Parky works over-time on unemployment

Postscript to my story yesterday about Lord Parkinson's spot that unemployment has been higher at the end of every Labour government than it was when each one came to power.
The former Tory Trade Secretary's statistic got lots of coverage at the time, and at a cabinet meeting shortly after his proclamation, Parkinson tells how he was taken aside by Michael Heseltine (as was).
"Is that stuff about Labour and unemployment really true?" he asked.
"It was at that point that I knew the challenge I had to persuade voters," Parkinson recalls. "I couldn't even convince my own cabinet I was right."

Labour statistics keep on repeating...

I see that unemployment has reached 2.4m - the highest level since 1995.
Plus ca change. Former Tory Trade Secretary, Lord Parkinson, is fond of telling a story of how he once pointed out that every Labour government has left office with unemployment higher than when it arrived. An incredulous reporter asked the then opposition leader, Neil Kinnock, if Parkinson's claim was indeed true.
Kinnock's reply? "Well, statistically speaking."

Black and white and red all-over

Is everything even remotely touched by Newcastle United destined to plummet in value?
Retail tycoon Mike Ashley is desperately hawking his comedy football club around the City for a £20m cash down payment, and now I learn of a struggling property deal.
Swainston Hall, an 8,000 sq ft neo-Georgian mansion based on a Robert Adam design, is located on the Wynyard Hall estate developed by former Toon chairman Sir John Hall.
It is currently being offered at a 15% discount for £2.95m and estate agent Jackson-Stops says: "The house is a real one-off, so quite hard to value."
Evidently.

IG bargy for unpaid debts

Is spread betting group IG Index a little short of cash?
The company's eager credit controller, Catherine Crowther, writes to one SlackBelly reader: "I am contacting you regarding the debit balance due on your IG Index account. The amount due is currently £6.60. We require this balance to be cleared in full as soon as possible."
Steady on, luv!

More Babs...

More on Barbara Stcherbatcheff - the fruity, young intern who turns out is the irrelevant columnist City Girl (see below).
Her CV makes fascinating reading - revealing under her "interests" that (apart from writing her debut novel) she has recorded her first album. First!

Babs fails to reveal all

I see that some dolly bird called Barbara Stcherbatcheff, pictured, has revealed herself to be "City Girl".

For those people who passed an A-Level, City Girl is the pseudonym for some pisspoor columnist in the free rag, thelondonpaper, who used to drone on about about life in the Square Mile from the perspective of some clueless bint who could never keep her knickers on (I paraphrase, slightly).

So what is Stcherbatcheff's high-powered job that gives her this unique insight into the workings of the City?

Fund manager? Investment banker? Er, nope. She's just an intern! - filing news stories for the well known wealth management website, thewealthnet.com.

For some reason, this is not mentioned in the PR guff accompanying her first (and last) novel: Confessions of a City Girl. Space contraints, I expect.

Jeeves still searching for a better answer

With Microsoft and Yahoo clubbing together in an effort to form a competitor to dent Google's dominance in the search engine market, you have to fear for the remaining (small) rivals.
The butler-branded search engine, Ask Jeeves, still seems to be stoically plugging away in this space, so I ask Jeeves: "Is Ask Jeeves finished?"
His first response? "Ask Jeeves warns of wider loss; CEO resigns - CNET News".
I think that answers my question.