Closure of Bank Accounts

[DontAsk]

We are only getting one side of all these stories.

The customers can bad mouth the banks all they want, safe in the knowledge that the banks involved will not/cannot respond with any personal details, to justify their actions, in public.

And there we have it. Farage was dumped by Coutts because he simply isn't worth enough.

 

[Bob Morgan]

"Never underestimate the power of stupidity, when people gather in large numbers"
(George Carlin)

 

[Bob Morgan]

Wednesday 05 July 2023 02:22 BST

Just for a moment, let us move away from 'Politically Exposed Persons' (PEPs), such as Nigel Farage, and delve into the realms of 'Joe Public and Small Businesses’ – This is of course the Raison D’Etre of this forum! – Or should I have said “WAS the Raison D’Etre?”

As mentioned above, the proposed Treasury Investigation and the recent involvement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, are confined to ‘Politically Exposed Persons!’ – And, will be COMMENCED within 12 Months! However, this topic is NOT considered worthy of inclusion within the ‘General Business Forum,’ as there has been a “change in business direction!”

The video below is well worth a look! – There are also many others

Natwest Closed My Account - Call with Closures Team

I spoke with the closures team after being on hold for 1 hour! (9AM Monday Morning)..They confirmed my account was closed on the 18th December. No-ops are no...

www.youtube.com

 

[Clinton]

However, this topic is NOT considered worthy of inclusion within the ‘General Business Forum,’ as there has been a “change in business direction!”

The change in business direction is a change away from being by and for small businesses. Make no mistake about this.

Under Ozzy's stewardship, the forum it is getting more and more woke and anti-small business. This was the direction of travel right from the time he took it over; I pointed it out back then.

In the month previously known as June, I started a thread to discuss why the Pride movement needed a whole month instead of a day like other major causes. I started it in Time Out. It was fully compliant with the rules and by Ozzy's own admission even posts by an outspoken character like me were well balanced and diplomatic.

But the thread was deleted just because it was discussing a controversial subject. That is exactly the reason I was given. That wouldn't have happened before. Just like threads that concern small businesses are moved into Time Out so they won't appear in search engine results!

Today it's threads discussing trans matters that get deleted/buried. Tomorrow it'll be anything else that is considered "controversial" and likely to upset big business sponsors / investors / whoever.

Had this shift happened some years ago we would not have been able to discuss Brexit (because the only acceptable view from the establishment was "Remain") and any discussion about Covid / fiddled death stats / vaccinations would have had to follow a certain government line or get deleted.

Small businesses like ours are disproportionately affected by "controversial" topics like Brexit and diversity. An organisation claiming to be a small business champion needs to allow these topics to be discussed freely and without fear. Otherwise it's acting contrary to the interests of small businesses.

As this forum becomes more and more aligned with that "progressive", big-business, extreme left-wing sh*t, more and more threads will quietly disappear. That move will strength the hands of global businesses against the likes of you and me. They have the money to invest in the PR to show them aligned with whatever the fashionable cause du jour happens to be- #Remain #metoo, #BLM, #LGBTQ+, whatever. You and I don't. That advantage will get them more business (at the expense of small timers).

There was a thread here not so long ago about Diversity and Inclusion and about being a thought leader in D&I. I made a few posts in that thread that got likes from @kulture, @BubbaWY @bodgitt&scarperLTD @simon field @antropy @japancool @The Byre @Tase1011 @Lucan Unlordly @Financial-Modeller @MOIC @Fagin2021 @estwig @Gordon - Commercial Finance @Bob Morgan @DontAsk @Nico Albrecht @fisicx etc.

I can't disclose the contents of my communication with staff and management of this forum, but I can tell you that it shook them up that so many of you "liked" posts in that thread.

But they see you and your views as a problem, as an impediment to this forum aligning itself with what (ultimately) benefits big businesses at your expense.

You are the backbone of the forum. It's your posts, your contributions, your concerns that keep this site afloat. It's the time you selflessly devote to providing the UGC (User Generated Content) that this forum relies on for its very existence.

If you support free speech, a forum that is geared towards respresenting your interests against the interests of mega-corporations, make it known when it matters! You can do so even just by clicking the like button on those posts when you see them.

Be proactive in liking the posts that speak up for your interests, that deal with the controversial topics that affect small businesses disproportionately, that support free speech, that support this forum being about small businesses and their concerns. Trust me, the management are watching those likes.

 

[fisicx]

@Clinton, the direction BDG is going doesn’t include the forum in its current form. Things are going to change. It’s not anti anything, it’s just not part of the business plan.

 

[Bob Morgan]

@Clinton, the direction BDG is going doesn’t include the forum in its current form. Things are going to change. It’s not anti anything, it’s just not part of the business plan.

Then I consider myself lucky that I'm not paying for it!

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Any thoughts on what happened recently to Nigel Farage and Laurence Fox et al., with Bank Accounts being closed without reason or notice? There have been many others, but not so High Profile. There appears to be a trend.

Expect more of this in future with Google informing Anti-Money-Laundering decisions for banks.

