They live in caves down there?
UK General Election 2015 | Conservatives win with an overall majority
- Thread starter langster
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Lots, personally. I don't believe in the 'I worked hard, so I deserve to have enough money to do silly things with' logic.
You prefer punishing the successful. Your ideal world would be a very grey place bereft of innovation or colour.
More bollox, income tax was at a marginal rate of 98% back in the 70s, and the rich are still with us.
I think it's more about redefining success. i.e, the men and women who write the wonderful software and invent the hardware we're using to talk to each other through a small plastic machine from hundreds of miles away would be celebrated more than the people who sell it to us.
Like, I personally wouldn't have a problem with people who do that shit being filthy rich, but I do have a problem with people like Steve Jobs who take billions out of the economy and send it little tax havens when he's just good at marketing. It's fecked up, and he's treated like a fecking hero by so many. When the people who built the tiny, but essential, components of what he sold us are going to die pretty much anonymous and without a fraction of the wealth.
Not punishing, no. They still get to have more than others.
London bus drivers are on strike for £10/hr while useless city parasites are hoovering up 6-figure salaries. It's a joke.
But globalisation has increased massively since the 70s, eg Russians and Arabs here. They can and will feck off if you try and tax them 98pc meaning the policy reduces your overall national tax take.
I don't know enough about Jobs tbh. But yeah of course those who should be rewarded aren't always. I guess you could argue that if the little guys inventing the widgits in iphones etc went it alone, maybe they would make more.
But they can't, because the likes of Steve Jobs have made it impossible for anyone, regardless how good they are, to really compete. Some random hardware or software designer in a shed in China might be building the greatest machine known to man as we speak but as they don't have 80 billion sitting in a bank on some little island they're going to have to sell and watch on as some marketing cnut makes the billions they should.
About 25/30 years ago a family moved to the area, I'm sure they were from Derby, and they moved in to a cave. It was in all the national papers at the time. Not sure how long they stayed in it before they got given a council house. All I can really remember is how much stick the kids got at school because of it. I only mentioned it because I literally only just remembered it when typing about homeless people in my area.
Could come in quite handy?
There are lots of incubator firms to help these little guys, but yeah they'll want their slice.
Public accounts committee suddenly woken up to realise that PWC are running tax avoidance (evasion) 'on an industrial scale'.
When you see the number of staff seconded from the big four to the treasury you have to be dubious. They're not doing it from the goodness of their corporate hearts.
They get paid a lot of money for it.
http://citywire.co.uk/money/fsa-spent-16m-on-consultants-last-year/a401511
They should criminalise artificial tax avoidance schemes and send the fraudsters to gaol.
HMRC are really clamping down on them now. Actually feel sorry for the footballers caught in that film scheme in many ways- they invested in a scheme that was at the time sanctioned by HMRC. Years down the line, HMRC have changed their mind and are now retrospectively saying it was aggressive tax avoidance. You need continuity in legislation- you can only operate under the rules as they are now, not try and second guess what they might be in a decade.
Random question and not worth a new thread but figured I'd get the ears of you economics nerds in here.
There's a bit of an issue in Ireland right now, where people are getting worked up about the government using the media to gloss over our economic vulnerabilities and try to paint a picture of Ireland as firmly on the road to recovery when we're actually still in deep shit. Lefties and Indpendents are having a field day unpicking whatever stats are being posted to show an improving economic situation. I'm seeing daily rants all over social media about how we're all being fed a constant diet of lies and Ireland is actually doomed. The general vibe being that they government are lying to the public to fool them into thinking that they've done a great job when they've actually been a disaster.
Now, I firmly believe this is kind of true. They are absolutely spinning facts to kid people into thinking they've done a great job turning round our economy when they actually deserve no credit at all for whatever recovery might be underway. The current government is a bunch of shysters and blowhards who deserve zero credit if/when Ireland pulls itself out of the mire.
However, my question to you gimps is: is it not in the best interest of everyone in Ireland if the general public believe all this spin? If Joe Public actually thinks things are on the up and up - whether or not that is actually true - it means more consumer confidence, more spending, more jobs, more tax revenues and eventually a real, tangible improvement in life for everyone. Is deliberately trying to undermine good news stories doing more harm to the country than government spin to convince everyone everything's rosy?
There's a bit of an issue in Ireland right now, where people are getting worked up about the government using the media to gloss over our economic vulnerabilities and try to paint a picture of Ireland as firmly on the road to recovery when we're actually still in deep shit. Lefties and Indpendents are having a field day unpicking whatever stats are being posted to show an improving economic situation. I'm seeing daily rants all over social media about how we're all being fed a constant diet of lies and Ireland is actually doomed. The general vibe being that they government are lying to the public to fool them into thinking that they've done a great job when they've actually been a disaster.
Now, I firmly believe this is kind of true. They are absolutely spinning facts to kid people into thinking they've done a great job turning round our economy when they actually deserve no credit at all for whatever recovery might be underway. The current government is a bunch of shysters and blowhards who deserve zero credit if/when Ireland pulls itself out of the mire.
However, my question to you gimps is: is it not in the best interest of everyone in Ireland if the general public believe all this spin? If Joe Public actually thinks things are on the up and up - whether or not that is actually true - it means more consumer confidence, more spending, more jobs, more tax revenues and eventually a real, tangible improvement in life for everyone. Is deliberately trying to undermine good news stories doing more harm to the country than government spin to convince everyone everything's rosy?
No - better to go down the Greek road. Face up to reality and stop beating up the plain people of Ireland at the behest of the troika.
