CC: UK Tax payers Can Soon Buy Shares In Bank that Lost Its Soul @RealConstable @Ian_Fraser

 BY SIMON CONSTABLE

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Photo description: An accident on Savy Aerodrome during the German offensive. A powerful factor in weakening the German thrust across the old Somme battlefield was the continuous bombing by British aircraft.WWI

Photo credit: Australian War Memorial collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Ian Fraser, author of "Shredded: Inside RBS, The Bank That Broke Britain," joins us for his CONSTABLE CONFIDENTIAL debut. We discuss what Fraser describes as a culture that lost its soul and never got it back, is soon to be sold back to the UK public after being bailed out by the British taxpayer. Fraser explains the bizarre logic behind this news and analyses some recent problems for the bank that has now changed its name to NatWest. We also point out that the Scottish economy shrank significantly in the last quarter of 2023, which Fraser says wasn't much covered by the Scottish press.

Photo description: An accident on Savy Aerodrome during the German offensive. A powerful factor in weakening the German thrust across the old Somme battlefield was the continuous bombing by British aircraft.WWI

Photo credit: Australian War Memorial collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:

Conductor: James Allen Gähres

Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic

Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm

Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)

Movement: Prelude from Act 3

Date 3 June 2014

The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

CC: Anti-semitism Hits Record Highs Around the World @BenWeinthal @RealConstable

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Photo description: Scene from the Arab-Israeli war circa 1948

Photo credit: Benno Rothenberg /Meitar Collection / National Library of Israel / The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distinguished Middle East analyst Ben Weinthal joins us again from Jerusalem, where he writes for Fox News Digital, the Jerusalem Post, and the Middle East Forum.

This week, we discuss the record-breaking levels of antisemitism around the world, plus the efforts of the U.S. administration to release frozen money to Iran while at the same time sending the U.S. Navy to build a temporary port on the Gaza Strip's coastline to help deliver humanitarian relief to refugees. That port will be simultaneously be close to a recent mega find of 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves at the eastern end of the Med.

Isabel Vincent's piece from the New York Post

https://nypost.com/2024/03/13/us-news/fire-princeton-professor-who-helped-irans-terror-campaign/

Ben's pieces from Fox News digital

https://www.foxnews.com/world/biden-admin-under-pressure-stop-billions-dollars-sanctions-relief-iran

https://www.foxnews.com/world/antisemitic-incidents-across-europe-canada-record-levels-5-months-hamas-massacre-israelis

The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:

Conductor: James Allen Gähres

Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic

Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm

Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)

Movement: Prelude from Act 3

Date 3 June 2014

The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

WSJ: How Much Do You Know About the History of Hacking?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Who is considered the first hacker? When did the first denial-of-service attack occur? Test yourself on these and other questions with this quiz. Read more here.

#FRANCE: Britain tiptoes out of recession. @RealConstable @BatcehlroShow Occitanie

By SIMON CONSTABLE

John and I discuss the reality of Britain’s economy. Technically it has come out of a recession, but it is still stagnating.

 Listen here.

Antiquities of Great Britain: illustrated in views of monasteries, castles, and churches, now existing.Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

CC: Scottish Local Governments Make Economic War on Workers @RealConstable

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Glasgow-based entrepreneur and businessman Alan Quinn joins us for this episode of CONSTABLE CONFIDENTIAL to discuss the latest efforts by local government to impose more living costs on already cash-strapped people. Notably, this involves ultra-high car parking charges in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, and Scotland's largest city, Glasgow.

We also get Quinn's view on where the Scottish votes will fall in the forthcoming general election.

To ensure you don't miss any episodes, I suggest you sign up for my MailChimp newsletter which contains links to the newest CC podcasts.

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Photo description: A cropped version of express trains leaving Edinburgh for Aberdeen and Glasgow.

Photo credit: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes.com story about the rising car parking fees in Edinburgh

The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:

Conductor: James Allen Gähres

Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic

Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm

Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)

Movement: Prelude from Act 3

Date 3 June 2014

The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Korn Ferry: A 4-Day Workweek… Maybe?

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Half of UK firms testing the shorter week say they will make it permanent. Still, skeptics say innovation and training could suffer. Read more here.

#France: Remembering DOW 10,000. @RealConstable @WSJ @BatchelorShow

By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Blancard, Hippolyte (1843 - 1924), photographe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ: 25 YEARS AGO: Dow Industrials Top 10000

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

In 1999, as the dot-com bubble inflated, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed a major milestone: It closed above 10000 for the first time.

“Dow 10000 absolutely meant something to people not on Wall Street,” says Dan Rasmussen, chief investment officer at Boston-based Verdad Advisors. “For those who don’t follow market swings, these milestones are hugely important.” Read more here.

#FRANCE: Spring in bloom and worry for the tea fleet. @RealConstable @BatchelorShow Occitanie.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Claude Monet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

#UK: The poisonous language in Parliament. @RealConstable, Occitanie @BatchelorShow

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Parliament 1880 G.W. Wilson & Co., photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes.com: Germany’s Latest Challenge To Its Economy: Boosting Military Spending

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Finally, Germany is going to hit its military spending target. But it’s doing so amid a brutal recession that isn’t expected to end any time soon.

In short, it means that the country will be cash-strapped, experts say. Read more here.

The “red fighter aircraft” _Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, 

with his red-painted three-decker. 

