tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30126306579798746502012-02-13T02:38:54.712-08:00Grumpy Old ManGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.comBlogger461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-53291149832737636222012-02-13T02:36:00.000-08:002012-02-13T02:38:54.723-08:00Bonus row not anti-business?It’s not every day that your GOM finds himself in a measure of agreement with Mr Miliband, but this time he surely does have a point. Let’s put the argument for bonuses first.Some people, under some circumstances, are motivated by them. Not everyone and not all the time, but they can make a difference to business outcomes.Bonus schemes are not confined to fat cats. Traditionally salesmen, Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-12362314299059938142011-12-21T01:56:00.000-08:002011-12-21T02:09:11.050-08:00Gregg's knowingly undersoldIn some parts of the UK, Gregg’s is the luxury option. “Pound…” is now the branding prefix of choice.As part of our regular contribution to the end-of-year economic stocktake, GOM is pleased to bring to the attention of the nation his eagerly anticipated annual Mince Pie report.In 2009 GOM concluded that Greggs' pricing power had become more prominent; and that the offerings of Konditor & Cook Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-15972074571223022442011-12-19T03:03:00.000-08:002011-12-19T03:10:44.428-08:00A victory for dress senseGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-20648439001035059562011-12-15T01:03:00.000-08:002011-12-15T01:05:22.648-08:00RBS makes case for Eurozone membership<!--[if gte mso 9]> 800x600 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-2427013939766445672011-10-04T11:24:00.001-07:002011-10-04T11:24:59.886-07:00The cat and the non-deportee<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-14776967655425154302011-09-29T02:31:00.000-07:002011-09-29T02:33:17.585-07:00Only Producers or Predators?<!--[if gte mso 9]> 800x600 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-45865019894722701152011-03-15T08:30:00.000-07:002011-03-15T08:33:05.047-07:00The trouble is, I don't know which halfMarketing Magazine, in collaboration with Neilsen, reports that the spend of the top 100 UK advertisers totalled £3.9bn last year.In financial services, the taxpayer-owned banks led the way, with the combined Lloyds and Halifax expenditure at £81m compared to £48m in 2009; and RBS (Direct Line, NatWest and Churchill) £94m in 2010 compared to £67m in 2009.Aviva, which rebranded in 2009, cut its Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-89799477522446464602011-01-20T10:14:00.000-08:002011-01-20T10:18:38.275-08:00Web 2.0 finds its pay day - or notMarketing Magazine reports that McKinsey has given corporate Boards comfort that there has been a positive ROI on Web 2.0 spend.However a careful reading of McKinsey's research suggests that a conclusion rather better supported by the evidence is that payback "is hard to quantify", as one of their respondents opined.GOM is not at all averse to social media, being an experimenter and contributor Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-78097740810796512522010-11-22T03:42:00.000-08:002010-11-22T03:48:02.458-08:00Why shouldn’t marketing be expected to do better every year?After the cost-cutting binge of the last two years, financial institutions now need to work at maintaining and growing customer revenues.However, the commoditisation of financial products and services means that all players are subject to strong pricing pressures. So rebuilding margins is at least as important as growing volume.Marketing is often seen as an act of faith, with unhelpful arms racesGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-48708008531614343252010-09-15T06:56:00.000-07:002010-09-15T07:07:13.291-07:00GOM is moving....... because his carers are relocating to Greycoat Place in Westminster.Conveniently adjacent to the fire station, not far from Channel 4 television and a brisk walk to Buckingham Palace.Find out more.Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-80531964638202680692010-08-25T02:54:00.000-07:002010-08-25T02:56:53.125-07:00Don't get on one of Boris's bikes....... unless you're sure you can find an empty docking space at your destination.Yesterday's trial experience involved an enjoyable 5 minute ride from Bank to Holborn Circus, followed by a 20 minute search of four docking stations until I found one with an empty space.Apparently this is because all of Boris's bikes migrate to the centre of London early in the morning - as illustrated well by http:/Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-8856887026773651652010-07-07T02:17:00.000-07:002010-07-07T02:20:32.753-07:00The Sovietisation of the United StatesBob