There's an argument that positivity can be self-fulfilling with increased consumer confidence resulting in higher spending etc...Spreading panic can only be unhelpful if every takes their money out and hides it under the mattress.
On many metrics Ireland appears through the worst of it- property prices appear to have found a floor, unemployment, although high at 10.5%, has been trending downwards, and government bond yields are close to a record low at 1.2% on 10 year debt- it reached over 12% at the peak of the crisis.
All this has come at a cost though- Ireland's debt to GDP has more than quadrupled since 2008, due to bank bailouts, falling tax takes, higher unemployment benefits payments etc...That doesn't leave the policy-makers with much wiggle room- particularly when business confidence remains subdued, so companies are tending to hoard cash rather invest, eg by expanding their workforce, and one your biggest trading partners, the EU, remains mired in recession.
Greece is a whole other level of basket case. Yer man here is backing austerity (which won't go away soon), but he gets some abuse in the comments.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-new...c-yet-consumer-sentiment-stalls-30795285.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b052r2hd/the-andrew-marr-show-08022015
So it would appear that Tristram Hunt had a bit of a Green Party moment. There he is on a leading political proamme, presumably to highlight flagship education policies, only for Andrew Marr to discover that they are unfunded hot air. He also came across as a bit of a weak fool when questioned about nuns as teachers.
Yesterday, Hammond; today, Hunt, politics is awash with insipidity (partly why Farage draws so much attention).
ETA: Further to that last - Boris shall benefit from such a lack in the Commons.
So it would appear that Tristram Hunt had a bit of a Green Party moment. There he is on a leading political proamme, presumably to highlight flagship education policies, only for Andrew Marr to discover that they are unfunded hot air. He also came across as a bit of a weak fool when questioned about nuns as teachers.
Yesterday, Hammond; today, Hunt, politics is awash with insipidity (partly why Farage draws so much attention).
ETA: Further to that last - Boris shall benefit from such a lack in the Commons.
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Tristram is another Labour MP who's down with the working class- dad's a baron and educated at Cambridge and a former member of Footlights. Must really associate with his Stoke constituents.
Hunt's background is of little interest to me, however those policies and that performance are not what you'd describe as inspiring from any Pov.
Their background is of interest as more and more public schoolboys with no non-political working experience hold positions of power.
Too many politicians on all sides who just see it as a power and career exercise, without belief or conviction. I've more respect for some of those I disagree with than the ladder-climbers we seem to have now.
You can say a lot of those same things about Tony Benn to be honest.
Intentions and deeds should override the superficial, at least that is how i look at it.
I'd agree.
Slightly less awful polling for Labour in Scotland - http://www.theguardian.com/politics...ouble-its-vote-in-general-election-poll-finds
A few points either way in Scotland could make quite a bit of difference in May. I think the gap will narrow rather than widen as we get closer to the election, it'll still be bad for Labour but not enough to screw up winning the election on its own.
A few points either way in Scotland could make quite a bit of difference in May. I think the gap will narrow rather than widen as we get closer to the election, it'll still be bad for Labour but not enough to screw up winning the election on its own.
While his family are not exactly common muck like the rest of us, his dad isn't some aristocrat with a title - he's a meteorologist who was made a baron by Tony Blair as a life peer so that he could sit on the labour benches in the house of Lords. Both himself and Tristram are pure academics, both lecturers (dads a professor), which in my opinion qualifies him for minister of education.
He's definitely not from Stoke, though.
I notice the UKIP vote has dropped. Someone has changed their vote.
I wonder if that is because Farage now wants to legalise handgun ownership in the UK?
About 9 years ago I was speaking to a few friends from another website, we had been laughing and joking about Sarah Palin and how completely batshit she is, and also discussing how mental people are for supporting her despite her catalogue of feck ups and lack of intelligence and seriously far right statements and policy ideas. A couple of mates from the US said it wasn't really funny when you look at it properly and even the slightest possibility of her getting elected as VP is a truly frightening prospect. We all agreed it was highly unlikely but we conceded it was scary the amount of people that were behind her. Win or lose it was still scary because she had supporters who actually agreed with her and lapped up every word she said.
I am starting to feel the same as my friends from the US. Worried!
I wonder if that is because Farage now wants to legalise handgun ownership in the UK?
About 9 years ago I was speaking to a few friends from another website, we had been laughing and joking about Sarah Palin and how completely batshit she is, and also discussing how mental people are for supporting her despite her catalogue of feck ups and lack of intelligence and seriously far right statements and policy ideas. A couple of mates from the US said it wasn't really funny when you look at it properly and even the slightest possibility of her getting elected as VP is a truly frightening prospect. We all agreed it was highly unlikely but we conceded it was scary the amount of people that were behind her. Win or lose it was still scary because she had supporters who actually agreed with her and lapped up every word she said.
I am starting to feel the same as my friends from the US. Worried!
Further to the above post and the current polling landscape:
BBC poll of polls shows labour ahead 1 % on 34%
Andrew Neil was talking about a 2 point lead for labour on Sunday following the Swiss bank donor row. So who knows where we are given the margin of error.
True enough, and neither of these polls point to one of the parties securing an overall majority. It's like a rowing race, with the hull of each boat surging ahead but not beign able to maintain a lead.
Only Northern Ireland*, cause the terrorist threat was deemed so high they were needed for self defence. Really, if that was ever justified, it isn't now.
*and a few islands no one gives a toss about, apart from when they're being used for tax avoidance.
Anyway, it's a bizarre stance from Farage. There is no love for hand guns amongst the electorate, nor amongst any experts in anything but hand gun sales.