From Mr Paul Tustain of Bullionvault.com

It's the comfortably off middle-classes who get destroyed by hyperinflation.

They tend to continue trusting the institutions they have trusted all their lives, and by the time they grasp what is happening it is too late.

Hyperinflation occurs when a currency loses its ability to store value, doubling the cost of living inside three years or less. There is no specific recipe, but the pattern we risk repeating today would be typical. Indeed, as I told the Investors Forum held last month by CLSA – Asia's leading independent brokerage and research house – four key indicators all now point towards hyperinflation.

Thank you for sending this in, Paul. I wonder, is that it? Only, I get the impression you had more to say on the subject. Especially as you are, quite clearly,trying to sell me gold. Thankfully, I am already replete in this commodity.

From Sir Gerard Cavanagh

Re: Hearts, Minds and Wallets.

As usual - you are so right.

Simple illustration:

In Ireland there was a severe littering problem, especially with plastic shopping bags, often defacing the countryside, blown into trees and hedgerows etc.
(I am sure we are not alone in this phenomenon).

The government put a 22cts tax on shopping bags, collectible by the shops.

Result: major, maybe 80%, drop in lettering levels.
People started bringing their own shopping bags, like our mothers used to do, or paying the 22cts.

Wallet + heart = changed mind.
Q.E.D.

Absolutely right, Sir Gerard. This proves once again that soi-disant 'progress' isn't inevitable,and the clocks can indeed by turned back. We did ours only last week,and feel much better already.

From Mr Sandy Abbott

G’day, we heard  you on the radio, very good we thought, hardly sounded like a rightwing nutter at all

Dear Sandy, Thank you for that. I understand that you have secret links to Extreme Left-Wing Maoris, which as you know is almost the same spelling as MAOIs. There are thus the makings of a good conspiracy blog here, and I suggest you pass it on to Mr Guido Fawkes, as he is very right-wing indeed but doesn't like Kiwi shoe polish. He doesn't like Polish shoes either, but that's not important.

From Mr Ian Kemmish

The problem with the Internet is not that it's "hard to manage", it's that the signal to noise ratio is zero. Has Mr Ward already forgotten that Andrew Marr's question originated on the Internet? If he has, then perhaps we should conclude that it kills brain cells too...

Dear Ian, the story originated here, ducks. Do try and keep up.

From jae

Alastair Campbell was right: the problem with blogs is parties' inability to control them. Here you have this medium, the Internet, in which anyone can set themselves up as a political commentator, and Google will help people find them. On the Internet, the party political machine is really no more powerful than the guy sitting at the desk in his bedroom. The Internet has been and will continue to be the greatest thing to happen to democracy since someone came up with the idea of letting the plebians pick the bloke to spend the money demanded of them each month.

Dear jae...is the correct answer.

From Mr Kevin Rudd

'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It.. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

Dear Mr Rudd

Perhaps the answer is to get them hooked on Neighbours. I'm sure once they got into it, our Islamic brothers would come to appreciate Christian values.

From Mr Jonathon Yardley

I think I loathe Devonians. Narrow, pompous and very dull. I have had a full dose of this ghastly breed today.

I think Jonathon that you have not given we of the Dorvon Old People's Republic a fair chance.

First and foremost, the vast majority of us hail from Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London, having come here in order to escape from the Satanic slums and wannabe aristocratic luncheon venues of such metropolitan centres.

Last and second of all, loathing real Devonians with their red noses and fat bellies and smelly cider-farts is nothing of which to be ashamed. I would refer you to the obscure Shakespearian sonnet which has it as follows:

'The very opposite of Heaven

is surely to be found in Devon

where yokels sit and daily grapple

with wind borne out of brew-ed apple'

From Mr Paul Starck

Toby Kell-Ogg : Gordon Brown Pill Story

Newswatch on the Beeb this morning paid only lip service to viewers' complaints
about "The Pill" question on Andrew Marr last Sunday.
I'd like John Ward's comments on why the Andrew Marr programme editor did not state reasons why inclusion of this question was totally justified.

Dear Paul, First of all I'd like to make it quite clear that I accept entirely the Downing Street line that he is not on The Pill, and therefore his current weight problems are in fact down to pregnancy. It is because of this pregnancy that Mr Brown allegedly takes MAOIs in that they lower his blood pressure after a night of phone-throwing. As for justification of Mr Marr's line of enquiry,you are quite right: the theory about Gordon's possible MAOI use (emanating as it does from this site) must by definition be sound because as you know I am a Far-Right Nazi BNP jackboot boy with a history of mental arithmetic.

From Mr DocMolotov

The vast majority of Blogs are crap and bloggers are predominantly self obsessed opinionated dickwits.

Dear Doc, I agree with you. Are you a blogger by any chance?

From Mr Jail Houselawyer

From Twitter (Whoever she might be)

Dips dating advice is now following your tweets on Twitter.

Dear Ms Twitter

Thank you so much for this timely warning. I have no idea how the deadly DDA got hold of my details, but that sort of thing is very painful, let me tell you.

I have of course no interest whatsoever in dipping my wick into any dating advice, being as i am a happily married man.

From Mr Peter Crossing

When I first moved to the ‘country’ 20 years ago, (between Guildford and Farnham, ‘country’ to someone born and raised in north London) I had occasion to visit my local police station, which I found to be closed.

There was a box outside the front door which contained a telephone and instructions on how to make an emergency call….how quaint.

When I returned to the station some days later when it was open, I said to the desk sergeant “I thought the box outside might have had a truncheon a pen and some paper in it, so if there was no one here you could beat a confession out of yourself” it didn’t even raise a smile.