Google Cloud Launches Anti-Money-Laundering Tool for Banks, Betting on the Power of AI

The company is looking to set itself apart from a crowded field of surveillance platforms by reducing the amount of human input in the process of screening for money-laundering risks.

www.wsj.com

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Re direction of UKBF, I suspect that the forum is gradually dumbing down because someone has figured out that dumb woke people drive more traffic to the site and provide greater benefit to advertisers than those more able to ask and/or answer a question concisely.

Compare a selection of questions on here 10 years ago with today. I would guess that questions 10 years ago were asked more clearly and answered within a few responses, but now people (often ill-equipped to run any kind of business) put a lazy one-line question, that becomes a confusing exchange of sympathetic and less-sympathetic requests for clarification.

Which is more attractive to advertisers? Ozzy is here to make a profit after all.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Ozzy is here to make a profit after all.

But, asking £90 is a bit rich!

 

[japancool]

Every single forum I participate in is complaining about the posters being less erudite than they were many years ago. UKBF is no different.

In an era of social media, when people have the attention spans of elderly gnats, that should come as no surprise.

I just find it odd that Ozzy would buy the forum just to get rid of it.

 

[Ozzy]

The change in business direction is a change away from being by and for small businesses. Make no mistake about this.

We will just have to strongly disagree on this.

Under Ozzy's stewardship, the forum it is getting more and more woke and anti-small business. This was the direction of travel right from the time he took it over; I pointed it out back then.

We may disagree on terminology but you're on the right lines. You may not like the way of the world now, but it is what it is and this site needs to adapt and many won't like it. That's fine and I've been very open and provided links for people to delete their account if they wish.

I just find it odd that Ozzy would buy the forum just to get rid of it.

I didn't buy the forum, the forum is pretty insignificant really.

 

[The Byre]

Under Ozzy's stewardship, the forum it is getting more and more woke and anti-small business. This was the direction of travel right from the time he took it over; I pointed it out back then.

We may disagree on terminology but you're on the right lines. You may not like the way of the world now, but it is what it is and this site needs to adapt and many won't like it.

Two observations on this -

Ozzy, are you saying that the world is now anti small business and getting more woke?

If so, then I must disagree. We had a welcome move to become more liberal and this has been going for some considerable time, pretty much ever since the war (WW2 that is). But tolerance has morphed into intolerance and today we are seeing a considerable backlash against what has been called 'being woke'.

We are seeing a similar backlash against many of the new-age dogmas that have developed over the past decade or so - people now realise that electric cars are more polluting than a Euro6 car, that a girl cannot become a cat and I cannot call myself Fifi Lamour and marry a gatepost without people pointing and laughing. They are even beginning to wake up to the fact that climate change was going to happen with or without humans breeding to the point where they infest every square meter of Planet Earth - we have just made global warming so much worse, that's all!

But that you feel that the world has become anti small business, when I see a rush by everybody and their mothers-in-law to start all sorts of crazy enterprises - nose-flute shops, worm farms, guided tours of Scunthorpe, buy-and-sell your granny, you name it and someone is at it!

Humanity works in cycles. It does so because The planet works in cycles. Just as hot gives way to cold and summer to winter, so does humanity. The economic cycle (or boom and bust), intolerance gives way to tolerance, which in turn must give way to intolerance.

Democracy leads to chaos, chaos leads to dictatorship, dictatorship leads to chaos, chaos leads to democracy and democracy leads back to chaos.

Opportunity leads to growth. Growth leads to wealth. Wealth is built on credit. Credit is built on debt. Debt leads to poverty. Poverty breeds chaos. Chaos gives us opportunity. And round we go again!

Are we there yet?

There is no 'There' - humanity is doomed to always go around in the same old circles.

"We must embrace change!" you cry. Except that is it always change back to what we had before. That is the fate of humanity - the fate of all life.

“When tired at last, the Mole sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”

 

[Ozzy]

You have obviously misquoted me @The Byre but you knew that already didn't you.

 

[Clinton]

But tolerance has morphed into intolerance and today we are seeing a considerable backlash against what has been called 'being woke'.

Indeed. Channel 4, Ofcom, the Cabinet Office and numerous others have abandoned the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme. More will follow. Even the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is recommending against Diversity Champions.

Smart businesses realise that aligning themselves with the transgender ideology is not the best way forward.

Budweiser felt that more sharply than most when their trans ad backfired and they lost 30% of their worldwide sales. They are still suffering months later. Small breweries are benefitting from this!

Target, similarly, took a big hit - they lost $13 billion in market value - because of being considered "woke".

Smart organistions look ahead of the curve! And what I see ahead of the curse is a backlash against this militant, scientifically ignorant bullying.

While it used to be only ultra conservative organisations objecting to people identifying as whatever they wanted, there is now widespread anger against these ideologies being foisted upon us and even consumer organisations are taking up the fight, example.

A smart business would recognise that the tide is turning and, at the very least, stay neutral rather than aligning themselves with the intolerant, incoherent, demented activist groups.

In the meanwhile, small businesses can benefit from this lunacy, as small brewers have been benefitting from Bud's troubles. Small businesses don't have to tick ESG boxes, don't need to display big LGBTQ+ stickers or fly rainbow flags outside their shops.

