2009 and 2010 Not A Deep Recession

Further to my blog the other day, I was doing some mental arithmetic on the UK economy using some rough maths....

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We Brits Are Loved!

If you are French don't read this blog entry! I'm in the middle of sorting out a major restructure in Istanbul. The developer we worked with has run out of cash. With AIG and Citibank in the same stable it doesn't sound as bad these days. But running out of cash spoils things for everyone. So we got involved....

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Government must take the right action

There still remains a weird disconnect between the media's alarming reporting, the strident action-oriented positioning of our politicians and the news from the street. Perhaps we have the media to thank for spreading such woeful news....

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What The Facts Reveal

A couple of interesting pieces of news today for property investors. First inflation. It has dropped for the month of October from 5.2% down to 4.5%.   This does not sound significant but, historically, for a monthly movement, this is a large movement in the numbers. It is also crucial for the Bank of England.  Why? Because a key lever for managing the economy is the rate of interest. We normally look at the published interest rate known as base rates....

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Don't write off Les Anglo-Saxones!

Much blood letting and introspection has been occurring as the financial crisis has led politicians and commentators to question some of the assumptions behind the workings of the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism. Germans, Russians and others have, consequent to the crisis, been questioning the legitimacy of American leadership....

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The Russian Bear

Russia is an important country on the world stage. This is also a country that matters when it comes to world property markets because Russians invest a lot of money in property abroad. What happens in their markets impacts other countries....

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Control

The media still bombards us with the bad news. The Obama optimism lasted a mere week - like the odd aspirin after a night out....

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Obamas victory is an inspiration to us all

Before the magic of the Obama victory is forgotten in the midst of familiarity and the fog of political battle, I want to savour the brilliance of the moment and how Obama’s story glorifies all of us and underscores what is great about being human....

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The opportunities on our doorstep

They say that life goes in cycles. And sometimes this is very apparent. Alise and I started out in property investing in individual properties in the UK. We stopped investing in the UK in any significant way in December 2003. There was still some value to be had in 2004 but it was clear to me that market was getting very exuberant and was rapidly losing touching with underlying economic reality....

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Wolseley

Here's another example of our gloomy recession hit nation.  I was in London today to have lunch with....

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