The Bank of England

[beagle]

Griffin, we're relying on you for scurrilous inside gossip on this one.

[Griffin NoName]

I agree with him - "It's just that they think they will need all their money for themselves" - of  course they do !!  Who wouldn't

Article here.

My man on the inside is in the Spend! Spend! Spend! department - or so I have been led to believe - he's responsible for printing out all the emails and reading them out loud

I don't think I am being given the whole story

[beagle]

I wonder how they're going to make the numbers add up.
Take the false HBOS panic. They have about £243bn of deposits according to the press. So if depositors amounting to about 2% of that panicked last week and withdrew their funds then that would totally wipe out the extra 5bn made available by BoE last week.

Maybe the plan is that panickers will move money to National Savings or gilts enabling it to be recycled back.  Alternatively, maybe this is the real reason why interest rates here haven't plummeted like the States; M.K./MPC reckons that interest rates alone won't do the job, and it's better to retain the ability to print money and use the rates to hold back the subsequent inflation.

[Griffin NoName]

Maybe the plan is that panickers will move money to National Savings

Like Northern Rock?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Does it mean that the British pound will soon be loosing its value against the Dollar and reach its pre-Bush levels? 

[beagle]

It dropped from 2.10$ to the £  to 1.95, but then rallied back to around 2.

Each time something bad happens in the UK something worse happens in the U.S.   Just typical of the Yanks to have to do it bigger and "better" . One of our banks fails for $60bn so they have to have one fail with exposure of $13 trillion.

But before the Fed slashed interest rates again the assumption was the $ would rise against the £. Still might if the world's rich countries have faith in it as a reserve currency. I'm busy making fake antiques ready for the tourist boom, just in case. Come as part of a package including afternoon tea with an Ancient Briton.

[Griffin NoName]

Afternoon tea is going a bit far.

We should just charge tourists for entry to Britain and give them an enforced history lesson.

[Pachyderm]

Just set up one of those travelling walkway thingies they have at airports. Off the transport, on to the thing, whisked past a selection of characters from the history of these isles, complete with audio explanations.

"Here we have the first known dinosaur, the Sconosaurus, busy baking muffins. Ancient Britons wiped them out as they wanted the space for their allotments. Some Italians came over, and opened ice-cream parlours, and built a lovely wall. Then most of them went home. There was another period of mass-allotmenting, then the Britons got fed up with the climate, and sent gunboats to take over the world. After a while, those Britons sent overseas decided they wanted to retire back to their allotments, and so handed the world back, saying that they had a lovely time, and thank you very much for the use of those delightful countries, but the allotments were calling, and it was time to plant the peas.

The walkway thingies then decant the tourists back at their preferred method of transportation, and pausing only to relieve them of cash, they can leave, having experienced the full gamut of British history.

[pieces o nine]

Wait Wait! Did I miss the James Bond and Dalek exhibits? If I have to ride this-here walkway thingie to get learned about British culture, dadgummit, I want to see the James Bond and Dalek exhibits!

[Pachyderm]

Soory, Pieces. The James Bond and Dalek exhibits are on a rolling program. JB will be in Southampton, at the ferry terminal until June, but the Daleks are at Prestwick Airport until May.

[E.Raser]

Does it mean that the British pound will soon be loosing its value against the Dollar and reach its pre-Bush levels? 

British pound it is only paper , since august 15,1971.

who has read the book of [b[ Ron Paul[/b] "The Revolution:a Manifesto "??

[goat starer]

E.Raser! I disappear for a few minutes and they are letting all sorts into the monastery. Hope you are well my friend.

I think you will find however that the british pound has been only 70% copper, 24.5% zinc, and 5.5% nickel since the 11th March 1988.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

British pound it is only paper , since august 15,1971.

who has read the book of Ron Paul "The Revolution:a Manifesto "??

I haven't (ask MB who is a fan ) but I do know that he supports the gold standard for currency.

Good to see you back. 

[Griffin NoName]

Our coins are getting new designs. If they shelved the project would they afford to bring back the 10p tax band?

[beagle]

You clearly haven't understood Gordon's lucid explanation of why the poorest people in the country should be taxed at 20p in the pound. I didn't entirely follow it myself.

E for chancellor