Iceland's president says he will not sign a bill to repay Britain the £2.3bn that was lost by British savers when one of the island's banks collapsed.
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson's decision means the legislation will now go to a national referendum. No date has been announced for the poll. British and Dutch savers were hit when the bank Icesave failed. The two governments moved to compensate their citizens and Iceland had in turn been due hand over the cash to Britain. The bill was passed by Iceland's parliament last month after weeks of heated debate. But 60,000 people - about a quarter of the country's electorate - have signed a petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be put to a referendum. Britain urged Iceland to meet its "obligations."
How nice to live in a country where the decision about bankrupting the country is actually made by the electorate, instead of some faceless bureaucrat in Parliament. The Icelandic Government want to repay the money to get Iceland into the EU as soon as possible, but the people of the country are resisting this move. British and Dutch institutions piled into the Icesave Bank to try and get higher returns, which in retrospect were never achievable. CAVEAT EMPTOR as my old Latin teacher would have said had I been bright enough to be taught Latin. They should tell us to PISS OFF!
31 comments:
Well Dubai told us to piss off ( £100Bn and rising ) so I suppose we can take another hit no probs.
I won't be buying any more of their tasty frozen burgers though. 20 for a pound.
DL this is going to get interesting. Who is Brown going to get to go blow them up? A sporran bomber? Tampon terrorist? What sneeky means have they thought up to get their patsies through with the gear now. Oh yeh forgot just march them through in broad daylight with a sharp suited handler.
Brown seized funds from the parent company of Icesave. What? did he fuck that up, too? Came out 2.3 bn short? Outmanouvred by a bunch of superannuated Vikings: could only be the gifted Broon.
'Hey, Maw, whit's fer denner?'
'Twenty burrrgers fer a pun', fae Iceland.'
From little acorns, giant oak trees grow. The Icelandic people have done a great service to democracy. They demanded the right to be consulted and their wise President listened. Hopefully, people in the UK will follow the Icelandic example and petition Queen Betty to refuse to sign any more stupid laws for which the government has no mandate.
I was always brought up to believe that things which sound to good to be true, generally are. Why should ordinary Icelandic taxpayers have to bail out greedy foreign investors? There is a saying: “The greater the risk, the greater the reward.” Put it another way, the greater the reward, the greater the risk. If a bank is paying 2% more than the next one, there has to be a reason, but the people who run this country think we are all as stupid as they are.
My council has lost £28 million in Iceland (plus about another £5 million) in interest payments, yet the then leader of the council (a former banker) says it was nothing to do with him even though all the reports went through his desk. He’s now standing for Parliament in the Blessed Maggie’s old seat.
Let’s have a revolution and Bjork can lead the charge!
@DCMD yep the muppets couldn't keep the lights on and old people heated in part of the borough either.
I'm posting up one Icelanders view on this malarky at my shop.
The gorgon decided to use UK taxpayers money to bail out all the greedy UK investors who wanted an extra 2% on their savings but ended up losing the lot. He didn't have to bail them out ( we were only obliged to cover £15K ) but he said we would get the money back from Iceland. Another piece of financial incompetence from Gorgon and his puppet darling.
Tabbers, That's where that Kerry Katona or whatever her name is that advertised Iceland, shops now. Cracking pair of boobs though. I've got a picture of them somewhere. Don't buy those cheap beefburgers, they're full of eyballs and ringpieces. Go for the deluxe quarter-pounder, much better value in the long run.
INCOMING!!!!!! The long and short of it is that he shouldn't have compensated anyone particularly councils who were caught out. Serves them right and mine's one of them!
Edgar, as I remember at the time he used terrorism legislation to get the money and the Icelanders were well pissed off. So, they've probably given Brown the two fingers now over this because I believe they are an honourable people. Well apart from the Vikings and the Cod War, but on the other hand that Bjork looks a bit of a handful.
Fred, I totally agree with you, that is why I posted the piece. That is how democracy should work, not the shite we've got. My Council got caught out as well for £25m or something, but they'll get slung out on their ear the next election.
