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I am beginning to wonder whether to borrow a lot of money and buy lots of shares in Northern Rock! It's a good question: would one be likely to lose one's shirt? It looks very much as if one couldn't: someone will bail them out, or else they will recover and the price will go up again.
Hmmmmmmm
what are all those LPs worth.......
The only trouble might be that this panic may spread, and then there would be too much choice of shares. Huh.
Why did you not ask (or research) how it is then that Holland and other EU countries have a zero tolerance policy that appears to have controlled their hospital bugs while NHS is losing - or making ill -jumbo jet fulls of patients? Just what is going on REALLY with this. Barring accidents I will not be going near an English hospital - i will migrate accordigly being a eu resident!!!!! Help us with clear knowledge PM!! Also, given that it is preventable (judging by other countries examples) how is it that patients and relatives are not suing??? Can you read out the name of that organisation again please. Anne
I was surprised by the different treatment given by Eddie Mair to the Government Minister on the Northern Rock item where he persistently interupted and shouted down the minister, wanting him to commit public funds to saving a private company whereas the Chief Nursing Officer of a public body which seems to have been unable to stop killing patients from MRSA by doctors and nurses not cleaning their hands was given a much smoother ride!
Was Eddie recovering his strength following his exertions of the previous item?
Eddie, I've got to say you came across almost as Humphrys/Paxman interviewer with Andy Burnham earlier. Given the fact that the Northern Rock story seems to be driven by news reports rather than financial data, my thought you pushed him too hard, and the interview was too lop-sided....
btw, regarding the fake drugs story, I guess it certainly DID stand up in court after all! (Sorry, I'll get my coat...)
Apologies if this appears twice, but I just got 502'd....
And again! grrrrrrr
a good thing alisdair darling made that announcement. If he'd let the northern rock depositors fry that would have been the end of the labour party (never mind the labour govenment) for the next 25 years.
Shame on Andy Burnham for his pathetic non-replies. People like him do a lot to spread panic amongst, rather than placate, harried investors.
Cut the spin, Brown Darling.
Mon 17 Sep @ 17:32
I was simply appalled by Eddie Mair's interwiew with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury this evenig. He was rude, aggressive, and did little or nothing to calm the irratioality that is pervading the story o Northern Rock
Eddie Mair was very rude to the minister today o the Northern Rock topic. i think this kind of arrogance from presenters is unacceptable.
Please, Eddie, find some way to let us know how the Lifesaver Bottle works. I understand why you had to cut the interview short, but how frustrating!
In fact about as frustrating as all these 502 errors!
NORTHERN ROCK SYNDROME
The NRS exposes all the financial excesses of the past several debt-ridden years built upon by low interest rates and easy credit.
Low interest rates and extremely flexible easy credit have systematically fuelled the ferocious property price increases.
Released equity through re-mortgages and easy plastic credit has largely funded the UK's continued retail boom on a mountain of debt. Buy to let schemes, home improvements, holidays, all variety of consumer goods from cars to high ticket electrical & communication items have benefited.
Property values have reached an unsustainable level and are ready for a long overdue correction. It is time for a little common sense reality
"A house is a HOME and not a speculative investment vehicle"
The searches are now on for someone to BLAME and take responsibility - Government, Banks, Building Societies and Plastic Cards etc.
Possibly we all should look a little closer to HOME!
NORTHERN ROCK SYNDROME
The NRS exposes all the financial excesses of the past several debt-ridden years built upon by low interest rates and easy credit.
Low interest rates and extremely flexible easy credit have systematically fuelled the ferocious property price increases.
Released equity through re-mortgages and easy plastic credit has largely funded the UK's continued retail boom on a mountain of debt. Buy to let schemes, home improvements, holidays, all variety of consumer goods from cars to high ticket electrical & communication items have benefited.
Property values have reached an unsustainable level and are ready for a long overdue correction. It is time for a little common sense reality
"A house is a HOME and not a speculative investment vehicle"
The searches are now on for someone to BLAME and take responsibility - Government, Banks, Building Societies and Plastic Cards etc.
Possibly we all should look a little closer to HOME!
NORTHERN ROCK SYNDROME
The NRS exposes all the financial excesses of the past several debt-ridden years built upon by low interest rates and easy credit.
Low interest rates and extremely flexible easy credit have systematically fuelled the ferocious property price increases.
Released equity through re-mortgages and easy plastic credit has largely funded the UK's continued retail boom on a mountain of debt. Buy to let schemes, home improvements, holidays, all variety of consumer goods from cars to high ticket electrical & communication items have benefited.
Property values have reached an unsustainable level and are ready for a long overdue correction. It is time for a little common sense reality
"A house is a HOME and not a speculative investment vehicle"
The searches are now on for someone to BLAME and take responsibility - Government, Banks, Building Societies and Plastic Cards etc.
Possibly we all should look a little closer to HOME!
NORTHERN ROCK SYNDROME
The NRS exposes all the financial excesses of the past several debt-ridden years built upon by low interest rates and easy credit.
Low interest rates and extremely flexible easy credit have systematically fuelled the ferocious property price increases.
Released equity through re-mortgages and easy plastic credit has largely funded the UK's continued retail boom on a mountain of debt. Buy to let schemes, home improvements, holidays, all variety of consumer goods from cars to high ticket electrical & communication items have benefited.
Property values have reached an unsustainable level and are ready for a long overdue correction. It is time for a little common sense reality
"A house is a HOME and not a speculative investment vehicle"
The searches are now on for someone to BLAME and take responsibility - Government, Banks, Building Societies and Plastic Cards etc.
Possibly we all should look a little closer to HOME!
I hope that as well as having short sleeves on hospital staff coats, the taps would be of the non touch type. No use if the tap has to be touched to turn on and off causing cross contamination. This should apply also to the taps in the public toilets in Outpatient Departments etc.
a good thing alisdair darling made that announcement. If he'd let the northern rock depositors fry that would have been the end of the labour party (never mind the labour govenment) for the next 25 years.
When all around us the 'experts' are calling for calm, and handing out reassurances about the financial stability of Northern Rock, I feel obliged to remind all those involved (including the FSA which suposedly is there to keep an eye on the situation and keep our savings safe) that the Government has allowed hard saving citizens such as my husband to lose nearly half their savings with the Equitable Life. Had we been given support and not been left with pathetic small pensions I may just be able to believe one word of what these people are saying. Sadly too many people have heard too many 'reassurances' but been left to flounder. THAT is why there are queues outside Northern Rock. We can't trust anyone to tell us the truth or support us.
FFred (4)
All those Viagra eyedrops helped the police look hard.
I was quite enjoying the drinking water thing and felt he was cut off before he really got going. Was it worth the interruption for a Northern Rock update? I'm not certain, but there again I've not got any money with them.
I do agree with FFred about the tone of the first interview and I tuned out to it. I was finding it difficult to determine whether the interviewee was being evasive or Eddie was being grumpy.
Maybe we in America need programmes like PM to help us addresss Health Care.
Am I missing something? But why is the Northern Rock affair the governments problem? The Bank of England said they would back it, The British public said they wouldn't, the Government were stuck between a 'Rock' and a hardplace.
I loved Eddie at his argumentative best, but WAS it justified?
I was disturbed this evening by your editorial decision to cut short an item on turning contaminated water into drinkable water in order to return to the Northern Rock story.
I was waiting to find out exactly how this apparently life saving technology worked because it seemed to me to have enormous potential for benefit throughout many parts of the world.
Clearly the savings of a few thousand relatively wealthy westerners is more important than the lives of millions of others.
Eddie, can you get the Lifesaver bottle man back on to finish his interview. Or at least a web site. It does sound fascinating. And he was carbon footprint aware!
Eddie, can you get the Lifesaver bottle man back on to finish his interview. Or at least a web site. It does sound fascinating. And he was carbon footprint aware!
First time on here. Regarding the big 'Drugs Bust' today.
I wanted to query whether anyone knew if the counterfit drug sellers drugs were exactly the same/as good as the real thing? They didn't mention this or the price difference on the 6pm ´óÏó´«Ã½ Viagra news.
I wonder, with all these counterfit drugs on sale, how many lives have been saved/improved worldwide by them and how it measures up to those that have been worsened by them? These aren't football shirts we're talking about here. If the manufacturers want to see people suffer and die rather than sell the drugs at an affordable price we need to step back and ask who the real criminals are.
Also when you're watching the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news, reading the paper etc. look for the drug co advert...it's there most days.
Lastly, (different subject) if PM didn't influence Darling ito covering the Northern Rock customers' money today, I don't know what did. Well done Eddy!
Yes I agree - I was intrigued by the lifesaver bottle story and was a bit frustrated that it was cut short - can we have him back on please!
