I found this table of which UK banks and building societies are owned by larger banks. Not sure now up to date it is but it does give a starting place to look for more secure banks. There are similar lists for other countries.

And this article on how to evaluate your bank's risk and protections in place. It's general principles apply to all countries.


When such government protection schemes have existed in other countries they work if only one or two banks collapse. But payouts can take months... So best not to have all your eggs in one basket. In a more general crisis the protection scheme itself may fail. In that case best to have some eggs in baskets held in other countries far away. Particularly as during past crises governments have been known to raid the hen house and prevent transport of eggs out of the country...

This entry was posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:23 PM and has received 1000 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here is a list of 377 words to avoid using in email or Facebook or anywhere else online. Why you ask? Are they rude like George Carlin's famous "Seven words you can never say on television"? No they are the words that the Dept of Homeland Security uses to monitor all internet traffic in US and abroad. So watch out if you use any of these words by mistake. Oh, by the way, criticizing the DHS also counts, so don't complain about this either...

Oh and that pesky amendment in the Bill of fRights about unreasonable search and seizure, don't worry about little details like the US constitution because DHS is here to protect you.

After vigorous resistance, the Department of Homeland Security was finally forced into releasing it's 2011 Analyst's Desktop Binder. It's a manual of sorts, teaching all the storm troopers who monitor our Internet activity all day which key words to look for.

Afterwards there is a list of 377 of key terms to monitor, most of which are completely innocuous. Exercise. Cloud. Leak. Sick. Organization. Pork. Bridge. Smart. Tucson. Target. China. Social media.

Curiously, in its 'Critical Information Requirements', the manual decrees that analysts should also catalog items which may "reflect adversely on DHS and response activities."

Absolutely unreal. Big Brother is not just watching. He's digging, searching, reading, monitoring, archiving, and judging too. Have you hit your breaking point yet?

Read the whole list of words here

This entry was posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:00 PM and has received 3106 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.