Plus cas change…

The World’s largest bank is J P Morgan. It makes on average around US$460 million every week. On the fifth anniversary of the collapse of another large bank, Lehman Brothers, regulators announced that J P Morgan had been fined $920 million for violating US laws about security trading and for attempting to cover up those criminal actions. In essence they pretended portfolios were worth more than they were worth to cover up massive losses they had incurred.

A stout door is better protection than the devices of the financial markets

As I locked the front door I realised just how much we have to trust our fellow human beings. The door is heavy and substantial and like most doors it can be broken down. Most of us are not protected by armed guards, security scanners and numerous devices; most of us rely on a door, a lock and the goodwill of those that live around us to keep us safe.

The Euro in Intensive Care

You can get used to almost anything. It may be that we get used to things because we are innately resourceful, or it may be that we get used to things because custom and time blunts the barbs of troubles, but we all of us get used to almost everything.

Sometimes an illness creeps upon you in very small steps that you confuse the disease with aging, and believe that you will always feel like this as you get older. There is a financial illness that afflicts the world today.

Reasons for British Success at the Olympics

The British are an odd nation. They can reach get heights of great achievement while at the same time plummeting to depths of poor performance. The ability to do both things at the same time speaks to their priorities, as we can see from the Olympic Games now being held in London. Taken on any standards the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team has done very well. It is third in the medal count, it has the third number of gold medals of any nation, including nations that are much larger and much more prosperous that it. There is a simple reason for this excellent performance: money.

Making Vulgar Abuse a Crime

If you are in the eyes of today’s media a hero, then it seems you must not be subjected to any criticism. An Olympic diver, Mr Tom Daly, messed up one of his dives and as a result missed out on a medal. This is unfortunate because the British media had invested Mr Daly with a god-like aura.

Perverting the Course of Justice

When I was a very young lawyer I as part of my duties I attended and observed a trial of policemen who were charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice. One of the policemen was Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher. I attended the trial almost every day, and for the days when I did not attend, I read transcripts of the day’s proceedings and analysed them. D/S Pilcher was, at the time that the charge against him was concerned, running the Drugs Squad at Scotland Yard and was in the habit of arresting famous rock musicians, some of whom alleged that he planted evidence against them.