Dudley, Managing Director of BP, and the man with the unenviable job of overseeing the mopping up of the Gulf of Mexico, might be experiencing a moment of deja vu.It was in the role of Chief Executive of BP’s joint venture in Russia that he came under enormous pressure from a state determined to pursue its own interests even if that flew in the face of natural equity and conventional Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-18372873515824828442010-06-17T01:56:00.000-07:002010-06-17T01:57:40.431-07:00Ratings and rantingsSo if I understand it correctly (my nurse sometimes gets these things wrong) the very same US rating agencies that connived in the promotion of America’s toxic debt have now downgraded BP’s credit rating.And the President of a country that has ruined the world’s economy though its export of that toxic debt is now demanding extraordinary levels of compensation from a UK registered company.This mayGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-10645809907464440812010-06-07T04:34:00.000-07:002010-06-07T04:37:50.050-07:00Public sector efficiencies are easy enough to find, but taking out the cost will be more of a challengeAnyone who understands how the public sector works knows that it can carry a fair amount of fat. Cost pressures have been more evident in local government than in central, and the former tends to be leaner as a consequence.Government agencies (with or without a capital “a”), with their clearer focus on delivery, also tend to have put more effort into the pursuit of efficiency in their operations,Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-46731248217302001832010-05-13T04:53:00.000-07:002011-01-25T02:48:28.084-08:00OCP predicted a hung parliament in 2007OCP's February 2007 newsletter gave our view of the possible implications of a hung parliament for the public sector, including:less frantic law-makinga more intelligent approach to performance monitoringa renewed focus on productivity improvement, andgreater understanding of the interaction between front, middle and back office activity across Government and its agencies.Trouble is, we made our Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-90660874748977211272010-04-14T02:38:00.000-07:002010-04-14T02:42:16.346-07:00Managing reputations (or not)Several organisations are trying to protect or enhance their reputations at the moment. Sadly their efforts seem to be back-firing.Try matching the following descriptions to the organisations listed.Organisation A. Far from convincing a concerned world of its traditionally positive values it is actually promoting an image of protectionism, denial and deceit. Organisation B. When this group Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-52817865368392224422010-03-19T05:42:00.000-07:002010-04-07T09:52:45.622-07:00How long can the UK economy keep going, just doing the same old stuff?Is the business case for doing something different beginning to stack up?Restaurants are full, often with people shrieking with laughter. People are using their mobile phone tariff to the hilt, texting as they walk recklessly through the pelting traffic. And taxis with their yellow lights on are becoming increasingly rare.That said, there's still not much evidence that pricing power is being Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-20379479689565893172010-02-17T07:23:00.001-08:002010-02-18T04:44:45.555-08:00Most Trusted Brands sponsor goes into administrationSo Readers Digest UK, which sponsored the Most Trusted Brand Awards which voted LloydsTSB as Britain’s Most Trusted Bank for seven years running, has gone into administration.Some small satisfaction there, methinks.LloydsTSB was rated Most Trusted at a time when it was merrily mailing to its customers millions of unsolicited and highly toxic credit card cheques.Virgin Media won the 2008 award forGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-13379718479671809392009-12-21T01:46:00.000-08:002010-02-19T03:33:51.992-08:00Backing away from total blind panic"There is an element of consumers backing away from a total blind panic," says Ed Garner, director of research at TNS Worldpanel. "If you go back a year ago, the roof was falling in and it was awful.As our contribution to the end-of-year economic stocktake, GOM is pleased to bring to the attention of the nation his eagerly anticipated annual Mince Pie report.Mince pies December 2009Sainsbury's Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-86673859845170933882009-12-11T06:29:00.001-08:002009-12-21T03:40:50.450-08:00Thoughts from the departure loungeAs I sit here struggling with 11 across, [A term of abuse, sounds like Banker (6)], I’m a bit puzzled by one bit of Darling’s rhetoric about City bonuses.I understand the politically-driven punitive