Alexander van Terheyden Blog

Julian Casablancas - Out Of The Blue

2009-11-15T18:42:00.001Z

Track Number 1 from Julian Casablancas Album. And in my honest opinion I think this is the best track by a long way. That's no disrespect to the other tracks - but this track is awesome. A sing-a-long-extravaganzar! So much better than all that manufactured Simon Cowell shite out there!

Frontlines: The Warning

2009-10-21T23:39:00.005+01:00

Below is a documentry on the financial crisis we have and still are experiencing - it goes through the history of how we got there from simple OTC Derivatives and watching them as they got more and more complicated. Following how the Regulators tried in vain to keep pace with the world of derivatives as they quickly evolved.

Worth watching in its entireity

Scary how Greed became the norm.

Julian Casablancas - "River of Brakelights"

2009-10-20T09:29:00.001+01:00

This is Julian Casablancas's next Single - Interesting an eclectic is the best way to mention this track - loud and fast - enjoying the vocals mixed with the indie electronic chaos with some great tempo.

Unfortunatly the album isn't out yet! Its been delayed to:

PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG will be released internationally on the following dates:

OCTOBER 30 – Australia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland

NOVEMBER 2 – Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom

NOVEMBER 3 – Canada, Spain, United States

NOVEMBER 4 – Brazil, Sweden

Not sure why the UK dosn't get it until November 2nd!

Look forward to more Sounds in the future.

The Banking Crisis how it is according to Max Keiser

2009-10-16T18:20:00.005+01:00

The Outspoken Max Keiser saying it how it is in this TV interview screened in the last 24hours.
Max Keiser comparing Goldman Sachs and the big banks to Terrorists - a highly amusing face off debate between Max Keiser and the Kid from Mad Comics all grown up.

The kid doesn't stand a chance

I urge you to keep watching to Part 2 - amusing financial entertainment.

The DOW should not be 10,000 until this economy has recovered and it is a long way off from recovery. Take note.

Official Che Trailer HD

2009-10-06T00:15:00.001+01:00

So I finally got round to watching CHE - Part 1 and Part 2.

Benecio Del Toro does a wonderful job in his betrayal of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Soderbergh true to form just lets the wonderful cast just get on with it with his directing.

Part 1 was exceptional - Part 2 was very good just not as good as Part 1 however, when your telling the Story of his Cuban days in Part 1 and Bolivia days in Part 2 that is to be expected. Great Cinema - just shocked it took me so long to see this award winning film - go see if you haven't already done so!

Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension

2009-09-21T08:35:00.010+01:00

There haven't been many albums in 2009 that i've been excited about. But one is due out in less than a month that looks to finally hit the spot. Julian Casablancas's debut album, "Phrazes for the Young" will be released in the UK on October 19th and in the US on October 20th.

It might not be The Strokes but from what I've heard of it already it certainly has sounds that are very Strokes like with some an awesome Electronic Battle Weapon'esque feel to it.

First Single 11th Dimension:

Not sure if you missed it earlier this year - But Julian colaborated with the Awesome "The Lonely Island" made a song together called BOOMBOX - well it makes me smile everytime I hear it - so here it is once again.

Nice video I thought - not the official video - but certainly an amazing effort.

"Electro Education before Destruction".

The Power of One!

2009-08-10T11:03:00.001+01:00

Kid with no limits starts a dance party - watch til the end

Bernanke: Why are we still listening to this guy?

2009-08-03T23:33:00.001+01:00

You know - I like Bernanke - but its very clear that he got it all very wrong. I mean, at the end of the day he was just an economist (I would know One of his books got me through University). But economists generally have theories its not an exact science, but the reality is - this guy got it very very badly wrong! Observe the Video.

Ready for the Next Credit Crunch?

2009-07-31T16:42:00.007+01:00

Commercial Real Estate Ticking Time Bomb.

