837 days ago
In today’s Daily Mail Stephen Glover has penned an excellent piece on the flagrant bias of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today show. I cannot argue with a word he says on that matter. Glover is prompted by Labour luvvie Lord Melvyn Bragg saying that more or less everything is wonderful about the State Funded fake news channel. Glover says that Bragg himself producs excellent objective material on his “In Our Time” programme. Funnily enough I listened to its Christmas show on Scrooge.
968 days ago
Following on from the offering from Killer Frogs earlier on the 12 year old NFT Tycoon, I bring you a tweet from PR genus Steffi promoting a product which will, I am sure, make a few folks a lot of money along the way. But what is it? Soft porn, meets gambling meets pointless speculation? How does this create real jobs or objects of beauty or purpose to advance humankind? I am at a loss but surely this is not capitalism. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
982 days ago
If I run a company surely I get to decide where I operate as long as I am operating legally? Surely that is how capitalism works? You do not get the State telling a retailer, hotelier or restaurant chain owner that it must keep a given outlet open even if it is losing money so why the hell is the FCA trying to do just that with banks?
1101 days ago
Peter Brailey’s article of earlier makes one think about AIM and capitalism. I explian why, at ever level, UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) and is pig of a boss Lyin’ Steve Sanderson make me, as a capitalist, despair. I offer a few words on Phil the Greek and a few on Woodlarks. Tomorrow sees Olaf accompany me on a training walk and as the woke little snowflake struggles pity her and make a donation HERE.
1229 days ago
It is now more than thirty years since Michael Heseltine and a group of other traitors stabbed our greatest ever leader, Margaret Thatcher, in the back. I was on an underground train when the news came through. As it was heading out East to the great county of Essex, I kid you not that there were folks crying.
1248 days ago
Boris Johnson, Princess Nut Nuts, Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock all need to watch this video as you have forgotten what capitalism and freedom of speech really means. As for students attending the Marxist Madrassas we used to call Universities, this should be compulsory viewing. From 1977 the great William Buckley interviews the greatest… Margaret Thatcher, a woman who understood why all freedoms were so vital.
1375 days ago
Thanks for your kind words on MineProphets, the videos will stay up for another six months HERE. I will be doing another MineProphets show on December 5. This podcast looks at the dynamite mea culpa from PHE and why that makes it game over for Avacta (AVCT), Novacyt (NCYT) and the other cronabollocks stocks. Then I look at the naivety of Suzanne Evans and the political media class about capitalism, creative destruction, housing, commercial property and job losses.
1395 days ago
Everyone should agree with the spirit behind Black Lives Matter. However, the idea of taking a knee to show support for an organisation that wants to end capitalism, defund the Police and which engages in knuckle-dragging anti-semitism fills me with horror. Oddly, the liberal media lauds our sportsmen and sportswomen for their bravery in taking a knee in respect to that organisation. It is not brave at all. The real bravery is in calling out millionaire ball jugglers as hypocrites, for they are millionaires only because of capitalism. The bravery is saying “no” because you do support the Police and you don’t hate Jews. Imagine the guts this sportswoman below showed in doing just that. Forget the cowards of the Premier League, this woman is my hero.
1497 days ago
I start with a few thoughts on how folks here in our village are showing their good side and how some businesses in doing so and adapting are showing the way forward for capitalism. Then I look at the Boeing, British Airways and Easyjet (EZJ) bailout conundrums facing our leaders. Easyjet has just scored a big own goal on that front and almost deserves to perish, hence the share price move today. I look at Crest Nicholson (CRST) and also at R4E (R4E) which is either a five bagger or bust.
1669 days ago
Capitalism has got itself into a mess by becoming addicted to debt. The answer is not more debt. That is lesson one of Thomas Cook (TCG). Those who blame the Government for not bailing it out, or Sirius (SXX) or my local boozer misunderstand how capitalism works. Folks have to lose money and jobs must be lost for all of us to prosper.
