Stacy Summary:  Let me know what you think.  Still designing it, but you can find forum board area and more here on our Ning page.

• US army scanners used in UK colleges to fingerprint every student before class

• Japanese financial assets lowest in five years

• Banker mega bonuses to stage a quick comeback?

• Cayman hedge funds withdraw half their deposits in UK

• Triple blow for UK economy:  public borrowing record high, consumer spending down, bank lending to non-financial businesses tumbles

• Mervyn King wants to restrict size of banks

Stacy:  The article says he is on ‘collision course’ with government and banks over this, who, of course, want to be too big to fail.  The ultimate welfare scam, where you are guaranteed a lifetime of taxpayer benefits.  Contrast King’s argument with what Obama unveiled yesterday where the Federal Reserve will consolidate its power and be able to intervene when the possible failure of a corporation threatens the economy or markets.  Why should any company be allowed to be so big that it can take down entire economy?  And why should the government/private corporation (Fed) be allowed to intervene in the market on behalf of one too big to fail corporation?

Updates:

• UK public borrowing hits record high

• City in Montana demanding all job applicants hand over social network log-ins and passwords

• Guardian: an attempted coup in Iran?

While Mousavi promised market reforms and privatisation, more personal freedom and better relations with the west, the president increased pensions and public sector wages and handed out cheap loans. So it’s hardly surprising that Ahmadinejad should have a solid base among the working class, the religious, small town and rural poor – or that he might have achieved a similar majority to that of his first election in 2005. That’s what one of the few genuinely independent polls (the US-based Ballen-Doherty survey) predicted last month, when the Times reported Ahmadinejad was “expected to win”.

But such details have got lost as the pressure has built in Tehran for a “green revolution” amid unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen. The strongest evidence appears to be some surprising regional results and the speed of the official announcement, triggered by Mousavi’s declaration that he was the winner before the polls closed. But most official figures don’t look so ­implausible – Mousavi won Tehran, for instance, by 2.2m votes to 1.8m – and it’s hard to believe that rigging alone could account for the 11 million-vote gap between the main contenders.

If Ahmadinejad was in fact the winner, then there is an attempted coup going on in Tehran right now, and it is being led by Mousavi and his western-backed supporters.

Stacy:  It’s interesting that the author suggests that claims of stealing are more legitimate when done the Bush/Cheney way with a 51% Miracle Voting Machine sort of outcome.