So I’m hearing the Tories won in the UK, eh?
We can now say our final good-bye to the British higher education and scholarship.
I wanted Labour to win the election because they were promising to crack down on the Russian bandits who live in the UK but use numerous tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes on their dirty gangster money. The UK has long been a paradise for every bit of FSU garbage that wanted to come over and enjoy crime proceeds freely. I was hoping somebody would finally do something about it but no such luck.
Clarissa's Blog 
No the Tories haven’t won – there was an exit poll which predicted that they would win, but only two results are in so far – with 2 labour MP’s being elected in Sunderland, which is a staunchly Labour industrial area. We’ll not have the final result for a few hours yet.
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Possibly not for a few days if it goes to messing around with wotnames, consortiums, no, coalitions, whatever the Nick and Dave show was.
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Of course the poll got out in time to affect North American forex trading, so some traders managed to earn their crust today …
But then again, that outcome was a foregone conclusion anyway. 🙂
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Well, at least now Scotland won’t be allowed to hold another referendum anytime soon about seceding from the UK. How the Brits will vote on whether to leave the EU is another matter…
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How do you conclude that? The people of Scotland will decide when they next wish to hold such a referendum and no one has the right, morally or legally, to stop them. You may also note that of the 59 MPs that Scotland may send to the Westminster Parliament, 56 seats are now held by the Scottish National Party. And Clarissa, sadly there is no evidence or reason to believe that such a promise would be kept by the Labour Party
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Especially since Ed Miliband delivered his “exit stage left” speech a while ago — Labour can claim that pre-election promises don’t apply because the people who made them didn’t regain their seats …
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“And Clarissa, sadly there is no evidence or reason to believe that such a promise would be kept by the Labour Party”
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I don’t follow British politics closely enough to have an informed opinion….. but when has that ever stopped me before?
Apparently the Tories pulled off some kind of win over the now virtually indistinguishable Labo(u)r Party. I long since lost any ability to distinguish them in terms of real policy and I assume the eurocrat class will maintain its hold on power.
At some level I’m sure you realize that Labo(u)r promises to crack down on filthy Russian thugs investing their blood money in the UK would never, never, never happen. It’s a beautiful dream but too many influential interests are dependent on a constant inflow of tainted lucre (not just from Russia) to keep the wheels of the city going.
The transformation from production to service to speculation is pretty much complete in the UK and speculators can’t afford to look too closely at where the money they’re juggling comes from.
The Scottish Nationalist Party had a huge, huge, HUGE win but don’t get too upset, a little reading suggested that voting SNP is a way for the Scotch to certify their fierce independence leanings now that the prospect of real independence is safely gone (there are probably similarities with Quebec and Catalonia).
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City traders right now are thinking that GBP/USD wide cross variations are making it relatively easy to earn some fast money, provided you get out from under the inevitable corrections …
In general, they’re not thinking too much about Russian plutocrats who hide out in London — there’s more than enough scum that float to the top to warrant a permanent presence from the FCA.
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“In general, they’re not thinking too much about Russian plutocrats who hide out in London”
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One instructive way to look at London is to look at the Google Maps view of London with the Transport for London and Network Rail lines overlaid onto it …
In the far reaches of North London, the Piccadilly Line’s end at Cockfosters pretty much marks the end of urbanised London. You’ll see similar things with the other Tube lines, although in places it’s the Network Rail line ends that mark the start of the countryside.
A few cheap seats existed in N8, N15, and N17, for example, but risk-oblivious people have driven prices up in those areas as well, despite a recent history of ugly riots …
Land has more or less in-filled with housing and industrial estates, which means there isn’t much more on the horizon that’s within practical reach by TfL or local trains. That will change with the Crossrail developments — already the area around Canary Wharf and Docklands in general looks like it will be gaining a number of new housing and retail developments, of which the latter will benefit the surrounding area as well.
Keep in mind that Greater London has a population of roughly 8.5 million people in an area that’s thirteen times smaller than that of urbanised Atlanta, which for its area has half of Greater London’s population. (I don’t use Atlanta as a random example — of any of the American cities I’ve experienced, it’s Atlanta that reminds me the most of London, in particular a version of London with very limited public transport that went absolutely mad with road building and spreading out in every imaginable direction.)
