Two Acres

Sounds like a mate of mine. We used to go to the gym together and he'd do two lengths of the pool and retire to the jacuzzi and sauna. One time he brought his girlfriend along. He was up and down that pool like an Olympic swimmer, twenty lengths or something

Good post:thumbup1: Throwing money at education won't improve that either, it'll just line the pockets of the management. The thing I find really sad is to see the folks who actually care about the subject, and care about the students, sacked because they won't do as they're told by management. Its shocking.

Thats the one Slim Reaper, many thanks for the link

Hi All, I've just come across a suspect looking ad on Gumtree. Its for 'tree equipment', no other description, just one photo, and the poster has been posting for under a month. I don't know how to post a Gumtree link on here but if you go to Gumtree and search in location 'Norwich', within '5 miles' and search for 'tree equipment' you'll find it. It could be perfectly innocent but it could be worth a look.

I have recent experience of higher education and I would support your view Skyhuck :thumbup1:They're trying to run education on free market lines and its a shambles. Whats happening in practice is that the management are doing everything in their power to present the illusion of success. That means they hang onto their fat salaries for as long as they possibly can. I've realised that these managers don't need to know anything about the subject being taught, thats becausethe VIP's in suits that are given tours of the institution know nothing of the subject either. I've listened to a student, the principal, and a VIP all talk bollocks together, they' re all happy and as long as everything looks professional to the VIP, jobs a good'un. Anyone who genuinely cares and who dares to express an opinion can expect to find themselves 'disappeared' through management techniques such as the old favourite, 'oh look your job is changing and won't be what it used to be anymore, therefore we need to ask you to apply for your own job, surprise surprise you didn't get it'. If I ran my business how they run theirs I'd have been bankrupt long ago. Its a nonsense.

Apologies Mountain Man, I missed the reference in your earlier post - got it now

Yes Mark, it was a Labour goverment that was in power at the time. Thatcher and Reagan removed the banking regulations that had protected our economies since the Great Depression. Gordon Brown believed that the banks were successful and generating prosperity. Cameron was calling for even greater deregulation at this point as well. The 2008 crash was a long time in the making and would have happened regardless of which party was in power, frankly they were all taken in by the banks. Ultimately it was unrestarined free market capitalism that caused the crash and subsequent troubles. The Tories will never want to regulate capitalism, that would be against their ideology. Thats my view and thas why I'd prefer a left if centre solution

You've got a short memory Mountain Man! Don't you remember the English riots of 2011? I think the authorities struggled to get that one under control, could have got much, much worse.

Hi Jon, Its not just about the money - did you see the letter that was signed by 100 senior doctors? They've accused the coalition governmnet of 'withering away' the NHS. A lot if doctors are p****d off mate.

Good post that Shane, I agree with you.

I completely agree with you about the rise of inequality Gnome. You are completely correct when you say that history teaches that revolution is the outcome of this We should all be thinking carefully about social cohesion when we're voting at this election.

Not so much a explaination, but an opinion: The Tories want to impose austerity even more harshly in the next parliament than the last. They want to do so for ideological reasons rather than out of neccesity; that is they believe in a small state. They would like to shrink the state to as small a size as possible. A key part of Conservative ideology is a belief in a natural social heirerachy. They believe that they have are superior to us ordinary folk and are our rightful leaders. If they can reduce the state and get it out of the way then the leaders of private industry can step into the space thats created and make ever greater private fortunes. They are interested in increasing the wealth if the top one percent in our society. If we elect a Conservative led government then we should expect the state to be reduced and severe cuts - perhaps things like child benefit will disapear, for example. A Labour led goverment would still want to stick with austerity to reduce the deficit, they would just plan on doing it more slowly and less painfully. They would also not be interested in protecting the top one percent and would make efforts, I would expect, to ensure that the burden is shared more fairly, through policies such as the removal of non-domiciled tax status. We would all be in it together.

Again very interesting RichieR - it does raise the question of which political party, if any, has a policy on banking that would prevent a repeat of 2008 (assuming that it might be possible for a UK governement to do that in a global market). Who do we trust on this one?

Thats interesting mate Nothing left to lend? Sounds like madness. So why wasn't the FSA doing its job properly?

I agree with you Mark, you're absolutely right In the early days I always knew who my bank manager was and knew I could fix to see him when I needed to. I also trusted him and valued his opinion. The last, what ten years or so, thats all gone. To be fair I've been busy and not needed them, but thats not the point. it has all become impersonal and faceless and that IS part of the problem.

I'd like to think that in future the people signing on the bottom line will be more savvy in the future, at least everyone should be well aware of what could go wrong now. 25 years ago I would have trusted my bank, safe, I would have assumed, in the knowledge that what was good for me was good for them.

But we all have to learn don't we? When I was starting out in business I as only 23 and mad keen. A few years later I was building my own home / workspace. I remember calling my bank manager because I wanted to extend my borrowing. Of course I was young and inexperienced. I have a distinct memory of sitting on an upturned beer crate in a dusty building that was really just a construction site. My bank manager sat on another beer crate and he asked me what I wanted. I asked for another 20k. My bank manager lit a whopping great cigar, took a few puffs, thought for a very long time and then said 'No, you'll have to work your way out of this one'. I only just contained my anger at the time however I did as he suggested and came through it. Had he given me the 20k I suspect may have got into financial trouble. It was a brilliat lesson and one I've never forgotten. Thats the kind of reponsible banking we should never have abandoned IMHO

Thanks for that RichieR Theres no need to say sorry as far as I'm concerned, and please do feel free to argue - none of us will earn anything if we don't discuss the issues So the FSA wasn't doing its job properly in that it should have been regulating the UK lending market ?

Ok, I see what you're saying but don't you think that a mortage company telling such a person that the can afford a loan, when they actually can't, is dishonest? I would expect that a large number of people in McJobs would happily believe what they are told, wouldn't you?

It wasn't the responsibility of the state to 'give us a reality check'. We're talking about a global, private enterprise that had persuaded politicians to deregulate. Remove banking regulations and we'll deliver wealth was the arrangement. Unfettered free market capitalism.

You missed the 'predatory lending' bit

The 2008 was caused by predatory lending in the US to sub prime borrowers. Mortage securitisation and credit default swaps were key drivers of the problem.

Completely agree with you Lee

Yes Capetown, thats remiss of me

I'm with you on this Eggs. Theres a big difference between the working hard, doing well for yourself attitude and the greedy, me first one. What concerns me is rising inequality, limited opportunity and the consequent effect on social cohesion.