Commercial property has been a very popular asset class over the last decade. Investors who were spooked by the equity market dot-com crash were encouraged to invest in commercial property. Investors were encouraged to speculate on a form of "carry trade"- borrow at historic low interest rates and lease the property to take advantage of high rental yields and capital growth (a return on their principle). Add to the mixer, globalisation and the ability to move money globally for very little cost; this strategy presented very attractive opportunities.

The last 18 months has seen cheap financing dry up and the global economic recession has driven up vacancy rates. The well publicised collapse of the residential property market has masked the time bomb that is the commercial property market. The commercial property market has many parallels to the residential property market, including the mass securitisation of property loans (CMBS). With rising delinquency rates, there is potential for the securitised CMBS market to collapse like the residential MBS market. In recent times, there has been chatter from commercial real estate investors and banks that we may have another round of large losses due to this. The potential for losses have been estimated to around $200-300 billion for US banks, and European banks are heavily exposed also. With soaring delinquency rates across Europe and Asia, the potential for this market to cause havoc world-wide remains very strong.

The collapse of the residential property market, and draw strong parallels with the commercial market. If economies suffer a prolonged period of contraction, and delinquency rates continue to rise, we may see panic in the CMBS markets. This will be a disastrous event, and could lead to another bout of strong credit contraction. With interest rates already at historic lows, there remains little in the central banks' armoury to deal with this.

Hints of a prolonged economic contraction will signal danger, and a collapse of the commercial property and CMBS markets may lead us into a period of economic depression- as a worst case scenario. Commercial property recovery takes many years, maybe decades (take the Japanese example- commercial property prices are still at 45% to their early 1990s peak).

This will send Equity Markets down past the March lows - unavoidable if a Depression comes about and with USA GDP down a further 1% in this last quarter its not long before Depression comes true (GDP contracting by more than 10%).

Evidence for this was sourced from FUTEX and other sensible comentators.

Does the above look good to you!?

Overbought would be an understatement

2009-07-28T09:07:00.008+01:00

As we all know we are currently in a Global recession. Unemployment is increasing at a staggering rate throughout the world at a staggering pace, this rate is only made worse as companies look to cut their operating costs to keep their shareholders happy. It seems in this day and age if a company is seen to be sacking, reducing staff costs and spending less with its suppliers then the shareholders who are generally pension funds, big banks and those private investors still in jobs are happy. What they don't seem to realise is this cost cutting is having a knock on effect to an already bad situation in the economy. With less people in work, fewer people are spending and those in work are certainly cutting back on their consumption due to the fear factor that it could be them up next to the chopping board. So this in turn has a multiplier effect which knocks onto the whole economy - shareholders may feel slightly more flush because in the short term a company has been seen to cut costs so its share price might rise but in the long term without its customers spending money on its general business this business and all businesses will suffer further. Effectively leading the so called "V" shaped recovery into at best a "W" shaped recovery but at worse a huge depression which was last seen in the 1920's.

The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and all the other major world banks might think they have the tools to deal with the problems through Monetary Policy but the reality is as businesses cut back on their spending and begin to produce a lot less combined with the effect of governments devaluing every major currency huge inflationary pressure will be seen to be on the cards and with no end to the unemployment in sight worst case 1920's scenario's could be very likely. This in turn will be mirrored in share prices - causing a huge slump in share prices - probably breaching the March 2009 lows and heading lower.

Well that's my rant for the day - however - I thought I would draw your attention to an interesting note from Deutsche Bank yesterday:

Earnings
Make no mistake, this has been a very strong start to the US reporting season relative to EPS expectations seen as we entered reporting season. However we should put things in perspective. Q2 YoY growth was expected to be -11.3% on Jan 1st, -31.7% on April 1st and -35.5% on July 1st. With 184 companies having now reported the blended YoY growth rate stands at -31.0%, back to where expectations were when the quarter started in April and well below where expectations were at the start of the year. It would be interesting to know what the market reaction would have been on January 1st had people known the full extent of Q2's poor YoY earnings growth. YTD the S&P 500 is now up 8.42% with Stoxx600 +10.74%. Clearly the equity market is rightly looking at 2010 and the recovery, but it does seem that it is prepared to sweep a very bad 2009 under the carpet and naturally assume markets return to near normality in 2010. The table overleaf shows aggregated Q2 earnings so far in both the US and Europe.

