Is my attitude elitist here?

Do I care? Not really.

Conversation heard as I walked along Cowcross St this afternoon (on the way back from the Bleeding Heart Restaurant, btw. V Nice too.)

Young mum pushing pram, speaking to friend.

"So, I bought a scratch card and I got my pound back. So I bought another one and I got my pound back on that one as well. So I bought another one and I got nuffink on it. Nuffink!"

"Yeah, fixed, innit."

Perhaps I should focus more on Quantitatve Easing, which started today. But instead, I think that I shall go to bed.

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Be careful what you wish for

Netherlands insurer Aegeon this morning, while unveiling its anticipated 1.1bn euro loss for the year, included the unusual number of an "extraordinary €300m tax loss".

Extraordinary indeed, given the amount of money that the company lost last year. Surely you should reclaim money when that happens, not have extraordinary payments?

Ahh, but, no, but. TO understand this Major Major style bit of accounting, you have to look at the weird world of reinsurance, where nothing is as it seems. Subsidiaries in godforsaken hurricane-swept shit holes have capitalization in the squazillions of dollars, while the company where the head office is based might not have two francs to rub together.

Anyhoo, Aegon reinsured a large number of its premiums from the US (where tax is high) to Ireland (where it's low). You can see the benefit of this. You reduce your income in the high-tax region and increase it in the low-tax region. This, indeed, is one of the justifications for "captive" insurers (another is capital efficiency) that sees companies insuring with themselves.

However, reinsurance is a dodgy game. Several reinsurance executives have gone to prison in recent months because they have "reinsured" as far as the books have been concerned, but in reality haven't transferred any risk. Aegon, bless their cotton socks, actually did transfer some risk (or, at least, I assume they did) because the (low-tax) Irish reinsurance company has had to pay out to the (high-tax) US ceding company. Net result, a much higher tax bill, even though you have had higher claims than normal.

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A frequent complaint about the Serious Fraud Office and Financial Services Authority is that they really take rather too long when it comes to law enforcement. I am pleased, therefore, to hear that the two organizations are to be merged into the NCP traffic warden subdivision, where they will learn the techniques of "enforcement in a flash". The Islington traffic wardens now rove around in cars looking for transgressors, nipping out, taking photos, slapping on the ticket and zooming off within a minute, looking for the next innocent mug out of whom they can gouge eighty quid.

As an added bonus the wardens will teach the FSA and SFO guys the technique to use when defendants or their lawyers raise valid points of law. This consists of saying a few incomprehensible words and waving your mobile phone and digital camera in the air.

Let's face it; no-one actually parks illegally intentionally any more in London, unless they have no intention of paying the fine anyway. Nearly all the revenue comes from people who are not blocking traffic and who have made a mistake. But the whole thing is about revenue generation rather than getting a decent traffic system running.

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