Award

Award
Social Media Award Winner

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

One Giant Leap for Squirrels!

Seeing as everyone else in the UK has been having fun playing around with Crasher Squirrel, I thought I would have a go.

Apparently a cheeky little fella popped up in some couple's honeymoon pictures in Canada, as reported in that august publication, The Metro. Read the Ridiculant article on Crasher Squirrel Since the media whirlwind of publicity that ensued, he has become an internet star, appearing now in photos with Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace), Kim Jong-il (may he not) and also on the Obamarama tour train.

But did they know he also was the first being on the moon?

I think the world should be told

Crasher Squirrel

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

All Hail the FTSE100

Tim Hynes photograph

So the FTSE100 has been crawling its way back above the 4000 mark and the pundits are a-plenty. "Green Shoots"; "Signs of protracted recovery"; "Positive earnings estimates coming out of the US are driving growth" "Case-Schiller index proving US house prices are rising again"... I am sure all this is true, and statistically, there does seem much reason for celebrating the fact that stock markets have been hauling themselves higher.

But for those who invested 10 years ago, they are still significantly out-of-pocket. With 5,000+ insolvencies in the UK, rising unemployment, pay freezes and low interest rates, it seems unlikely that the real economy is going to feel any positive effect from the rising stock market indices for several months yet.

I am a believer in that bearish of fund managers, Hugh Hendry of Eclectica, who has often quoted Mark Twain: 'If you have to swallow a frog, swallow it in the morning. If you have to swallow two, swallow the larger one first. We're still swallowing the large one."