Britain's long road to recovery as GDP fall continues - Times Online

2009-07-26T03:27:00.001+01:00

Britain's long road to recovery as GDP fall continues - Times Online

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End 'cruel' religious slaughter, say scientists

2009-06-22T13:53:00.011+01:00

End 'cruel' religious slaughter, say scientists

Beasts should be stunned before their throats are slit, Jews and Muslims are toldBy Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent at the Independent Newspaper

Monday, 22 June 2009

Meat Hygiene Service suggested 114 million animals were killed under halal and 2.1 million under kosher methods each year in Britain

Religious slaughter techniques practised by Jews and Muslims are cruel and should be ended, says a scientific assessment from the Government's animal welfare advisers.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council says that slitting the throats of the animals most commonly used for meat, chickens, without stunning, results in "significant pain and distress". The committee, which includes scientific, agricultural and veterinary experts, is calling for the Government to launch a debate with Muslim and Jewish communities to end the practice.

One Muslim organisation, the Halal Food Authority, already insists on the slaughterhouses it regulates stunning animals first on welfare grounds, as long as they are still alive when their throats are slit. But in other halal and almost all kosher slaughterhouses, animals have their throats slit without prior stunning which would render them insensible to the pain. Religious groups say that doing so would be against their interpretation of religious texts.

They are granted an exemption to the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995, which stipulates that creatures such as cows, goats and chickens be stunned first.

In a report into the slaughter of white meat, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (Fawc) said evidence suggested that chicken and turkeys were likely to be conscious for up to 20 seconds as blood seeped out of them. The animals are killed by a transverse incision across their neck, cutting skin, muscle, trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins and major nerves.

"Such a large cut will inevitably trigger sensory input to pain centres in the brain," the council said. "Our conclusions ... are that such an injury would result in significant pain and distress ... before insensibility supervenes. Fawc is in agreement with the prevailing scientific consensus that slaughter without pre-stunning causes pain and distress. On the basis that this is avoidable and in the interests of welfare, Fawc concludes that all birds should be pre-stunned before slaughter."

While recognising the difficulties of reconciling scientific findings with matters of faith, it urged the Government to "continue to engage with religious communities" to make progress. In a 2003 report on red meat, Fawc called for ministers to repeal the religious groups' legal opt-out.

The Shechita Council, which oversees kosher meat, was contacted but did not supply a comment. Massood Khawaja, president of the Halal Food Authority, insisted that its animals were stunned, unlike those regulated by another group, the Halal Monitoring Committee. "The Koran says use your brain, ponder about things and that's what we are doing," he said. "It's a question of animal welfare."

The Government no longer keeps statistics on religious slaughter, but five years ago, the Meat Hygiene Service suggested 114 million animals were killed under halal and 2.1 million under kosher methods each year in Britain.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it would not change its "long-standing policy of religious tolerance" by ending the opt-out. "And while the Government would prefer to see all animals stunned before slaughter, we will continue to ensure that required standards of animal welfare are effectively monitored and enforced in all slaughterhouses," it said in a statement.

Last year, Lord Rooker , a minister in the department, called for meat slaughtered without stunning to be labelled for the public's benefit, since some cuts were considered unacceptable to eat, and sold back into the food chain.

The Government no longer keeps statistics on religious slaughter, but five years ago the Meat Hygiene Service suggested 114 million were killed under halal and 2.1 million under kosher methods each year.

Last night, the vegetarian organisation Viva!, Tom Lane, said: “How many times does the Government's own advisory committe on animal welfare have to ask for a ban on slaughter without pre-stunning before action is taken? Viva! embraces multiculturlism and all religious faiths, but the suffering of these animals is so extreme that a line has to be drawn somewhere.”

