Peter Reynolds

I’m one of the lucky ones.  I recovered over £2000 of illegal penalty charges from the Nationwide and HSBC a couple of years back before the High Court stayed all the claims.  I had the great pleasure of walking into HSBC’s Kilburn branch with a judgment stamped by the Bow County Court (local to its Canary Wharf headquarters).  I demanded my money there and then and created a right hiatus in the branch!  I didn’t get it then but I did the following day in crisp £50 notes.

Den Of Thieves

It goes without saying that the banks are all, without exception, cheats, thieves, liars and lowlife scoundrels.  That’s why millions of people were relying on the Office Of Fair Trading to stand up for them.  The OFT’s decision now to drop their action against the banks is a national disgrace of monstrous proportions.  Although we cannot be sure of exactly who is behind this scandal, the fact that dishonesty, corruption and theft are at the root of it is manifest and crystal clear.

The banks were making around £7 billion a year in charges, most of which were for unauthorised overdrafts.  Claimants would have been able to claim for six years of charges so the banks have been let off a £40 billion hook.  Never have the British people been so let down by those who are supposed to protect them.

The High Court first made the extraordinary decision that these charges were not penalty charges.  This is nonsense.  HSBC actually described many of their charges to me as “card misuse” – so is that a penalty or not?.  Of course they were and as such were illegal and unenforceable at law.  When the banks debited your account like this they were committing theft and they’ve got away with it scot free.

It has now been well established that the actual cost to the banks of these transactions were less than £2 each when they were charging their customers up to £40 a time.

It must be truly astonishing to any right minded person that the OFT has backed down.  Even in the last Supreme Court judgement the OFT was given a clear hint, more like an invitation, that it should revert to the Court on a different basis.  So what possible reason can there be for abandoning the claim?

There can be no doubt that this decision is improper.  I wonder why it was announced on 22nd December when the entire country was at the peak of its pre-Christmas mass hysteria?

Two Faced Coward

John Fingleton, the OFT’s chief executive, should resign immediately.  He is either corrupt or weak.  He certainly has no integrity because whatever pressure or bribery has been put upon him he should have fought to his last breath to stop this massive crime by the banker robbers.

We cannot rely on these paper tigers of consumer protection.  We certainly cannot rely on government.  It is doubtful that our self-serving, whipped and bullied MPs will do anything meaningful.   It seems the only option now may be molotov cocktails through the door of every bank premises throughout the country.   How else are we supposed to protect ourselves when we are so badly let down?

We live in an entirely monetised society.  It is impossible to function without a bank account.  Therefore, the banker robbers must be regulated virtually to death.  Their policies and profits must be ruthlessly controlled.  Their crimes must not be overlooked but punished severely with massive multi-billion pound fines for the institutions and long prison sentences for the responsible executives.

…and he says “If you walk out of the supermarket with a bag of sugar it’s no good saying you’ll pay the money back.  It’s too late”.

What are they up to?  The robbery has taken place, much of it caught on CCTV.  They were called weeks ago.  Are they just sitting on their backsides finishing their tea?  Maybe their sluggish response is due to flat feet or learning difficulties?  We, the victims,  are still waiting.  Meanwhile the crooks are desperately trying to cover up the evidence, even returning some of what they have stolen, cooking their books, arm twisting the judges, launching PR and propaganda campaigns to distort the truth.

Where Is He Hiding?

Where are the police?  Are we back in the day when the village bobby cowtows to the local squire, tugs his forelock and turns a blind eye?

Perhaps they’re being held back by corrupt senior officers,  or their lawyers are fiddling while Rome burns and they’re too scared to uphold the law?

Who Else Will Stand Up For Justice?

Each and every Chief Constable in the country should by now have launched an investigation into his or her local MPs.  Sir Paul Stephenson of the Met, supposedly went into a meeting with the CPS about a fortnight ago.  What the hell are they up to?  There’s much more urgency when a hungry single mother steals food for her children from Sainsburys. The sirens blare out quickly enough then!

