to wish Hacking would sod off so we can all freak out/brainstorm the impending financial tsunami that is the Euro?

[LemonDifficult]

I am, of course, sorry about the Dowlers phones being hacked, I am sorry about the Met not being squeaky clean (amazing!), that journalists sink low to get a story, and that politicians sometimes overlook good advice to hire their mates.

I also realise that columnists have fewer first person stories about their time working alongside the Greek Finance Ministers, or about being employed by dull European Banks. And that most of the discussion isn't taking place in English, in technicolour, with bonus custard pies and attractive redheads from the Cotswolds. But...

People - the Euro!

Cognito

'A former Labour minister said he was approached by a ?senior government official? who claims his phone was hacked, his rubbish stolen and he became the subject of covert surveillance last summer.'

I think to propose the it was Labour in all likely hood doing the hacking is a bit daft considering the Tories press secretary , Andy Coulson, is so heavilly implicated in the scandal..

Lemon,

If, and time will hopefully tell, there is corruption at the heart of our government and police force, it shouldn't be ignored or anyone let off the hook in the face of a financial crisis.

food and fuel prices rising worries me more. we cant afford to heat the house already and yet theirs a 20% rise proposed. That cant do the economy much good!

I'm off to do some reading! Thank you :)

Wow, it does bring it home how overpaying certain professionals can cause such a huge problem. I can see us having trouble with the amounts managing directors are being paid. It's not something that anyone is planning on lowering :/

It was a genuine question :) With the Euro being in a crisis and everything I just wondered why its value seemed to be holding up quite well. I remember the olden days when £1 used to buy me ?1,40 or thereabouts. Now it's a miserable ?1,12 but holding in spite of the impending disaster. All I can think is that sterling and the dollar are having similar problems so we're all keeping pace with each other.

None of the hacking stuff surprises me, but I find it's being reported in proportion with other news now. It was a big story for so long because revelations kept coming out every day.

I don't see what anyone can do in a short term sense about the financial situation in Europe/the world, all seems a bit late now. I do think the Govt have buggered the economy with the cuts though. I hope not, but that's how it feels. And I'm extremely worried about energy prices and everything going up generally, more so that usual as I'm about to give my job up and start my own business. Income is about to be reduced massively, but we should be able to manage- but if prices keep going up, and DH is forced to make twice as much contribution to pension I don't know what we'll do. There are people massively worse off but still, it's a worry. There isn't really the choice to stay in my job as it's making me sick with stress. Well, it is a choice of sorts.

BTW Amara... I don't think it was 'overpaying certain professionals' that caused the problem. Irresponsible lending and investing practices certainly played a part but if the global economy had kept going up in 2008 rather than stalling, it could have carried on for some time without any problem. As a city friend of mine put it at the time, if you're in a Ferrari travelling at 150mph with no brakes it's not a problem unless you come to a bend in the road. We hit that bend....

I was reading that because Greece is a debtor, the amount they have to pay for loans has been raised. Surely this makes it harder for them to pay it back?

Greece has to pay a higher rate of interest on its debts because investors aren't confident that they are going to be paid back so they demand a higher rate of interest. This in turn makes it harder for them to pay back causing a compound interest trap.

For purely selfish reasons, I would like the Euro to start weakening against the pound...

I remember when we used to get 1.50 Euros to the pound.

Yesterday it was a paltry 1.12

Not good...but I shall watch with eagle eyes and snap some more up if there;s an upward turn.

Rivinside. Yes that is correct. As they are more of a risk ( i.e. will they be able to repay the loan ? ) it is more risky to lend them money. More risk = higher interest rate.

A weird truism of the world. If you have less, you pay more.

It's all irrelevant anyway. Give it ten years and we'll all be using the Yuan

The reason the Euro is quite strong against the pound because although Greece,Portugal,Ireland are in trouble they are quite a small proportion of the eurozone whilst Germany which is a very large proportion of the eurozone is doing very well. Also this country is in dire economic trouble

Sorry Cogito...hadn't seen your more detailed post re the above.

Got a batch of Euro's yesterday for my hols...and 1.12 is not a good rate, but marginally better than it has been.

cogito Well my money's (ha - in euros) is on the UK economy being in a far worse state than anyone in the street might imagine. Hilarious really that apparently the euro is falling apart yet - apart from a ~2pt fluctuation today is still holding up against both the $ and the pound. :( Looks like we're all fecked.

Now, who's got a nice big garden, has planted some veg and has a wood burner?

PS I couldn't give a rat's arse about phone-hacking.

Apparently gold is where it's at! .....but for how long?

Surprise ! Other papers have used unethical methods too.

OK, some of the specifics have been disgusting, but FFS did the people who bought the papers never stop and ask themselves where the journalists were getting the stories from? Or did they think it was all from on the record briefings and people volunteering incriminating stories about themselves.

The people who bought those papers are guilty of encouraging salacious stories.

Both stories are important but the financial story is harder to grasp. And doesn't have two very clear VIP villains whose names we know.

I think they are linked in that corruption at the heart of government/the state (and the fourth estate) has kept everyone in their place quite nicely. No-one's been challenging the way Western economies have been run. Partly because Murdoch would have run them out of town had they tried.

We've seen the biggest financial crisis since the 30s, yet there's been no real reform, no radical solutions. And very few voices calling for them.

YADNBU!!! I was bored into a coma by this story weeks ago (it feels like). The Eurozone being about to implode, the USA about to default, Libya, Syria, the price of a Happy Meal...much more pertinent. I wish it would just bog off now. The media is obsessed with itself.