Happy 323rd Birthday To The Bank of England

It’s our 323rd birthday, we made a dancing cake to celebrate. #whynot pic.twitter.com/SxLzCQr4rD

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) July 27, 2017

UK Q2 Growth 0.3%

Growth in Q2 was 0.3%, significantly better than the Treasury's doom and gloom forecast borne out of Project fear!

GDP Would Need to Collapse 5% in Next 12 Months to Meet Osborne's Treasury Predictions: https://t.co/LJHB69DlHw pic.twitter.com/vaFYABQvPw

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) July 26, 2017

• The growth in Quarter 2 2017 was driven by services, which grew by 0.5% compared with 0.1% growth in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2017.
• The largest contributors to growth in services were retail trade, which improved after a fall in the first quarter, and film production and distribution.

A Lesson In Economics

Lord Reed even gives Govt a stern rebuke over economic literacy. You can almost hear him saying "this won't do, rewrite it by tomorrow." pic.twitter.com/xnaBOE9Ukm

— Matthew Scott (@Barristerblog) July 26, 2017

IMF Cuts UK Growth Forecast From 2% To 1.7%

IMF cuts 2017 UK growth forecast to 1.7% from 2%, the biggest downward revision this year of all major economies. pic.twitter.com/48gEFXGwUo

— Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) July 24, 2017

However, it should be borne in mind that IMF forecasts are invariably shite (the fact that they revised the forecast is a clue) as this chart from 2014 shows:

Card Surcharges To Be Banned

As from January next year, businesses will not be allowed to add any surcharges for card payments.

This follows a directive from the European Union, which bans surcharges on Visa and Mastercard payments.

However, the government has gone further than the directive, by also banning charges on American Express and Paypal too.

This covers all companies and organisations that add a surcharge, including HMRC!

You can bet your bottom dollar that companies will find another way to pass on the charges.

Inflation Falls To 2.6%

The ONS reports that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 2.6% in June 2017, down from 2.9% in May 2017.

This is the first fall in the CPIH inflation rate since April 2016, and was caused primarily by falling prices for motor fuels and certain recreational and cultural goods and services.

This means that there will be no increase in interest rates in the foreseeable future.

Piss Pathetic Pensions

Wow. 8 million with 1.56% of their average earnings going into a pension. About a tenth what's needed for even an adequate retirement! https://t.co/LZ4bNDDtR4

— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) July 11, 2017

Bank of England Wants People To Sniff Out Regulation Busting

"Firms should expect supervisors who have their 'eyes peeled', their 'ears to the ground' – and who 'can smell when something is off'." https://t.co/Bj0BjStp9W

— Katie Martin (@katie_martin_fx) July 10, 2017

G20 Minus 1

The G20 is now the G19 as America has placed itself into isolation.

Bank of England To Go On Strike

Unite says Bank of England workers are to stage a four-day strike from 31 July in a dispute over pay

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) July 3, 2017

Does this mean that all debts held during this period will be interest free?

George "Six Jobs" Osborne

George Osborne picks up his sixth job: as a professor at the University of Manchester - The Telegraph Growl!! https://t.co/y0p3wuUl0X

— Sue Christensen (@taxqueen49) June 29, 2017

Osborne doing his bit to maintain full employment.

Beware Zombie Pension Companies

A prescient warning in the Telegraph wrt pension schemes that might go bust:

"There are 10 million people in 6,000 “defined benefit” pension schemes in Britain. Most of them will get the pensions they expect in full – but not all.

If the companies behind these schemes are financially strong enough still to be in business when the pensions come to get paid, then all is well. However, around 1,000 schemes, possibly with as many as 1.7 million members, are in a very precarious position with financially weak companies behind them or large deficits - sometimes both.

Their members face a real and current risk that their companies will go bust. If this happens their scheme will almost certainly fall into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). This will ensure that they still get a pension, but it will be lower, at around 90pc of what they were expecting."

A pension is meant to cover you from retirement through to death, which may be 30 years or so from the date of retirement.

How the hell can anyone predict what the world will look like 30 years from now?

Scary isn't it?

The ATM's Fiftieth Birthday

50 years ago today the world's first ATM was unveiled at a Barclays branch in Enfield, London.

Reg Varney, a celebrity of the time, made the first withdrawal.

EU Stiffs Google for 2.4bn Euros

EC fines Google record 2.4bn euros for giving illegal prominence to its shopping service

— Rory Cellan-Jones (@BBCRoryCJ) June 27, 2017

The EU said Google had broken EU competition law by exploiting the power of its search engine to promote its online shopping service, at the expense of other price comparison sites.

Deutsche Bank Way Offbeam!

"We expect political paralysis - a 'zombie Brexit' - to be the dominant theme for the UK over coming months" - Deutsche Bank

— Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) June 26, 2017

This analysis couldn't be more wrong wrt "paralysis", there will be black swans aplenty coming!