Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Geo the Sarge]

Pretty sure Doobs is an actuary Geo (unless I have him mistaken with someone else) so don't think he will need a lesson in pension funds. 

Don't dispute it, haven't a clue what he does, however the fact he mentioned ethical investing I thought it contributed to informing those who don't know.

Geo

[Doobs]

I choose to self invest rather than rely on fund managers.  I'd rather use my superior investment knowledge screw things up myself.

If you want to pick and choose there are outfits like this for your ISA

https://www.idealing.com/

and this for your pension

http://www.sippdeal.co.uk/

No connection with either, other than a customer of one and about to switch to the other.

Chances are you will find something to object to with every company. 

Thinking of my big holdings
BP - big gulf of mexico polluter, dodgy russian dealings and destroyer of the Alaskan wilderness
Shell - exploiters of the citizens of the Nigel Delta
Vodafone - recent famous tax evaders
Multiple Banks - enough said
Kazakhmys - mining in a country with serious human rights issues
and yep, I do the animal testing drug companies too

Tesco can look like saints in amongst this lot.

Oblig. investment comment, Sainsbury's has been performing much better recently, but it is usually best to invest when companies are out of favour, like Tesco is now.  I hold both

Eck is right FWIW.

[Geo the Sarge]

I choose to self invest rather than rely on fund managers.  I'd rather use my superior investment knowledge screw things up myself.

If you want to pick and choose there are outfits like this for your ISA

https://www.idealing.com/

and this for your pension

http://www.sippdeal.co.uk/

No connection with either, other than a customer of one and about to switch to the other.

Chances are you will find something to object to with every company.  

Thinking of my big holdings
BP - big gulf of mexico polluter, dodgy russian dealings and destroyer of the Alaskan wilderness
Shell - exploiters of the citizens of the Nigel Delta
Vodafone - recent famous tax evaders
Multiple Banks - enough said
Kazakhmys - mining in a country with serious human rights issues
and yep, I do the animal testing drug companies too

Tesco can look like saints in amongst this lot.

Oblig. investment comment, Sainsbury's has been performing much better recently, but it is usually best to invest when companies are out of favour, like Tesco is now.  I hold both

Eck is right FWIW.

Thanks Doobs,

I take the self invest option too.

Unfortunately there are many others who don't take enough ownership of their investments and end up losing quite a bit having to pay advisers simply because they think it is too difficult when in fact it has never been easier.


FWIW I don't rely on ethics when choosing my options either.

Geo

[MANTIS01]

I think it's secret self hatred that manifests itself as Tesco hatred. When holidaying in say Italy or France you might wander into the local village with the sun on your back hand in hand with the woman you love. There you stumble upon a local farmer's market with all the stunning colours and vibrant atmosphere. You spy some plump juicy tomatoes looking unimaginably tasty, so you engage with the animated local farmer and partake in some friendly banter. He puts your tomatoes into a brown paper bag, bids you arrivederci, and you skip away at peace with the world having bought local produce from local people. The whole process feels right, it feels romantic.

Then you get home to Britain. Now I'm sure there's plenty of local farmer's markets in this country but I really can't be arsed trudging round the streets of Birmingham with the rain pissing in my face looking for tomatoes. Especially when the mrs wants fairy liquid and quilted toilet roll as well. So you snap go to Tesco because it's damn convenient. And you pick up prepackaged tomatoes flown in from frigging Gambia or wherever, and you use self-service because the checkout girl looks so mardy, and you pile it all into a plastic carrier bag as some machine snorts out that there's unexpected items in the bagging area. The whole process feels so manufactured and corporate yet the allure of convenience is too great to resist. Tesco's success only represents our own incessant demand for this convenience. So perhaps we hate ourselves for succumbing to the decidedly unromantic notion that every little helps.

[tikay]

Good morning.

Thank you for all the replies, I'll comment accordingly soonest.

Meanwhile, many of you may have seen this, but it was new to me, & I thought it was really rather good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw&feature=related

How did I find that?

I nicked it from a Poker Blog. And I only read one Poker Blog these days, being LilDave's, which is here, & covers his Dublin WPT epic fail.....

http://bit.ly/rMcodN

[RED-DOG]

Good morning.

Thank you for all the replies, I'll comment accordingly soonest.

Meanwhile, many of you may have seen this, but it was new to me, & I thought it was really rather good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw&feature=related

How did I find that?

I nicked it from a Poker Blog. And I only read one Poker Blog these days, being LilDave's, which is here, & covers his Dublin WPT epic fail.....

http://bit.ly/rMcodN

He reads my diary you know.

