Best Of

I have mentioned before I have a family trust set up (and don’t hate me MaxPB when I say I own six properties).

The amount of paperwork I had to fill in to make sure my family (both as a group and individuals) paid the right amount of tax now and in the future.

I had to spend so much money so my accountants and lawyers could talk to each other to ensure there were no gaps in the information.

I think Rayner thought this would be easy and assumed her advisers would sort it out, she’s not the first person to make that assumption.

Sorry, why should anyone have sympathy for people who own multiple properties?

In her case she’s got a kid who will require constant care for the rest of his life, he needs an adaptable house

For me, I don’t expect any sympathy, but in my case the only blood relatives my kids have are me and my parents (my ex wife isn’t on the scene.)

My expectation she was trying to do what I was doing, making sure my kids are financially secure if I drop dead anytime soon and my parents are in their 70s.

The difference between me and her is I don’t criticise people who minimise their tax bills.

Incidentally while I'm here.

There has been an earthquake in Afghanistan. There are credible reports from that country that women and girls trapped under the rubble are being left there and not rescued because the Taliban has decreed that no man can touch a woman he is not related to. Some are being pulled out by their clothes or by other women. But even if pulled out their injuries are not being treated because male doctors are not allowed to treat them.

They are being left to suffer and die.

This is not just because of the earthquake. Women are now forbidden from any sort of education or accessing medical care or training as doctors or nurses. So as time passes there will be fewer and fewer women left to provide any sort of medical care at all. Women and girls will simply suffer and die. They are being treated worse than livestock.

This is what sex-based oppression leads to. Afghan men seem not to be bothered by this aspect of the society they have created and live in.

There is nothing we can do. Alas. But it is still worth recording one of the utterly abominable ways in which male populations in this world find to torment women.

I agree.

How do you feel about deporting female Afghan refugees there?

As I understand it Reform plans to even return those with settled claims.

Farage is a charlatan, grifter and liar. He has no concern for women at all. I would not vote for his ghastly party.

There are very few Afghan women on the boats. But obviously they should not be returned to Afghanistan. There is a charity which helps Afghan women, especially judges, escape. Funded in part by the estimable JK Rowling. There are some other charities which are still trying to do what they can for Afghan women. Taliban leaders send their daughters to Dubai to be educated, I understand. Ghastly hypocrites on top of everything else.

Incidentally while I'm here.

There has been an earthquake in Afghanistan. There are credible reports from that country that women and girls trapped under the rubble are being left there and not rescued because the Taliban has decreed that no man can touch a woman he is not related to. Some are being pulled out by their clothes or by other women. But even if pulled out their injuries are not being treated because male doctors are not allowed to treat them.

They are being left to suffer and die.

This is not just because of the earthquake. Women are now forbidden from any sort of education or accessing medical care or training as doctors or nurses. So as time passes there will be fewer and fewer women left to provide any sort of medical care at all. Women and girls will simply suffer and die. They are being treated worse than livestock.

This is what sex-based oppression leads to. Afghan men seem not to be bothered by this aspect of the society they have created and live in.

There is nothing we can do. Alas. But it is still worth recording one of the utterly abominable ways in which male populations in this world find to torment women.

Rayner was aways the embodiment of gobby Lefty entitlement.

The sympathy well is bone dry.

I've been away so catching up on this story.

I think I disagree on both of your counts.

The conveyancing solicitor pays the stamp duty land tax as part of their tallying-up process. Most people would not doubt or check that the tax stated by the solicitor is correct. Raynor, remember, is a dim Labour MP who is, like the rest, numerically 'uninterested'. I very much doubt she knows much about tax rates in general. I doubt, therefore, that this was deliberate.

She no doubt sold her remaining stake in the existing house to her child's trust so that the new property would be the only property she would own, meaning the penalty second home tax rate would not apply. I can understand this. When the error came to light she immediately offered to pay the extra to HMRC.

So, as much as I dislike her, and think her unfit for office, I DO have sympathy over this issue and do not see it to be serious enough for her to go.