THE BRITISH THREAD II

Did anyone else see the programme on art nouveau on BBC4 this evening?

Marvellous.

Interesting about Liberty's and all that. Watts Memorial Chapel, I've been there, and very impressive it is.

Unlike our government eh Mac?

I've noticed Cameron's eyes are getting closer together.

Jesus Christ, George Galloway with a 10000 majority in Bradford.

Milliband and Balls in Greggs for what? What an embarrassing waste of their time. Headaches all round this morning.

I think Tony Blair should be sent to The Hague, to cleanse the country.

There was an article in the Guardian a couple of days ago. Galloway courted the Moslem vote, a lot of whom a very young, and sick of a local political system where people get nominated because of where their grandparents came from.

I don't know how any visit to Greggs can be seen as a waste of time.

I'm glad to see Gorgeous George back in the Commons.

Like Boris and Tam Dalyell, adding to the gaiety of the nation.

I don't agree with everything he says, but it's good that he doesn't take any ****. It should liven things up a bit.

A poll shows that 68% of voters think politics is corrupt.

Who knew that 32% of voters are in a coma?

That's a bit cynical, Spendy. Politics is corrupt, I daresay in general, but lots of politicians are not. Can you think of a better system? Plenty have tried.

Well I would shut TV down, as presently constituted, for a start.

Lord Justice Leveson is completely stumped. Ethics starts in schools.

I'm not in the least cynical. I'm commenting on cynicism.

Re. your remarks about TV, I wonder if you would care to expand on that.
One of the things I miss most when (on the rare occasions ) I go abroad is the BBC.
Maybe we would be better, as a society, without any TV but that battle is long lost. Given that, I don't know of any TV service which is better than that available in this country. And with modern recorders, you don't even have to suffer intrusion of advertisements.
So how would you constitute TV to better serve us? Bearing in mind it has to entertain as well as inform. I have my own views; I want to hear yours.

I would make the airwaves, print and cable open to all. No licences. No policing. Once we get these monopolies corruption follows like night follows day.

If we fear really free speech enough to restrict it then it is necessary to avoid handing the control of it to a bunch of unelected, self perpetuating idiots who have the power to set everybody's agenda and become more and more arrogant the longer they do so and who end up making and breaking governments and rendering us all paranoid whilst retailing hopeless palliatives for the effects caused by the paranoia. Just on the basis that they are photogenic and can jerk their hands decisively four times to accompany them saying such a word whilst doing a walking shot in a shopping area and reading a teleprompter. Not A.J.P. Taylor. More like an eager dog that has fetched the stick back.

Poor old Leveson. He has ended up using the expression "public interest", in a manner one might apply to syrup sponge and runny custard, without a proper debate about what the public interest is at this point in our development.

TV does not "have to" entertain and inform in the way I assume you mean those words. Something like the Grauniad would use them I suppose or Media in general.

One might inform them that a lot of people have actually died, some soldiers, whilst the fancy of the Grief Junkies has been tickled up by the sad plight of two rich footballers.

What we are being led to believe is that we are doing something when watching TV or reading the paper. And we are sat on our arses probable scoffing nibbles. I do it myself of course but I don't imagine I'm doing anything beyond passing the time comfortably.

That sounds like a recipe for a Tower of Babel.

Or, American TV raised to a power of c for chaos.

Cameron has had a very bad week in the (Murdoch) press, and wry smiles from TV commentators suggest that the Leveson Inquiry fallout is beginning to bite him and his party in the bum.

I agree Taggers, Spendi's suggestion would result in wall to wall Jeremy Kyle. Interesting view on the radio the other day, as most party political expenses tend to be billboard advertising, ban that. It would suit me, I don't want to see Cameron's smooth, shiny face staring down at me again.

I had no idea who Jeremy Kyle is until I checked after reading that.

What concerns me is having two silly women discussing matters of great national importance on Sky News Papers review whilst continually using their right hand to brush quiffs from their eyes which they have spent half the afternoon getting carefully placed in position in an upmarket hairdressing salon for the very purpose of hiding their eyes. Usually accompanied by the cleat of cleavage and the flashing of knees Kenny Everett style.

Little details like that which reveal what's really going on behind the scenes. At least Mark Anthony sold out to Cleopatra. Selling out to those two running to fat biddies is outrageous.

I would seriously consider banning all advertising on licensed media.

I think that if you pay to watch something, either through subscription or licence, they shouldn't be allowed to advertise as well.

I don't think Gavrilo Princip knew a lot about the Triple Entente and Alliance before he shot Franz Ferdinand.

Interesting defence in the "underage girls being groomed for sex, and trafficked" trial which started this week- in Preston?- where the accused have just attacked the police, denied everything, and played the race card*.

*The girls (under 15) ran a vice ring. The girls were arrogant,racist and foul-mouthed. Only asian men are on trial. This is a racist prosecution.

