In the Sunday Teelgraph
George Trefgarne writes about the demutualization of Standard Life. I am a Standard Life policy-holder, and so am looking forward to the demutualization, but I suspect like most others it is really because I am told I will get £500 or so and If I don't think too hard I can't really see why it's not free money.I find his argument rather overblown. He says that such companies investing in bonds not equities is a mistake because of the better long-run performance of the latter [I've changed the order of his words here, click on the original for exactly what he said):
This false doctrine has led to a giant mis-allocation of capital. It means the large Footsie stocks are still undervalued...an investor who does not believe in shares is a heretic who does not really believe in the rights of ownership or the principles of capitalism.
Or they think they aren't massively undervalued.
Onto Christopher Booker, who I am led to believe is representative of a large strand of Conservative thinking. This is what he has to say on David Cameron:
[His speech was] the most self-parodyingly condescending piece of litter ever produced by a political party....Last week it became more apparent than ever just what a catastrophic blunder the Tories made in picking David Cameron as their leader...seem to have confirmed their [here he means our] view that the party has been hijacked by a gang of spoiled children who appear to have no contact with the realities with which the rest of us live.
Of couse the party's poll showing is actually rather good at present, suggesting that perhaps it is Booker who has no contact with reality. However he also adds that a "Senior Tory" has said:
"The real problem," as one dismayed senior Tory put it recently, "is that it is going to take two more years before this disaster can be undone. Labour walks the next election, and then we're going to have to start all over again."
In cases like this it would be nice if Booker could say of what vintage the Senior Tory is, ie is it someone like Lord Tebbit? There is much more of this on the letters page.
Finally something we can all agree on. "Remove your muzzle, Charles, and speak your mind - the country needs to hear you", demand Clive Aslet. I suspect here he is using 'country' much like the word 'society' used to be used - to describe a small set of rich people.
posted by Matthew @ 4/17/2006 08:36:00 AM
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