Codpiece, I sincerley hope that is a bit of British cod you have in your piece, not that Icelandic shite. I was in the fishing industry until 20 years ago. In my day there was plenty of fish although we had had the war with Iceland 20 years before and they weren't in the EC. Now there is no fish in Britain and planes leave Iceland 3 times a week calling at Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester and London with fish fillets. How fucking stupid are we?
INCOMING!!!!!! When you stick it up at your shop, post a photo.
Banned, I seriously think it is a great exercise in democracy. Why didn't we have a vote to bail out some of our banks? While we're on the subject, what about a referndum on hanging for serial killers?
From the news story on the Icelanders plea to their President - they seemed to have got themselves together, informally, in family groups and made their way peacefully to stand in the freezing cold outside his residence and, in their hundreds, made their feelings known. There did not appear from the film to be any police presence as the Icelanders made their case directly to their President.
Just imagine what would happen if a large number of UK citizens and families approached Buckingham Palace to petition the Queen! I suspect there might be a considerable police presence and action involving all sorts of 'anti-terrorism' laws etc.? Dearie me!
On second thoughts lets invade "Terrorist State " Iceland and sell the population off as indentured servants to Araby until their debt is paid. Why not? It worked before.
DL, you make some good points but as usual you are hampered by your ignorance of history; a grasp of the basic underlying points would let you apply more logic and improve your arguments.
First of all, the Icelandic Government is responsible for the actions of its Banks and therefore is, in this case, liable to compensate British savers who lose money when they become insolvent. This isn’t always so but it is for these particular investments (deposit accounts) that were sold in the UK to smaller investors.
Also the problem was far bigger than you might imagine; Landesbanki (for one) was operating a factoring business in the UK; the legalities say that once you are in a factoring agreement all your receivables’ belong to the facility provider, the Bank of England never expected the Banks to go bust and so there is no provision in Law to take care of the situation when they do. We were faced with many UK companies going pop because their receivables were owned by the Administrators of the Icelandic Banks and they were disinclined to give them value for the assets. As you might guess this was just the tip of the iceberg and showed that McI and his crew really didn’t have clue what to do so they chucked money at the problem to make it go away.
Secondly, Local Authorities in the UK have a statutory duty to deposit liquid funds where they will get the highest rate of return; since the BCCI scandal (do you remember that one?) the Authorities have had to take into account the risk factors associated with investment including the credit worthiness of the institution.
What has gone wrong is that the safeguards put in place by McIdiot while he was Chancellor are too complicated and don’t work, there is no single body to carry the can when the s hits the fan.
The good old English taxpayer has coughed up to save McI’s face as usual.
Thirdly, look up the “Turkish Abductions of 1627” on the internet and you will find that your slavery plan has already been tried with some success; which of course is a good reason for doing it again.
My "baiting" isn't restricted to Jocks and any suggestion that it is can only be a racist slur - Expect to hear from my Lawyers at any time. A super injunction cannot be ruled out. Your sporan should tremble.
Clarinda, it just goes to show you what can happen in a small country which is much much more democratic than this one we have. We shove the British model of democracy down the throat of third world countries as if it is somke sort of shining beacon to the world because we have some sort of archaic opening of Parliament that the tourists enjoy. Makes me sick.
Banned, we shouldn't be contemplating slavery. It is a disgrace to the human race. Maybe we could get free fish for a decade or something.
Stouters, thanks for your extensive comment, but could I just make the following observations. Fistly the Government may or may not be resposible for the banks' losses but what I think the good burghers of Iceland are saying is fuck that for a game of Bankers, we want to go bankrupt, as is their choice. Why were they going to Icelandic banks for factoring, should the British banks not have been able to provide it and if not why not. I have run a company who used factoring and believe me it is a last resort to keep cashflow intact because no-one in their right mind would want to chuck their profits away to banks, particularly if they are working on a small margin. I remember BCCI well, but if the council have to take into account risk why were they investing outside of the country even if there was a 2% difference in rates. Also why then were not all councils investing in Iceland if the investment was so desiarable.
I am in complete agreement that the safeguards the BRITISH PM put in as Chancellor were crap and as usual the BRITISH taxpayer has had to bail him out. Another waste of SCOTTISH oil revenue. And please don't give me any shite about Scottish Banks going bust. They have been BRITISH banks since 1707 and only had Scottish in their name. You wouldn't blame Leicester for the Alliance and Leicester going bust.
