Gordon Where's Yoor Troosers?

All mouth, no trousers...

Gordon Brown is to order Labour MPs to back a controversial plan to exempt details of MPs' expenses from the Freedom of Information Act.

The prime minister will impose a three-line whip on the vote, raising the prospect of a backbench rebellion.

You have to hand it to him. History will show Brown as a man who was not afraid to make decisions which were electorally unpopular. In fact, so unafraid is he, he has not yet made a single popular decision in his whole 18 month premiership!

Parliament, Expenses & Pay

Apologies for my relative silence over recent days. A combination of being busy and suffering blogging fatigue from a dearth of good stories put my posting on hold.

Anyway, to the furore on MPs pay I thought I would offload my own thoughts. Apparently MPs might have their pay aligned with senior judges at over £100k pa. But a large portion of the public think MPs are paid too much already. So what do I think?...

1) MPs have to be paid. To have a situation whereby they vote on their own pay is silly on one hand as it places them in a tricky situation, but on the other it shows constituents their MPs true colours. In this sense it may be self limiting and restrain pay more than handing it to an independent body.

2) I personally don't feel one way or another over their level of pay. £60k is above the national average but not 'money for old rope' territory. MPs do tend to work for their money. It is generous but hardly sticking two fingers up at us minions.

So what would I do? Increase their pay to something higher, by all means, but cut their expenses commensurately so their is no net increase in cost to the taxpayer...

1) Cut their "additional costs allowance" that enable MPs to claim expenses for running a second home, and which leaves them free to keep the capital gain on this home. Either the second home should remain in public ownership to be sold when the MP retires/loses seat (or made available for another MP), OR MPs should be made to finance the entire cost out of their salary.

2) Pay mileage allowance at cost, not 57.7p

3) Capitalise their pensions and in future run a money purchase scheme, paying in to a private fund, and not leaving the taxpayer with a liability for those they have sacked. There should be no automatic final salary pension.

4) Scrap the "resettlement grant" for MPs who lose their seat which equates to 50-100% of salary. MPs should take out private 'unemployment' insurance if they so wish.

5) MPs should also have to produce receipts for all expenses as common practice in the private sector. They might also consider having to personally bear the cost of items below £50.

As for other expenses with regard to running an office etc, this is entirely reasonable. But as Milton Friedman said, there are 4 ways to spend money. Making MPs bear more costs personally will encourage them to minimise their costs as it will come out their own pocket. Providing their salaries are increased less then the cut in expenses then I have no problem with us paying a higher basic salary. Thus ends the lesson according to Vindico.

What Brown Can Learn From Edmund Hillary

Just fucking die already!!!

(Note I direct this at brown. Hillary was a top bloke, I don't wish him dead)

Blair The Banker

What the fuck does the warmongering twerp know that could possibly help JP Morgan?..

Tony Blair has taken a part-time post with US investment bank JPMorgan.

Mr Blair, who stood down as UK prime minister in June last year, has been employed "in a senior advisory capacity", the bank said.

He said he looked forward to advising the bank on the "political and economic changes that globalisation brings".

It is not known how much JPMorgan will pay him, but some estimates say more than $1m (£500,000) a year. The bank said he had a "unique perspective".

It said Mr Blair would advise the firm's chief executive and senior management team, "drawing on his immense international experience to provide the firm with strategic advice and insight on global political issues and emerging trends".

His old contacts wont want to talk to him now he is an ex-PM. His only real friend in power is Bush, and he is about to leave office! Blair might have a grasp on the machinations of international politics, helped by his efforts to re-shape the world in his image when in Number 10, but beyond that he doesn't really have much clout.

Blair barely managed to grasp rudimentary economics, let alone understanding the complex workings of global financial instructions. All I can think is Morgan simply wants the prestige of an ex-PM. Blair could hardly join The Carlyle Group, having to sit alongside the bloke he ejected from office in 1997! No, JP Morgan is a much better fit. Perhaps they have extended Blair a credit line capable of supporting Cherie's spending habits?!

Silly Lilly, Houses & Tea

Just a few stories to share with you...

Lilly Allen apparently thinks private schooling for her children is a waste of money and she would rather move to the catchment area of a good school. I am still trying to work out how she equates paying a premium on house prices in a good catchment area vs paying school fees, unless of course the two figures are substantially different!

Richard Hammond has made a mistake with his new house. Within 70 hours he decided the change in lifestyle would not suit his family. An expensive mistake, quoted at £40k. Well, that all depends on whether you think that people factor both stamp duty and agent/legal/removal fees into the price of a property accurately, in which case it is the seller who bears the costs!!

