I gave them £750 ...

... and they gave me £1,130.

Let them eat cake

Nice to know that the Prime Minister cares enough about us petty mortals to offer advice on what to do when faced with big increases in energy bills:

British Gas is to increase prices for domestic customers, with a dual-fuel bill going up by 9.2% from 23 November.

The increase, which will affect nearly eight million households in the UK, includes an 8.4% rise in gas prices and a 10.4% increase in electricity prices.

The company said it "understands the frustration" of prices rising faster than incomes. The average annual household bill will go up by £123.

PM David Cameron has urged consumers to switch suppliers for the best deal.

Not being troubled by such mundane matters as gas bills, Mr Cameron cannot be expected to understand that the energy providers are all in it together: when one of them puts up its charges, the others follow suit.

Come on, you red devils!

Belgium must be doing something right.  Despite its population of a mere 11 million, the Red Devils have just qualified for the World Cup finals (and from Scofland's group).  It's not surprising really, when they can call upon players of the quality of Mignolet (Liverpool), Vertonghen (Spurs), Vermaelen (Arsenal), De Bruyne (Chelsea), Fellaini (Man Utd), Hazard (Chelsea), Dembele (Spurs), Lukaku (Everton), Benteke (Villa), plus of course Man Utd's new wunderkind, Januzaj.  What wouldn't Scotland give for two or three such players?

Explanation of the week

From The Observer (here):

How privatisation works

Britain used to have lots of state-owned companies that were inefficient and wasted taxpayers' money while delivering rubbish service. Now we have privatised companies that are inefficient and rip off customers, while delivering rubbish service. This is a great transformation because privatised companies are more likely to make a profit and that is a great comfort to their shareholders.

Privatised companies are still allowed to receive state subsidies as long as the money isn't used to cut prices for consumers. This way, they can be a drain on taxpayers, rip off consumers, deliver rubbish service and make a profit all at the same time. This is called a mixed economy.

   

What we have learned so far

I told you three weeks ago that they were flogging off Royal Mail on the cheap. Given the levels of over-subscription to buy the shares, both on the part of the retail investor and on the part of the institutional investor, that now seems obvious.  So the taxpayer will have been seriously short-changed.  We will find out later this morning by just how much, but it is likely to be well over 20%.  Will anyone resign?  Will any of the financial advisers be denied their fees?

Why was so much (70%, now reduced to 67%) reserved for institutional investors?  How can the government possibly defend itself from accusations that they were filling the pockets of their chums in the City?  And at the expense of, first, the taxpayer and, second, the retail investor who sees his allocation cut to less than £750 or in some cases eliminated altogether.

What an utter shambles.

Disclosure: I applied for £3000 of shares and will receive shares at a cost of £749.10.


   

Quote of the day

On the government being accused of moving the goalposts in relation to the shambles of the badger cull (here):

The environment secretary, Owen Paterson, who argues the cull is an essential part of stemming the rise of tuberculosis in cattle, said: "I am not moving anything – the badgers are moving the goalposts. You are dealing with a wild animal, subject to the vagaries of weather, disease and breeding patterns."

So there you go - it's all the fault of the badgers.  The damn animals simply won't sit still while waiting to be slaughtered.

   

What is the world coming to? (part 358)

Not sure that I'd feel comfortable with one of these in the house.  Bloomberg reports:

Lego fans no longer need to fret about the cat or dog knocking over their constructions. When bothersome housepets or other pests come too close, they can ward off the intruder with one of their plastic-brick creations.

The R3PTAR, a robotic snake from Lego A/S, can be programmed from a smartphone app to attack felines, canines, and siblings -- or simply scuttle along the floor and give them something to chase. Equipped with a snapping mechanical jaw and fangs, the serpent might just send even courageous hounds, pusses and pesky kid brothers packing.

...

The R3PTAR is part of a 601-piece set introduced last month that includes a programmable brick, sensors, software and motors. Known as EV3, the $350 set is the third incarnation of the Mindstorms series, introduced in 1998. It includes plans for five walking, talking and thinking robots including the snake, the scorpion-like SPIK3R and the Mohawk-sporting EV3RSTORM.

“These robots have attitude,” said product designer Lars Joe Hyldig, who spent about three years developing them. “They can surprise you” by taking on a mind of their own.

The uncivil servant

Vulgarity is everywhere.  The Guardian reports:

Hundreds of thousands of families losing child benefit payments this year need to "get off their backsides" and fill in extra forms to avoid being fined by the taxman, the head of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has said.

Lin Homer, chief executive of HMRC, said more than 200,000 families still needed to register for the self-assessment tax forms as part of the government's plans to take away child benefit for higher earners.

...Homer told BBC Radio Five on Friday that many families due to lose their benefit were simply being "inactive".

"We think there are still 200,000 people who still need to get off their backsides," she said. "If anyone's in doubt about whether they are in this category, if they go to our website, they'll find a calculator, they can put in details and it will give them a very clear indication of whether they are caught or not.

Ms Homer's hitherto stellar career appears to have overcome all obstacles, despite her successive failures as a returning officer, as the chief executive of the Border Agency and as the head of the Department of Transport.  She might nevertheless wish to bear in mind that many of those she is now urging to get off their backsides might be Tory voters.

Whatever happened to the Big Society?

You remember, Dave Cameron's Big Society, centrepiece of the Tories' political strategy for so long, but unmentioned yesterday in the PM's conference speech.

Fraser Nelson, Spectator editor, knows what happened.  . "It lies in a shallow grave somewhere," says Nelson, "but I rather liked it."

   

Cameron in the kitchen

So, he owns a breadmaker.  Regardless of his protestations, it probably sits in a cupboard, neglected, like all the other breadmakers, no doubt bought with the best intentions.

 

He didn't?