The Chaser's WOE: 9/11 Poll, S2 E41

2009-06-15T02:27:00.001+01:00

Had to be shared - funny Chasers Clip

Scott Purves Punts Down the River Cam on a sunny day in Cambridge

2009-05-31T03:59:00.001+01:00

just a video of Scott

Dead Man Walking

2009-04-23T19:08:00.004+01:00

I wonder if any parliamentarian mutters the words “Dead Man Walking” every time they see Gordon Brown walking down the halls of Westminster! I’m guessing it was said many times yesterday as he walked in to the House of Commons ahead of Alistair Darlings very disappointing budget speech that cost everyone even more money.

The Bookies had put odds of 250/1 on the budget that Gordon Brown would kiss Darling after he had completed his Budget Speech – they were right – no kiss was witnessed, but then again I can’t really imagine Brown to be the kissing type. However, if I was a Bookie I would be able to offer odds of 250/1 that Brown would be Prime minister come the next parliament – the man thankfully is now officially Dead Man Walking! The only unfortunate thing about this – his execution probably won’t come until May 2010 – so we are stuck with this sour miscible old man who lies through his teeth again and again and keeps himself surrounded by politicians that President Mugabe could easily relate to if he were in UK politics (Jacqui Smith).

David Cameron once again looked like the leader in waiting when he gave his summary of Darlings Budget and Browns failed Government. If you didn’t catch it – watch it here:

Darling announced an abysmal excuse for a Green Policy in yesterday’s budget that you could scrap your car if it was 10years old or older and get £2000 contribution towards a new car. How can Labour claim to have any green credentials when it’s endorsing a throw away society once again? Cars need not be scrapped once they are 10 years old! With proper maintenance and care a car can last many decades – but Labour is so concerned about saving a French/German/Japanese car industry that it believes it is better to scrap old cars and get new cars back on the road massaging stimulus into the suffering foreign car industry! A shocking Brown/Darling initiative that couldn’t be further away from a Green Environmental move. Where was the spending on Green Initiatives – anything mentioned was feeble and pathetic!

Thank you Brown, you have flushed our Economy down the toilet. Dead Man Walking!

McCruelty

2009-04-23T02:09:00.007+01:00

There's a Global Recession taking place and many companies are suffering with reduced profits. However, because the world is populated by idiots there is one company that is bucking the trend and its cheap and so called cheerful food is selling like Hot Cakes (well in their case French Fries & Hamburgers)!

McDonalds continues to make abnormal profits in every region of the world!

All because people are either getting dumber or they feel they must downgrade their eating out experience in a recession and eat Happy Meals every time they go out! Why?

McDonalds is everything that is wrong about this world and here is today's Video of the Day illustrating just how Crap McDonalds is.

You have a Choice - Don't Eat there!

Let's Say no to Dumb Fat Fast Food & Hello to a No Cruelty World and a tanking share price!

Religion can take a walk

2009-04-17T00:59:00.008+01:00

I’ve often said the world would be a better place without Religion. And I still believe this. There would be no global fight against Terror as people would have no God to fight for. If they want to fight for land and women so be it – but at least they wouldn’t be fighting in the name of some Ideal that no one can prove exists.

The Frail and the Old are often comforted by the Idea of God, as God allows us the ability to believe there is an after life and that ones miserable existence in the hot barren desert is just preparation before being in Heaven surrounded by Virgin after Virgin. If there is such a place – I feel sorry for all those Virgins that have to commit themselves to some dodgy smelly sand dwelling Bearded Terrorist that probably has the Sexual Know How of a Blind Impotent Repressed School Boy. Could God really be so kind to the “Allah” shouting fools and so unkind to the ‘Virgins’? Will St Peter really greet us at the Pearly White Gates and refuse entry to us because we don’t tick the right box on the religion we followed! Face it – its Bull shit! I could write a thesis on this and many that know me will know that I sometimes go on for hours about all the evidence suggesting The Jew, The Muslim, The Christian, The Mormon and so on are talking out of their arses if they think they are right. All I know is you don’t know because I don’t know and this thing you call Faith is just you betting on the right path just in case something awaits you when the lights go out.

