Twenty years after the start of the collapse of communism, one has to wonder what Karl Marx might think as the spectre of nationalisation of the UK banking system gets closer and giants like RBS are down to 10p a share at one point. You can follow your favourite ones here and even get alerts http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/prices/
For one firm’s weekly view on life, the financial universe and everything that will fit onto two pages, I do enjoy the Williams do Broe newsletter out of the many that get sent my way http://www.wdebroe.com/OurLiterature.aspx
Thanks again to the Fool website for a survey showing what Brits refuse to live without in a recession http://www.fool.co.uk/news/money-saving-tips/shopping/2009/01/16/refuse-to-lose-these-five-luxuries.aspx?source=uemfoleml0010038 where one must have or must keep, is chocolate. The site has lots of good stuff but I still get confused after seeing the two founders doing some brilliant marketing on Bloomberg TV some years ago, making the observation that advisers taking commission was rather like doctors being remunerated by drugs companies. Fair comment, but the links to the various provider sites through their own website are presumably there to generate income? If I recommend a product and get paid a commission that is bad, biased or unprofessional, but if a provider pays them for putting business their way, what is that called???
On a happier note and via Friends Reunited, The Green Man in Cambridge http://www.thegreenmantrumpington.com/ is the scene for a reunion of six former primary school pupils and one teacher. Now in his eighties, the latter has published several books and has six on the go currently including two children’s stories. With my brother and youngest daughter in teaching, I have to wonder what they would think of my former headmaster’s practice where school inspectors was concerned. He always insisted that they have a drink before beginning their rounds! It all makes life these days seem a bit serious and educational standards were certainly higher then…..
Interesting that President Obama chose to use the Lincoln Bible which is kept in the Library of Congress for his inaugural oath. George Washington and several other presidents took their oath on on the Bible used by the local St John’s freemasons’ lodge. Many of the leading protagonists in the War of Independence were masons and this shortened the war considerably. The room where the Treaty of Paris was signed which ended the American War of Independence, is in the Lansdowne Club London as mentioned in a previous blog http://www.georgeemsden.co.uk/2007/10/the-pitts-and-the-craft/
One surprise at BRX Bond Street www.brxbondstreet.co.uk is from Gavin Morton-Holmes of http://www.destinyplc.com/flash/#/home/intro/ Their smart pens enable people out in the field to get handwritten information back to the office via their mobile phone. Invoices for example, can be sent out more quickly rather than the people concerned schlepping back to the office. A company with 30 reps on the road, calculated that this would save them 75,000 miles a year and allow the reps concerned more time with their families not to mention some useful publicity for the company with the carbon footprint saving.
Continuing my July travels for my daughter’s wedding, the Monday after it is time to visit a distant relative in Milano where he is deputy bureau chief for a news agency. The hotel manager kindly points out that the train is very easy and quicker than driving. A return fare of €7 and a journey of 40 minutes take me to the station and he is there to meet me reading a pile of business data. The Italians seem to have life/work balance worked out. A typical example is where colleagues unwind with a glass of wine after work. Interest rate rises (this was July 2008) do not worry a lot of Italians as few have mortgages and when his possible move to London did not happen, he was not too worried.
Come Thursday, I am the last one in Calolziocorte and it is time to head north for southern Germany and visit a cousin who is a headmistress in Augsburg. But with her school term finishing Friday, there is a day to spare and a the chance to visit http://www.kehlsteinhaus.com/the Eagle’s Nest or Kehlsteinhaus Hitler’s retreat in the German Alps. After a long drive taking me through the Brenner pass, I finally find a quiet little hotel in a beautiful little village called Groeding in Austria. With all the build up to the wedding, this is the first time I can really relax and am quite happy to have an impromptu German lesson by watching The Graduate and You Only Live Twice both dubbed in German. Austria turns out to be the surprise of my holiday and is on my revisit list.
15 minutes drive after breakfast gets me to the Visitors’ Centre for the Eagle’s Nest but with a requested rendezvous time of 10 pm, I have the whole day to fill. Perhaps as a way of trying to shed some of the pounds I have put on in Italy, I decide to walk up to the Eagle’s Nest rather than be lazy and take a coach. It is a gloriously sunny day and with half a litre of water, I set off. People descending tell me that it is about an hour’s walk but going up takes two and half hours and I limp to the viewing platform dehydrated and wet, after having been rained on twice. The path follows the old road which must have been used by Mr Shicklgruber (Hitler’s father’s name) and his cronies. The view from the top is spectacular and my climb must have been a kilometre vertically. But with my feet aching so much, I am too tired to visit the museum and several crows happily soaring in the wind as it blows up the hillside add to the discomfort. Ironically, and in spite of the building cost of millions of Reichsmarks, Hitler hardly ever visited the place due to his fear of heights and claustrophobia. The lift doors at the end of a 165 m damp tunnel were polished to help him get over this.
Late evening and my cousin takes me for a slow walk around the beautiful town of Augsburg. A famous statue in the town is Jakob Fugger
sometimes known as Jakob the Rich has pride of place on a cobbled street and the eponymous bank is based there. History buffs who have ploughed through the three-volume history of The Crusades by Stephen Runciman, may recall that the Fuggers significantly financed the crusades. Many of my cousin’s charges are celebrating the end of term too so there are some places we avoid, but chatting over a pizza and couple of beers bring on 1 am far too quickly. No alarms are needed next morning with church bells at 7 am and earlier.
To be Continued.
In closing and in my favourite You Couldn’t Make It Up department, the words of Gordon Brown in 1992 can take us into the weekend “A weak currency arises from a weak economy, which in turn is the result of weak government”.