1677 days ago
This story is about grubby nepotism, egregious compensation schemes, and aggressive business strategies, with an old-fashioned, car auction house at its heart. It threads together the microeconomics of executive incentives with the macroeconomics of the credit cycle.
1832 days ago
Happy Easter weekend to you all. Ahead of more renovation work on the Welsh hovel I ponder a chat with Nigel Wray about why it is always a stockpickers market and about the real crisis facing capitalism, executive greed and abject returns. I have a few more comments about Yourgene (YGEN) where I am even more angry. And ahead of my next training walk I urge you to make an Easter donation to the Woodlarks rogue bloggers HERE
1963 days ago
The Mrs has been to see her new colleagues in the Grim North and has been given her lecture schedule for next term. And on it is a talk called “Greed is Good”. Of course it damn well is.
2014 days ago
The carpenter and his assistant were hard at it again today. This time, as you can see below, building steps from the second floor kitchen up to the living area. They asked what I thought. Cala said I, lying.
2031 days ago
The tweet below relates to Carillion (CLLN) and comes from a leading group of supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and Labour. And it shows why the British left today not only fails to understand capitalism but also despises it.
2110 days ago
In today's bearcast I look at the range of utterly misguided reactions and proposals being made in the wake of the demise of Carillion (CLLN). Some folks just don't understand capitalism.
2142 days ago
One of the joy's of being in Shipston with my father is getting to answer the phone for him. "Is that Tom Winnifrith?" says someone from the numerous virtue signalling charities run by legions of grossly overpaid Guardian readers, who he supports with his cash. Truthfully I answer "yes." I am then treated to a long spiel about all the valuable work they are doing out in bongo bongo land followed by an appeal for an increased monthly donation.
2183 days ago
In the never ending story that is "I should have won but it was someone else's fault" Crooked Hillary Clinton has come up with a new excuse for losing the election to Donald Trump - Democrat voters did not like her because she was a capitalist. Hell's teeth this moaning loser takes self dinial to a new level.
2184 days ago
The lawyer's letter? I must keen you in suspense as I discuss with my lawyers how to respond so you can still vote on who sent it HERE. I also chatted today to Lucian about three slam dunk shorts: Telit (TCM), Purplebricks (PURP) and Tesla (TSLA). Or are they slam dunks? Might disbelief be suspended forever.? I then look at Photonstar Led (PSL) at Conroy Gold (CGNR) and at how AIM gives capitalism a bad name by not letting bust companies such as Andalas (ADL) fail.
2200 days ago
The great Kate Andrews of the IEA, says that whereas under socialism folks starve, capitalism ensures that all desires are met. If there is demand folks will risk capital to ensure it is met. She is, of course, right.
2215 days ago
I shall not name the Parish as that would be unfair on a female vicar who was enthusiastic and welcoming and on a large congregation of good folk but the service we attended on Easter Sunday morning was not one for the traditionalists, that is to say me. Dr Johnson would, no doubt, have viewed it as evidence that his famous bon mot on a women preaching was bang on the money.
2229 days ago
I am an unapologetic advocate of capitalism but as I review events at Conviviality (CVR) and Deutsche Bank it is not only shareholders in those companies that have a problem we all do. Something has gone very wrong in many places and all of we heroic wealth creators will feel the backlash.
2256 days ago
There are so many scandals and I cover the hypocrisy of the left over fallen virtue signaller Brendan Cox and the double standard shown regarding nonces in the church and at Oxfam. But the real scandals are that there are too many charities, that taxpayers cash is wasted on too many of them and that they do not work. Poor folks in third world shitholes need capitalism not NGOs.
2267 days ago
I have been consistent over many years in my belief that at almost every level the Oxfam charity is not fit for purpose, as you can see from a stream of articles HERE. I try to persuade my reactionary old father that he should stop pretending to my PC sisters that he is one of them by giving money to Oxfam but to no avail. Maybe today I might get my way, you see it appears his cash has been spent on underage hookers.
