Just when Gordon Brown thought that things could not get any worse, he has been hit with the news that the police will be launching a formal investigation into the ongoing funding crisis with has hit the Labour Party.  At a time when they are rumoured to be £20 million in debt and the polls are showing landslide support for the Conservatives this could not have come at a worse time.  The investigation will no doubt last for months, long into 2008 and possibly beyond – but will Gordon Brown be around to see the results?

The funding crisis has prompted a number of questions such as who knew about the rogue donations, why was this not flagged earlier and more importantly, if as Mr Brown stated only this week the donations were unlawful, why were the police not called in?  It took a complaint from the Liberal Democrat party to alert the police that a formal investigation was required.

Over the last couple of months we have seen the Northern Rock saga which has bled the tax payer dry to the tune of £20 billion plus, the loss of 2 disks contain the personal records of millions of families and now we have the revelation that illegal donations had been received – apparently knowingly – by the Labour Party.    While stating that the honeymoon is now well and truly over for Mr Brown, it is worth remembering that he has a fighting spirit and he has waited too long to give the post up without a fight.

While he was compared to Mr Bean in the commons this week, Mr Brown may well have the last laugh – do not write him off yet!

Posted: November 30th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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After a period of great unrest in Pakistan we are starting to see signs that the worst may be over, but hopes that everything will be back to normal in the short term appear a little optimistic.  The major news has been the decision of President Pervez Musharraf to give to give up his military service and return to civilian life as President of the country.  He has also declared that the state of emergence will be lifted on the 16th December, at which point the country can begin to return to normal.  So will this be enough to appease the public?

There is still greater anger in the country and many are pinning their hopes on the January elections which President Musharraf has claimed will be fair and democratic.  However there is much scepticism in the country with fears that the elections will not be carried out fairly, intimidation of voters and increased violence.  While it is hoped that the likes of Benazir Bhutto will stand against the President, there are grave concerns about the safety of leading candidates, especially those who decide to stand in the elections.

The recent change of heart by President Musharraf seems to have been prompted by the intervention of President George Bush, a man who holds much sway in the country and has also depended on them in his fight against terror.  There has been no official confirmation of talks between the two parties or even two countries, but behind the scenes phone lines have been hot for some time.

It will be interesting to see how the January elections pan out with many people convinced that they will not even happen.  What is clear is the fact that something does need to be done to bring law and order back to the country, a country that has been ruled by President Musharraf since his military coup on 1999.

Posted: November 30th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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A major security alert was today announced as security companies found tens of thousands of sites had been set up to try and coax people into opening the sites and allowing the hackers to install malicious software on their machines.  While the internet has seen many many such attempts it was the sheer scale of this attempt which has concerned many.  So what did they do?

The hackers had acquired tens of thousands of domain names and created a website on each, purely for indexing purposes.  They then chose a few popular keywords, including words which they could make a mark on such as “Christmas”, although they also chose a whole host of very common phrases, which would ensure the sites showed up on search engine enquiries.  They received a whole host of back links by adding thousands of comments onto a whole raft of blogs.  The back links would then insure that the sites were indexed for certain words.

The sites were programmed with a code which only enabled when Google was used, and would scan the IE software used by many to view the web, for security holes.  Once a hole was found they would then install malicious software to monitor, key presses, track and record sites visited and also allow the hackers to log onto your machine and take full control. 

Thankfully this attempt, which was from an array of sites registered in China, has been thwarted but many experts believe that online fraud is now moving onto a new level and it is imperative that all internet users ensure that their security patches and software are up to date.

Posted: November 29th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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While the case of British teacher Gillian Gibbons was supposed to have been nothing more than a storm in a tea cup, the situation has taken a turn for the worse over night.  She has been accused of inciting religious hatred by allowing her school pupils to name a teddy bear “Mohammed”.  This is seen as a major mark of disrespect and Mrs Gibbons faces a possible jail sentence, fine or 40 lashes.

The UK government have taken up the case and Mrs Gibbons was expected to be supported into today’s court case by members of the UK Embassy.  However, her trial has been held in private with only one of Mrs Gibbon’s defence team allowed to attend.  The UK government are furious that the situation has been allowed to develop and there were riots outside of the court this morning.  The case has been hijacked by a number of religious parties who are looking to stir up as much trouble as possible for the westerner.

