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Actually if I understand correctly, it wasn't the banks in the UK lending to individuals for mortgages and buy to lets that really caused the problem.

All banks were investing enormous sums in foreign companies and other banks which weren't so well regulated as our own.

It then turned out that many of these investments were 'unwise' and wouldn't be repaid which caused many other investments to be scrutinized by progressively paranoid underwriters causing foreclosures in circumstances where continued support would have been more prudent.

After American banks like Lehman Bros took a dive other banks decided that it was also unwise to continue with interbank lending. Because the banks could no longer borrow money, they began to restrict lending to businesses and individuals and tightened up their foreclosure procedures. And the recession was born.

It was a downward spiral from there.

It is just my opinion but I believe panic was father to the recession. If business had continued as usual with a gentle reigning in of the more flamboyant investments over a period of time, I doubt we'd have seen anywhere near the carnage that has ensued.

I agree 100%. The quality of a persons post speaks volumes about how that person approaches any task.

If they are prepared to do a poor job of a simple thing like answering posts in blogs and forums then one has to ask if their commitment to their clients is equally as poor.

And I have to add that I really hate spammers. I used to run a car club before I knew about such things and they destroyed my forums with posts offering our members the type of services that should definitely be reserved for non family sites.

@TCCuk

Yes it will make a difference.
I'm not the web designer in our business, I deal with the sales side of things, but from what I understand Google can't read flash so it's best to stay clear of it if you want the search engines to rate your site.

Having said that Google has trouble reading anything in a shop which is why we always put an html page as a portal.

It surprised me.

How can the council get away with using public money to create an unfair business model which they then use to undercut the taxpayers?

Which game? Several have been mentioned.

It's relatively simple if I understand correctly.

If the buyer wants to use the supplier they should pay you the deposit, which should be at least equal to your commission, through your site.
You simply keep the commission element and forward the rest if any.

The buyer has made a commitment, the supplier knows that they are unlikely to get burned and you receive payment in advance.

There are several Paypal type services out there who will supply you with a code to put a button on your website which will direct the buyer to a secure site where payment can be made securely direct to your chosen bank account.

I don't see any risk.

I've just heard from my cousin who runs a coach company in the south of England that he's likely to cease trading this year.


From what I understand the congestion charge (read as back door tax) was recently increased to ridiculous rates for old vehicles but reduced for new vehicles.

This is great for the environment but not so good for small operators who can't afford to replace their vehicles at a whim from the government, even if the banks would be willing to lend money, which they aren't.

However the large operators can and have effectively lost all their competition in one fell swoop.

Now I'm not one for conspiracy theories but it seems strange that those who run the large tour companies and have mates in powerful positions have benefitted while their competition has been efficiently removed.

Add to that the local council in my cousins area buying their own fleet of buses then bidding against and undercutting the private operators for the local school contracts and one can be forgiven for wondering when the government are going to recognise that private business needs at least a level playing field if we're going to survive.

Frankly I'm amazed that the olympics are to be staged in london at all.

My personal opinion is that there are far more suitable areas with good transport links further up the country and before anyone reaches for the keyboard, I'm originally from east London myself so I have no axe to grind about us poor northerners being left out.

I'm so glad that I'm based elsewhere and will miss out on the nightmare that will inevitably ensue.

I see where you're coming from now.

You're right of course but it's a trade off.

My point is that everyone wants a catchy domain name so that people can remember it. Unfortunately, a short catchy domain name isn't the best for the search engines as it isn't likely to use the keywords that you want since there are limited short catchy domain names especially for some highly competitve words.

So for online advertising where hyperlinks can be used use a long multi word url.
For offline advertising use a short catchy domain name which re-directs and doesn't need any of the keywords as it's used by humans who input a direct link to your site without a search.

Could you explain your reasoning as to why please.