I have not at any time in this post or any others advocated slavery as because I am a Scotsman it is an abonomation to me. Perhaps you are confusing my comments with Banned's.
Finally, could I just point out that the bits onj my post written in blue are generally lifted from a news article and the purple bits are my comments on the article. Please don't accuse me of writing all the Mail's leaders! Jock baiting is the first thing that appears on your google ID, but I suppose when you were in the Paras you ended up with your teeth to play with if you tried that then, so you now feel safer to try it in print when you have anonymity! ;-)
DL you are, as usual, nearly but not quite right and you are definitely out of touch on the factoring issue – it is now a much more usual facility than it was even 10 years ago; the Banks don’t like giving overdraft facilities anymore (Since something called Basle 1and 2 – it’s a tad technical but take my word for it) and they make factoring/invoice discounting/asset based loans much more attractive.
The irony is that the Icelandic Banks were taking money from UK depositors and lending it back in the UK. The UK banks (including the RBS and HBOS) were taking depositor’s money and buying dodgy US and other foreign assets. The UK is the US’s Governments 3rd largest creditor after China and Japan so you had better hope that Uncle Sam doesn’t do what the idiots in the frozen north have done because if he does we will all be on fish fingers for the rest of our lives.
For the world monetary system to work we all have to trust each other to play by the rules – Iceland is out of order and will suffer in the long run.
As for Scotsmen abhorring slavery – what a load of blatherskite; many Scottish fortunes were based on it. I suggest you go to the West Indies and look at the names on the big sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. You will find that the first Proprietor of Barbados was James Hay (Earl of Carlisle) and the book “The Scottish in the West Indies” Volume 1 has 3000 names in it and they were mainly overseers on the slave plantations.
Any Scottish abolitionists were “London Scots” not “Scots Scots”. Read Kidnapped, which was partly a social commentary, and then you will get the drift about Scottish merchants and their morals. When you have finished it and been a good boy (I presume you are a Man but if you are a Morag you should get your testosterone level checked) I might one day reveal the Appin secret to you. I might even tell you where the murder weapon was hidden.
I have a vague feeling that having made stuff up you believe it yourself; it’s not healthy; you should get out more, meet intelligent people, read a few books, keep out of the boozer and the bookies. It would help you make more sense and your vocabulary might increase as well.
Purple prose - my a$*e
On another note I hope that and all yours have a happy and prosperous New Year.
Stouters
Didn't know that but I'll take your word.
I'm quite partial to a fishfinger but we can always bomb the bastards, well we could if they didn't own the bombs!
I know that, I have to play the devil's advocate sometimes.
To my Scottish embarrassment you are of course right and I was aware of the history as I watched a documentary on it not so long ago. BTW Carlisle is in England.
I did read Kidnapped a long time ago but as I am 55, I am a hairy arsed boy!
Most of the stuff I write is what I believe in, perhaps I am too opinionated, but as I am sure you will find out running a blog such as this takes 4-5 hours a day. You might ask what I do, but answering comments takes a while particularly with my typing skills and researching stories which have not been done to death by 200,000 other bloggers also takes a large amount of time. I don't do the boozer or bookies much and I do read the occasional book if I get time but there are also a lot of political programmes on the box I need to watch. My vocabulary is doing fine thanks all the same. I let my 'followers' express them selves as they see fit and there is not and there never has been any moderation on this site.
A happy New Year to you and yours and I hope you will continue to contribute to the dialogue because for an ex-soldier you are quite bright.
DL, just to follow up on a minor point – I know that Carlise is in England and a lot of Scotsmen found it out to their cost.
Have you read the Ballad of Kinmont Willie by Sir Walter Scot?
They band his legs beneath the steed,
They tied his hands behind his back.
They guarded him, fivesome on either side,
And they led him through the Liddel-rack.
They led him through the Liddel-rack,
And also through the Carlisle sands;
They took him tae Carlisle Castle,
To be at my Lord Scroope's commands.
"My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,
And whae will dare this deed avow?
Or answer by the Border law?
Or answer tae the bauld Buccleuch?"