2621 days ago
In today's podcast I look at the new rules Aviva is implemententing in the name of gender equality. They are not needed and are bad news for all concerned. It is yet another sign of how Britain is losing the plot on capitalism. I then offer up three clear signs that we are at a market top and why it pays to be very wary.
2748 days ago
The chart below is fascinating and not just for bearded craft beer loving hispters such as pizza Hardman Darren Atwater. It tells you everything you need to know about capitalism as we come to the end of the bull market era of funny money. You can read across from this to so many other parts of the economy.
2755 days ago
Why is the FTSE 100 going up? Ask my friend the IRA man about his new mountain jacket. Elsewhere I look at Tern (TERN) and make a general point or two, at Iofina (IOF), Progility (PGY) and at Sports Direct (SPD). Capitalism is always the most efficient regulator not the State.
2919 days ago
BHS started with 1 store in 1928. Today it employs 11,000 folk and operates from 164 stores. And it has just gone bust. The blame lies not with the current management but with Sir Philip Green who sold BHS to today's bosses for £1 a year ago.
3040 days ago
Tomorrow I shall be in New York with my daughter and her uber-mad lefty godparents. Yesterday I spent the day with my wife's family including her barking mad (Greek) brother in law. He has numerous good qualities and is very likeable but a couple of major blind spots. I managed to control myself as he claimed that the evil Jews were behind 9/11 and controlled global banking. Then he moved onto capitalism. He has it wrong but so does the stockmarket from the FTSE 100 down to the AIM casino. In 2016 chickens will come home to roost for both.
3083 days ago
And so I am back in Shipston with the deluded lefties, my father and step mother. On Syria, Jihadi John, supermarket waste we, rather alarmingly, find ourselves in agreement. But then they produce the Amnesty Christmas catalogue. My heart sinks.
Amnesty thinks the US is evil for executing its own citizens. The Saudis can do no wrong even though on a per capita basis they are top of the execution pops. Amnesty loves the Palestinians and loathes the Israelis. I ask where is the tea towel celebrating Gaza gay pride? My step mother is not impressed.
My father has marked me down for a book called something like
3098 days ago
There is a seething anger in both the UK and the US among those who are not in the 1% but are hard working decent folk. We know that capitaism is not working as it should but also that the State makes things worse. Rising house prices may act as our Soma for now but not forever. Donald Trump, Globo, Jeremy Corbyn, The Kids Company fraud, David enigas all feature in this week's postcard from Tom Winnifrith
3109 days ago
Globo (GBO) is now the No 1 short on AIM and I explain why. Then I take a listener request - this is one off favour - and look at Messaging International (MES). Then onto LGO Energy (LGO) where I explain why the Bulletin Board morons are wrong and my target price is either 0p or 0.2p. UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) is heading down to 0.75p and I explain why. Rurelec (RUR) could well be a zero but is certainly a slam dunk sell. And then it is back to preparing my lecture for the lefty sociology students of the Mrs tomorrow "Capitalism makes the world a better place for all (Greed is Good)"
3122 days ago
Okay not full time. In fact not even part time. But I am going to give a lecture to the young folks at the University where the Mrs teaches on 21st October. Normally these impressionable young people have their minds filled with left wing nonsense. But they are in for a bit of a change and a bit of a shock
The lecture is titled “Why capitalism is good for all” with the subtitle “Greed is good”. When I told this to a mad lefty friend of my wife at a Birthday party on Sunday – without mentioning the subtitle - he said “presumably with a question mark at the end”.
This was the fellow that went on to state that sociology lecturers across the South West subsidised the City. That is to say the private sector. Whatever. Naturally
3146 days ago
The Mrs has finally relented, realising that if I give a lecture to her students then it is one less for her, an overworked public sector employee, to have to prepare for. And so her students in sociology will have their “capitalism module” lecture from me. This will be a bit of a shock since, as you might imagine, the gist of this module is normally “Capitalism is evil”. My lecture will be titled “Capitalism Makes the World a Better Place for all” with the subtext – Greed is Good.
I cannot wait. For too long these impressionable young folk have had their minds filled with failed Marxist theories by folks with no private sector experience. Now they get to learn how the world really works and why the answer to all its problems is more capitalism and more freedom not more intervention and oppression by the dead hand of the State.
The Mrs, the woman formerly known as the deluded lefty, has imposed two conditions.
3161 days ago
I am roused by Jeremy Corbyn, Paul Scott, Paul Mason, Russell Brand and a poster here to discuss what is wrong with capitalism, why it is sick and not working. The solution? Stop bastardising it. We need pure capitalism not crony capitalism, run just for the 1%, but to make life better for all.
3178 days ago
And so Monday dragged on with Tara the cat refusing to eat or drink more than a few sips of water despite the £300 invested the prior day in seeking emergency treatment from the vet. By the evening we took matters into our own hands. The Mrs held poor Tara tight and I forced her mouth open and with a syringe (no needle) forced her (Tara not the Mrs) to drink some cat milk. She seemed to perk up a bit and was again allowed to sleep with us.
I was keen to slumber after a hard day in the private sector but the Mrs is now on her prolonged public sector funded summer vacation and so was keen to read a book on how capitalism causes global poverty or some such nonsense and so kept the light on. And that attracted a moth.
Oakley, our morbidly obese three legged cat, followed the little moth closely but was too lazy to do anything about it. But all of a sudden Tara was once again her old self,
3321 days ago
Capitalists are the heroes of society not public sector workers. We pay for everything. We risk our capital to create jobs to create wealth and to pay for the lazy, overpaid, smug and pampered public sector. And capitalism drives social mobility, the public sector crystallises poverty whatever its hectoring cheerleaders say abiut affirmative action and equal opportunity. Yes I was at a party of with pals of the Mrs last night and this is the "blowback"
3374 days ago
Up and at it quite early I switched the kettle on and… boom… all power on the house was lost. Normally I am pretty good at dealing with the fuse box under the stairs but today I was defeated. Leaving the Mrs (still in bed with Oakley the three legged cat) to call an electrician I sped off in the car in desperate search of a place to work.
The Arnos Manor hotel in Brislington is a building I pass most days but have never visited. It offers an excellent Wedding service and the staff here have been delightful. I have sat happily in its bar mainlining lattes and tapping away since just before eight. Situated next to the stunning Arnos Vale Victorian cemetery – one of the major attractions of Brislington – I cannot thank the staff too much here for their courtesy and friendliness.
The Mrs has just wandered in. A little man
3391 days ago
As you may know the Mrs has decreed that I cannot work in the house because I make it untidy, stop her having freedom to canoodle three legged cat Oakley, watch Coronation Street and “work” on Facebook, etc. And so I was consigned to the garage as my new study. As October turned to November I flagged up that the garage was a little on the nippy side.
And so for Christmas by biggest present was a radiator. I have until now managed to avoid using it and have happily worked away in the kitchen. The Mrs has this morning put her little feet down and so I am now in the garage. The radiator is blasting away against my left leg which is toasting nicely. My right leg is about surviving. But above the desk my fingers are freezing as I tap away. I suppose it keeps me awake. The Mrs is however almost quoting the blessed Margaret – of whom she strongly disapproves: “The lady is not for turning.”
Meanwhile as a birthday present I am to be allowed to give a lecture to the sociology students currently taught by the Mrs. These impressionable young people currently have their minds filled with all sorts of nonsense
3401 days ago
One of the reasons that capitalism works while the alternative is doomed to fail is that failing companies can reinvent themselves.
For years AIM casino listed Vialogy misled investors raising money time and time again to support the obscene salaries of an underperforming and overpaid board. I like to think that I played a part in exposing the poltroons responsible and in forcing change. The old guard are out and shareholders are now starting to get back their losses as a new management team takes the ship, now renamed Premaitha (NIPT) forward.
