Financial Eyes

Financial Eyes

  • Joined: February 25, 2016
  • Articles: 529
  • Comments: 9

back ‘atcha

Booming back at ya, Wanna reach out and grab ya, How I wonder where she’s AtRa, Comes back at you twice as hard

Blogging as a Service

Those with the most to say feel least constrained in the current climate. But how much of what they say means anything at all? I struggle to find anything of worth in the printed press. Might everyone be so reeling…

Accidence & Incidents: Aurobindo, Koestler, Oakeshott

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose FT political leader writer, Sebastian Payne recently referred to the Conservative Party’s pre-eminent post-war philosopher — Michael Oakeshott. In quoting Michael Oakeshott, @ProfTimBale nails why there’s something conservative in being sceptical about…

Gillian Tett: Burgeoning Shadow Banking Sector dependent on Regulatory Arbitrage

In the FT today Gillian Tett points out that while the media glare falls on the big banks that are currently reporting their third quarter earnings, the real story is the Shadow Banking sector’s continued colonisation of those sections of…

Sir Oliver Letwin used Nobel Prize winner’s ideas to torture innocent Brits

Nudge Richard Thaler has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. He’s best known for co-authoring the bestseller Nudge with Cass Sunstein in 2007. Sunstein went on to become President Obama’s Regulatory Czar while Thaler provided the ideas for…

Tory Confusion over Brexit

The Pound looks likely to collapse during the upcoming Tory Party conference Financial Markets are looking for reassurance. Instead they have been treated to David Davis. Amber Rudd will remember her speech about companies having to report the amount of…

Social Cleansing Silicon Valley Style

Today’s FT has an excellent piece on Social Cleansing in Silicon Valley. The great Silicon Valley land grab via @FT — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 26, 2017 It made me think of Jamie Bartlett‘s BBC Show, The Secrets of…

German Hip Hop, Serial Killers, Jesse Owens, Hitler, und Hardfloor

BSMG German Hip Hop band BSMG have just done a tune called Jesse Owens. I don’t speak the language. But the name Owens reminds me of: Robert Owens I recall seeing Robert Owens out and about in London 10 years…

Germany’s Fossil Fueled Decarbonisation

German car firms have been hit by recent emission fraud scandals Carmakers’ troubles shake Germany’s national psyche — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 2, 2017 and the appearance of the electric car: Tesla reveals Model 3 cost in its first attempt at affordable…

God Save our Unforgettable Mall

Here we are crawling the cracks between walls of church state school & factory, all the paranoid monoliths. Cut off from the tribe by feral nostalgia we tunnel after lost words, imaginary bombs.   If Socrates was against writing –…

No Drought – Trump Shorts Marijuana but Vets Already Blaze

Jamaica is only allowed to legally grow Marijuana now that it is already well established in US law. US firms have been granted licence to grow and experiment in Jamaica.  

Vulture Capitalists, Potash Mining, GM, Fertilisers, Brexit & UK Food

For some reason Food and Brexit doesn’t get discussed in the news but as many of us will wind up eating food from fertilisers I think it’s worth a mention. What is potash? Learn more in our blog, Prospects →…

Explosives & Explosions : The Haber Process

Roughly forty minutes into this great podcast, Tim Harford talks about the significance of the Haber Process. The Haber Process revolutionised the world of explosives in World War One before being used in many of the world’s fertilisers — fueling the…

When The Facts Change >> Corbyn dramatically cutting Tory Lead

With no TV Debate – Manifestos do the Talking Embed from Getty Images When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?  J.M Keynes. In a time of Information Overload, the Info-Arbitrageur is King. Tim Shipman…

Theresa May decriminalises Bribery, Fraud & Election Rigging

The American satirist HL Mencken famously quipped that no-one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people. But here in Britain we have a different maxim: No Tory ever lost out overestimating the gullibility of the British Voter…

Macron says Buy European

  How is this going to play out? Seeing as protectionism is in fashion maybe the EU will now be more upfront about its priorities.

 Function Creep: Indian ID Card Expanding in Scope

Real Media have been looking at the links between UK, US and Indian National Database and surveillance systems. Here are two highlights:    

Tory Education Cuts

Now that we are living through an age of automation and underemployment, technical skills should be our passport to competing on the post-Brexit world stage. Tories hell-bent on Education Apartheid But Tories are up-front about being the anti-immigration austerity party. Selective Grammar Schools and pricy uni fees reflect…

The Judge’s Mum, The Law, & Client Earth

Trump’s appointment Neil Gorsuch is the son of Reagan’s EPA Head Anne Gorsuch. She did her best to destroy it.     But apparently her gutting of the EPA led to major developments in the field of environmental law. I’ve been reading…

Breaking: Corrupt Money Launderers HSBC bankrolled Corrupt Cameron & Corrupt Osborne’s Trips to Davos

Corrupt Money Launderers HSBC bankrolled David Cameron and George Osborne’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2009, it has emerged. The controversial lender lent the gaffe-prone billionaire bookie and former Tory Treasurer Michael Spencer £200 million pounds just…

British media prefer Marine Le Pen to Jeremy Corbyn DESPITE ALMOST IDENTICAL ECONOMIC ARGUMENTS

Rupert Murdoch prefers Marine Le Pen to Jeremy Corbyn as she is, like himself, a racist anti-EU campaigner. But if you forget about race and look at international trade and financial markets — her views are much more like Corbyn’s than Murdoch’s. She’s…

PFI Fraud: Labour need to debate Solution

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party needs to have an urgent debate about how to resolve billions of pounds of New Labour’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) debts, according to a leading PFI research expert. PFI was conjured up by John Major’s Government but deployed…

Head of NHS England Simon Stevens may be prosecuted by the Department of Justice for defrauding the US taxpayer of hundreds of millions of dollars

Defrauding Families in the UK The following story about overcharging at private care homes appeared on page 2 of yesterday’s Daily Mail – before the announcement of the ‘snap election’: Similar Strategy in the US This story has many similarities…

Is recent UK Care Home Fraud case similar to multimillion dollar USA fraud perpetrated by Simon Stevens, CEO of NHS England?