He was rescued by the “Bold Buccleugh”.
It’s a good read and sums up the honour and romance of the Debateable Lands.
I think you should read a bit more history; even historical “faction” can be entertaining, Walter Scot is a bit dated but still readable, George MacDonald Fraser is fun and informative, John Prebble is good as well – particularly on the Clearances as is John Buchan in his historical novels.
What you will discover is that many of Scotland’s problems have been caused by Scotsmen (mainly Lowlanders in my opinion) exploiting their fellow countrymen. The Act of Union being a prime example.
Having read about the inter-relationship between the two Nations it is clear that we “enjoy” a symbiotic relationship; what is also clear is that it is easier to exploit the differences than the similarities but sadly the ignorant are exploited by unscrupulous politicians who play the Nationalist card.
Hoots fer the noo – more in this vein as time goes on.
DL, just to follow up on a minor point – I know that Carlise is in England and a lot of Scotsmen found it out to their cost.
Have you read the Ballad of Kinmont Willie by Sir Walter Scot?
They band his legs beneath the steed,
They tied his hands behind his back.
They guarded him, fivesome on either side,
And they led him through the Liddel-rack.
They led him through the Liddel-rack,
And also through the Carlisle sands;
They took him tae Carlisle Castle,
To be at my Lord Scroope's commands.
"My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,
And whae will dare this deed avow?
Or answer by the Border law?
Or answer tae the bauld Buccleuch?"
He was rescued by the “Bold Buccleugh”.
It’s a good read and sums up the honour and romance of the Debateable Lands.
I think you should read a bit more history; even historical “faction” can be entertaining, Walter Scot is a bit dated but still readable, George MacDonald Fraser is fun and informative, John Prebble is good as well – particularly on the Clearances as is John Buchan in his historical novels.
What you will discover is that many of Scotland’s problems have been caused by Scotsmen (mainly Lowlanders in my opinion) exploiting their fellow countrymen. The Act of Union being a prime example.
Having read about the inter-relationship between the two Nations it is clear that we “enjoy” a symbiotic relationship; what is also clear is that it is easier to exploit the differences than the similarities but sadly the ignorant are exploited by unscrupulous politicians who play the Nationalist card.
Hoots fer the noo – more in this vein as time goes on.
Ooops, me again.
i meant to ask if you are a "Highlander" or are you a "Lowlander".
Ayrshire (Aleshire of old) is not Highland and is probably if the truth be known not even part of Ancient Scotland.
Why not go the whole hog and campaign for independence for Strathclyde. Why should the ancient Kingdom of Fife share its oil with you lot?
Why should the Orkneys ship their wealth into Mr Salmond's hands?
Any one basing their politics on Nationalism should make sure they realy are what they think they are.
What are your roots? The public should be told.
While your at it you might confirm that Salmond's genes are North British as well.
Stouters, thanks for that, although you didn't have to post it twice, it wasn't THAT good! I am pretty well read in Scottish History although I admit my knowledge in the spere of Sir Walter Scott is a bit sketchy. He of course for all his wrightings about Scotland was an avowed Unionist.
I was born a Lowlander but I can trace my ancestory back to Clan Chattan who led the charge of the Highlanders at Culloden.
I believe that Scotland and England have now reached a point of seperation and I am sorry for that because my leanings would be more right wing that the current voting intentions of my countrymen. But hell, sometimes you just have to do things for the good of the country. I do live 30 miles north of Turnberry which were the Bruce lands and next door to the village of Dundonald where the 'Stewart@ dynasty was born when Walter of the same married Robert the Bruce's daughter. So although Ayrshire, may not be in the ancient Kingdom of Dumbarton it is an exceptionally important part of Scotland, much more so I would argue than those twats in Fife.
Well well DL, you have made my point for me – it’s not the English you hate, it’s everyone including Fifers etc.
A little more information for you and your ignorant blogheads.
Look at how the Romans ran their empire and how we ran ours; divide and conquer. Once you’re on your own it will be a maelstrom of squabbles and feuds that will make the Balkans look like the Vicar’s tea party.
If you all got on together I would think England had done something wrong but you don’t; you’re still in the Dark Ages when people fought over little bits of dirt.
