Britain's banks face £1bn bill from charges revolt | Special report | Guardian Unlimited Business

HSBC's half year results show that the banks are having to pay a lot more out than previously thought:

Britain's banks face £1bn bill from charges revolt | Special report | Guardian Unlimited Business

If you haven't already claimed back your unfair charges, like we did, you've probably missed the boat as the FSA have allowed the banks to suspend any further payments until the high-court ruling. You may still get your charges back, but it's not likely to be the full amount

Banks agree to charges test case

The banks must be tired of paying out to those of us (in our thousands) that have reclaimed bank charges, as they're finally accepting a test case in the courts.

Having worked for banks and knowing a little about their operations, I doubt very much that they'll be able to prove that they can justify the unauthorised overdraft charges. There's no way it costs them £30 a transaction, particularly the big banks which benefit from massive economies of sale and where everything is an automated computer transaction.

The banks will always win in the end though. They may lose their day in court and be forced to lower their penalty charges, and be forced to make refunds to customers, but they'll probably counter this by bringing an end to free banking in the UK.

Free banking is practically unheard of in Australia. There are a few accounts that don't make monthly account charges, however these tend to be dependant upon maintaining a certain balance in your account. For instance my main account is with the Bank of Queensland. If my balance remains above $2000 then I don't get charged, but if it drops below $2k at any time then I'll get charged a $4 monthly account fee.

I can imagine the likes of Barclays, HBOS and HSBC introducing something similar. Barclays have kind of already done this by stealth with their Barclays Additions account. If it's anything like the Barclays Additions account the monthly fee will be a lot more than $4 (£1.60)!

BBC NEWS | Business | Banks agree to charges test case

How not to run a business

Two examples, in my view, of business stupidity:

1) The project I'm engaged on at work now has, get this, 5 project managers. There is:

• 1 x Principle Project Manager
• 1 x Project Manager
• 1 x Project Manager - Quality Control
• 1 x Project Manager - Risk, Issues and Finance
• 1 x Project Manager (representing the consultancy I'm working for)

Therefore the main project team is comprised of 5 project managers plus 2 technical consultants - me and Ken, and I'm really only there so that there's cover for Ken when he goes on holiday next month. The phrase 'too many chiefs..' comes to mind. So that's 5 project managers, each of which love to have separate meetings and need constant status updates, all of which takes time away from myself and Ken actually working on delivery of the technical solution which is the reason for the project. Crazy!

2) Tomorrow, I'm taking Rachelle to the airport to catch a 6:30am flight to Sydney for a meeting. She's not actually going into Sydney itself. The meeting is being held in the Quantus lounge in Sydney airport, after which she's flying straight back again. So her company is flying the branch managers from each corner of Australia to Sydney for a meeting and then flying them straight back again. Have they not heard of tele-conferencing!

Liverpool unveil stadium plans

Liverpool today unveiled the design for the new stadium, scheduled to open in 2010.

The design is an upgrade on the initial plans as the new owner's would like to be able to increase capacity above 75,000, subject to the plans being approved by Liverpool council. It was always a nightmare getting tickets for Anfield so I'm sure they'll have no problems filling it. Not sure if there's the road infrastructure in place though to support it - it will be only a stone's throw away from the current home of the real theatre of dreams, which is not the most accessible of stadiums.


Exciting times ahead, especially with all the new acquisitions, which Liverpool added to today with the signing of Brazil's under-20 Captain Lucas Leiva.

More info at Liverpoolfc.tv.

View from the boardroom

I had a meeting on the 32nd floor at work today. It's a bit distracting when you have a view like this...
Taken with my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot Camera phone

Brisbane CBD comes to a stand-still for Brett Irwin funeral

I should read the local papers more often, as when I went out for lunch today I had no clue why roadblocks had been set up and why police were milling everywhere. I soon discovered the reason why when I came round the corner to St Stephen's Cathedral. It was the funeral for Brett Irwin - the police officer who was shot dead last Wednesday issuing an arrest warrant to a man in Brisbane's north west.

As you can see from the photo's I took, the mourners and onlookers were numbered in their thousands....
According to the local paper there were 3000 police officers in attendance...

This would have been a good time to rob a bank..