motive (indeed most of us would like to see these fat cats in the stocks) and I understand the hypothesis that it is a good thing to discourage payments that might lead to excessive risk-taking using Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-67501433789814548032009-11-16T03:12:00.000-08:002009-11-16T03:18:56.028-08:00Relocating the casinoGentle reader, if I hear one more self-serving statement from a City fat cat or compromised politician to the effect that “the City is too important to our economy for us to insist on caps on earnings.....or over-zealous regulation.....or the rigorous collection of corporation tax.....or the proper taxation of non domiciled financial sector workers.....”, I’m going to throw up.Surely the Mafia isGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-36417406566589725042009-10-23T02:29:00.000-07:002009-10-23T03:08:03.150-07:00Bankers’ bonusesIt is hard not to feel some frustration when many of the investment bankers who have condemned us to massive levels of public borrowing are now about to receive bonuses rivalling those paid out in the pre-credit crunch years.For decades the investment bankers were the loudest exponents of a free market, natural selection, law of the jungle Weltanschauung. Now, having been partially or largely Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-54671015237790488972009-10-12T01:19:00.000-07:002009-10-12T01:25:22.848-07:00Whose moral hazard?As our increasingly feeble minded GOM contemplates the imminent arrival of a wholly inadequate private pension he ponders the term “moral hazard”. This insurance industry expression has been popularised by Mervyn King and is now bandied about freely in the context of the derivative creators, investment bankers and fund managers who took the fruits of the economic boom but left the customers (Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-86221946454834855242009-05-21T06:43:00.000-07:002009-05-21T06:44:17.693-07:00Clinging on to the pastAs the local road sweeper said this morning, “If they kick that incompetent b----d upstairs now they’re just proving they have no bloody clue”. He has a point.What sort of message are they sending when the rhetoric speaks of modernization and the behaviour demonstrates an inability to let go of the past?Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-51297581178221642152009-04-28T06:18:00.000-07:002009-04-28T06:25:12.235-07:00Don’t waste the spaceIt seems to me that we could be missing a trick in London.As I understand it we have spare capacity in Canary Wharf, a shortfall of funding for the Olympic Village, and some embarrassment in Westminster about MP’s second homes.Surely the solution is staring us in the face? Why not turn those redundant banking towers into a social housing complex, downriver, which could accommodate both homeless Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-77606877638909436162009-03-26T10:10:00.000-07:002009-04-27T07:52:36.934-07:00Expressions we no longer needOne of the many benefits of the credit crunch is that we can divest ourselves of a fair measure of jargon, simply because the world has no further use for it.To take a few examples, I doubt we’ll see the following phrases used very often, except in a tone of irony or nostalgia:• “post neo-classical endogenous growth theory”• “economic forecast”• “profit forecast"• “full employment”• “free trade”•Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-80368083207801615052009-03-11T07:36:00.000-07:002009-03-11T07:56:03.930-07:00Sit-aside: a solution for our timesThe UK normally produces more management consultancy than is needed by domestic clients at any one time. Since it is difficult to store management consultancy for consumption at a later date, and demand in export markets is subdued, there is a need to provide incentives to reduce over-production.A proposal very worthy of consideration is now being mooted: Sit-aside.Under this scheme, management Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-91949482141441596342009-02-18T06:24:00.000-08:002009-02-18T06:28:28.735-08:00A short lesson in economics for bankersThe expression "those bankers just don’t get it" is becoming exhausted through repetition, but their capacity for self delusion still amazes.It has become fashionable to suggest that they (along with regulators, governments and the rest of us) had got stuck in belief in an economic paradigm based on the supremacy of rationalism.Recent events, however suggest that they’re not very hot at applying Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-70467245605900297832009-02-16T05:17:00.000-08:002009-02-16T05:20:25.068-08:00Beyond satireSatirists might just as well pack their bags at the moment. No sooner has one had a Swiftean moment than we read