Vitold Muratov scan, digitalisation., 

CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes.com: Is Britain’s Political Chaos Set To Cause An Economic Slump?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

By looking at UK newspaper headlines, you might think the country is in political chaos. There may be some truth to that claim, but it’s less uncertain than it has been for years.

It matters because uncertainty around government policy tends to slow growth. Read more here.

See page for author, OGL-ON, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes.com: Shocker: Car Parking In Scotland’s Capital To Cost Over Half Yearly Pay

By SIMON CONSTABLE

As if things weren’t bad enough for Scotland’s capital city already, Edinburgh City Council is imposing a new diabolic rule. At least, it is diabolical for the city’s already ailing economy. Read more here.

Seattle Municipal Archives , CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes.com: Get Ready For A Stockmarket Roller Coaster As U.S. Dollar Swings

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The U.S. dollar has a lot to answer for when it comes to U.S. stock market returns. So a forecast that promises a significant dollar rally followed by a dive should be enough to turn the stomachs of some investors. Read more here.

 

forbes.com: Red Sea Attacks On Shipping Brings Another Pinch To Britain - A Tea Shortage

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The widening war in the Middle East is delivering an economic pinch to the UK, a country already in a technical recession. Worse still, there’s a shortage of the country’s favorite drink. Read more here.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

#UK: #FRANCE: Occitanie Springtime; Higher taxes in Britain despite the slowdown @BatchelorShow @RealConstable

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What economic mess have the UK and Germany descended into? It takes talent to be so bad.

John Batchelor and I discuss the problems and welcome in the spring.

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Le Mont Saint-Michel.

Édouard Hue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Korn Ferry: Red Alert for UK’s Smaller Firms

By SIMON CONSTABLE

More than 50,000 mostly smaller firms are in financial distress. What happened, and how they can best recover. Read more here.

#ANTISEMITISM: Labour Party unacceptable candidate for the By-election in Rochdale, UK @RealConstable @BatchelorShow

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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The Manchester public free libraries; a history and description, and guide to their contents and use

Year: 1899Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

John and I discuss the disaster that the UK-based left-leaning Labour Party is fast becoming.

In the wake of the shambolic Conservative Party’s [performance lately, it would have seemed that Labour would easily win a landside in an election that is expected by the end of this year. All that Labour needed to do was nothing.

Unfortunately for the leader Sir Kier Starmer that hasn’t happened. Instead the ghost of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn is back. Under Corbyn’s leadership the party was accused of broad antisemitism within the rank and file of MPs. 

Now new allegations have emerged that hatred of jews is alive and apparently thriving within the party. 

Already the lead that Labour had over the Conservative Party in recent polls has dipped by seven percentage points.

#S&L Crisis: #KEATNG5: Recalling 35 years since scandal, debt, prison. @RealConstable @BatchelorShow @WSJ

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Photo credited to the firm Levy & fils by this site. (It is credited to a photographer "Kuhn" by another publisher [1].), 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Korn Ferry: The Disappearing Tech Unicorns

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

The UK’s dream of becoming a tech-world capital has hit a bump. But why? Read more here.

WSJ: Financial Flashback -- George HW Bush Bails Out the Savings and Loan Industry in 1989

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Exclusively published in the Print Edition of The Wall Street Journal

#FRANCE: #CEOS: Three choices for a new CEO: insider, outsider, hybrid. @RealConstable @BatchelorShow @WSJ

By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Paris 1914

Agence Rol, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ: Is It Better to Select a CEO Who Is an Outsider or an Insider?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

New research says the answer might be somebody who is a little bit of both, and that’s especially true during turbulent times. Read more here.

#France: Balmy with moderating commodity and food prices: Reconsidering Davos. @RealConstable @BatchelorShow Occitanie for the third winter of war,

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Davos circa 1900

Johannes Meiner , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Korn Ferry: Work From Home, Be Laid Off Less?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A surprising survey finds that only 16% of UK firms with remote staff had layoffs last year. Why? Read more here.

Fox News: Klaus Schwab's World Economic Forum in Davos exposed as place where 'cronyism can flourish'

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

A turning point came in 2021 amid COVID-19, when the idea of 'the Great Reset' took off. Read more here.

World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#France: The inflation monster looms in the UK; the Post Office Scandal & What is to be done? @BatchelorShow @RealConstable, Occitanie

By SIMON CONSTABLE

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John and I discuss the outrageous Royal Mail scandal, which resulted in hundreds of post-sub-masters being accused of fraud when, in reality, a computer glitch got the accounts wrong.

We also explain the inflation beast story I recently wrote for Briefings magazine here.

Gendarmes d’Ordonnance. 

Édouard Detaille , CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

CC: It’s Getting Worse: Iran Makes War on Pakistan and Iraq

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Iranian-born British citizen and political activist Vahid Beheshti joins us from London outside the Foreign Office. He explains the latest on the conflict in the Middle East, notably the two attacks on Pakistan and Iraq, and what that means for the region. We also discuss the urgent need for the United Kingdom to remove all its diplomatic corps from Iran or risk them being taken hostage by Iran’s theocracy. And we have a lot more, too.

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Photo credit: Cropped version of a photo from Mydust, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Photo description: Pakistani Army Position, 1965 War

The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:

Conductor: James Allen Gähres

Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic

Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm

Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)

Movement: Prelude from Act 3

Date 3 June 2014

The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Briefings Magazine: Taming the Inflation Beast

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Inflation today isn’t the same as that of the 1970s. Read more here.