Religion Sucks & those that want to see an end to Terror need to realise this. A Great Doc/Film I saw recently made by Bill Maher called “Religous” (that’s how its spelt) – illustrates through Comedy and his fantastic style of reporting once again just how ridiculous religion is. Watch it if your Religious and watch it if your only a little religious and watch it if you can’t stand religion as it might make you realise your no longer in the minority any more.

9/10 - will make you laugh and laugh

Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness – Soho Theatre

2009-04-14T01:31:00.007+01:00

This Review was published on Totally Theatre's Website 2 weeks ago - here it is for reference as play has now left London.

Gather round Ladies and Gentlemen and behold one of the strangest but at the same time compelling shows to hit London Theatre Land since Queen Victoria ruled the old Empire.

Written by Anthony Neilson the Scottish playwright who in recent years has been commonly associated with the "in-yer-face theatre" theatrical movement. Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness is no exception to the rule – set in 1881 the play reconstructs Edward Gant’s traveling show for the final time to the unsuspecting Soho Audience.

Striding forth and presenting what hides behind the red curtain is “Edward Gant”, a Opium fuelled adventurer, explorer, fighter and collector of stories who aims to bring us a freak show spectacular from the realms of the 19th Century about the “Amazing Feats of Loneliness” with his troupe of 3 actors who travel the country and quite possibly the world as they explore Gants worldly mystical stories through freaky sometimes grotesque re-enactment in comical circus fuelled fashion to such a degree that it has a Muppet Show quality. Just wait for the pimples to make an appearance on stage (don’t ask – you simply have to see this to believe it).

Without interval and at about 1hour 25mins the play bravely switches from circus freak show that isn’t scared of using innuendo to something just as surreal but more serious when the actors encounter the “Phantom of the Dry” whom appears only when an actor forgets ones lines (all part of the play of course). Speaking to a friend after the play it could be said that this part of the story though vivid, could potentially come across as confusing. But if you can get past the confusion of the surreal Teddy Bears who want an imaginary cup of tea its hard not to sit up and mentally engage in this production as the actors themselves appear to also engage with the audience on their new journey of loneliness far more effectively than the previous two staged stories about a girl with pearl pimples and a man, heart broken, through losing his love after she is stung by a wasp.

Edward Gant played by Simon Kunz is everything you would imagine a Victorian travelling showman looking the part in Top Hat and Tails rounded off the perfect look with slick Phileas Fogg Moustache, the mystical mans performance comes across as engaging and polished and should be commended, however the hardest work comes together by Sam Cox who plays the old army boy Jack Dearlove while at the same time pulling off a truly comedic performance as an Italian Cassanova “Salvatore Avaricci” who is drawn to the art of acquiring as much as possible while seeking mysterious love. The rest of the cast consisting of Paul Barnhill and Emma Handy round off the rest of the case with flare and likability enabling the audience to care for their plights no matter how strange.

Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness will be enjoyed if you can catch it in its brief run at the Soho theatre, as long as your not offended by 19th century humour, exploding pimples and bloody brain surgery all of which wouldn’t seem out of place on an episode of Little Britain – but unlike Little Britain this is actually good with solid acting performances, a script that will make you sit up and think and a set design thanks to Tom Scutt that takes you back to 19th century weirdness with school boy day dream intrigue. A fine piece of theatre that experiments and does things differently from the rest, just don’t take anyone who might be squeamish.

Actors’ performance 4 stars
Script 4 stars
Set/stage design 4 stars

4 stars

By Alexander van Terheyden

Generation Kill

2009-04-04T03:42:00.002+01:00

Thought I should just alert you to a TV Mini Series of high standard. I tend to only watch Film and generally stay well clear of what's on TV although I do have my weakness for Neighbours (a sad addiction I've had most of my life). However, in Early 2009 I discovered Generation Kill. Its just a 8 part mini series but of a serious high grade standard in terms of TV entertainment. If only every show was like this - you would never leave the house (just as well there's a lot of crap on TV then).

FX-TV is showing repeats if you missed it first time round or you can buy the Generation Kill DVD or you can just illegally download it. Whatever you do - I urge you to watch it. Apologies this tip is so late in the day - should of brought it to your attention months ago!

Daniel Hannan MEP: The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government

2009-03-28T11:56:00.001Z

Conservative MEP says to Gordon Brown what we have all been thinking! Gordon Brown's Days are numbered! After the G20 meet many will be calling for his head if they have sense.

British Government Releases more UFO Files - but is it enough?

2009-03-22T19:30:00.011Z

The UK Government has once again released a trickle of files in regards to its so called UFO investigations.

Those that know me, will know, that I’ve always had a belief that there is more out there than most of us have been made fully aware of. And I’m also of the belief due to infinite investigations with various sources that our Governments (especially the US Government) knows more than it’s so far prepared to reveal. For example why does the US Government still not admit or at least put its hand on its heart and deny reports that the US Air force Base that can be found in the Nevada desert known to many as Area 51 is home to reverse engineering of Alien Technology or that it actually exists?

Funny how anytime anyone mentions the word “Alien” people cringe because its been associated with Red Neck Nut Jobs – however when respectable Astronauts like Buzz Aldrin & Dr Edgar Mitchell have publicly come out to reveal they’ve had close encounters and are fully aware that the US Government & NASA are covering things up to the world shouldn’t we take the subject a little bit more seriously rather than associating it with crack pots and Sci-Fi Geeks?

AREA 51 Documentary worth watching (there are 5 parts – this is part 1):

Check Out today’s BBC News for the March release of investigations:
BBC Website Link

I have to admit this Month’s release of information isn’t as impressive as previous months (the previous month had the MOD admitting they had fired upon UFOs in British Airspace) but nonetheless it does seem to be a step in the right direction and almost another step closer to preparing the human race for a hard hitting revelation that we are not alone – if they bombard us with enough information at a steady pace then a sudden revelation that others are out there won’t come as such a shock to the Zombie Masses. Even the pope admitted recently that it was acceptable to believe in Aliens - a huge and significant revelation from the Catholic Church http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24598508/ - are they trying to prepare their followers for something?

The Russians, French and a few other major Governments of the world have publicly come out and released files on the subject matter which they don’t fully understand – it was helpful when the Cold war ended and files in Moscow went walkabouts – people who had been exposed to secrets were able to sell secrets for money – well some interesting secrets came out (Google Russian UFO Files and you will find a lot of information) http://www.ufocasebook.com/russia1969.html.

So why does the US Government & the UK Government continue to hide all they know despite the fact that the UK government is dripping out a few files here and there? Well some would argue it’s because they know as much as you and I but I think we would really have to be kidding ourselves to believe this is the case. The logical reason would be if our Governments admitted to being in contact with other civilisations or in possession of crashed Alien Craft then it would have to release this information to the entire world – this would be the biggest truth since discovering the New World and realising the world wasn’t flat. And in releasing this information to the whole world you then have the problem of revealing to your enemies that you have technology or contact that they couldn’t even imagine or dream of. The sods law of the situation could be in the fact that all major governments could be in contact or aware of the phenomenon but each government chooses to hold its cards as close to its chest as possible. The reality though is only a few privileged nations have had significant contact or discoveries by having recovered wreckage from mishaps that could be written very nicely into a Hollywood movie script. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident

Unidentified Flying Object is simply that an object that is flying through the air that can’t be identified. The truth is most sightings can easily be explained but the scary thing is our airspace is often being invaded by objects of various shapes and sizes that simply can’t be explained – if trained RAF Pilots and astronauts have seen craft that can’t be explained surely then as I said earlier we must take this seriously. I imagine they mean us no harm but shouldn’t we have the right to know what is entering our air space on a daily basis?