And, courtesy of a friend of mine,  I discover the International Standardization Organisation has a standardized method for brewing tea. I kid you not, ISO 3103! Go take a look for yourself. Go on. Oh all right, here it is...

• The pot must be white porcelain or glazed earthenware and have a partly serrated edge. It must have a lid that fits loosely inside the pot.
• If a large pot is used, it must hold a maximum of 310 ml (±8 ml) and must weigh 200g (±10g).
• If a small pot is used, it must hold a maximum of 150 ml (±4 ml) and must weigh 118g (±10g).
• 2 grams of tea (measured to ±2% accuracy) per 100ml boiling water is placed into the pot.
• Freshly boiled water is poured into the pot to within 4-6mm of the brim.
• The water must not be hard.
• Brewing time is six minutes.
• The brewed tea is then poured into a white porcelain or glazed earthenware bowl.
• If a large bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 380ml and weigh 200g (±20g)
• If a small bowl is used, it must have a capacity of 200ml and weigh 105g (±20g)
• If the test involves milk, then it can be added before or after pouring the infused tea.
• Milk added after the pouring of tea is best tasted when the liquid is between 65 - 80°C.
• 5ml of milk for the large bowl, or 2.5ml for the small bowl, is used.

Money, Gold, Slavery

I recently watched this series of videos on money. Like a lot of people I knew money was not backed by gold any longer, I knew banks could lend out more than they had deposits, and I knew our fiat monetary system was given its value by law. But I didn't quite get the full picture of money as debt. The videos are well worth watching if you have the time (total running time about 47 mins)...

Part 1 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI

Part 2 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXavRTM4Fg

Part 3 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvRZoM-2r8

Part 4 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f0p8LepIuVM

Part 5 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PzXZ_Hs1g6U

The underlying logic flowing from the fact that all money is debt, is that the only way out of the present credit crunch is for interest rates to fall, for people to borrow, and for the money supply to expand; somewhat counter-intuitively to the notion that banks will keep interest rates high, become more cautious over lending, and hike savings rates to attract deposits.

This all begs the question whether the emerging online 'currencies', commodity currencies, will begin to grow significantly as people grow wary of fiat money. Online gold exchanges such as BullionVault allow customers to transact with gold reserves held in international vaults. The advent of the internet, on-line shopping, and the recent growth in individual currency trading makes the spread of such currencies more possible than ever before.

Gold has always been universally seen as a relative safe haven; a commodity which cannot easily be inflated and will hold its value. With the current and rapidly growing global uncertainty, and even at Gold's historically high price, is now the time to buy gold, not necessarily as an investment but as a currency?

Wind Turbines Just Crap

The Register has an interesting article confirming that windmills are about as useless as a "chocolate teapot"...

A study of domestic turbines was published by renewable energy consultants Encraft in December. According to the study, only one of the 15 household wind turbines generated enough to power a 75W light bulb. The average daily output was 393.3W: an average of 17W per hour.

In all, only three of the turbines generated over 400W of electricity, with one generating 1,790W per day.

Four of the turbines didn't even make it into three figures. By way of comparison, a washing machine consumes 4KW/hr (4,000W), and a fridge-freezer 1.9KW. [PDF,1MB]

The average turbine also operates at only 1.84 per cent of capacity.

The carbon-obsessed BBC has suggested that a domestic turbine may contribute about "a fifth" of a household's electricity needs - but the reality is this is only true if the household's only electricity need is a single crack-den-dim light bulb.

The numbers suggests that the turbines would take, at best, 15 years to pay for themselves.

However, it appears that the measured windspeed for many sites fell below the predicted figure. Turbulence in built-up areas makes for poor windflow. Or as SK Watson, of the Centre for Renewable Energy System Technology at Loughborough University, observes:

"Those areas with higher capacity factor are where urban areas tend not to be!"

The trial has suffered other problems. One turbine was stolen, another damaged, and a further one was beseiged by pro-bat protestors. Several needed their inverters replacing. 

I think some of the enviro-fascists who think sticking windmills all over the country and such micro-generation systems will stave off the need for nuclear power need their inverters changing?

However, Encraft MD Matthew Rhodes, quoted in The Guardian found one "benefit" from the white elephants. Apparently, seven out of ten people who see a turbine say it reminds them to save energy.

The logic is, apparently, that when one sees one of these monuments to self-righteousness, one dashes back to turn the lights off.

Trust the Guardian to find a benefit where sane people see none!

But surely there must be cheaper ways of inducing feelings of guilt and low self-worth in the general population - such as availing oneself of the latest Radiohead album, perhaps?

ROFLMFAO!!!