Photo's were taken with my camera phone, hence the dodgy quality. I didn't take any pics of the honour guard as they came out of the cathedral as I thought it would have been a bit crass to have taken photo's while everyone was paying their respects (especially when there's 3000 coppers in the immediate vicinity!).

USS Kitty Hawk

The USS Kitty Hawk is in Brisbane this weekend - on one of the stops on her final Pacific Tour before she returns to be de-commissioned next year.

Even though the ship wasn't having an Open Day, we drove down to take a look. Because the Kitty Hawk is a SuperCarrier, it's too big to make it up river in to the City so it has had to berth at a tanker berth at the BP Oil Refinery near the entrance to the river, and the only place we could view it was from the far bank, off the beaten track with limited road access. Unfortunately, half of Brisbane decided to drive down to take a look as well, which meant we had to crawl in traffic for nearly 2 hours just to get to see her from a distance.

This is as close as we got...

And this is the best photo I could get zoomed in with my 55mm lens (I'm definitely going to have to buy the 70-300mm lens) ...


And this is digitally zoomed in and cut using Picasa


Still, pretty impressive. To put it in perspective, I used to serve on HMS Invincible which had a ships company of 1200 and usually carried 12 Sea Harriers and 6 Sea King helicopters. The Kitty Hawk has a ships company of 4,500 and can carry up to 90 aircraft. I believe the ones you can see on deck are mainly F/A 18 Hornets. The Kitty Hawk carries two types of F/A 18's - the F/A-18C Hornet and the F/A-18E Super Hornet (replacement for the F14 TomCat as seen in TopGun). Not that I'm a Ship Spotter or anything!

Of course, I've been a lot closer to US carriers in the past as the Royal Navy and US Navy work quite closely together, both on exercises and when operationally deployed. I just thought Rach and Lauren might want to see it so I let them drag me down there, honest.

When we got back we had a BBQ for our Sunday dinner - it's a hard life. I hear it's raining again in England. Never mind.

Travel Money Maximiser

Another great tool from Martin Lewis' site.

First he helped us find cheap flights. Then he helped us make cheap international calls. Now here's a great resource to help you get the most foreign currency for your pound. It's not much use to us anymore but bear it in mind if you ever come to visit us in Oz (so you can buy me plenty of beers!)

Travel Money Maximiser - MoneySavingExpert.com

How to remove a cork trapped in a wine bottle

Genius - http://blog.viddler.com/cdevroe/wine-cork/

The Tooth Fairy is on her way

Lauren's first 'wobbly tooth' finally came out today. She's very excited. I suggested to her that instead of putting it under her pillow for the tooth fairy she might want to keep it as a souvenir - something she could show her own children one day.

She knocked back my suggestion. She'd rather have the money.

That's my girl!

Jamie Oliver E-mail Threat

If it wasn't for the fact it's not April Fools Day I would have thought this news story was a joke:

Devon and Cornwall police today confirmed they'd arrested a man in connenction with the Cornwall National Liberation Army (CNLA) threats against celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein and their Cornwall-based restaurant ventures, news agencies report.

Read the full story here - Man cuffed over Jamie Oliver email threat (The Register)

Some pics from our day at Sea World

See more of our photo's on Flickr

Move over David Bailey!

I've finally bought my first Digital SLR. After much research, I chose the Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel Xti. It's only an entry-level DSLR but it will do for me. Anyway, after a lifetime of operating simple point and click cameras I don't know the first thing about focal lengths, exposure metering, slow-synch shooting, AE bracketing, and all these other wonderful terms. At least I didn't. I bought a book earlier this week and I'm just starting to get to grips with the fundamentals.

I always think it's a waste for these people who buy expensive cameras and only ever use them in the pre-set AutoFocus modes. I'm determined to learn about the features and digital photography in general. It came with a standard 18-55mm lens but as soon as I've got to grips with it I'm going to buy a second lens. Probably a 70-300mm lens for better zoom. I know you can achieve better quality if you buy prime lenses set at different focal lengths for different types of shots but that would mean carrying around an heavy bag full of lenses. Plus, it's not like I'm a sports photographer or wildlife photographer, my photo's will probably cover anything and everything so the two lenses should be ok for me.

