Did somebody just try to buy the British government?

Re:Did somebody just try to buy the British government? by tlb on Wednesday November 03, 2010 @02:10PM (#1865771)

Keep in mind that by Billion he means 10^12, so it is actually a huge amount of money.

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Re:Did somebody just try to buy the British government? by gort on Wednesday November 03, 2010 @02:43PM (#1865918)

Are you sure? In Britain billion always means 10^9 these days; it may have been different decades ago.

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Re:Did somebody just try to buy the British government? by tlb on Wednesday November 03, 2010 @03:37PM (#1866156)

It must, otherwise the argument about there not being 5 billion worth of gold in the world is silly. Baron Blackheath was born in the 30s and worked in banking in the 60s, so he certainly grew up with the 10^12 usage.

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Re:Did somebody just try to buy the British government? by jonhendry on Wednesday November 03, 2010 @04:45PM (#1866422)

The UK government switched to the 10^9 usage in the early 70s.

The amount of gold is irrelevant. The scammers have none.

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