Andrew Marr comes clean

About time. I touched on this in 2008 and discussed his inconsistency in 2009. Yes, our interest is prurient - "we know-what-you've-been dooo-ing" - but he suddenly refused to be paid in his own coin. Now he should be in a stronger position to deal with oblique threats from deranged Campbell types.

Why didn't Ian Hislop blow the gaffe before? For all his moral judginess, Hislop was reportedly chosen as a safe pair of hands by those who had got to the age where they needed Private Eye to be their pension fund. In his heyday, Ingrams would have gone for the story and blow the consequences. By the way, how many people were interviewed for the PE editorship when Ingrams stood down? Can't wait for an in-depth on that story.

Still, prudence is the better part of valour. The former editor of Spiked magazine met with a fatal accident in Cyprus shortly after an edition of his publication that included explosive allegations about a then Tory cabinet minister's private activities in a North African hotel.

Mind how you go.

Banks still under pressure?

The banks are supposed to get lending again, and simultaneously rebuild their cash reserves. But Bank of England statistics show that reserves are actually falling, instead.

Figures for last month show that year-on-year, notes and coins in circulation increased by nearly 4%, but reserves held in bank accounts dropped by over 11%.

I reproduce the BoE's table below (interesting that they present it in a bashful pale grey on white - the visual equivalent of the civil servant's polite, embarrassed cough?) - click to enlarge.

INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE: None. Still in cash, and missing all those day-trading opportunities.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog.

In a nutshell

You can get a headache thinking about inflation and deflation - but either way you stand to end up broke. Either you'll be rolling in worthless money or you won't have any money.

James Kunstler

New site launch: Orphans of Liberty

A new site is starting today, run by a (mostly) right of centre blogging collective. Give it a go: Orphans of Liberty.

Will the government really help us against inflation?

Inflation-proof, government-backed savings will soon be back on sale - or will they?

On 19 July 2010, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) abruptly withdrew Index-Linked Savings Certificates from general offer to the public - for the first time ever. These plans were launched in 1975 and were originally available only to pensioners, at a time of high inflation (24.2% for that year).

Yet last July, inflation was only running at 3.1%, so why stop the offer at that time? The Bank of England base rate was at an historic low of 0.5%, therefore inflation was comparatively 6 times higher; but the difference in numerical terms was only 2.6%. In 1975, the BoE rate varied from 9.75% to 12%, with RPI running at more than double that and the rate difference was over 12%.

One reason for the NS&I hiatus will have been the emergency general review of Government borrowing requirements following the General Election. But another may be the kitten-weak condition of the banks, which are trying to fulfil two contrary directives, namely, to lend money again and also to rebuild their cash reserves. Perhaps they are to be spared too much competition. The anticipated rush for NS&I index-linked plans is such that they have set up an email alert system. When offered, the new certificates could sell embarrassingly fast and draw the public's attention to the Government's suspected inability to address worries about growing inflationary pressures.

But how much, exactly, are they going to offer, and when? Like many others, I misunderstood the Press (e.g. the Guardian) as saying that £2 billion would be on sale; but NS&I's release (23.03.2011) merely states that the target for the total funds they manage, spread over all their products, is an increase of £2 billion, which will "allow NS&I to plan the re-introduction of Index-linked Savings Certificates for general sale in due course. Subject to market conditions, NS&I expects to be bringing Savings Certificates back on general sale in 2011/12."

"... in due course", "... subject to market conditions"; one could hardly call that a blast on the post-horn.

Going back to the Government's own Budget plan as stated in the "Red Book" (Annex B, page 90), the guidance is merely that "National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is expected to make a contribution to net finance of £2 billion", without even a hint that any of this must be from inflation-linked plans.

By contrast, the same page sets a target of £38.4 billion of index-linked gilts. That sounds interesting, except most if not all of that may be taken up by institutions such as occupational pension funds in order to underpin their guarantees to retired members.

What about general savers? Few commercial outfits, if any, can offer guaranteed inflation-proofing and anything like 100% security, let alone exemption from income tax and CGT. This recent article from the Daily Mail details some options, but they are either taxable or risky.

So in some ways, even though inflation is still far from what it was in the mid-1970s, we may be worse off today. Theft by devaluation may have become official, if unstated policy.

INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE: None. Still in cash, and missing all those day-trading opportunities.DISCLAIMER: Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog.

Things I don't know about Libya

Who is the legitimate ruler, or what is the legitimate government, of Libya? Is is Gaddafi, or Zaid Hamid, or who?

Is there a legitimate government at all? If so, why has 40% of its ground forces been destroyed? If not, why has the situation not been resolved in 40 years?

How do we decide who should rule? Does any outsider have the right to decide?

Who(m) are we "helping"? In what way are they "better"? What will they do if they win?

At what point does the destruction of the "government's" forces constitute an attempt at "regime change"? Is this legitimate, or not (there seems to have been considerable wobbling about this in HM Government recently)?

Is this whole thing like Italy's (Mussolini's) campaign in Ethiopia in the 1930s?

Should the UK have declared war on Mussolini as soon as we perceived that he was a ruthless dictator?

What happens if we stop now?

What happens if we don't stop?

How do other African and Arab nations view our actions?

Is this going to imperil us at home?

How did these Arab rebellions really start? Did Western secret services have anything to do with it?

When will we get some in-depth, non-partisan discussion on the mainstream media about these issues?

When will I get my State Pension?

What with women's State Pension Age rising from 60 to 65 in stages, and proposed further deferments for both sexes, you may be confused about when you're actually going to get your State Pension.

Click here for the calculator from the Pensions Advisory Service and find the answer! They work in conjunction with the DWP so it should be right.

Please note that legislative changes may change the answer so check again when you hear further news on this topic.

I have also placed this link in the right-hand sidebar under "Other helpful sites".

INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE: None. Still in cash, and missing all those day-trading opportunities.DISCLAIMER: Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog.