Thats the Police Told...

It seems a judge in a court has told the Police that they have to stop arresting people on spurious charges and then bailing them until they have sufficient evidence to actually press those charges.

Quite right too. Arrests should only be made when sufficient evidence of a crime has been gathered.

It should not throw the Police into crisis, as reports make out. The Police have been acting outside the law for decades and its about time they were brought back into line.

Next in line for reform should be the use of Police cautions where people are cajoled into accepting a caution when the police cannot gather sufficient evidence for a "proper" arrest and prosecution.

People are innocent until proven guilty.

Depopulation.

Well, there aren't enough jobs, too many people and the 65 years of peace we've had in Europe haven't brought about lasting prosperity.

So, what can be done? The only choice I think is to have a bloody good European war, like our grandparents did.

Greece are well along the way to having a ruck, everyone hates the Germans because they're doing so well, nobody like France because they're well... French. The Irish might not stay so neutral this time, possibly wanting to throw a kick or two in Belgium's direction, which should be easy as Belgium can't even organise a government. The Eastern European countries will run back to mother Russia, hopefully ending the glut of immigrants.

The bad news is Britain doesn't have the status it used to have, so we might have to forego our role as European saviour this time and I doubt America would be that bothered about Europe this time round. Bloody good job if you ask me, because over the last 65 years the countries we liberated in WW2 have been less than grateful. Let them fight it out amongst themselves this time. Although we might send in a brigade of "fighting chavs" to stir things up a bit. We could even get them to kick it off for us.

How Exposed are We to a Greek Default?

I've only got time for a quick note, but here's a conundrum:

The BBC keep reiterating that our exposure to a Greek default would be in the region of £9Bn. Which is true, if you only count the money we've guaranteed as part of the bailout plan.

Channel 4 have it a bit more accurately. They mention a figure of £366Bn which includes not just the bailout cash, but also the liabilities of our banks by way of loans and credit default swaps. Yes our old friends credit default swaps rear their ugly heads again. They were one of the prime movers in the crash of 2008. They are a sort of insurance against default on a loan and the city of London bought into them big time. Hence the big exposure to a Greek default. If they do default, the city investors will lose billions.

Just how big is £366Bn? Its around a quarter of our GDP: a not insignificant number.

Anyone want to dig out our true exposure to a Portuguese and Irish default? I bet its a huge chunk of GDP.

If all of that falls, we're toast. If Greece fails, we catch a huge cold. So commentators may glibly say let Greece default, but the engine of the economy will falter substantially as a result.

Its interesting to note the difference in figures between the BBC and Channel 4 though. Maybe the BBC needs to stop being a youth employment scheme and get some decent journalists on the ranks that can actually do some journalism.