)

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:08:21 +0000

‘Peter, if Brown did something radical like abolishing the Lords, wouldn’t most people simply view it with suspicion? Wonder what he hopes to gain out of it and perhaps wonder where his mandate had come from to do something this radical!’

I am interested in the argument; I think those able to be swayed would not view it that way. Those who change vote could easily see it as a vote to increase democracy in this country (with spin, perhaps); and, as such, an interesting ‘radical’ change and so drag at least some votes from all sides of the political spectrum (although less so for the Tories, but some might vote for this country having two democratically elected houses).

If you want to pull the constitutional rabbit of the hat I would suggest
1) An English Parliament
2) All parts of the UK (NI, Wales, Scotland, England) having ‘national parliaments’ of equal powers. (I note that Federal Governments which is what this would be occur in Australia, South Africa, USA, France, Germany, etc… But would the UK ever make such a change; I doubt it as we too much love being an historic theme park BUT if a Government was in real trouble and went for constitutional logic…?
3) An elected Upper House in Westminster

I’ll go back to dreaming and I recognise this is wish fulfilment..:)

By: colin

colin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:00:11 +0000

Something dramatic happening in USA. They have banned short selling too & a Federal Repository for bad mortgage debt is being proposed.

DOW shot up by 400 points.Is this the turning point?

By: GIN

GIN — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:50:42 +0000

Peter, if Brown did something radical like abolishing the Lords, wouldn’t most people simply view it with suspicion? Wonder what he hopes to gain out of it and perhaps wonder where his mandate had come from to do something this radical!