You don’t need Russian oligarchs to drive up the prices of homes in London — that’s mostly limited to Belgravia for the posh and the City for the connected.
Density, intensity, and scarcity will suffice more than adequately everywhere else.
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“You don’t need Russian oligarchs to drive up the prices of homes in London — that’s mostly limited to Belgravia for the posh and the City for the connected.”
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Same where I live. There are 14 condo towers being built just east of me including one 66 story monster. Most of the condo units will be left empty as they are investment properties for foreign money.
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OOH OOH OOOOOH I KNOW HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME …
This “Ain’t It Awful” game needs a set of rules — I’ll start with my usual method …
You might be a Russian Oligarch in London if:
— All of your City accounts are unnumbered
— You don’t have money in your money belt, you have folded-up certificates of credit
— The Financial Conduct Authority has your solicitor on speed dial
— You’ve been trying to get your own Tube line built so you can have naming rights
— You secretly own the Victoria Line and Transport for London pays you rent
— Nobody at Coutts has heard of you, including your personal banker who met with you earlier today
🙂
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“At some level I’m sure you realize that Labo(u)r promises to crack down on filthy Russian thugs investing their blood money in the UK would never, never, never happen. It’s a beautiful dream but too many influential interests are dependent on a constant inflow of tainted lucre (not just from Russia) to keep the wheels of the city going.”
“The Scottish Nationalist Party had a huge, huge, HUGE win but don’t get too upset, a little reading suggested that voting SNP is a way for the Scotch to certify their fierce independence leanings now that the prospect of real independence is safely gone (there are probably similarities with Quebec and Catalonia).”
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On a positive note:
After 43 years of Alberta conservative governance, the NDP (socialist party) won a majority in the election this week. This is a big deal. It would be the same in the states as if Bernie Sanders won Texas. I think that part of the reason is the emergence of a new more right wing party, Wildrose, in 2012 which won 21 seats for itself from the right flank of the Conservative Party and also split the conservative vote in other ridings leading to a majority (53 seats) for the NDP.
This will certainly have an effect on the Alberta Tar sands project as well as the Keystone XL pipeline project through the states. The Conservative party got 10 seats and the Liberals only one. In some ways, Alberta was a type of Petro state with the income from oil paying for things like no sales tax and a flat personal income tax.
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Interesting …
Is the NDP actually more successful at gaining seats now that Layton is gone, or is this more from how Alberta managed to become a “mini-Russia” in how its economy is dominated by energy revenue?
Anyway, Keystone XL won’t happen during the Obama government — the tactic being used is “blocking by delaying” so a future government has to make the decision instead.
We call this kind of politics “kicking the can”, and to an extent everyone does it …
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“After 43 years of Alberta conservative governance, the NDP (socialist party) won a majority in the election this week. This is a big deal.”
“In some ways, Alberta was a type of Petro state with the income from oil paying for things like no sales tax and a flat personal income tax.”
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Ok so I have to admit now that the bastard tories have won, but I refuse to give them an upper-case T!
Cliff Arroyo may be more or less correct about the Scottish Nationalist vote, although their leader, Nicola Sturgon worked came across very well in the election campaign, she seemed very dynamic and forward looking, which must have helped her party’s vote a lot.
The Labour Party, on the other hand, have an unconvincing leader in Ed Milliband. Problem is the last time they had a convincing leader he led us straight into the Iraq war.
The problems we face now in the UK only begin with the instability this result creates in our the relationship with the rest of Europe – there are idiotic people in the UK who think this country is not in Europe! Where the hell do they think we are?
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“The Labour Party, on the other hand, have an unconvincing leader in Ed Milliband.”
“Problem is the last time they had a convincing leader he led us straight into the Iraq war.”
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‘Problem is the last time they had a convincing leader he led us straight into the Iraq war.’ We do indeed keep repenting that war. There was huge opposition to Blair’s intentions before the war even began, we had a mass demonstration against in London with estimated half million people participating, the biggest demo ever in the country. But he loved Bush so much…
Blair also went into Afghanistan hanging onto Dubya’s coat-tails, just like Iraq. Cameron claims to have led the UK out of Afghanistan, which may have just helped him electorally – he ‘brought our brave boys and girls home’ – but that was on the cards anyway before he even came to office. He’s no peace-maker, he was happy to bomb Libya and the tories in general are very enthusiastic about the UK arms industry.
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