Just sayin.....

[tikay]

Statement just in from PokerStars.....

Hi,

PokerStars today issued the following statement regarding CEO Gabi Campos:

Gabi Campos has decided to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2012,  to pursue other opportunities.

The company thanks Gabi for his hard work and commitment and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors.  A search for Gabi’s replacement is underway.

Presumably decided on a career change. In 14 days time.

[tikay]

Sky are really getting revved up now for the start of their F1 coverage, much excitement all around the Osterley Campus.

Today, they announced that Damon Hill would be joining the "expert analysis" Team.

Personally, I find Damon to be as dull as dishwater when on TV, but he's quite a man away from F1 & TV, & carries a heavy load in his personal life, so I'm a fan overall.

I was much warmer towards his Dad, who was more my era, he really was something else, a terrific character.

He won the F1 World Championship, the Indy 500, & the Le Mans 24 hours.

Ironically, after an 18 year motor racing career, back in the day when driver & circuit safety was not even on the agenda, he was killed when the light 'plane he was piloting crashed on a golf course in North London, & there is a plaque there to this day to commemorate him.   

Here's Graham & son Damon, back in the day racing cars were much smaller than now, of course.

[Dino]

Damon was a great commentator on the optional audio feed for bernivision,very funny and no respecter of driver reputations.

[TightEnd]

Hill's a good signing. Extremely knowledgeable and if you can tease the dry humour out, very funny

[AndrewT]

I think tikay just doesn't like him because Hill shops in Waitrose rather than Tesco.

[tikay]

Damon was a great commentator on the optional audio feed for bernivision,very funny and no respecter of driver reputations.

I never watched it, so I'm much heartened to hear that. I know that in his role with the BDRC (?) & Silverstone, he's deffo not afraid to speak his mind, he's quite a motorsport politiian these days.

I gather he's a lot older now than he used to be, too.

[SuuPRlim]

Good morning.

Thank you for all the replies, I'll comment accordingly soonest.

Meanwhile, many of you may have seen this, but it was new to me, & I thought it was really rather good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw&feature=related

How did I find that?

I nicked it from a Poker Blog. And I only read one Poker Blog these days, being LilDave's, which is here, & covers his Dublin WPT epic fail.....

http://bit.ly/rMcodN

He reads my diary you know.

Just sayin.....

yes I do, unfortunately the conversation is far to intelligent for me to actually participate in but I'm enjoying it nonetheless!

[tikay]

Good morning.

Thank you for all the replies, I'll comment accordingly soonest.

Meanwhile, many of you may have seen this, but it was new to me, & I thought it was really rather good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw&feature=related

How did I find that?

I nicked it from a Poker Blog. And I only read one Poker Blog these days, being LilDave's, which is here, & covers his Dublin WPT epic fail.....

http://bit.ly/rMcodN

He reads my diary you know.

Just sayin.....

yes I do, unfortunately the conversation is far to intelligent for me to actually participate in but I'm enjoying it nonetheless!

Ah, Mr N is itt.

On a "normal" Diary recently, you asked.....

"....Tikay - how was Ronnnie Rutter on the show last night, he was pretty excited I think...."

Well I am pleased tell you he was incredibly good, almost as if born to it, he has such a clear & concise was of explaining quite difficult things in a straightforward manner, & he was very well received by the viewers.

He is, by a freak of rostering, on again this Thursday - 8pm - Midnight, & he's well worth watching, any of the kidz that aspire to doing that sort of stuff could learn a great deal from the way he handled it.

More importantly, he quickly grasped "message", which is critically important if anyone wants to do that sort of stuff. He has a few things to work on with technique, but that's the easy bit, & in my experience, these guys come on a bomb when they do their 2nd Show, as the learning curve in Show # 1 is a bit much for anyone, what with 3 peeps shouting instructions down your earpiece ("talkback"), 3 different cameras, the extreme lighting, da de da.

Ryan Spittles - scotty77 - has also signed up, as has Thewy, & Redmond Lee, the latter being a very competent all-rounder. Fingers crossed, Jen Mason will be a regular Analyst soon, too. All good.

Meanwhile, as I continue to assist the Channel with helping to find & nominate these new Analysts, I feel a bit like a turkey getting ready for Christmas. If Cos ever comes home, I'll be stuffed.

Luckily, you are too young for Ch 865 - seriously! 25 is the minimum, OFCOM & all that.

Click to see full-size image.

[SuuPRlim]

I said he'd be awesome, Stu's defo the best at teaching poker I've met from the English guys. great manner and lots of patience