Do you think they will succeed with this defence? Are they making things worse, as far as society's perception of them, by such utterances?

Rangers: how are the mighty fallen


Published on Friday 6 April 2012 00:50

THE full extent of Rangers’ crippling debts have been laid bare in a new report by administrators Duff & Phelps, showing that the club could now owe a staggering £134 million.

HMRC alone could be due more then £93m, if Rangers lose what is commonly known as “the big tax case”, worth an estimated £75m.

Rival clubs, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Celtic, Hearts and Dundee United, are owed tens, and in most cases hundreds, of thousands of pounds by the stricken Ibrox club.

And Murray Group Holdings, whose chairman is former Rangers majority shareholder Sir David Murray, is also owed £278,000.

The list of hundreds of creditors includes several local authorities, British Gas, Edinburgh and Glasgow Audi, JJB Sports, Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders police forces, and even the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Ticketus is another creditor, after paying £26.7m for the right to sell season tickets.

And 6,050 “debentures”, who in 1990 paid between £1,000 and £1,650 to help to build the club deck on the stadium’s Govan stand in return for rights, such as to buy a season ticket for a designated seat, are potentially due £7.7m.

Despite this, Duff & Phelps, which itself is owed £1.2m, having charged up to £477 an hour for some work, believes a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) is still possible.

That would see the club maintain its Scottish Premier League status and be eligible for Europe from 2013-14 – if creditors are willing to settle for a proportion of what is owed, possibly as little as 15p in the pound.

Duff & Phelps revealed yesterday that it had whittled the number of bidders down from four groups to three, believed to include Paul Murray’s Blue Knights consortium, as well as parties from the United States and Singapore.

David Whitehouse, joint administrator, said: “We can now see light at the end of the tunnel whereby the club can exit from administration and focus upon success on the pitch.

“While we cannot be precise on timescale, exit from administration does look achievable by the end of the season.

“We also hope to announce next week acceptance of one bid, which would then be subject to a period of due diligence and exclusivity.

“Most importantly, following the bidding process, we believe the most likely exit from administration will be the successful implementation of a CVA.”

He added: “The ability of the company to exit through a CVA process is dependent in part on the level of offers submitted for the business and is in the gift of the potential purchasers to deliver. As stated, we believe this can be achieved.

“We would stress, however, that if a CVA could not be achieved, bidders have discussed with us the next best alternative, being the sale of the business to a new legal entity which would continue to trade as Rangers Football Club.”

The report also revealed how thorough Duff & Phelps has been in sizing up the club’s assets.

Not only has its agents, Lambert Smith, valued Ibrox Stadium and the Murray Park training ground, but auctioneers Sweeney Kincaid has also been sent in to run the rule over the fixtures and fittings at both sites.

The administrators also revealed that fans are prepared to hold a protest against any form of liquidation at the home match against St Mirren on Saturday.

They are backing the Blue Knights after securing an agreement of a share issue to spread ownership of the club among fans, following a takeover.

Mark Dingwall, board member of the Rangers Supporters Trust, said: “The three supporters groups – the trust, assembly and association – put out a challenge to all potential bidders to come up to scratch on accountability, governance and, going forward, the widening of shared ownership. No one man – or his ego – can have complete control of this club again.

“The only people who have bothered to engage with us is the Blue Knights, so we have negotiated to back them to obtain a CVA and own the club and then do a share issue which ordinary fans can subscribe to.”

If the administrators are to secure a CVA, they will have to make an offer to the creditors that 75 per cent are willing to sign up to.

With HMRC potentially accounting for more half of the club’s debt, the taxman will have a major say in the club’s future. Football finance expert Neil Patey believes the club may be willing to throw in the towel on the case, if it does not believe it will win, and make the HMRC an offer.

“If they get the outcome of the big tax case in time, fine, but in the absence of that, they may say ‘what will it take to settle you?’,” he said.

“I think, since they’ve got to get this resolved, they’re operating on a basis where they will assume they will lose and have to pay the HMRC an amount of money, and then it comes down to negotiating with the HMRC.”

Although the big tax case is worth £75m, if the HMRC is offered 15p in £1, it would actually be worth just over £11m.

Mr Patey, a partner in Ernst and Young, said: “The (£134m) figure is slightly larger than I was anticipating, but it’s of the order – I always thought it would go above £100m.

“It’s the difference between 30p in the pound and 15p, and I’m not sure it alters the chances of getting a CVA away.”

• Duff and Phelps report in full

They say what happens in the USA we here in Britain get within 5 years.

So I watched the Masters from Augusta to see the lie of the land in the lower-middle-class over there. There was a great deal of macho leg show and a lot of male on male hugging on the tiddler stroke with which Bubba closed the deal.

Some of the more risque shorts were mid thigh.

And eye-hiding peak caps were prominent as well which is understandable.

I'll have to get some depilation cream soon.