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FTSE Collapses. Life goes on, Sideways

Sideways. "If anyone orders Merlot I am leaving".

Not many laughs today, but maybe there is hope.  The credit crunch has turned into the single most catastrophic financial/business/economic disaster in the history of mankind, etc.  HSBC laid off 500 people this week.  Citigroup announced that they would shed a further 50,000 on top of the 25,000 job loses already announced this year.  The Tory London Mayor is talking about an urgent £5billion injection into social housing to get the economy moving.  The Chancellor will announce tax cuts tomorrow and new spending/borrowing plans of a scale that would make Margaret Thatcher weep.  Oil was $150 six months ago just fell to under $50 today and the FTSE is worth less than it was six years ago, or something...

Amidst all of this, we get a note from one of our best friends.  He is getting married in California in March 2009 to a beautiful girl.  The invite includes a pre-wedding wine tour warm up, “Sideways” style.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy and amidst the gloom, he couldn’t have come up with a more perfect idea for getting the wedding party to bond.  If you have not seen it, in Sideways...well, I could never do it justice.  As a taster, check out below (and these were the bits they cut out of the finished version...)  Enjoy.