As for the interview with Andy Burnham I thought it was a valid, justifiable question - his reply was vague and evasive. I didn't think Eddie was too hard on him at all
My 80 year old mother in law has substanstial savings in the Northern Rock. We have persuaded her not to panic regardless of the media coverage. However...these are her life savings. Savings which subsidise her meagre pension. The interest which she receives from her investment allows her to pay her council tax, her gas and electricity bill, etc, etc. Eddie's interview was to the point and cut short the government woffle. If my livlihood depended on my life saving bank interest, I would be extremely concerned.Thank goodness she had the forsight to sell her shares in Northern Rock 3 years ago. Bravo Eddie Mair!!! Great interview/interrogation. Simon, (Jonnie's partner.
Re: Steven Foden:
Eddie:- and team!
Yes! -- agreed!
I - although haven't googled - would love to know the result to the water story!
As regards to my SO above, we both applaud your interviewing skills - especially as to current concerns!! -
IE:-(m Mothers Investment) - To which I need to think about! The old bag will be gone in a year or so! - Are these blogs really monitored! - in which case - sorry about the soap on the stairs MUM ;-(
Anyway - have to say - Yes Eddie - We both listened again, and thought you asked the correct questions!
still impossible to Log into my account in Northern RocK on the Internet!
Basically £35000 Frozen I guess!
been trying since Friday?
I may be wrong ( someone on here can put me right ) but is it not thar according to international law on refugees, that a refugee must ask for asylum in the first safe country they get to? If so why are the refugees in France not asking for asylum there? As we are on the North west of Europe separated by sea it seems to me that only refugees arriving by air have a legitimate claim. If the arrive by train , boat car or foot they would have had to of come through most of europe. It would seem we would have the right to send them back to France and France to another country.
It would be much better if the EU would except refuggees on their behalf and allocte them proportionally throughout the EU.
Chris (1) - don't buy shares. Your money is OK if it's on deposit with the bank - not the same as having shares.
re MRSA: I took my mother-in-law to have her gall bladder out recently, and spent a lot of time standing in the corridor. Half the staff seemed to take the hand-cleaning measures seriously, half didn't. E.g the post man came through with his trolley, didn't clean his hands, and passed the post to the nurse, who had cleaned hers. What's the point of that? Ditto the breakfast trolley lady.
Anne P and others - I wanted more on the lifesaver bottle too! Just the sort of thing that makes PM worth listening to.
Viagra - it may have stood up in court - but can you get it over the counter? ... I'm sorry, I'll get my coat ...
Sid
Lifesaver bottle - how does it work? Can the inventor come back on to explain a bit more? It sounded like a wonderful invention and I would rather have heard more form him. I'm not sure he warranted being interrupted for that update (and I do have savings with NR!)
I tuned in on the Andy Burnham second but it did seem a little harsh, having said that I hadn't heard the whole interview so the approach may have been justified.
Eddie,
You shouldn't have been so tough on that poor Andy Burnham - he's nobbut a lad. :-)
Re: 'PM', Mon 17th Sept.
It was a wrong editorial decision to interrupt your interview with the chap who had invented the water purifier to go over to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This happened only a few minutes before the 5.57pm weather forecast, and the 'breaking news' (oh, how I hate that term) could have waited for your news bulletin at 6.00pm. I was just getting interested in the water purifier system story -- we shall never hear the remainder of that now.
P.S. Not a good time for the Glass Box website to be down -- I tried to send this message just after 6pm on the day.
Recall Lifesaver Bottle inventor, please.
I suppose you have to have breaking news, but the statement by our Darling was bound to appear in the 6 0'clock news and every TV bulletin throughout the evening.
Something similar happened a few weeks ago, when you interrupted something interesting to broadcast a statement by someone, which was then repeated by your erudite correspondent.
BTW, how many ´óÏó´«Ã½ correspondents does it take to cover a LibDem Conference? I've noticed at least 4 already. I'd been looking forward to seeing Sequin on the box, and it was someone else.
Hello,
Apologies to those of you who were frustrated at us cutting Michael Pritchard short. There's more about his invention in the Telegraph:
We are a News programme and the Chancellor's announcement while we were on air was hugely significant. He was giving a guarantee that his minister had been unable to give on PM less than half an hour before. We were slightly hampered because we have to hit a silence at 1754.00 every night on the programme to allow LW listeners to hear the shipping forecast. So we had to jump out then or not at all.
Yes, Eddie, do ditch Twitter from the Blog please. I don't think its amusement value outweighs the additional loading time it causes to the page.
sorry, I meant segment (26)
Michael (5), Fiona Bates (12),
Am I just being cynical to suggest that the government bailed out Northern Rock but not Equitable Life due to the former being based in the North (as it says on the tin), the other in the South? Michael pointed out the political consequences of letting NR go.
I too wanted more on the water story, but I can see the editorial decision to cut to - I assume live - announcement by Darling, as it could have been anything concerning NR. Bring back the Lifesaver man - and not so late in the running order!
