Standard and Chartered

Is there no end to the disasterous effects of Brown's destruction of what was a safe and well managed banking sector?

Re: Standard and Chartered

I hardly dare turn the news on these days, every day new revelations about one bank or another

As S&C is based in the UK, I wonder if the US will withdraw their rights to trade . I guess they will get a huge fine.

Re: Standard and Chartered

Standard charter

It will take at least 30 years to undo what Brown and co did to this country during their term of office so do not be surprised at anything that happens on the financial front.

Just remember never to vote Labour ever again.

Re: Standard and Chartered

Oh how short the memory is Bob. The Tories were (and still are) no better. Do you not remember all the sleaze that emanated from Major's government???, the cash for questions scandal??? (one of those involved in that scandal then, is now yet again a Cabinet Minister), before that (in Thatcher's (phth, phth, phth) time we had Aitken making and accepting bribes from Saudi Arabia over an arms deal, and before that under MacMillan premiership we had the infamous Profumo scandal. So before you shout too loudly Bob matey, make sure you don't live in a glass house.

Re: Standard and Chartered

There is one fundamental difference between the Thatcher / Major era and the disastrous Blair / Brown time - in the T/M administration the misdeeds were for the most part committed by individuals. Not so with the B/B governments.

During the B/B years there was institutionalised destruction of the UK, demolition and abuse of established offices of state, abuse of the Civil Service, a total screw up of our banking system brought about by the break between government and the Bank of England, a
that in itself thing so awful let alone cynical as to be sufficient for absolute censure of B/B even if they had not done anything else.

Then the promotion of quasi-Socialist ideas, even worse than socialism - and God knows they're bad enough, plus the undermining of so much that was the basis of our society, especially the unwanted and totally lunatic and illogical multiculturalism experiment, an experiment that is now collapsing and leaving a broken nation and society in its wake.

I rather like Churchill's observation regarding Socialism

He said “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

I'm not his greatest fan for a number of actions that he took, but the Old Boy could certainly “cut to the chase” with regard to on number of things with opinions that many people could do worse than take on board.


As for Lady Thatcher, let's not forget that she and her government saved GB from the disaster that Labour left behind. The cure was harsh, but when the patient is in extremis the cure becomes second to ensuring the survival of the patient.

So let's keep misdeeds by individuals separated from organised and institutional maladministration such as is the case with the B/B cabal.

Re: Standard and Chartered

Oh really??? - and what of Thatcher's (phth, phth,phth) disasterous monetarist policies which managed to result in the destruction of our manufacturing industries and caused the highest post-war total of unemployment this country has seen.

Re: Standard and Chartered

When you take over a country that has no money a monetary policy is a rather good thing to have.

GB manufacturing was a joke. Miners were being subsidised to dig coal that was then sold at a loss.

Our manufacturing industries were turning out goods that the rest of the world didn't want because the quality was lousy, the designs were outdated, and delivery dates were more speculation than a thing to be relied upon.

Investment in infrastructure were trousered by greedy workers in grossly over manned jobs rather than to update the manufacturing infrastructure, unions acted in concert not to blackmail employers but to extort from employers, and so much more.

That unemployment was actually part of the redeployment of people into work that would add value, not simply skim off what little profit that anyone could make.

A country is like a family. There's income and expenditure and a lifestyle. Whenever Labour get into office they beg, borrow, or steal everything they can in order to buy continued power via the ballot box. Blair took this to a new level by introducing the element of fear, fear of voting for sanity out of concern over what the cure would involve.

Prior to MT GB was in a total mess with society disconnected from reality because of squandering by the Labour party and maintaining “lame ducks”. Those lame ducks were sinking the whole country, their demise did result in people living in subsidised comfortable having to face the result of the subsidies being withdrawn but so what?

As a tax payer why should I have to work my nuts off while some bunch were living the good life only because of the taking of taxes from people like me.

Natural justice says that a person should only live in a manner that he can afford, not the manner that Joe Soap has to pay for in order for him to do so.

Re: Standard and Chartered

Wrong again!!! - a monetary policy yes, but NOT a monetarist policy - there is a vast difference between the two.

As for coal, why were the electricity companies purchasing state subsidised coal from France, Germany and Poland (which incidentally in the case of France and Germany was directly contrary to European Economic Community policy) whilst at the same time sitting on vast amounts of coal beneath their feet???