David Cameron has promised he will reveal all should he discover secrets once his government is elected in the next election http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7854018.stm - i’d like to think this is true but will he been given access to this information straight away should he become Primeminister. Many believe there are organisations in government that are above government to protect these secrets. Does Obama know all the secrets yet? Probably not – I would imagine its on a need to know basis. It’s also believe NASA knows more than most inside – several NASA tapes illustrate some amazing footage but also illustrate how NASA continues to hide important evidence from its own citizens who pay NASA taxes and the people of earth.

What I love about the above video is how the NASA Astronauts go silent on the channel the public can listen to as they switch to secure channel to obviously discuss all the UFO’s flying behind the Broken Teather. Video Shows how the Craft are of 2-3miles in size! How do you know the craft are at least 2-3miles in diameter? Well the Teather is at least 70-100miles away and stretches out in length of 30miles so when a craft goes behind the teather it's fairly easy to calculate how big these craft really are! Motherships maybe or space dust which is the official NASA explanation!

More footage:

UFO Being Fired upon from Earth – do we already have missile defence in place?

Don’t discount this subject matter like so many I know do. Look to the skies and look for the truth and some revealing discoveries will be made.

US Unemployment Claimants

2009-03-19T13:02:00.005Z

Those following the dire economic situation around the globe seem to have recently disconnected them selves from what every Claimant (Jobseeker) represents. Each Month for the seventh straight time, the United States Financial powers that be announce that 600,000+ more people are now looking for a job over the last month, the worst performance since 1982.

The number of people collecting U.S. jobless benefits swelled to a record 5.47 million, indicating employees, once fired, aren't finding other work as companies cut costs.

Yet the stock market shrugs and doesn’t recognise that each digit in these figures is a real person! There are over 5million in the USA claiming benefits and yet the US Stock Market thinks prices are low and now is a good opportunity to buy! Over half the companies listed on the DOW Jones 30 Index and the S&P 500 are overvalued – why would anyone be buying into the market at these levels?

The Financial institutions globally with their excessive risk taking have screwed the global economy over and yet many of the same flock are deciding the US stock market should be bought once again. In my opinion the market hasn’t seen the lows it deserves. Currently the S&P is at 800 and the DOW is at 7555 – these markets have rallied 20% off their recent lows in just fewer than 2 weeks – a phenomenal bear market – something which hasn’t been seen since the 1930’s. However, that is exactly what it is – a bear market rally – get ready for the market to factor in the large unemployment numbers and to resume the sell off until levels of fair value are reached.

Generation Fat

2009-03-16T11:56:00.005Z

I’ve seen a lot of the UK in the last month – from the Highlands of Scotland to the Rolling littered fields of Sothern England. And with this UK tour I have noticed something very worrying. So worrying in fact I can now completely understand why our hospitals are full too capacity and our productivity as workers is at an all time low. Everyone in the UK is FAT!

I’ve been privileged enough to be sheltered from Generation Fat by spending the majority of the last 10years in Central London Zone 1 – hanging out with the Fashionista’s and skinny Coked up Rock n Rolla’s of Shoreditch to the Skinny Catwalk Models that frequent the Members clubs in Mayfair. So I have to admit I rarely see that many fat people. Hard to look good in skinny jeans and tight ripped t-shirts if you’re carrying pies around your waist.

On my recent tour of the UK having chosen spending British Pounds rather than heading off overseas to get too few US Dollars or Euros I was confronted by Middle England and their domestic bliss of piling on the calories. How has an entire generation of people managed to let them selves go so badly? Has TV really become so good that these people never leave their sofas anymore? Do people cook for themselves anymore or is breakfast, lunch and dinner now solely confined to the fast food chains on every bland high street that now looks identical to the next?

Adding more tax to chocolate and confectionary may help but the reality is the general grazing culture of eating crap food and lots of it needs to change. If this doesn’t change the UK has a fine chance of overtaking the USA in the fat league tables – do we really want that crown?