There are now genuine concerns about the safety of Mrs Gibbons in a country where she has overnight become a symbol of the population’s hatred of the west.  It does however open up a very interesting debate about the appreciation of local cultures when living in foreign lands.  It seems that some cultures around the world expect visitors to appreciate their cultures, but when they are overseas they are often not as forthcoming with regard to the culture of the country they are in.  This is a situation which works both ways, and it will interesting to see how firm the UK government are, bearing in mind that when in a foreign land you should be ruled by the laws of that land.

The problem with this particular case seems to be the fact that the Sudanese authorities had indicated that the matter would not go to court.  While the court case is expected to be over either today or tomorrow, the severity of the situation has now increased substantially.  The UK authorities are keen to bring Mrs Gibbons home as there is real concern for her safety.

Posted: November 29th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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As George Bush approaches the final months of his reign as US President it seems as though he has ambitious plans to go out on a high, with peace in the Middle East high on the agenda.  Yesterdays historic meeting between Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given fresh hope that Palestine will one day soon be declared an official state.  But will the road be as smooth as the friendly photo shoot yesterday might suggest?

The Palestine v Israeli saga has been on going for many years and has been the reason for thousands of deaths in the region.  There are very few situations which have provoked so much controversy and differing of opinion than the refusal of Israel to recognise the state of Palestine.  This “war” has been ongoing for many many years and while the news yesterday was encouraging, the 12 month time scale to agree terms for a new State of Palestine seems very very ambitious by any standards.  So are they ready to talk for real?

The problem with this particular conflict is the mass of warring factions within each community, and the fact that Hamas have a major say in the running of Palestine.  Hamas were excluded from the meeting with Mr Bush and this is seen as a very poor starting point by many, with the former terrorist group expressing concerns that they were not involved.  This may well prompt a back lash from their supporters who could turn on their own leaders, with disastrous affect.

Is George Bush just looking for a big distraction to Iraq? Is he really serious about a Palestinian State after years of hardened support for Israel? Who knows, but the road to independence will surely be a winding one for the Palestinians.

Posted: November 28th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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Hot on the heels of the weekend news regarding “illegal” donations to the Labour Party, it now seems that there will be a formal investigation by the Police.  The whole saga revolves around the secret donations of Labour Party supporter David Abrahams and his alleged illegal use of representatives to mask the real name of the underlying donor.  Has this now got the whiff of the cash for peerages situation?

When you consider that the Labour Party are currently millions of pounds in debt, and they have now agreed to hand back upwards of £600,000 in donations, you will soon get a sense of how serious the situation is.  Even today we are seeing Gordon Brown’s colleagues trying to muddy the water yet further with suggestions that this goes back to the Tony Blair era – a blatant attempt to pass the buck yet again!

Despite the earlier resignation of Mr Watt, the Labour Party general secretary, the situation is set to flare up again with more news being fed to the media with regards to who knew about the money.  It seems as though a number of Ministers were approached about possible donations, but only Harriet Harman took Mr Abrahams up on this – although she claims she did not know that he was the real name behind the money.  When asked about the situation with regards to Ms Harman, Gordon Brown was said to be very dismissive and suggested reporters should ask her about the situation directly.

The government appears to be in a serious melt down situation with polls showing the Tories in excess of ten points ahead in the polls.  The prospect of a long drawn out Police investigation will also ensure that this affair goes on for months – something which looks set to drag Gordon Brown into the gutter.  Can he survive? How long before the knives are out? Is it a free for all, and every person look after themselves?

Interesting questions, but what is the truth?

Posted: November 28th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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As news that the much rumoured bail out of troubled financial group Northern Rock may be nearing the end game hits the streets, it seems that Alistair Darling may be moving ever closer to the end of the road.  The Northern Rock board have announced Richard Branson’s Virgin Group as the partner of choice to take the group forward and hopefully on to recovery.  So how will it work?

Virgin will take a major stake in the business in exchange for introducing a new and highly incentivised management team into the troubled Geordie giant.  As well as injecting further capital for a share stake, Virgin will also giving existing shareholders the chance to input further funds into the group via a deeply discounted rights issue at 25p per share, against a current price of around 100p.  But what about the massive debt liabilities?

The loan from the bank of England now exceeds £25 billion, and while Virgin have plans in place to repay £14 billion immediately, there is no firm plans with regards to the additional loan amount.  Will the tax payer foot the bill? Will Alistair Darling take the blame?