Oh yes, he did.  The Guardian reports:

The cabinet minister responsible for fighting the effects of climate change claimed there would be advantages to an increase in temperature predicted by the United Nations including fewer people dying of cold in winter ...

The Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP - what's not to excoriate?


   

Will they ever learn?

Doomed to repeat the folly?  One would have thought that they might have learned the lesson from last time.  The Independent reports:

Fears have been raised over the Prime Minister’s decision to hurry forward the second phase of the controversial Help to Buy scheme with warnings that it would backfire and prevent people getting on the property ladder whilst threatening to create a new housing bubble.

...Under the plan banks and building societies will be encouraged to lend up to £130bn to potential buyers seeking 95 per cent loans.

Some £12bn of taxpayers’ money has been earmarked to insure deposits of up to 15 per cent on properties worth £600,000.

Does it really make sense to encourage people to borrow 95% of the cost of house purchase, putting down only a 5% deposit?  When interest rates rise, many such people will find themselves in serious trouble.  While the government will be committed to (partly) bailing them out, the effects on individual families may be long-lasting.

And, in the absence of a significant increase in housing supply, the net effect may simply be a further increase in house prices.

    

Totally unnecessary review

The Observer decided to review the performance of the new reader of the football results:

Green is the first female announcer to read the classified football scores, but in the build-up to her debut the respected broadcaster has tried to brush the issue aside. Green stated in the buildup that her gender was not relevant – all that mattered was that she carried out her task professionally. She appeared to achieve that goal comfortably in an effortless first outing.

Green's debut, heard by millions on Radio 5 Live and the World Service, went without a hitch on a day of remarkable results – from Manchester United 1 West Bromwich Albion 2 to Rangers 8 Stenhousemuir 0. The radio veteran cruised through the classified scores with plenty of poise and little fuss, adding only "and finally" ahead of the last result – The New Saints 6, Carmarthen Town 0. Aside from a Tottenham win, things could hardly have gone more smoothly.

This was the wonderful Charlotte - it was never going to be anything less than perfect.

Flogging it on the cheap

Is the coalition government so desperate to have a successful privatisation?  Obviously yes (with the added bonus that it will make millions for their chums in the City).  The Guardian reports:

The government is racing to push through the £3.3bn privatisation of Royal Mailbefore postmen and women have the chance to walkout on strike against the "great British flog off".

...

Formally kicking off the sale, Cable said the government will sell the shares at between 260p and 330p, valuing the business at £2.6bn-£3.3bn. The sale could swell Treasury coffers by more than £2bn.

Cable said he had been "encouraged by the interest shown by potential investors so far", which is why the government has increased the amount of shares it may sell from at least 50% to up to 70%.

...

Members of the public will be able to apply for a minimum of £750 worth of stock online, at the Post Office or through brokers until 8 October. The shares will pay a 7.7% dividend before April.

Guess how many companies in the FTSE 100 pay a dividend that high?  Not a single one.

Are we, the taxpayers, being screwed?  Damn right we are.

Edinburgh grub

The Guardian has a rundown of the best cheap eats in my dear old home town.  I cannot say that I have tried the food in any of them, although I've had a pint or two in Thomson's.  But I rather fancy the square venison sausage.

Anyway, back to Spain this afternoon, so I will have to delay any tastings until my next visit.

All very confusing

I am having difficulty in keeping up.  It seems that the Labour Party wants to penalise those poor, misunderstood creatures, the energy companies, whose corporate profits are desperately needed in order to keep their shareholders in the style to which they have become accustomed.  Meanwhile, Slasher Osborne and his Treasury are valiantly defending the rights of bankers to continue securing massive bonuses despite the proposed cap emanating from the villainous meddlers from Brussels.  Oh, and when is a housing bubble not a housing bubble?  When the Bank of England says so, apparently ...

Has the world gone crazy or what?

 

Conversation of the week

From here:

Cameron: What's all this about women not finding me very attractive?

Osborne: It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

Cameron: I always rather thought women rather fancied a Boden-catalogue man.

Hague: Maybe it's your personality they don't like.

Osborne: You're not helping. Dave's really sensitive about this. He really thought the party had made a breakthrough with the laydeez.

Tim Loughton: That Sarah Teather bird. Good job she's leaving at the next election. She's totally bloody useless. She called herself a families minister and she couldn't even be bothered to have a family. What a hypocrite.

Hague: Quite …

Loughton: I mean, it's like you being foreign secretary when you're not a bloody foreigner.

Osborne: You're not helping, either.

   

It could happen to any vehicle

Bloomberg reports:

Tires that wear out too soon are adding to the troubles facing Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s F-35, the Pentagon’s costliest weapons system.

Landing-gear tires made by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd. for the Marine Corps version of the fighter have “been experiencing an unacceptable wear rate when operating as a conventional aircraft,” according to Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Defense Department’s F-35 program office.

Yes, I used to have that problem with my old Nissan Micra.

The fx pros and cons

While we are on the subject of financial matters, if you are thinking of a winter holiday in the Florida sun or of a skiing holiday in Europe, now may be the time to consider buying foreign currency.  The pound is now worth over 1.59 dollars or over 1.19 euros (see here), in both cases higher than it has been since last winter.

Unless, of course, you think that the pound sterling may rise further ...

 

Low finance

Well, what would you have done?  The Government chose to sell part of Lloyds when the share price kicked up over 77 pence, compared with the 73.6 pence they cost, resulting in a profit of about 5%.  Here is the Lloyds share price movement over the past year:

You might have been tempted to hold on a bit longer, waiting for the price to rise further.  Me?  Well I sold my Lloyds shares last month, when the price hit 74.5 pence, compared with the 70 pence I paid for them.

But that's me with buying and selling shares:  don't be greedy, take your 5% profit, be thankful and move on.