As for hospitals, Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, with one of the highest MRSA rates going (although hopefully going down the tables now), is very haphazard about cleaning. Last year you had to clean hands with an alcohol based cleaner before entering a ward for visitng. How many actually did I don't know, no-one was watching. Last week, just walked straight in onto the same ward, no cleaner or even note.
I'm sure if hospitals returned to the cleaning regime of the 1950s and 60's, no matter that it would cost more, decrease in these infection rates would soon pay for it; but in the world of hospital finances, that is not going to happen, so a sticking plaster solution is used.
Why are wedding rings exempted? What's the point of "no jewellrey" with this exemption.
Re: 'PM', Mon 17th Sept.
It was a wrong editorial decision to interrupt your interview with the chap who had invented the water purifier to go over to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This happened only a few minutes before the 5.57pm weather forecast, and the 'breaking news' (oh, how I hate that term) could have waited for your news bulletin at 6.00pm. I was just getting interested in the water purifier system story -- we shall never hear the remainder of that now.
P.S. Not a good time for the Glass Box website to be down -- I tried to send this message just after 6pm on the day.
Eddie (re Anne P): Yes, please, do ditch Twitter, but stop thinking about it - we're all behind you on this one!
I agree with Anne P about twitter. I think if it went, we wouldn't miss it. Sorry. It was hardly worthy of the great build-up you gave it. Although occasionally it's mildly interesting, even amusing, there's nothing there that you couldn't put into one of your myriad blog posts throughout the day, is there? Not wanting to sound ungrateful, but it does strike me as more of a "young persons" type thing. A bit silly really. (And I say that as someone who has been addicted to this blog almost from day one. So obviously there are degrees of silliness...)
I thought the interview about Northern Rock was perfectly fair. Didn't get to hear it all uninterrupted, but it seemed like you were asking the right questions, & he just didn't want to answer them. Understandably, from his point of view, since one unguarded comment could probably make things so much worse. But equally telling that he wouldn't make satisfactory replies. And now the Government has guaranteed people's savings. Mmmmm. Most interesting.
Deepthought - lots of people have made the same point re Equitable Life (including one on Any Answers).
I suspect the difference is that NR is a bank, while EL wasn't. The government can't underwrite everything, can it?
Sid
Sid (37),
But Equitable was people's savings for pensions. The government tries to get us to save for our own pensions, yet it let a pensions company go bust.
I'm not suggesting the government should underwrite everything, but it's gone and underwritten NR when it refused to do so for Equitable. Indeed, it let EL situation drag on and on, meaning that those who managed to get out early managed to do so on better terms than those who waited hoping for saviour of some kind.
Has the government set a president? Would it underwrite Barclays if it got into trouble? Or what about another pensions company, should one get into trouble?
Personally I think the government was wrong, it should have forced other banks - probably a combine of the big ones (Lloyds TSB tried, but could not afford it) - to take over NR for them to close it down in a controlled, managed way so no account holder or mortgage holder lost out.
37 The government can't underwrite everything, can it?
Well, yes it can, at least in the financial industry that it regulates. All it is doing is maintaining confidence in the financial system. Look what happened when they failed to support EL. Confidence in the pensions industry collapsed. Which is why so much is invested in property, especially buy to let property.
OK, so it is our money that they are using but I would rather they did that than pay some PFI crooks 35% on their investment or have them pay off Metronet's debts. Of all the stupid things that government could do with our money, giving it to unlucky honest people seems the least stupid thing they could do.
The government has in effect nationalised the banking sector.
It has become the owner, the entity ultimately repsonsible for the banks' laibilities.
But it cannot remain a 'not for profit' owner. It must take a majority shareholding in the banks.
Good to know that Old Labour is back and that another thoroughly nasty 'market system' has come under political control..
It is now generally recognised that the govt should ensure that NR depositors can hold on to their money. For NR depositors are honest hard working conscientious people.
What of those who couldn't get in to the University bound streams at school (in my day 95 percent of us, today 60 percent of us)?
'Succeeding' gives graduates a huge financial advantage over their life spans.
Why aren't the 60 percent who lose out guaranteed against this financial loss? They are honest, hard working conscientious people.
I do think NR is a charade, a divertissement by financiers and government.
A whole system is rotten, so a scapegoat is sacrificed and somehow ALL wrongs are righted.
Meanwhile the innocent suffer from 'friendly fire', from having to wait an eternity for the govt to step in.
Which it did eventually, but only after the theatrical effect of diverting all attention TO NR had been achieved.