I'm also going to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop properly. I've seen some amazing photo's that have been enhanced using Photoshop. I've used Photoshop before but I've never really delved into all the features

Maybe one day I might get serious about photography, upgrade to a more professional camera and try to make a few bob out of it. Anyway I'll soon see if the Canon EOS 400D is as good as the reviews say - it's charging at the moment

Our little monkey is 6!

Yesterday was Lauren's birthday. We had work and school as normal but afterwards we had a little party for her. The neighbours came round as well as Cath and Bonny. And tomorrow we're taking her to Sea World. Again. It doesn't seem like two minutes since the last time we went but we gave Lauren the choice of things to do and that's what she chose. At least it will give us a chance to test out our new camera.

Thank you to all those who sent cards and pressies. Lauren will be contacting you shortly to say thank you. A little tip though, please don't waste your money and send cheques internationally. She loses about 25% of the value of the cheque in oversees transaction charges. If you do want to send money oversees use something like Paypal instead. There's still a charge but it's nothing like 25%.

Today was Lauren's school sports day. They hold it in the Winter here as it's too hot in the Summer. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it due to work commitments but Rach managed to get the day off.

I realise I've been a bit quiet on this blog the last few days. The reason being I've been working on a new venture. More of which later....

Another quiet weekend

With the weather nice again we went out and bought our first proper aussie BBQ yesterday. We couldn't believe how cheap they are. We bought a 4-burner gas flat-top barbie for only $119 (£48). We bought it from Bunnings, which is basically the equivalent of B&Q in the UK. In fact, it seems to be an exact carbon copy of B&Q. Only the name is different. I've just had a look on the B&Q website and their equivalent BBQ is about £200! Anyway, the kangaroo steak tasted lovely!

Our next-door neighbours came round for a drink earlier - George and Julie. They're from New Zealand and are new to Australia as well. We got chatting and it looks like I'm sorted for a golf partner!

Banks ordered to reveal true cost of charges

Banks ordered to reveal true cost of charges - Guardian Unlimited Money

I may have got my money back, but I'd still like to know how they justify the charges.

John Smeaton - a hero of our time

It seems John Smeaton has become a bit of a cult hero on the web.

Only in Glasgow would a member of the public tackle a man on fire and get a boot in. There's now numerous sites and videos on the web dedicated to (mostly taking the piss out of) John Smeaton.

I know I shouldn't, but you've got to laugh about the whole affair. I think the terrorists must have been been watching too much A-Team, for it's only in The A-Team that you can drive a Jeep full of propane into a building and cause a dramatic explosion. Surely everyone knows cars don't necessarily explode when they're set on fire, except on TV.

JohnSmeaton.com
John Smeaton on YouTube

Mashable

Being a bit of a web geek, I like to keep track of developments in the web2.0 space. There's a lot of new websites popping up everyday now taking advantage of advanced web scripting languages that add interactivity and social networking. Some of them are actually quite exciting and are making a lot of money. Near enough every week I see a new site and think I wish I'd have thought of that!

Mashable is a site that keeps track of these developments and is quickly becoming one of my favourite blogs. They do a lot of research into the features of the various sites and extensively compare them against similar sites in the same category. Some examples of great posts are:

Essential sites for summer travellers: I've used Yahoo Travel Planner a few times now and found it very useful, but by the looks of it there are even better sites out there for planning trips.

90+ online photography tools and resources: an unbelievably extensive guide to the best sites for photo sharing, editing, printing, buying, selling, searching, remixing and free hosting.

11 things you can bet on (legally): The one category they're missing is People - Celebdaq has been around for years.

Torres is a Red!

Finally, a signing that might help us challenge for the title.

Liverpool has completed the signing of Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid. He's taking up the number 9 shirt left vacant by Robbie Fowler. If Torres turns out to be half the striker that 'God' was in his prime then we're in for a really exciting season ahead. Although it was brief, from what I saw of him playing in the World Cup I predict he could become world-class.

Finally some honesty about the Iraq War

Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has publicly admitted that oil is one of the reasons for Australia's continued troop presence in Iraq. This is the first time such an admission has been made, although his boss, John Howard, denies it.