  The following story about overcharging at private care homes appeared on page 2 of yesterday’s Daily Mail: This story has many similarities to  the US Department of Justice’s investigation into US Health Insurer United Health’s pilfering of the American public purse…

Ex-EU Boss José Manuel Barroso to speak at FT Business of Luxury Conference in Lisbon

Next month former President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will speak at a Financial Times conference on the Business of Luxury in Lisbon (see bottom of image below). Barroso’s Lisbon speech will be in stark contrast to his role…

All data is credit data

I tried to engage my 16 year old students’ interest with talk of LinkedIn and job hunting. I then bored them to death saying that Facebook is basically a Credit Rating Agency I mentioned that all data is credit data. I got…

Brexit means, er, Brexit

So we’re losing EU membership rights, destroying the NHS, increasing immigration and getting rid of financial services — and breaking up the UK via another Scottish independence referendum. Theresa May admits £350 million pledged to NHS by Vote Leave isn’t happening…

Vicious Remainers and Snooping Governments

What do these two stories have in common? Looks like George Osborne, Jolyon Maugham, Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and Alistair Campbell are all on the same deregulation and war side. Meanwhile former Remain flag-waver Amber Rudd wants more snooping powers:…

Trump Era White Collar Crime: Who’s Chasing Who?

What is going on with Wall Street White Collar Crime in the Trump era? Hedge Fund Managers Never Die Sheelah Kolhatkar wrote an excellent article in The New Yorker this January. Her book, Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to…

Sleeping Rough & Stealing our Jobs!

Riz Ahmed says British directors, producers and writers aren’t hiring non-white British actors. That’s why so many have to try their luck in America. Plenty of white British actors feel they have to base themselves in the States too. But this is never…

Ex-KGB Billionaire appoints City of London lobbyist to run London’s biggest newspaper

Billionaire ex-KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has just hired George Osborne to edit London’s Evening Standard newspaper. The move has triggered concerns about media bias and conflicts of interest. This from HSBC Fraud whistleblower Nicholas Wilson. Every single day there is another jaw dropping corrupt appointment. And…

Farage openly promoting Marine Le Pen

Before Brexit Nigel Farage wouldn’t have been seen dead with Marine Le Pen. But since “quitting politics” he’s already backed Trump in the US election and now he’s doing the same for the leader of the French National Front. Double…

US Politics: Healthcare Debate

Are all Americans deserving of the right to healthcare? Yes — Universal healthcare systems should mean free access for all at the point of delivery, focused on protecting public health, and funded via general taxation. No — No-one should ever…

Nepotism trumps Feminism at the Bank of England

If you want to know what makes Britain tick, take a look at the Bank of England. Interlocking directorships and the Old Boy Network still dominate public life as its recent appointment of Charlotte Hogg reveals. But few media commentators ever refer to this as a…

Transgender Tournaments

Every society has its customs. Harvest seasonally celebrates good weather and a community’s ability to feed itself. And mating rituals, often hierarchical, involve male displays of physical excellence and material resourcefulness to attract reproductive females. But when societies code their rules using abstract tools like language then inherent…

Post Brexit Plan: Scrap Living Wage, Hire Cheapest Trade Negotiators, Hope EU still want to Trade

I don’t remember many calls to scrap the National Living Wage before the Brexit vote. Maybe the government think such a policy might come in useful when we have to negotiate with the EU. But Brussels doesn’t seem keen on letting Brexit Britain…

BBC to Broadcast Trump State Visit despite White House ban on BBC reporters

Donald Trump’s Administration has taken another step toward becoming a full dictatorship by banning the BBC and several other ‘dishonest media’ from the White House’s daily briefing. The President’s favourites far-right Breitbart, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Network, and even Turkish State Media were…

TEFL in London

Going round the room this morning I asked people where they were from. Krys, from Poland, said he had lived in South America for 24 years. I asked him if he was an Engineer. “No, I am a missionary.” Christ,…

Oh well, I’ll flip you for it.

Harrumph. Given that no-one actually reads this blog it will come as no surprise that my attempts at conventional blogging are to be abandoned in favour of a more relaxed stream of consciousness perhaps in line with whatever I was doing…

Telegraph tell of Putin’s UKIP fear in Stoke

How can the Chief Political Correspondent and Deputy Political Editor of The Telegraph put their names by this muck? Desperate stuff to get UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall into Parliament.  

Councils use Rogue Landlord Database cash to fund deportation raids

In September the Radical Housing Network revealed that government money originally earmarked for protecting vulnerable tenants from unscrupulous landlords is  being used to fund deportation raids. The following pieces appeared in RT and VICE.   This is how the Daily Mail spin it: Below…

President Trump rude to Jewish and African American Reporters in first solo press conference

The President was rude to Jewish and African American reporters yesterday, uttered untruths about his election results, and was combative when asked about about his campaign’s contact with Russia. He also contradicted himself over the sacking of senior adviser Mike…