As for manufacturing industries, you say the designs were outdated, delivery dates were speculation and the quality was lousy. Just one question - who was responsible for that, the workers or the Owners and management??? Where was the investment in modern manufacturing processes??? You say this was pocketed by the workers in overstaffed jobs. total crap!!! Management always have had the upper hand in industry. where was the investment in training and redeployment??? and who is responsible for providing these??? - not the workers, but management who were (and still are - Once again total crap).

Re: Standard and Chartered

I'm outta here on this thread!

I'm no shrinking violet but when someone uses expressions such as total crap a line has been crossed.

Re: Standard and Chartered

Its a common enough expression, and used by 'captains of industry' previously.

Criticise your own product (also known as 'The Ratner Rule')

Gerald Ratner was the past master at this. When making a speech about his jewellery company, Ratners Group, in 1991, he admitted it sold 'total crap' - going on to say that his business model was based around selling earrings that were 'cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich, but probably won't last as long'. Ratner's shares lost half a billion pounds in value - that's the equivalent of a lot of earrings.

Not to be outdone, Barclays Bank chief executive, Matt Barrett, claimed, during a Commons Treasury Select Committee meeting investigating the high interest rates on credit cards, that he wouldn't personally use a Barclaycard because they are 'too expensive'.

Get involved in a scandal (preferably an illegal one)

GlaxoSmithKline recently had to pay $3bn (£1.9bn) in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history - pleading guilt to promoting two drugs for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a diabetes drug to the Food and Drug Administration. It was also found guilty of giving kick-backs to doctors.

Then, of course, there was Barclays, which recently adopted the interesting strategy of playing around with the banking industry’s interest rate. CEO Bob Diamond’s reign saw Barclays become the jewel in the crown of corporate calamities.

Not to be outdone, News Corporation’s phone hacking scandal hit the headlines around the world after hard-nosed journalists listened in to the conversations of hapless celebrities. It brought down a newspaper and could well end a family dynasty.

Look down on your customers

A decade after Gerald Ratner’s fantastic faux pas, Topman's brand director, David Shepherd, inferred that his customers were 'football hooligans or whatever'. He claimed they only wore suits when appearing in court, adding: "Fitted sleeveless T-shirts were not going to work for beer-swilling lads."

Meanwhile, former EMI executive Alain Levy offended practically everyone in Finland by suggesting that they lacked a certain musical talent. He quipped: "We discovered we had 49 artists in Finland. I don't think there are 49 Finns who can sing." Music to their ears, no doubt.

Ensure everything that can go wrong does goes wrong (then take a long time to fix it)

This particular event is dominated by our fine financial institutions.

The latest in a long line of banking woes was recently topped by a huge IT cock-up at NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland that left millions unable to access their bank accounts. The bank has had to put £125m aside - mostly to cover the cost of compensating unhappy customers.

Over the years, the banks have provided some great examples of taking the 'service' out of customer service.

Unearth an embarrassing name

Scandinavian furniture giant Ikea’s popular child's bed 'Gutvik' caused a stir in Germany, due to its similarity to a German phrase meaning 'good f***’. Meanwhile, US car giant General Motors plumped for the name Buick LaCrosse for its sedan in Canada even though 'la crosse' means 'masturbation' in Quebec slang.

Ignore your customers

With breathtaking audacity, movie rental business Netflix tried to make a price hike appear like great news for customers with a poorly-judged announcement. Customers vented their anger everywhere and left in droves, while Netflix remained schtum. Throw in a few IT glitches and an aborted rebranding and the business produced a textbook example of how to lose hundreds of thousands of customers.

Let customers know how much money you are making from them

E.On boss Mark Owen-Lloyd joked that rising fuel costs meant 'more money for us' - just what cash-strapped customers facing record heating bills wanted to hear. The energy group was forced to apologise 'unreservedly' for his remarks.

Make your staff proud

A few years back John Pluthero, the outspoken chairman of Cable & Wireless UK, caused the company embarrassment when he sent a memo to staff, which said: 'Congratulations, we work for an underperforming business in a crappy industry and it's going to be hell for the next 12 months.'

Show a lack of taste

Broadcaster ITV served up a great example of how to generate some unwanted exposure by being fined by an Australian court for allowing a rat to be killed and eaten by contestants on reality TV show 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', after a furore by outraged animal rights activists.

So, come on bad businesses of Britain - you now know what you have to do to annoy and alienate your customers. Seriously though, the moral is avoid disaster by taking these salutary lessons others have suffered on board - learning from the mistakes of others can be priceless.