It is Fair Trade fortnight next week, let’s be honest, fair trade coffee is not renowned for its great taste. Guido can recommend one fair trade coffee that tastes good and does good. Contra Café buys its coffee from a cooperative of 500 small-scale farmers in the north of Nicaragua. In the late 80s, many of the cooperative’s members fought with the Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense to defeat the Sandinistas. In 1990, these farmers laid down their arms when Violeta Chammoro defeated Daniel Ortega at the polls.

Today, the farmers live in peace side by side with former Sandinista fighters. They cultivate coffee on their small mountain plots. In caring for their coffee, they aim to produce a quality bean, to maintain the environment on which they depend, and to provide for their families. Unfortunately, they often struggle to meet the needs of their families on the small and volatile profits from their farms. Contra Café aims to make their earnings larger and more consistent.

Rest assured that this is a premium, tasty coffee that also pays producers more than the Fair Trade price, but unlike Fair Trade, isn’t a handout, it is paying what this outstanding coffee merits.

There is also the pleasing ideological angle for those of us who supported their struggle for freedom when we serve it to our dinner party guests.

You can, as you pour for them, say that at the height of the Cold War, the Contra rebels bravely fought for political and economic freedom in Nicaragua against a Cuban-backed dictatorship. Their heroic efforts forced democratic elections and led to the fall of the Marxist Sandinista regime. Today, the cooperative of former Contras grows an exceptional coffee high in the mountains of northern Nicaragua. Contra Café roasts this outstanding coffee and delivers it fresh to your home. In addition a portion of Contra Café revenues are donated to Ollie North’s Freedom Alliance charity which provides scholarships for the children of active duty service members killed or disabled in the line of duty in Iraq.

Of course you should really drink it out of a Free Trade Coffee Mug, in the Fawkes household we won’t drink it any other way. So order the coffee online and help third world farmers who fought for freedom.

CCHQ put out a press release listing 26 Brown gimmicks including under the heading “Trips to Auschwitz”

What was announced: ‘Two pupils from every sixth form and college in the country will be able to visit Auschwitz and learn about the Holocaust thanks to £4.65 million of funding’ (DCSF press release, 4 February 2008)

In fact schools would have to find £100 to fund every sixth-former’s trip (Times, 4 February 2008)

Ed Balls pounced on it and press released:

“This is a truly disgraceful remark by David Cameron and he should apologise immediately for the offence he has caused. Anyone who has seen the horrors of Auschwitz at first hand knows what a life-changing experience it is. To call the announcement I made of £4.65 million to fund visits by school children over the next three years a ‘gimmick’ just beggars belief. In trying to make this issue into a matter of party politics, David Cameron has shown once again that he not only lacks judgement but also a basic sense of decency.”

Aside from the fact that it is not a remark by Dave, but in the notes of a CCHQ briefing, there is obvious irony in Blinky criticising the Tories for “trying to make this into a matter of party politics” in a Labour Party press release.

The Tories now say that they support the educational Auschwitz trips and that they would fully fund them via the Lottery fund. Whatever the substance of the matter, somebody is going to get a bollocking for the original press release…

Guido is in a bit of a dither over who should be the winner of the competition from Wednesday. Some cracking entries, some crap entries. Have decided that the “anonymous” entries are not going to win. Not sure which book to give as a prize either…

Is there a popular choice? The Beatles parodies were quite good. Guido has decided to put the prize decision out to review by the readers. Recommendations in the comments please. If Guido disagrees he will ignore the recommendation, just like Gordon.

These pictures of a “lively” Ken are from a recent meeting.

Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown chant the same mantra, the government’s investment is backed by the assets of the bank, “a high quality loan book”, which they claim has been verified by the FSA – as if the FSA employs surveyors and has the competence to take a view. Anecdotaly this untruth was unraveling, Anatole Kaletsky said this week that it was a delusion to believe that “Northern Rock had a “sound book of assets” when it was the country’s biggest lender of mortgages worth more than the houses on which they are secured.” Guido now has the hard numbers to prove it:These figures were compiled yesterday and are taken from analysis of the Courts Service, Possession Claims Online Database. Guido has obtained the list of 690 individual Northern Rock Possession Claims, averaging some 40 every working day. Of all mortgage lenders Northern Rock has the absolute highest rate of possession claims. Hardly evidence of a sound loan book…

UPDATE : As of midnight last night Northern Rock has withdrawn from offering 125% mortgages.

UPDATE : In the comments a co-conspirator has made an effort to normalise the results by market share using market leader HBOS against Northern Rock:

HBOS has 20.4% of the market, with 520 reposessions in Feb = 25 repos per 1% of market

Northern Rock has 7.2% of the market, with 690 reposessions in Feb = 95 repos per 1% of the market.

In short, Northern Rock repossesses almost 4 houses to every one repossesed by HBOS, when market share is factored into the equation.

Hat-tip : HousePriceCrash.co.uk via LabRat

Angela Clist is the mega-bucks partner at City lawyers Allen & Overy who advised Barclays and Merrill Lynch on the establishment of Northern Rock’s £20 billion mortgage-backed note programme, “Granite Master Issuer plc”.

Some members of the Lobby have detested the Speaker from the beginning, dubbing him “Gorbals Mick”. This allowed him to shield himself by blaming his bad press on posh public schoolboy scribblers. Sensitive as he is, he even got the taxpayer to cough for Carter-Ruck to protect his reputation. He is really dreadful and it is now recognised by all sides they he has to go, the question is how to get rid of the worst Speaker in living memory? The Speaker enmeshed in an air miles fiddle when he is supposed to oversee the crackdown on MP’s fiddles may provide an opening.

The feeling is that if the PM and/or leaders of the opposition let it be known that it was time to take the ermine he would have little choice other than to go. There is no constitutional mechanism for deposing him.

Jon Craig is tipping Sir George Young and Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst. Rumour has it that John Bercow fancies himself in fancy dress as well. He seems a bit too young for the job…

The Granite securitisation vehicle is causing the government a lot of confusion, it may even cause the LibDems to back out of supporting the government’s nationalisation of the Crock. Yvette Cooper stated in the Commons debate definitively that Granite is not covered by government guarantees. “It is not being taken into public ownership and it is not, in fact, owned by Northern Rock, so it is not part of the taxpayer’s exposure and has never been so.”

Compare and contrast that with the Treasury statement of 18 December, 2007: HM Treasury today confirms that the guarantee arrangements for Northern Rock plc described in HM Treasury’s announcements dated 20 and 21 September 2007 and 9 October 2007 are being extended, at the request of Northern Rock plc, to the following unsubordinated wholesale obligations, whether now existing or arising in the future... all obligations of Northern Rock plc to make payments on the repurchase of mortgages under the documentation for the “Granite” securitisation programme.

That seems pretty clear. Looks like the lawyers are going to get rich out of this…

UPDATE : Something of a stewards inquiry in the comments as to the nature of the obligation – though no one has argued that there is no obligation – except Yvette when she said “it is not part of the taxpayer’s exposure”. Like Guido said, the lawyers could have some fees out of the argument.

UPDATE II : Northern Rock’s Annual Report 2006, Note 22, Page 86 states that the Granite group of companies “are regarded as legal subsidiaries under UK companies legislation”. Odd because they aren’t really structured that way.