Some years later the same police cautioned me for suggesting I might take care of a local yob problem personally and a year or so after that tried to arrest one of my sons as an assault suspect as he ‘fitted the description of the attacker’ who was black…..my son is (and was) white.

Hey ho

Sadly Peter, you are suffering from Crossing's Munchcoppers syndrome by Peroxide. I urge you to think twice about (a) assuming the police work for you (b) imagining they are still in possession of the plot and (c) they have any sense of humour about anything except diversity.

From 'Calidris'

"John" and "Ward" are four-letter words. As such, they sum up concisely what I think of his kind.
.
Mind you, "Marr" is also a four-letter word.

Dear Calidris, I believe 'Fuck your daft view' is also also a collection of four-letter words

From Grand Central

It's a fair question to ask IF Andrew Marr had any evidence at all that it was true. Otherwise it is libellous. Is the standard of journalism so low now that any old rumours on the internet can be seized on and regurgitated? Particularly when they OBVIOUSLY come from a biased source?

Dear Grand Central, Your letter is libellous and OBVIOUSLY from biased source

From Mr Peter Jackson

I fear you've missed something in this bizarre piece. John Ward was the originator of the rumour about Gordon Brown's mental health.

He has admitted to Channel 4 News that he had no evidence for the rumour.

Given that the Guardian has itself published the full background here, it seems extraordinary that Ward should be invited to publish a piece on the subject without any mention of the background. Is he meant to be some kind of unbiased political or media commentator?

And more to the point, what the hell does the Guardian think it's up to?

Dear Peter, I'm afraid your right-on intellectual snobbery slip is showing just a tad. C4 correctly said I had no proof, not no evidence. Are you by any chance a Law Lords judge recently made redundant? If so, I recommend you take up that nice Mr Camerlot's offer of free jobs help provided by private headhunter fuckwits. I'm told they have many vacancies for unbiased political and media commentators.

I am, however, indebted to you for the accreditation. Poor Mr Fawkes's Alzheimers is getting worse, as is his grasp of recent history. He now believes he kicked it off. Well, if he wants some of the flak, I am a generous man.

From Mr Graham Hinton

I thought that I should remind you, in case your absence was a sign of a deep-seated problem that you have so far failed to recognise, that I was anticipating an audience on Monday afternoon, after a lunch (or other more important stuff that you had scheduled for the morning). You were going to call when you found yourself un-encumbered...I think it was going to be post 2.30 pm.
 
I am rarely unencumbered these days. On this particular occasions I was cucumbered in a bar near Waterloo, but I deny everything. I never touched the girl.

From Mrs Kathy Priestley

Felt very relieved when I read your Griffin 'review'.  Confess I didn't watch the whole programme because it was too uncomfortable.   It was a huge relief, however, to realise that even for such a momentous TV opportunity as this, Griffin couldn't manage to come across as anything other than a nasty, dishonest stupid jerk - just as well, because for the most part the panel's performance was lamentable.

Did it make him unelectable?  I hope so.

Me too. Did it make Straw unelectable? Sadly, I think not. He has the perpetual look of a man trying to see out of a grubby window.

Did it make Dimbleby execrable? Very probably. The rest of the panel were merely impenetrable, and the audience risible. Not an original ide among any of the robotic clones.

From Mr Google Analytics-Support

Thank you for contacting us about your query 532806369.

We are eager to hear about your Analytics experience. Please take a minute to answer this short survey about your satisfaction with Analytics support.

Thank you for your kind offer, copies of which have been sent to the Market Research Society. I find your assumption of my satisfaction both unprofressional and inaccurate. As to your Head Office, I am still trying to find it - or indeed, some way in which I can reply to you without the use of your claustrophobic little box.

Those who are eager to receive visitors should provide better road signage.

From Lord Pumphouse of Canada Water

The internet divides more than it unites - everyone is their own everything. And screens screen. People from reality; people from themselves; those in authority from those they have power over... And all this with a veneer of 'democratisation'. If millions of sites are saying the same thing - how many more does it take for anything worthwhile to happen? What the world doesn't need now is Blog Sweet Blog (that's the only thing there's there's just too damned much of). The internet has brought with it a new era of rank, unthinking amateurs. With the emphasis on the rank. (It doesn't need saying that you are an exception.)

Your Lordship, I cannot thank you enough for the lift-and-separate you award me in this matter.

From Mr Norman Scarth

I share your views, but comment on your words, "the internet is where change must surely take place."  Yes, indeed, but ALL power still comes out of the barrel of a gun.  Sometimes those with liitle guns (e.g. the VietNamese) will beat those with big guns, but only because they were prepared to give their lives. Tyrannies are rarely overturned without those who are prepared to give ther liberty & their lives.   
I'm not sure you're taking this issue entirely seriously

From Mr Richard Edwards

Is he in the slammer yet?

I think you arereferring to the infamous nasty person and all-round current account emptier Mr Tes Klinch of Seaton-on-Sea.

Sadly,the asnwer is no: he is still at large and the local constabulary continue with their investigations. But being open fully two days a week now, Icannot believe it will be long before we see a conclusion to this case. It is after all only two and a half years since the alleged offence took place.

From Ms Hilary Woods

I am out of the office until 02/11/2009.

i am on holiday and have very limited access to emails. if it is urgent, please call mandy douglas or louise ullmark in my absence.

Dear Ms Woods

Thank you so much for this communication. I hear it's very nice in Darlington at this time of year,and I wish you a pleasant stay.