that the government has implemented it. This weekend revealed that the FSA is to award itself £10m of bonuses.And we have just heard that Tessa Jowell is attempting to remove gender differences from the Olympics by, for example, allowing women to compete in heavyweight wrestling. I’d Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-4256974565120789802009-02-10T07:26:00.000-08:002009-02-10T07:28:43.602-08:00Not select enoughOne of the inquisitors on this morning’s Treasury Select Committee meeting revealed his lamentable ignorance by referring to "siren calls from risk managers", meaning siren as in claxon or fire alarm. And everybody else adopted the solecism without any indication of irony. So now we know why Bankers and Parliamentarians have so let us down; it’s very simply their lack of a classical education. Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-50022373347620215582009-01-15T09:17:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:26:05.636-08:00AntilogismsYears ago the witty chaps in The Times’ PHS column coined a new term, "antilogism", for a word or expression that means the opposite of what you’d expect. Not quite the same as an oxymoron, but more like a thumping great one or two word porky. The term never caught on, and you won’t find it in the dictionary, but the financial crisis has brought the concept back out of the closet. We need thatGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-49894767792461710372009-01-08T03:58:00.000-08:002009-01-08T04:01:42.745-08:00A solution for your problemGrumpy Old Man does not aim to provide advice on remedies for personal complaints or conditions.However we have had drawn to our attention a new and unique product which we believe will meet the needs of many of our readers.Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-71679507792795586522009-01-05T04:21:00.000-08:002009-01-05T04:24:15.995-08:00Another roll of the diceIf we were to throw a die to forecast our future we might, like Luke Rheinhart’s Dice Man, load the odds so that one face predicts rapid recovery, four faces offer progressively increasing degrees of gloom ranging from a one-year recession to four-year deflation, and the sixth face suggests something very more radically threatening.It is probably not too pessimistic to suggest that within a year Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-42859938675970951722008-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:002008-12-23T06:44:46.414-08:00Mince pie futuresIn these challenging times Grumpy Old Man has been relentlessly searching for undiscovered value and potential arbitrage opportunities.We believe mince pies have been overlooked as a potential store of value. No longer is your average mince pie the product of an industrial stamping process somewhere in the Black CountryQuite conversely, we believe mince pies could now offer considerable upside Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-76139514521958238832008-11-11T02:34:00.000-08:002008-11-13T03:54:09.538-08:00What was that girl doing on the 45 bus?Travelling up to town, as you do, from the wastelands of South London past the Elephant, on the bottom deck of the 45, I notice this girl, sitting opposite, headphones in ears, fiddling with her mobile.I was already feeling a bit sick, sitting on the bottom deck over the engine, getting a nice hit of diesel fumes, facing backwards, swaying from side to side as we went round the corners.She was Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-73350806862841507212008-10-13T01:59:00.000-07:002008-10-14T07:07:39.149-07:00Safe as housesSo the FTSE 100 did get down to the 3,000's.But have we seen the bottom yet?Chateau Angelus 1996 is still available at the wine bar at the end of the road at the knockdown price of £195 a bottle. And if that doesn't quite stretch the credulity, then there's still the La Tache 1982, Domaine Romanée Conti, at £1,200 a pop.On Channel 4, the 'phenomenally successful' A Place in the Sun is still Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-86478412192518425502008-09-29T02:11:00.000-07:002008-09-29T02:13:39.484-07:00Well I never…In a week that is seeing the Republican Party turn the USA into the largest example of state capitalism in the western world, one might have thought that there could be no more surprises. How wrong one can be. Last week also witnessed a competing event – the publication by the Grauniad of a slim volume entitled "The Guardian Book of English Language", including advice on common spelling errors.Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-81675542824589403962008-09-17T07:57:00.000-07:002008-09-17T08:32:24.931-07:00Where is James Crosby now?Yesterday's fools are today's sages.LloydsTSB were castigated in 2006 for not making their capital work hard enough, and were thought in January of that year to be about to receive a takeover offer from BBVA, Wells Fargo or Bank of America - or possibly all three.But now staid institutions with robust balance sheets are being courted by world statesmen.Maybe, to mangle one's aphorisms completely,Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-85928355639256340222008-09-16T02:52:00.000-07:002008-09-16T03:22:51.799-07:00Cardboard box timeDespondent financiers have been seen foraging for empty cardboard boxes in the delivery bay behind our local Sainsbury's.What is inside those boxes they are carrying out of the temples of steel and glass?Is it just sweaty trainers and photos of loved ones, or is there anything else of real value to be retrieved from our collapsing investment banking industry?The fall has been coming for some timeGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-14700529968987077032008-08-28T03:23:00.000-07:002008-08-28T03:26:30.497-07:00Where’s the government now?For 25 years or more our Chancellors, of either persuasion, have been on the side of the financial services world. It’s true that they have enjoyed huge tax takes from the sector (though not anything like as huge as institutional profits would suggest) but they have also have basked in the reflected glory of the City of London, taken credit for its success, contributed to its growth through the Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-8525980364775978452008-08-01T03:42:00.000-07:002008-08-05T08:07:07.108-07:00Had that Georgie Soros in the back of my cab the other dayThis geezer hails us in Seething Lane, steps off the kerb all abrupt like. He goes, “take me to the reflexive centre of finance”.I answers ‘im, “I’ll take you where you like mate, you’re the guv’nor”, so I starts the meter and off we goes with a sharp left and then a cracking U-turn that holds up all the traffic – ‘cos you can’t do a right onto Byward Street from Trinity Square since they put Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-86400742229477315272008-07-28T06:41:00.000-07:002008-07-28T06:50:51.286-07:00Was the Senior Partner at Oxford Economics away on holiday?The National Housing Federation (which represents 1,300 English Housing Associations) has today released annual Home Truths report, based on research by Oxford Economics.Mortgage brokers Charcol dubbed last year’s Home Truths report as a “Dodgy Dossier” because of its questionable maths. Last year’s report asserted that the 7.5% growth in house prices in 2006 increased the average house price/ Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-54565843442042669412008-07-25T06:48:00.000-07:002008-07-28T03:22:13.336-07:00And the next paradigm balloon to burst?Evan Davis of the BBC apologised this week on behalf of all economists for failing to warn the world of the impending financial crash. Good for Evan, but economists have no monopoly of self deceit.I dare say many of the bankers who walked away with millions in bonuses did so in the sincere belief that they were merely winners in a larger win-win game. The rating agencies were clearly wrong in Grumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-78951424293039888012008-07-18T01:35:00.000-07:002008-07-18T01:38:13.655-07:00A distasteful incidentI feel should draw to your attention, before any of our readers spots it, the coverage of the rather unsavoury happenings that have been taking place in Chislehurst recently.Although I am seen in South London from time to time, it is not my habit to travel to the outer reaches of Bromley and indeed I have not been there for many years.Of course at the time in question I was at home, safely tuckedGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-40684788391424391672008-07-16T03:45:00.000-07:002008-07-17T03:13:16.608-07:00Consumers flee in terror from killer beesExcuse me, I thought retail banks weren't lending any more?But my wife recently received a letter from Taina Uusitalo, Head of Core Credit Cards at Lloyds TSB, which enclosed four lovely credit card cheques.The British Bankers' Association's Reporting Officer's Reference Guide tells us that a credit card cheque is “a cheque drawn against a credit card account that gives the cardholder another wayGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012630657979874650.post-22061823583806127792008-06-30T01:53:00.000-07:002008-06-30T01:54:24.551-07:00Not dead yetDespite Thursday's 148-point fall in the FTSE, plagues of locusts are not yet swarming down Ely Place. We are still in the land of the £2 coffee. And the wine bar down the hill offers Chateau Angelus 1996 at the knockdown price of £195 a bottleGrumpy Old Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12228486189634374411noreply@blogger.com3