These are all questions which need to be answered as it looks ever more likely that the UK tax payer will lose out at some stage in what has been a messy and badly handled affair.  Governments were never meant to use public money in the free market, but this has happened and many are wondering if this increases the chances of it happening again in the future?

Posted: November 27th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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After taking his Scotland team to the brink of Euro 2008 there is up roar in Scotland after manager Alex McLeish announced that he is set to take the reigns at Premiership strugglers Birmingham City in a  move which may cost the midlands club up to £1 million in compensation.  So what happened and where does this leave Scottish football?

It seems that despite denials only last week that he was looking to leave the post for the Premiership, Alex McLeish has long harboured ambitions for arguably the best football league in the world.  It seems that while in South Africa for the World Cup draw Birmingham City had approached the SFA to ask for permission to speak to McLeish.  Initially this request was rejected and permission was not granted, however events seem to have taken a bizarre turn when McLeish left for “business” in London, only to fax over a one line letter of resignation a few hours later.

While there has been no official confirmation that McLeish is the new Birmingham City boss, the news is surely to follow.  McLeish left Scotland on a salary of about £350,000 a year with rumours that he has signed a £1 million a year rolling contract with the midland giants.  Can he succeed? Who will be the next Scotland boss?

These are questions on the lips of all football fans today as the Scottish game looks for its third national coach in less than 12 months – not exactly a sign of stability.  Then again the team have been doing very well, so who ever take on the role has a great starting position.

Posted: November 27th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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After entering government on a whiter than white ticket, Gordon Brown is under yet more pressure this morning with the shock resignation of Labour’s General Secretary Peter Watt.  His resignation revolves around £600,000 in party donations which came from property developer David Abrahams, under a host of different names – against funding regulations and laws.  Bizarrely the crime of donating to a political party via a third party (without disclosing this) carries the threat of an unlimited fine and potential jail term of up to 12 months.

The whole affair was blown open at the weekend after a Mail of Sunday reporter uncovered the situation, whereby over £200,000 of donations were made in the name of two of Mr Abrahams employees.  It now appears that the Labour Party knew where the money came from, but failed to disclose this in official paperwork.

After the cash for honours saga this is the last thing which the political scene needed and it has given the Tories more reason to attack Gordon Brown.  However, do not be surprised if the Tory onslaught is short lived because there is a chance that they may similar “skeletons” in the cupboard.  The whole subject of political donations is sure to come under the spot light again and there will no doubt be calls for tax payer funding of political parties – something which many tax payers are against, bearing in mind the disastrous financial track record of the political parties.

We will no doubt see Gordon Brown announce another white wash of an investigation by Labour Cronies, another promise to “come clean” and yet more promises for the future.  The truth is that the whole subject of political donations is a very murky subject, a world where everyone helps each other and legal lines often become blurred.

Posted: November 26th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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While a whole host of experts had predicted that the credit crunch would give the US (and worldwide economy) a short sharp shock, many are now coming around to the idea that the US is heading towards a full blown recession, and there is very little the authorities can do about it.  Like a large tanker, the economy is very difficult to steer and near impossible to turn around quickly.  So what exactly has gone wrong?

Even though the credit crunch brought home a number of home truths about the state of the US economy, personal debt and what was actually happening under the surface the extent of the problem has shocked many.  Personal debt in the US has never been higher, savings have never been lower (even though historically the US has always had high levels of personal savings) and the property market is starting to crumble.  The politicians are now running scared and trying to avert what could turn into a nightmare scenario, costing jobs, pushing people into bankruptcy and piling yet more debt on top of the US economy.

What are the prospects for the worldwide economy?

The problems in the US are set to spread around the world, with signs in the UK that the property market is already showing signs of weakness (although whether it will fall as far back as the US property market is debateable).  The US economy is the boiler room of the world and if the heat turns down then the big freeze will almost certainly spread to all areas of the developed world.

Even though we are seeing a worldwide reduction in interest rate it seems to be too little too late, and it is not just a case of financial issues, the confidence is draining out of the market.  Only when confidence returns to the markets will we stand a chance of any kind of recovery, until then the business pie will be getting smaller and smaller and the competition will be getting hard and harder.

Posted: November 26th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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