Which is more important now: political reform or the economy?

Coolfonz, I sold the September FTSE future and then bought it back; in the jargon, I went short.

see here but be careful to know how much money you are betting investing.

You can set limit/orders so that you can auto-pilot. YOu need to do these carefully especially in volatile markets. happy to talk anyone through just be careful not to invest more than you can bear to lose!

Shorting the FTSE with an ETP?

Nothing fancy, sold GBP and Eurs against USD.

I also shorted FTSE but closed my position out too quickly.

What were you betting on Tdidders?

FrakkinTheReturningOffice - agreed that spending the books need to be balanced. The question is about timing.

Also, we shouldn't be forced into a ConLib coalition just to fix short term market turbulence. Many of the commentators talking about market turbulence are "spivving and speculating* and making money from the turbulence...I admit that I made a few thousand in the last week or so ...just messing around.

FrakkinTheReturningOffice - the people who shout loud about market turbulence are the vocal minority who have much to lose. Who is there to shout loud about the stake that the silent majority have in public services and jobs?

A Govt (president) should be able to walk and chew gum...wise words from Dubya Bush

What is more important/ for whom is it more important?

Surely political reform can happen, as well as trying to sort out the economy ? Can no-one multi-task whilst governing a country?

you shudda have a coalition with the group that came first

quiz.

we came third.

and was robbed.

bit like the libdems.

So where did you go then Sophable. Was wundering about your silence

'Poor Dave Cameron he deserved a run as PM but I have to observe dispassionately that he runs a serious risk of ending up in the scrap heap.'

We live in hope . . .

you see, i went out and I missed this.

this is my favourite mn thread of the week.

as you were.

edam - i think that is weak. The Govt (tax payer) bought at the bottom of the market and will make a killing. The Govt srewed the shareholders in favour of the taxpayer. Rare and brilliant. Maybe GB's legacy will be stronegr than his premiership. Even his exit is now looking better than we might have thought.

A day after the general election the Tories are looking spent and without momentum. The likes of Mandelson will play one more stroke before they exit : PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION!!

Poor Dave Cameron he deserved a run as PM but I have to observe dispassionately that he runs a serious risk of ending up in the scrap heap.

Thanks Claig, will have a hunt around for that.

The whole 'bailing out the banks was good value for the taxpayer' thing kind of ignores the fact that we were held to ransom. It's like a mugger leaving you with multiple injuries but years later paying back the money he nicked and pretending that's all right then.

When Rover failed, all the workers lost their jobs - no matter how talented or bright they were. Same deal with the Corus plant. And with every other industry - except the City. Didn't even pause for breath before they started using that old slogan about 'because we are so special' again, did it?

policywonk - Murdoch's newspapers werent going to give Brown any credit just before the election and maybe Brown was staying clear of appearing to be on the side of the bankers.

Advantage of 75pc natinalisation as opposed to 100pc is that 25pc is in actively traded liquid market so the Govt can value their 75pc stake. Otherwise, a buyer might try to screw taxpare and pick it up at a loss to taxpaers.

Next Govt will do well to keep their stakes in Lloyds and RBS for a couple of years. It will be a bumper profit. After all the govt controls the entire market structure: solvency riles, competition, etc. Even base rates can be influenced by Govt. So the only sceneario is bumper profit for taxpayer. We might miss GB and Alistair Darling when the Sovereign crisis crystallise! Let's see.

edam, you probably know the Italian partisan song "Bella Ciao". I heard a beautiful version in Spanish on a documentary about the Spanish Civil War. If you haven't heard it, it is well worth finding

But it might be the LibLab thing the Market didn't like - maybe a strong labour win would have been ok.

Our finest minds still go into the City, due to the astronomical salaries, whilst our other industries are neglected."

i think this begs questions about how (particularly sciences) are taught in schools, and viewed by the uk public. i would also argue that the UK is full of talent in many other areas outside banking, and in a way, you view banking as where the ;best' go, bcauseit is where the hghestsalaries are (if a brilliant woman becomes a midwife, that's great, but no-one is ever going to recognise her as the 'best and brightest' are they?)

Actually the one guy i know in proper trade banking enjoys it because he likes doing sums. it's all about numbers, and manipulating them...and that's his idea of fun.

i also work in commercial banking, and our branch makes a pre-tax profit of £52 mill a year - of which the taxman gets a sizeable chunk, not to mention the fact it keeps about 300 people in jobs at the moment. a reasonable proportion of our clients are overseas, so it also brings in foreign cash.

finance is no more or less stable than any other business sector....so what is wrong with th UK exporting Financial services? I tell you one thing: we're good at it.