I’m glad you have read up on Scottish history but I bet you haven’t read Hugh Trevor-Ropers book called the Myth of Scotland (or something similar); you might not like or believe it but it would give you something to balance your current prejudices against.
I presume you know where the de Brus’s came from and what “spiderman” himself died of (it wasn’t syphilis although he did have it) – it was leprosy and very nasty. I think it was a Douglas that was going to take his heart to the Holyland but got pissed on the way and mucked things up. Another romantic failure if ever there was one.
I’ve never liked cats myself being more of a dog man and anyway I thought that the “Cat” pack was a Highland gang and not a bunch of Lowlanders so I’m not sure how you qualify; the Mackintoshes ran it and they definitely came from the far north. It was all the odds and sods that had no other home. You’re more likely to be related to Sawney Bean coming from where you do; there is a great book that mentions him, it was by S R Crockett – he wrote quite a few books based around your neck of the damp woods. SB lived at Bennane Head and ate people – nice guy and probably a nationalist to boot.
You might be interested in a few facts about Culloden;
There were more Scots fighting for the Hanoverians than English; the Manchester Regiment fought for BPC; Wolfe saved many clansmen’s lives by refusing to execute them in cold blood – that’s why they fought so well for him at Quebec; the Chisholms’ fought on both sides; when Chattan charged (with the Atholl Highlanders in the lead) they attacked Semphill’s Regiment, guess where Semphill came from.
As I am trying to tell you – you can’t even live together without a ruck so what chance you stand without the English to sort things out I have no idea.
Well well DL, you have made my point for me – it’s not the English you hate, it’s everyone including Fifers etc.
A little more information for you and your ignorant blogheads.
Look at how the Romans ran their empire and how we ran ours; divide and conquer. Once you’re on your own it will be a maelstrom of squabbles and feuds that will make the Balkans look like the Vicar’s tea party.
If you all got on together I would think England had done something wrong but you don’t; you’re still in the Dark Ages when people fought over little bits of dirt.
I’m glad you have read up on Scottish history but I bet you haven’t read Hugh Trevor-Ropers book called the Myth of Scotland (or something similar); you might not like or believe it but it would give you something to balance your current prejudices against.
I presume you know where the de Brus’s came from and what “spiderman” himself died of (it wasn’t syphilis although he did have it) – it was leprosy and very nasty. I think it was a Douglas that was going to take his heart to the Holyland but got pissed on the way and mucked things up. Another romantic failure if ever there was one.
I’ve never liked cats myself being more of a dog man and anyway I thought that the “Cat” pack was a Highland gang and not a bunch of Lowlanders so I’m not sure how you qualify; the Mackintoshes ran it and they definitely came from the far north. It was all the odds and sods that had no other home. You’re more likely to be related to Sawney Bean coming from where you do; there is a great book that mentions him, it was by S R Crockett – he wrote quite a few books based around your neck of the damp woods. SB lived at Bennane Head and ate people – nice guy and probably a nationalist to boot.
You might be interested in a few facts about Culloden;
There were more Scots fighting for the Hanoverians than English; the Manchester Regiment fought for BPC; Wolfe saved many clansmen’s lives by refusing to execute them in cold blood – that’s why they fought so well for him at Quebec; the Chisholms’ fought on both sides; when Chattan charged (with the Atholl Highlanders in the lead) they attacked Semphill’s Regiment, guess where Semphill came from.
As I am trying to tell you – you can’t even live together without a ruck so what chance you stand without the English to sort things out I have no idea.
Stouters, sorry just noticed your comments which you have managed to post twice again. Are you pissed? Anyway sorry but it's 2.45 and I'm off to bed, your tome deserves much better atttention than I am able to give it tonight. But fear not I will revert to you (once), tomorrow. Nighty nite.
Stouters, Right. We may have a little local rivalry between Fife and Ayrshire but we will all unite against any country which is not Scotland and threatens our liberty. You can take our oil but you'll never take our freedom... as a well known Aussie has been known to rant.
I'm glad you brought up the Romans because it only goes to show what a 'bastard' race the English are having let themselves be conquered so many times. It was just by luck the Dagos didn't add to your gene pool.