Meanwhile the real dishonesty progresses nicely as the financial community continues to over price its own assets by, in FTSE terms, about 1000 points.
As for the banks, Buiter described them treating each other with fear and loathing. Each of them sees all other banks as downright dishonest (you can't believe a word they say - BANKS that is, not govt!!!).
Well, I for one sympathise as they try to interpret the BoE's Governor's signals.
He isn't rescuing shareholders who have lost out because THEY were taking unreasonable risks. Because THEY were underpricing risk. THEY were joining in the current overpricing of assets in hthe stock markets.
So to make the banks' customers more perspicacious in borrowing from them to finance those risky ventures, King plans to REDUCE interest rates.
'Cos he says all the banks from RBS to Barclays are involved NOW in a bank 'run', a panic. He said that in his submisison to the House of Commons Select Committee over a week ago.
The government has in effect nationalised the banking sector.
It has become the owner, the entity ultimately repsonsible for the banks' laibilities.
But it cannot remain a 'not for profit' owner. It must take a majority shareholding in the banks.
Good to know that Old Labour is back and that another thoroughly nasty 'market system' has come under political control..
It is now generally recognised that the govt should ensure that NR depositors can hold on to their money. For NR depositors are honest hard working conscientious people.
What of those who couldn't get in to the University bound streams at school (in my day 95 percent of us, today 60 percent of us)?
'Succeeding' gives graduates a huge financial advantage over their life spans.
Why aren't the 60 percent who lose out guaranteed against this financial loss? They are honest, hard working conscientious people.
I do think NR is a charade, a divertissement by financiers and government.
A whole system is rotten, so a scapegoat is sacrificed and somehow ALL wrongs are righted.
Meanwhile the innocent suffer from 'friendly fire', from having to wait an eternity for the govt to step in.
Which it did eventually, but only after the theatrical effect of diverting all attention TO NR had been achieved.
Meanwhile the real dishonesty progresses nicely as the financial community continues to over price its own assets by, in FTSE terms, about 1000 points.
As for the banks, Buiter described them treating each other with fear and loathing. Each of them sees all other banks as downright dishonest (you can't believe a word they say - BANKS that is, not govt!!!).
Well, I for one sympathise as they try to interpret the BoE's Governor's signals.
He isn't rescuing shareholders who have lost out because THEY were taking unreasonable risks. Because THEY were underpricing risk. THEY were joining in the current overpricing of assets in hthe stock markets.
So to make the banks' customers more perspicacious in borrowing from them to finance those risky ventures, King plans to REDUCE interest rates.
'Cos he says all the banks from RBS to Barclays are involved NOW in a bank 'run', a panic. He said that in his submisison to the House of Commons Select Committee over a week ago.
Molesworth major/minor (I really can't tell you apart):
Yes, technically the govt can underwrite everything. If it did, though, wide-eyed crazies would be able to come up with all sorts of crackpot schemes and expect the govt to ride to the rescue. What I meant was, the govt can't SENSIBLY underwrite everything (or be expected to).
Sid
Bateman (19)
We (pharmacists) seem to have had quite a few MHRA recalls on suspected counterfeit drugs this year - more than I can remember anyway. Pfizer have restricted the access of their products through one wholesaler in the UK to try and reduce the risk of counterfeited products getting onto the market (Viagra is one of theirs - aka the Pfizer Riser). It's caused a bit of an upset in the pharmacy community.
The real problem is that there is no guarantee of quality assurance. I seem to remember that one of the recalls had information that the tablets only contained 90% of the dose expected. With a genuine product if there is a problem and people start reacting badly to a batch or a batch of injection is discoloured the manufacturer can pull all the records and you have full traceability of what was used, by whom, when, who completed the QC checks and the results. You don't have that for a fake. The leaflet inside that we all know and love would also be for the genuine product but other fillers and additives may be used in the fake and you'd never know.
I'm not sure what the answer is to this as a patient. As a pharmacist I have a professional responsibility to ensure that I am taking all practicable steps to ensure that the medicines I am supplying are of an appropriate quality and pretty much every other pharmacist I know would ensure that they are buying from reputable wholesalers and manufacturers to ensure that our patients remain safe. The recalled products this year got into the supply chain somehow and I'm not certain how it happened. I am very suspicious when patients bring in medicines that they have bought "on the Interweb" from internet pharmacies that I've never heard of though!
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society were talking about some kind of quality mark for internet pharmacies but they only have jurisdiction over UK registered pharmacies and how are they going to stop someone sticking the seal on their unapproved website?
~imac:
As I've said before, that's what scapegoats are for.
Sid