No6

I will follow with interest and contribute when I can should you decide to start a thread. Hopefully, others will to.

I enjoyed listening to this, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. For example, it is one thing to argue that a gold standard stops wars, however history shows that may only work up until the countries that want to fight decide to come off the gold standard. So, what would keep them on it? I'm intrigued to know what mechanism, discipline, call it whatever you like, would be in place to enforce such a system? In other words, what would make it different this time? The answer is surely nothing, because the problem is not really money as such, but the way we see it (or forced to see it) and whoever has the power and control over it. The power brokers would need to be totally committed goldbugs and there is about as much chance of that happening as Gordon Brown ever admitting that he got something wrong.

I'm not into sports betting/trading, but would be interested to follow as there are similarities with trading the markets. Maybe you would consider setting up a thread where you can post your ideas? Not sure how many sports bettors there are around here.

Nothing. I'm countering the argument from those that believe things would be better, or that there is an answer. To many things there isn't.

I've asked the same questions myself a number of times and don't feel that I've ever got an answer from anyone. There would be wars, just over different things and gold would be something to fight over. The countries that didn't have it would be enslaved or forced into co-operation with the new gold empires. People tend to conveniently forget that gold standards have usually been in operation during periods of empires, with the militarily strong being in control at the expense of everyone else. Most of the world was effectively enslaved. Here's one critique.

The spread betting companies are effectively bookmakers, those are the rules for taxation that they operate under. IG are doing pretty well, you could probably make more out of buying their shares than spread betting with them.

They do have quite a lot of debt, but I expect they will try to run that down from here and they will be reluctant to take on any more. It may take a few years, but this is a recovery play IMHO.

Re PartGaming.

I thought PartyGaming had resolved their issues, or at least come to some agreement with the US authorities?

888 holdings. 888.com is the most popular online casino and poker operator. It is headquartered and licensed in Gibraltar with further offices in Tel Aviv, Antigua and London. It has over 23 million registered member accounts in over 177 countries worldwide and customer support is available in 11 languages - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 888.com offers traditional casino products such as blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, keno, slot machines, video, and a variety of poker games. http://www.sharecrazy.com/share2607share/s...re&epic=888

I actually think that the traditional UK bookies could be a good long term bet if they learn the lessons of the last 12 months. For example, William Hill was encouraged by so called banking and city experts to take on a massive amount of debt to buy the Stanley Leisure bookmakers a few years back, because it was the only way to expand and create value for the company. Of course, when everything hit the fan in the last year their share price collapsed because according to those same city experts, they now had too much debt. The short sellers had a field day considering that it fell from around 675 to below 150 in a year, this at a time when it was still making decent money off the punters. The same is true today, with the exception of a few good spells that the punters have here and there, WH and Ladbrokes continue to make good money and will most likely survive the recession/depression because people will continue to gamble. This is the average man in the street's stock market! WH just had a rights issue to help put their debt house in order, I doubt whether they will be keen go down that route again in the future.

Remember all those US problems for on-line bookmakers like PartyGaming a while back? Well, they seem to have done a deal and the share price has recovered by a lot since its low.

Can you say more on this?

Lulu the uber bull.

Heard from someone today that his house sale fell though because the buyer had a mortgage (or thought he had) from the Bristol and West Building Society, which should now be called the Bristol and Gone West.

Talking of Ireland.

It's such a shame. Come on everyone, get out there and spend. Let's bring some confidence back, that's all it takes.

Probably worth a thread of its own.

Oh dear. Adolph Hitler, Man of the Year http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19390102,00.html

He's not the only one.

Barratt Developments was around £10-11 when in the FTSE100, look at it now. ADVFN Market report.

From today's Whisky and Gunpowder newsletter.

UK Coal reported FY07 operating profit up 200% to £82.7m (2006: £27.6m), profit before tax up 292% to £69.0m (2006: £17.6m) compared to £59m expected. EPS up 412% to 59.9p (2006: 11.7p), excluding tax credit, EPS was up 276% to 44.0p (2006: 11.7p). David Jones, Chairman, said: "With a positive outlook for all our businesses, we face the current financial year with considerable confidence."