3524 days ago
A year ago today at a house owned by the family of the great Hellenophile Lord Byron the woman formerly known as The Deluded Lefty became The Mrs. Right now she is outside tapping away at a paper for her sociology work on why capitalism causes cancer, global warming and is a construct for patriarchal hegemony for white men. Okay I think I might have got the subject a bit wrong but I am probably not far off.
I’m off to chop down some more frigana at The Greek Hovel where we are staying and then it’s switch off time. Unless there is a Quinnovation Group emergency this is a day off. Thank you to the Mrs for 365 wonderful days, it is time to down tools.
3573 days ago
Shorters, or bear raiders, are vilified by the ignorant as destroyers of wealth and of jobs. Some folks want shorting banned. They are wrong. The only people who benefit from banning shorting are crooks, liars and frauds. Capitalism needs shorters for it to work efficiently. Here’s why.
Let me ask you to point out how many PLCs the FCA or before it the FSA ever called out for fraud and had suspended? Er…zippo. The Regulator is a box ticker, an agency of Government and thus, by definition, useless. It would argue that its job is not to seek out fraud but to act on it when shown evidence. That might just be a defence but you then ask who will seek out fraud and thus present the authorities with that evidence?
Occasionally you have a kind hearted soul such as myself who does just that. But the reality is that spending months and months researching a company really is not going to make you rich. The ShareProphets operation generates enough revenue to allow me to spend some time doing such work but I could not afford to do it full time.
And thus the only folks who are going to have enough of a financial incentive to do such work are those in the bear raiding community. It took Gotham City many months to prove up its dossier against Spanish fraud Gowex. Now I know that Daniel Yu gets an intellectual kick
3638 days ago
As you know I have been in Greece for three weeks or more. And I come away in no doubt that the economy is picking up. Athens was almost buzzing whereas last year at the same time it was distinctly un-buzzing. Out in the boonies there has been less change.
In part that is because tourist numbers are up. Perhaps we non-Greeks have become immune to pictures of riots or the fascists of Golden Dawn on the March. There is certainly less fear that you will wake up one morning, switch on the TV in your hotel room and find that your Greek denominated Euros are now worthless drachmas. So that helps.
But there is also a partial domestic recovery. This time last year I walked down the main shopping streets near Syntagma Square
3665 days ago
My fave libertarian Tory blogger Charlotte Argyle is in fine form once again. The child of Thatcher rightly points out that capitalism not aid is what is needed for both donors and recipients. Over to the pin up girl of Tory blogging:
It starts with a chap called Mr O, an Ethiopian Farmer who claims that the £1.3Bn the UK has sent to Ethiopian in the last 5 years has done nothing more than fund a despotic government which has enacted great atrocities on his family and livelihood by using brutal force to annex land and property from hundreds of native villagers to sell off to foreign investors or add to its own little stash of Government chattels. Just to put our ‘good deed’ into context Ethiopia is among the biggest recipients of British aid receiving £38 million in July 2011 alone.
This simply serves to exposure the huge lack of accountability and traceability on the behalf of the do-gooders at DFID when it comes to ensuring that OUR money goes to the right source. It also magnifies the dangers around minimal foreign intervention without a serious approach to risk. To prove my point, imagine the blushing faces last year as DFID had to admit to the National Audit Office that it did not know in which country £530 million of aid was spent nor why a country like Nigeria, which is flourishing into an emerging economy – with the second highest national income of all African countries still receives £275 million from the UK in 2013 and will receive a further £250 million until 2015. .
So now we have Mr O set to sue the UK Government for hundreds of thousands of pounds – taxpayers pounds, in the name of DFID breaching the Department for International Development’s (DfID) human rights rules (yep breaching their own rules). But here is the best bit, some kind London lawyers (Leigh Day to be precise) have decided to help Mr O taking on the case on his behalf and have already served papers on DFID .