Let me know your thoughts on this and whether you are happy to let Generation Fat take over.

Who was dumb enough to vote for Gordon Brown?

2009-03-10T01:39:00.007Z

Today I got a letter from Gordon Brown in regards to a Petition I had signed on the Number 10 Downing Street Website.

Granted, I didn’t make up the petition – but I signed it because the person who had created the petition meant well with their action to start the Petition.

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ask the Chinese Government to look into the barbaric treatment of animals for Fur.”

Details of Petition:

“Recently I come across a link revealing the horrific treatment to animals for there fur. The terrified animals were battered to death some were still alive & skinned left living for up to 10 minutes. This video haunts me how can the Chinese people do such horrific things. Please sign in a bid to try & get it stopped.”

Yes lamely worded – but it’s hard not to sign up to this. Check out the new video from PETA which features Ricky Gervais & Pink Highlighting the impact of being skinned alive on Crocodiles and Rabbits!

Nicely highlighted by Gervais I think - certainly more effort than any politician as of late.

Want to see what lovely Gordon Brown’s Response was?

“We share the view that fur farming is unacceptable. That is why we have banned this practice in the UK.
Farming any animal solely or primarily for its fur was banned in England and Wales by the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000, in Scotland by the Fur Farming (Prohibition) (Scotland) Act 2002 and in Northern Ireland by the Fur Farming (Prohibition) (Northern Ireland) Order 2002. There are no longer any registered fur farmers operating in the UK.

Unfortunately there is little we can do to prevent other countries from farming animals for their fur. While we cannot intervene directly in Chinese legislation however, we have taken every opportunity to put across the views of the UK government and public opinion. We continue to work closely with other countries to promote the conservation of the world’s wildlife through our membership of international agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)."

What a TWAT! Brown or the Labour Government has never publicly complained to the Chinese about the fur trade or the mistreatment of animals – not once! The guy isn’t really addressing the issue here – but then again if he did address the issue – who would buy all our government bonds? Our Economy would fall through the floor in the debt it is drowning in if the Chinese weren’t buying up our debt. So in 2009 our dire economy gets in the way of Animal Rights - Brown knows he would be shooting himself in the foot once again if he made comments on Chinese torture of animals and trade in fur. A coward – yes! A man who has had 12 years managing our economy who has now flushed the UK down the toilet – YES!

But you know there are some people in the UK who still don’t know how vain this one eyed power hungry gormless cock really is because Brown and his PR imbeciles have successfully flushed £188 million down the toilet because in 2008 the Labour Government spent that much on television advertising telling us what to do and how great they are! But people can’t buy his crap for much longer surely!

If you saw tonight’s Dispatches on Channel 4 you would have been shocked at how much money has been wasted by the incompetent Labour Government. Makes any sane person want to declare war on this government at how they have squandered this nations cash with very little to show for it apart from rising violence, social unrest and the worst economy that has been seen in since plague afflicted old Blighty!

“Gordon Brown!” I am counting down the days when you get booted out and kicked hard up the Colon by the British Public so hard it hurts like there is no tomorrow. The clock is ticking and I like so many others are counting down the minutes – so prepare for our wrath!

Support the Sea Shepherd Stop the Japanese Death Boats

2009-02-27T00:19:00.007Z

Those that have spent much time with me will know of my rants against those that are committed to Whaling, the fur Trade & general parasitic killing of every species on this planet.

I've mentioned the Sea Shepherd many times before - but I stumbled upon a show that was recently on Animal Planet. Whale Wars follows the Sea Shepherd as it takes a stand against the Japanese.

If you're feeling charitable please donate to the warriors of the sea as unlike most people on this planet they give a shit and will never back down from a fight when it comes to saving the planets most endangered species.

More details can be found at: http://www.seashepherd.org/

I hope before the decade is out the seas killers get what they deserve and all whaling, dolphin and shark slaughter is made illegal.