I don't really have any 'prejudices' as such. I even quite like the English. No, I just feel that my country could do better on it's own and that the time has now come for the Union to be dissolved. You've had all the advantages you deserve from your association from us. I haven't read Mr Trevor-Roper's book but I tend not to read books by twats with pretentious double-barrelled names. Have you read any of Nigel Tranter's novels? They are an excellent account of Scottish history.
Douglas did indeed take Bruce's heart to the Holy Land where it was thrown into the charging muslim army after which the casket was retrieved, brought back to Scotland and buried at Melrose Abbey, where it resides to this day.
No I'm definetely related to Clan Chattan, (touch not the cat bot a glove), and you are correct in saying that they were part of the Mackintosh Clan loosely.
You're right about the Sawney Bean family being Nationalists, they only ate English tourists.
Yes, Culloden was a pretty mixed up battle right enough, with diffrent people fighting on different sides. Of course it was a British battle, rather than Scotland against England which is a fact many of your countrymen are ignorant of.
Oh and as far as Scots fighting against each other, I don't remember hearing about a SCOTTISH civil war.
I’ve noticed that there are a lot of things we agree about, it’s just sad that you have spent your life reading the Sunday Post and listening to your mates in the Tam O’ Shanter Inn. If you stopped this ridiculous Nationalist line and started thinking for yourself you could make some good points.
Nigel Tranter wrote some good stuff, I read some of his children’s books when I was young and some historic stuff when I was older; he knew a lot about Scottish Castles.
I can’t let the “Civil War” issue go unchallenged because I get the idea that you regard an unanswered shot as a victory; for your information Scotland has been in a semi-permanent state of very uncivil war throughout history, in fact that is one of the main reasons the more intelligent of your fellow Jimmies decided Union was in your favour. Even the English Civil War was fought between a Scottish King and his English subjects – there were several battles fought in Scotland and Scottish troops were used; the Hanoverians (including that Great General – Cumberland) were direct descendents of the Stewarts. I suggest you Google the Bishop’s War, the Pacification of Berwick and the National Covenant.
When it comes to civil strife you lead the World – it’s one of the few areas that you do show the way in.
Hugh Trevor-Roper was Welsh and a lot of so-called Celts have double barrelled names – D Lloyd George, A Ramsey MacDonald, A Douglas Home, A Bonar Law, A Graham Bell, A Conan Doyle and so on; you have to be pretty shallow to write of a man’s ideas because you don’t like his name and I think you were playing your daft trick of trying to be the common man again.
Instead of spending 4 hours a day trawling the internet for other people’s ideas and articles which you than just pour scorn on why don’t you start a few stories of your own and then let them develop rather than just moving on when things get interesting?
Let’s explore some issues rather than just ranting about other people’s views and actions.
One thing you should bear in mind is that those who don’t read history are destined to keep repeating the same mistakes – obvious really but there are a lot of ignorant idiots out there that don’t grasp that obvious fact.
You’ll probably not see this till you get back from the boozer so try to keep your language suitable for a Sunday in Calvinist (Catholic?) Scotland.
Regards as usual
Stouters, for Christ sake try and keep up. This is going back 14 postings and I only noticed your comment by chance and it's Proddy Agnostic with Catholic Agnostic wife BTW.
I gave up the 'Post' 20 years ago and the local is not a place I frequent with the snow piling up in the road, because although it only about 1 mile away, I went on my arse twice with a drink on Hogmanay and I'm not doing that again.
Anyway,we agree that Nigel Tranter is a fine writer but as far as the welsh twat and the other fine Celts writers you quote, I note that the Welshman is the only one with a hyphen. The others are merely choosing to use a middle name as a christian name.
It still wasn't called the British Civil war and I can't agree that the King was Scottish as he had been anglified. Anyway better a Scot, catholic or not than a Dutchman or a Kraut.
You obviously don't read my blog a lot because at least 50% of my mutterings are my own as you will see if you read the 10 postings currently up.
Why don't you write your own blog? A man with your fine mind and originality would be a cert.
Best regards, on this boring day without even a Premiership game on Sky. Should you wish to respond please use a current poosting even if it is O/T. p.s. That's not you in Southampton, is it?
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