We have Foxtel

We had Foxtel fitted yesterday. Foxtel is basically the same as Sky in the UK (both owned by Rupert Murdoch).

The biggest revelation (they didn't tell us this when we ordered it) is that we can't get Channels Seven or Ten through Foxtel, which is a bit of a bummer because Seven and Ten are two of the main channels that show the programmes we like, such as Lost and House. We can still watch them by changing the AV mode to Digital or Anologue, we just can't record them. The reason we ordered Foxtel in the first place is so that we can go back to watching programmes when we want to watch them and forward through the adverts (of which there are far too many in Oz), like we did using Sky+ in the UK. So it's a bit of a let down.

Apparently, the reason Seven and Ten aren't available is because Foxtel want to charge Seven and Ten more to carry them over the Satellite subscription than their main rival Channel Nine. Why? Because PBL owns Nine who also own a 25% share in Foxtel. So Nine gets a discount. Seven and Ten are rightly not happy about this so until this is all sorted out I can't watch House at the weekends and forward through the adverts. I've got a mind to write a strongly worded letter!

In comparison with Sky, there's not half as many channels on Foxtel, but they have started to trial on-demand programmes, and there is a free Foxtel Active service called Air Active which lets you listen to different music channels which display the song title and artist playing. HD hasn't launched yet on Foxtel either although I do believe it is due imminently.

A 'drama' at work

The aussies like to say 'drama' a lot. Everything's a drama. If something's a bit of bother, it's a drama.

I had a 'drama' of my own today.

A woman fainted on me in the lift today at work, although I don't think it was because she mistook me for Brad Pitt.

As I was travelling down to the ground floor this woman was the only other person in the lift with me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that she looked really groggy like she was about to fall asleep, stood up. Then suddenly she just fell backwards and collapsed in a heap, hitting her head on a metal bannister in the lift on the way down. I didn't get to her in time to stop the fall. As soon as she hit the deck, sick started dribbling out of her mouth. I immediately rolled her on to her side, worried she was going to choke on her vomit. Luckily we then arrived at the ground floor and the lift door opened. I shouted for help and a security guard quickly ran over.

She was only out for about 20 seconds before she started to come around. While the security guard went to call an ambulance I tried talking to her to reassure her, and to try and ascertain if there were any other problems. I also noticed that a puddle had formed underneath her where she had lost control of her bodily functions. I was particularly worried about her head as it took a nasty crack on the way down. I checked the back of her head but I couldn't see any blood.

Once she was able to talk she told me that she wasn't ill. In fact this was the first time she had ever fainted. God knows what had caused it. She was clearly embarrassed about her situation so I asked one of the cleaners to get some towels while the security guard went to find something to cover the lift entrance to give her some privacy while we waited for the ambulance.

Anyway some of her friends turned up to look after her while they waited for the ambulance so I left them to it. I wasn't sure whether to stick around or not. I felt a responsibility because I was the only one with her when it happened but at the same time I'd fully briefed the security guard on what had happened, and that I was worried about the bang to her head, so he could brief the paramedics when they arrived. With her friends there there wasn't really any more I could offer.

I didn't get to find out what happened after that but I hope she's ok.

That's the first time I've had to deal with anything like that. I'm glad to say I didn't panic and I think I handled it ok. I received first-aid training in the Navy but luckily it wasn't anything too serious (I'll have to save my tracheotomy training for another day!). Anyone with common sense would have done the same.

Brisbane CBD by Night

This photo doesn't really do it justice. I'm going to have to invest in a camera with a decent flash. This is the view I get of the Brisbane CBD from the CityCat every night leaving work.

A quiet weekend - bliss!

After constantly being busy with one thing and another since arriving in Oz it was really nice to be able to relax this weekend. Sunday in particular was lovely. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden reading whilst basking in the warmth of the sun. I keep having to remind myself it's the middle of Winter!

Flying Fish Yacht, Cairns

Not sure what this was about. I came out of work yesterday (Monday) and this yacht was on the jetty surrounded by film crews. The helicopter onboard had its rotors running and there was what looked like a butler standing at the top of the gangway. I couldn't work out whether they were waiting for someone famous to depart and the TV crews had turned up to film it, or they were filming for a movie or tv programme.

Either way, nice yacht!