Van Der Sar's last season

We have been linked with a continental keper again, this time Ajax's Stekelenburg. It would be nice to find an English goalie or even a british isles born keeper, if City could find Hart, why can't we find one.
Apparently it seems United epect Van Der Sar to hang his boots up at the end of the season and that is why Eric Steele is jetting from Spain To Sweden and everywhere beyond. If that is the case, this is one big decision as the big Dutchman has been as integral to our success over the last five seasons as Schmeichel was to us in the 90's. I still haven't seen a goalie half as good as Van Der Sar is with the ball at his feet and it's vital whoever we get is far better than either Foster or Kuszczak have been in that department.

Fergie thinks United's form hasn't been that bad, we aren't where he wanted us to be because of a lack killer instinct. Whilst he is not wrong that we dropped points at Fulham and Everton that we shouldn't have, we didn't actually dominate either game. We should have won at Everton no question, but Fulham probably deserved a draw even if it came right at the death.
That still doesn't excuse tow piss poor performances against Rnagers and Sunderland and a pretty poor performance at Bolton. Lack of quality in the squad when he tries to rotate the squad is what is hurting us. Bringing Cleverley back from Wigan will go some way to solving that as would a Carrick who can manage to refind some form. I can't bring myself to mention the possibility of Hargreaves return.

The Mail manage to decide scrape together a story saying Macheda has denied that he will be going to Lazio on loan. I very much doubt he will be going there unless Fergie decides he is not part of his future plans. I still think he should have gone out on loan when Welbeck did as he needs regular football just as much at this stage of his career.
He also mentioned Wayne Rooney and i think we will be told he was mis translated.

Brian Moore argues that Liverpool fans can't cry foul now, they should have done that before Hicks and Gillett took over. And we all know the welcome they gave them. It sounds like the bank are just absolutely desperate to get rid of the club and get their money back to me. There are no actual promises on anything except for paying the debt back to the bank. We shall see.

The billionaire investor Warren Buffett is less than impressed with the latest free for all on Wall street and attacks the lack of reform over the last two years. It's not looking like Obama is going to prove to be the special leader some on the liberal left had hoped for. He could have attacked the financial elite from the centre, never mind the left after the financial meltdown of 2008, but he has turned out to be another Bill Clinton so far. In fact it's hard to imagine what would have turned out different if the US had voted in the first female predident Hilary Clinton instead of the first black presiednt.
Tracey Corrigan says Jerome Kerviel has got three years but most get away scot free, some of us would say there will be more than one or two of those rewarded on Wall street that probably should be behind bars.
Robert Peston writes that the UK and Switzerland have been quite close partners on the international arena as new rules on how to regulate the banks have been discussed. So the news that a new Swiss report on how to make sure that its banks are too too big to fail has recommended  higher capital requirements ( they have to keep more money in reserve ) will be news that British banks won't be keen to hear.

Larry Elliott reports that the mood at the IMF is sombre amidst economic imbalances and maybe the start of a currency war. They are right to think so he argues, as lessons go unlearned and countries look at the smaller picture instead of the big one. The IMF are also arguing that the finacial system is the achilles heel of the global economy and that the use of credit agencies to assess government debt. I have just read Larry Elliott and Dan Roberts two latest books where they attack the economic consensus of the last thirty years. And they accuse the IMF of being a part of the "new Olympians" the rich elite that have given us the lie that the market is never wrong, so to read them come out with that is so, so ironic.



George Soros blames the Germans for threatning Europe with deflation through it's unwillingness to learn the lessons of the 1930;s because its economy isn't doing too badly, for now. Daniel Gros argues that Europe has to start to look to the future and speak more with one voice at a global level. That's nothing but wishful thinking at the moment, unfortunately.
David Blanchflower has another go at Andrew Sentence for worrying about inflation. And predicts his tenure at the MPC will not be renewed once his second term has finished next year.
Almost all of the really heavyweight thinkers of the economic world seem to be against cuts and regard the first job of governments and central bank to start to deliver growth and make sure we don't walk ourselves into depression.  An yet they all seem to think that this is where we are heading at present. The neo liberals can't give up on their discredited beliefs however much the evidence points against them

Robert Peston touches on what our, slacker than just about every other country in the worlds, takeover laws will probably mean if we are to enter a low or even no growth era. They will not be the only set of workers that this could happen to.


The blighty blog of the economist makes a good point about journalists and politicians for that matter who seem to think the average wage is higher than it is and hence the average joe or average family are will be as up in arms as they areover the child benefit cuts furore.

Velvet Undergound drummer Moe Tucker joins the tea party. As Alexis Petridis says the New york rockers were never part of the hippy movement, but surely no one around in 1967 watching them could have predicted that one of their member would join such a reactionary movement.