Closer to the Edge…..

Snow report…….

Those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis will know that it includes some observations on where our “children”might be at a particular point, both career wise, and geographically. Two of them came back from Courcheval, last Sunday, where no snow has turned in to an abundance. In fact, worse.

Anyway, with no time to spare, I drove Henry back to Newcastle on Sunday evening, staying in a local hotel. Returning from supper, the chap on reception asked what time I would like breakfast, but I thought no more about it till the following morning, when it was clear that I was the only one in the dining room, and the only one staying in the hotel.

Never been so quiet…….

Clearly, at £35 a night, including a wonderful breakfast, they are not making anything, so I got talking to the chap about it. He said that in 26 years, he had never known it so quiet. On Monday morning, I stopped twice at service stations on the M6, heading south. The car parks at both were deserted, could have parked anywhere. I even turned on the news to see if I had missed some major national event, but no.

Be someone or do something……?

Contrast this with the hotel I stayed in on Thursday night, in Mayfair, which was fully booked. Unlike Newcastle, you can opt for breakfast in bed; smoked salmon, scrambled egg, and a touch of caviar a mere £70. The guest speaker at dinner commanded a fee that would not embarrass a footballer; being someone is now far more lucrative than doing something.

London’s new suburb……Birmingham!

Meanwhile, at vast expense, Birmingham is to be the latest suburb of London, following the decision to link the two via a high speed train. You can see why people would want to get out of Birmingham with all due haste, but I don’t think that it works in reverse. I am not sure why it takes 14 years to build 100 miles of railway, and another 18 if it gets as far as Manchester, which already has a very good service.

Cheaper to New York…….

Longer trains, and platforms, would vastly increase capacity in a fraction of the time, and with little cost. Indeed, half the carriages on the west coast mainline seem to be devoted to first class, and even if you could afford the fare, you would not wish to be seen to do so. It is cheaper to fly toNew York and back than get a first class return from Crewe to Euston, so maybe they should redesignate some of the space.

Scotland……be careful what you wish for!

I doubt it will ever get built, and even if it does, it is most certainly not going anywhere near Scotland, where the latest devolution row rumbles on. There is much debate on whether an independent Scotland would join the euro, and indeed what the national finances would look like, ghastly, I suspect. Be careful what you wish for springs to mind.

Sovereign debt downgrade……

Meanwhile, across the Channel, the inevitable downgrade has happened to French debt, which in turn has negative implications for the EFSF, the European bailout fund. With Presidential elections looming in France, it is unlikely that further austerity measures will be introduced in the short term, but the whole currency zone is getting closer to the edge.

UK’s solution……

Here in the UK, we are just fine, because we have a credible plan to reduce the deficit, as long as we just keep moving the target further down the line. Our real secret is that we can print money, and thus recycle the debt, until the confidence trick is exposed. Markets seem oddly calm in the face of the latest news; do not expect that to last.

Costa Concordia……

Finally, anyone who has spent time at sea will be astonished by the pictures of the shipwrecked Italian cruise liner, but the crew clearly forgot two things. The rocks are pretty much where Noah left them, and Friday the 13^th is not the best day to take your eye off the ball.

CDO

15^th January, 2012