They should be quietly getting on with doing what they've always done - serving anybody and everybody who has the money to buy their goods/services.

You have obviously misquoted me @The Byre but you knew that already didn't you.

I understood your post exactly as he did - that the world has gotten more woke and we, small businesses, need to adapt.

I don't think many here buy that nonsense (even if you do).

 

[Ozzy]

the world has gotten more woke and we, small businesses, need to adapt.

Repeating myself again, I disagree with the language you use choosing instead to say the world had changed. You seem to have a bee in your bonnet about LGBTQ+ bringing that up again in your entire post - but you also said in another thread that websites should not have to be bother catering for mobile first yet the statistics confirm younger generation (business owners of the future) choose mobile over desktop. That is change, people working different hours as they choose is another change to fit work around their personal lives is another change, so many society style changes that effect how businesses need to operate.

Businesses need to adapt, and I will choose to adapt and I will encourage that others do.

"We must embrace change!" you cry. Except that is it always change back to what we had before.

Indeed, and when we drift back to what things were like before I will adapt again. I will choose to always adapt and change to follow the way things are at that time and keep with the wave. If that takes me back to the beginning great, if it doesn't then at least I kept up.

They should be quietly getting on with doing what they've always done - serving anybody and everybody who has the money to buy their goods/services.

Perhaps not quietly, but yes absolutely. So your point is?

 

[The Byre]

You have obviously misquoted me @The Byre but you knew that already didn't you.

What on earth are you talking about! I copied and pasted what you wrote!

As @Clinton points out, the tide turned some time ago - and I don't mean in the pages of the Telegraph! Common sense tells me that a little girl can never be a cat and it is pointless to swim against the cycles of recurring history!

(At the moment I am trying to teach Chat-GPT the basic mathematics of interpolation, but it keeps on trying to perform precise calculations and coming up with absurd answers. It thinks that a five-meter log 60cm across weighs 1kg then it says 13kg and the last answer was 130kg. Then we had ten tons! But this is almost as frustrating!)

 

[Ozzy]

What on earth are you talking about! I copied and pasted what you wrote!

Indeed, in which case how did you come to...

Ozzy, are you saying that the world is now anti small business...

 

[The Byre]

Yes, that was a question!

 

[Clinton]

But this is almost as frustrating!

LOL, I feel your pain!

Businesses need to adapt, and I will choose to adapt and I will encourage that others do.

Knock yourself out!

 

[clyde123]

The latest victim of this:
an Equalities Commissioner
Link: https://archive.is/l8B1b

 

[The Byre]

You couldn't make this shi1 up! Brilliant!

 

[simon field]

Awesome thread!

I for one, no matter how many times I am told that a man is now a woman, will never, ever accept that.

It’s ideology plain and simple. Pandering to these minorities all the time is a waste of valuable time and resources imho.

 

[Clinton]

This thread is now in danger of getting removed!

This whole "be kind" stuff goes in waves. I've been around long enough to know how the waves come and go.

Once, a long time ago, there was all this stuff about disability. And the language changed to "differently abled" etc. It filled the news, it was everything the "progressives" were talking about. Most people just went along with it. People with disabilities face problems that able-bodied people don't face. It's easy to support the cause.

Then there was the whole women being disadvantaged. Being paid less, Being discriminated against in jobs. Being blocked from abortions (in many places). We can't have that. This filled the public consciousness for a bit. Equality for women. It's easy to support.

For a while, after some awful deaths in the US, it was the BLM movement. Again, people shouldn't be discriminated against because of their skin colour. It makes perfect sense. It's easy to support.

Then gay people. Again, the public bought into it. In places where they had referenda around gay marriage, yes had a resounding victory. Why should we discriminate against people because of who they prefer to share their bed with? Of course not. It's easy to support.

Now, we've got a new fashion because, let's accept it, these are fashions that rise and then subside. The new fashion is asking for people not to not discriminate but to actively discriminate against some groups, like women. Women! This is a group the public previously championed to protect. It wasn't, and isn't easy, for them to support this.

And it's playing out in all manner of fractures in society. Organisations hitherto adept at aligning with the latest "be kind" fashion - and exploiting it for commercial gain - are finding that these waters are choppy now and very difficult to navigate. The more polarised society gets, the more difficult it is to take a public position without p*ssing off some sections of your customer base.

Fortunately, small businesses don't need to play the game - they can opt out of taking a public position. But in private, in forums, in social media, and particularly in locations where accounts are anonymous, people are outraged enough to call out and ridicule worshipping at the latest fashion altar. Some do it just because they're appalled at what they see as total nonsense.

Others do it because they want a better world for their children than the direction in which the world seems to be headed now. But they need to do it. What's that old saying?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

 

[Kerwin]

People with disabilities face problems that able-bodied people don't face. It's easy to support the cause.

I want to make a quick point that you can be disabled but 100% able-bodied.

 

[Ethan39]

I've locked this thread because the discussion now has nothing to do with the "Closure of Bank Accounts".

Whilst Time Out does not have rules against topic discussions we ask that you keep the discussion relevant to the topic at hand.