This is a disgraceful state of affairs and the police are letting us down.  This must be more work for the Independent Police Complaints Commission or are we left with no option but to turn to Batman and Robin?  Who else will stand up for justice?

Meanwhile, Mrs Patel is up before the beak in Harrow today under The Fraud Act 2006 for telling fibs about her address to get her child into a better school.  See the story here

This is the state of justice in Britain today.

So I learned today that my own MP, Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, has his snout in the trough too.

He is one of several MPs who have claimed and been paid for tax advice from Dennis Bates, ex-Inland Revenue employee and wife of Labour MP, Meg Munn.  Mr Bates’ bill to Jim Knight explicitly stated “professional services in connection with your personal tax affairs”.

Scumbag Thief

No reasonable person can believe that claiming such an expense is legitimate.  I have therefore written today to the Chief Constable of Dorset, Martin Baker, making a complaint of dishonesty.  I take no pleasure in this.  I regard it as my duty.

Jim Knight states on his own website on the subject of MPs expenses: “…more serious abuses must be referred to the police and action taken that matches any other employment and any other citizen…”

Let us see what happens.

Another MP who needs to be locked up.  This time though he doesn’t deserve prison.  He needs a lunatic asylum.

For two reasons:

1. Because I agree completely that we should withdraw from membership of the EU and establish trading agreements as an independent nation.

2. Because I want to send a message to the main parties showing my disgust for the venal and corrupt behaviour of so many MPs.

I shall vote Tory in the next general election because David Cameron is the only credible candidate for PM.

If your expenses do not pass that test then you have broken the rules.  It’s black and white.  Forget the background, the explanation, that you deserve a bigger salary, how busy you were at the time,  saying you were only obeying the rules (“orders” in the Nuremberg defence).  All these miscreant MPs must be brought to account and if the police are not going to have the courage to take the necessary steps then some other method must be devised by which to bring these cheats before the courts.

I believe in the media.  I think it’s a power for good.  OK, so The Daily Telegraph has turned into The News Of The World and there is much else that is crass and false and wrong but it is the media that reveals truth and brings about change.

There can be no option now but jail for some MPs, dismissal for some, resignation for many and shame for most.  Those dishonest and corrupt members of the House Of Lords deserve even worse.   I also wrote much the same a few weeks ago about the police after the disgrace of the G20 murder and assaults – and what has happened?  Nothing!  For anyone else charges would already have been brought.  Undoubtedly the violent policemen are free on bail and strings are being pulled to breaking point to keep them free.

Well let them break.  We all saw it with our own eyes as we have seen the crimes of our politicians.  We need no more prevarication.

This is the power of the media and I look forward to the day when we see these politicians, policemen and, yes, the bankers too, chained together as they are led into jail.

If you seek a moral compass or example in Britain do not turn to our leaders, nor to those who are the most highly paid, richest or with the greatest responsibilities.  Turn instead to those who have endured the most, who have striven for goals and ambitions with true honour and integrity.  Turn to men like Major Phil Packer, who completed the London Marathon on crutches and has raised nearly £1 million for Help For Heroes.

The disgusting spectacle by the Chelsea whore footballers; spoilt, fawned over and supported by the Russian Mafia.  Their conduct is ignored by the FA, which once pretended to stand for discipline and good behaviour in football but looks the other way when the serious money is involved.

The ignominious disgrace of so many MPs to which, to his eternal shame, the Speaker has profoundly failed to respond.  The calculated fraud, thievery and deception of the banking superclass who have been allowed to walk away with their ill gotten gains.  All these people – not as a group but as individuals – Drogba, Brown, Goodwin – should be named, shamed and punished.  If we let this behaviour pass without sanction then we let down men like Major Packer.  We let down men and women of honour in sport, politics, business and everyday life who try their hardest and invest their integrity in what they do.

Who is left to take the lead?  This huge problem creates a vacancy,  the most important  job in the country but I fear that we do not have a Barack Obama in Britain.  I fear that Rome is burning.