Excellent speech from the Taxpayer\’s Alliance….readers here will know the contents…
Now it\’s Tim Congdon talking about Northern Rock.
Essentially the problem was that the usual head bashing and a banking takeover was not possible because of the European Markets Abuse Directive.
Yes, there\’s still a lot of arguing about this…..but it\’s the uncertainty that did the damage. When you\’ve got two potentially conflicting legal systems this is inevitable. If we didn\’t belong to the EU, there would not have been a Northern Rock fiasco.
Have you wondered why you’re not getting many comments today?
It’s because this stuff about UKIP is so boring.
We don’t care about your little love-in.
Tim adds: Have you ever noticed that personal blogs tend to be about what the blogger finds interesting?
Well, if you want to just talk to yourself….carry on.
He’s the UKIP press officer at the UKIP conference, there’s going to be a whole lot more people unhappy with him than you if he ran his usual fare. You’ll just have to find the economic illiteracy in the Guardian for yourself today.
Yes I agree Tim. Between the laws of our Proxy government in Westminster and those of our Real government in Brussels Merv was placed in a dfficult position. Without these constraints he would no doubt have acted in a different manner.
Nice to see that you chanced your arm in the London region.
“Well, if you want to just talk to yourself….carry on.”
That’s certainly been my philosophy.
Geoff, given that Tim works for UKIP and presumably shares their point of view,if you don’t find this ukip stuff interesting, why would you ever read this blog?
i’m sure that Richard Murphy can explain the demise of Northern Rock in terms of tax evasion strategies
anyway…I’m not sure that Euro regs were entirely to blame…how about the fault lines left by Brown’s cack-handed reforms?
If we didn’t belong to the EU, there would not have been a Northern Rock fiasco
The problem with Tim and the UKIP is that Tim stops talking economic sense and starts talking bollocks.
Northern Rock did not collapse because of the EU – it collapsed because it was overextended in the market and when that market seized up, NR could not raise money to cover the loans it was offering.
The market seizure had nothing to do with the EU, it was a global phenomenon in the money markets – which is why it also happened in the USA (which isn’t a member of the EU if I recall correctly).
Chickens come home to roost, or as Warren Buffett said “Its only when the tide recedes that you find out who’s been swimming naked”. NR was floundering in the buff for some time.