Re: That "squalid raffle" (aka Premium bonds) Times Sat 29 April 2006

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:10:06 GMT, "Virgils Ghost" <no@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Tiddy Ogg" <tiddyogg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cto952t94efhl980sp0p3te31047vlgu3l@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 16:06:36 +0100, Allan Gould
<invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Squalid raffle" still a big draw: Against all the odds, Premium Bonds
are more popular than ever in their 50th year

It is 50 years ago this month that Harold Macmillan announced the launch
of what was described as a "squalid raffle" to a Britain labouring under
postwar austerity in an attempt to persuade us all to save more.
Well, my 1 pound bond held almost from the start is still awaiting
success.

It won't even be in the draw, most of the pre-computerised bonds are a waste
of time, they may dig the occasional one out of some dusty basement every
now and then just to make things look good.

Before the new tax discs rules came into force the DVLA managed to lose 2
million cars! And just look at the goings on at the Home Office and all this
guff we keep hearing about tax credits... so what are you chances of your £1
bond being drawn?


Except that I thought ERNIE was just that: an electronic random number
generator.
As such it surely doesn't rely on a numbers having to be fed in to
some database - (how could it, back in the 50s datbases were still a
decade or more away).
It just churns out a number that it 'invents' at that moment, and is
totally independent of having a fixed series of numbers.

Rgds

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Richard Buttrey
Grappenhall, Cheshire, UK
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