As they feel it is necessary to point out - Mr O is not seeking compensation but challenging the Government’s approach to aid – Well thanks Mr O but I think that slimming down of our ever gout-ridden state letting more people keep more of their own money may have the same effect. One has to wonder how much Leigh Day are set to make on this little case though. Imagine the headline "Ethiopian gets legal aid from UK - to sue the UK for giving aid to... Ethiopia"
DFID’s complete lack of action
3750 days ago
Playing Mad Lefty Bingo as the Mrs Launches her Book
The launch of Globalisation & Work, the fantastic new book co-written by the Mrs was a one day event attracted sociologists from across the UK. At the suggestion of the Mrs I turned up for the last hour only and wandered in and the third word I heard was “patriarchy.”
At once I cursed myself for not bringing an official Mad Lefty Bingo scorecard for the assembled sociologists were on fire. Within a few minutes I would also have been able to cross off
Thatcher! (as in to blame for everything)
Racist ( UKIP, The Tory Party, The Daily Mail)
Fascist ( UKIP)
Racism ( what white folks do)
The Daily Mail (whipping up racism, to blame for everything that was not Thatcher’s fault)
Carers (folks who need to be paid more)
Public Sector workers (folks who need to be paid more)
3817 days ago
Greed, as I argued at the weekend, is good. I believe in capitalism in its purest form. But AIM is not pure capitalism it is crony capitalism, a mechanism for transferring wealth from the many (that will be you reading this piece, private investors) to the few.
I was chatting to Paul Scott on this matter earlier. He used the phrase Cannon Fodder to describe how some in the City view private investors. He is kind. I would say most in the City view we mere plebs in this way.
The fact is that 80% of companies on AIM will never, ever generate a cent of free cashflow.
3958 days ago
It was a rather quiet week on the news front but in London around 2,000 assorted deluded lefty fruitcakes gathered on Saturday for the “People’s Assembly against Austerity.” Dragged from the 1970s were old loons like Tony Benn but there were also a new generation of loons. Benn has the excuse of senility. The new loons are just thick. Government spending is actually increasing year on year. The wicked Tories are spending more and more as the UK hurtles towards bankruptcy. What do they not understand?
As such I ask you for captions to this picture of assorted fruitcakes.
Please post your captions in the comments section below by 9 AM on Friday.
For what it is worth my caption is lifted from a quote from one delegate who attended the People’s Assembly. Yes he did actually say this.
4189 days ago
Just a brief insight into the mindset of those who will ultimately destroy the West: the publication of a new book “How to Get Fired So You Can Collect Benefits.” This book is published by Revolutionary Books the firm that brought you such winners as A Pig Named Wall Street, and Confessions of an alcoholic who put down the bottle for revolution – a book that apparently contains the confessions of a citizen who overcame their alcoholism for the sake of the community, the people, the Revolution. If you are looking for further reading…
How about, The Anti Upper Class Fact Book. Apparently this book features 500 facts about the upper class. These facts will show the moral and psychological corruption of the wealthy.
4203 days ago
I have just discussed whether page 3 girls should be banned with a feminist. She was quite reasonable about it. Others are not. It is a sign of the decadent decline of or political and media elite that they even regard this as a major issue to start with. Hell’s teeth the country is going bust, our relationship with the EU is utterly broken, we have 9 million economically inactive folks, etc, etc – and yet some insist on getting their knickers in a twist about THIS issue.
Perhaps the simplest way to look at this is to see who supports banning Page 3. Polly Toynbee, Harriet Harman, the Liberal Democrats etc. That should instinctively tell you which side to be on. The other one.
4210 days ago
Three Good Things is the new book by celebrity cook and all-round good guy High Fearnley-Whittingstall. Hugh is a blog roll hero of mine and as such I trundled along to hear him speak on Friday lunchtime. The hall was packed. I emerged far from convinced about both the book and, I am afraid, about Hugh.
I will always delight in watching River Cottage. It is not on the BBC and it is cracking TV. The idea that one can preserve the countryside and create real food at low cost is incredibly appealing. The idea that folks must understand that to eat meat you must kill animals is one that I push to all my Townie mates but they still do not get it. Hugh is a great presenter and loves his subject. But now I turn to my concerns.
Firstly the new book
