While the council and the Cancer continue to talk up the new Carboot Circus shopping centre with endless waffle about best shopping centre in the world ever awards to the accompaniment of some highly speculative footfall figures, the economic reality is somewhat different.
Carboot is jointly owned by two of the country’s largest commercial property outfits – Hammerson and Land Securities – masquerading under the name ‘the Bristol Alliance‘ and the briefest of glances at the business pages of a decent paper will tell you all is not well.
Share prices have collapsed for starters. Hammerson’s are now back at 1999 levels and Land Securities are 20% below that. And both companies have made eye-watering losses recently. Hammerson posted a full-year net loss for 2008 of £1.57 billion while Land Securities posted a £1.74bn half-year loss for the latter part of last year.
Now both companies are heading quickly to the shattered money markets in the hope of some sort of private sector bank-style capital bailout through share issues. Although investors are likely to be nervous as things are touted to get much worse for both companies with credit markets, the share market and real estate markets all failing simultaneously and conspiring to create ‘the perfect storm’.
The Daily Telegraph says “2004-2008 now looks like an absurd bubble” for these firms and the sharp money and the short sells are on urgent asset disposals happening very soon.
Watch this space.
Oh God, I really hope I live long enough to see the day that thing gets completely vacant and derelict, just think of it, street markets popping up on sundays, soap dodgers runing a vegan slop consession in the ruins of Next, junkies squatting in the deserted mezzanines, darkened corners where decent folk fear to tread… will there be a serious enough recession? We live in hope!
(sings Ian Bones’ The Reccession Song)
# We hope you lose your job
We hope you all go skint…
Deep joy to see you all go brassic lint… #
“will there be a serious enough recession? We live in hope!”
Fuckin middle-class wanker.
According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, there are five stages of grief, in the case of people losing their lives of slavery to luvly piles of consumer junk most people appear to be firmly stuck on Stage Two: Anger. We can see this in the demonstrations. (“SMASH THIS!” “SMASH THAT!” “DESTROY THE OTHER!”)
A few brave souls, particularly Americans, where things are so much worse, are venturing into Stage Three: Bargaining, (“ie Why can’t we all drive electric cars that run on used chip fat, maaan?”) and many over the world are even into Stage Four: Depression (with tragic results, such as skyrocketing suicide statistics)
Your response to my light hearted, if bad taste comment really says a lot about how psychologically dependant you are on this society, Worker. Don’t you want to smash capitalism? People are asking questions that usually never get asked thanks to the crash, the whole structure is in flux. True, they’re mainstreaming antisemitism and nationalism again, like they did in the 30s, but this has not subdued trade union militancy, for instance, and the fascists are still very much unwelcome, at least on the trade-union militant scene.
I thought people wanted change? Whatever happened to “by any means neccesary” – has it been changed to “by any means neccesary as long as I don’t have to give up my car”?
Also, I don’t like having people who’ve never met me come out with shit about my background, which you know nothing about.
Spoiled teenage brat.
But I have met you. I know who you are, and I know your reactionary, backward, elitist, petit-bourgeois politics which you dress up as radicalism.
You ain’t no radical. You sound like a fukin Tory: “let the feckless workers suffer; It’s for their own good.”
You really think that people will rise up to change the word from a position of destitution and defeat? You don’t know history and you don’t know politics. And you obviously ain’t facing the attacks and the hardships that we are.
Wanker.
“Don’t you want to smash capitalism?”
And replace it with what? Communism? People queueing up for two weeks to buy a loaf of bread, and taking their wages home in wheelbarrows?
Christ all bloody mighty, I’d have thought people would have learnt by now.
Funny how anti-capitalism is only advocated by those who don’t have anything and seemingly aren’t prepared to work for it.
I’m intrigued. Who was it who said the phrase quoted above?
“let the feckless workers suffer; It’s for their own good.”
So basically, worker is telling me that s/he knows who I am (and that I’m some kind of lickspittle lapdog of the borgeousie), but I don’t know who they are… you’re nice, “worker”, care to clue us in?
Someone’s certainly an abusive, nasty little wanker around here…
On second thoughts, don’t bother. I can’t be arsed with you dickheads anymore. Why do you think nobody’s interested in your poxy revolution anymore? Probably because of sick of getting a load of abuse from twats like you.
Indymedia’s that way, little boy. Go and play with your chums.
PS BristolDave, I think it’s actually capitalist societies that have hyperinflation btw. Communist societies have price controls which prevent this, it is only after the price controls are lifted and capitalism comes in that inflation takes off. I think. I don’t know anything about politics after all, at least not as much as someone who resorts to foul mouthed abuse as a way of bringing people round to their way of thinking….
Land Securities: “Please give us £775 million squids, we haz gone poors in teh economic downturny!11!!!” (today’s Guardian)
Schadenfreude!
Cabot Circus Clown & Bag Dance Flashmob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MfnjWwrhmo