Best Of

Times Radio interview with Arthur Laffer. He’s now 85 years old.

https://x.com/timesradio/status/1986378778550124639

Fair to say he doesn’t think too much positive about Rachel.

It's interesting more nuanced take on the whole curve thing. It's not just reduce taxes and get more income. It's remove the complications, the breaks, the allowances. You pay a lower rate, but it is simplified and the disincentives are removed.

IIRC he said some controversial things, which werent really picked up on about less taxes for lower earners doesnt result in any extra revenue, its lowering taxes for people who are high earners that generates the overall improvements.
That's a hard sell on the doorstep!

Lol it's the traditional view from the boss class: pay the rich more so they work harder, pay the poor less so they work harder. Laffer is a hack.

The problem with the “Laffer Curve” is that while it’s obviously true at the very low & very high end he has absolutely nothing helpful to say about the middle. Which can easily be complete chaos! A small increase in one tax might bring in more net revenue whilst the same increase in another tax might reduce overall revenue & vice versa.

See https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/31/untaxing-the-laffer-curve-and-the-napkin-that-changed-the-world/

We all know that 95% income taxes are a bad idea & that going from 0% to 5% raises money. Unfortunately that tells us nothing about what will happen if a UK government raises or lowers taxes today from current levels of taxation.

So much for the ongoing defence review.

British Army will ‘not fight war like Ukraine’ after tank upgraded
Controversial Ajax vehicles to be deployed seven years behind schedule following works on noise and vibration issues

https://www.thetimes.com/article/c5df3221-fb05-4f93-979d-e76afccff380?shareToken=c61b60b775970e5dce0531ac9355e5d1
The British Army will not fight a future war in the same way as the Ukrainians, military officers have said, as the army unveiled its new reconnaissance vehicle designed to find an enemy positioned five miles away.

Ministers announced on Wednesday that 50 Ajax vehicles, of which there are six variants, were now ready to deploy on operations, sixteen years after the £5.5 billion programme began and eight years later than planned...

..Troops are now handed two hearing devices to block out the noise and other measures (sic) have been brought in to reduce the level of vibration.

Luke Pollard, the procurement minister, was at the General Dynamics factory in Merthyr Tydfil Wales to announce the vehicles had reached “initial operating capability”. They had originally been due to enter service in 2017.

Pollard said: “Ajax has overcome significant challenges but importantly we can say it has left its troubles behind...

Speaking via video link, General Sir Roly Walker, chief of the general staff, said Ajax was the “world’s first truly digital armoured fighting vehicle”. “We are delivering an army that is ready to out-think and out-manoeuvre any adversary,” he said.

Walker has been blocked by the government from speaking to the media.

He previously said in a speech in June that vehicles such as Ajax “take months to produce and years to train competent crews for”. “They’re also increasingly on the wrong side of the cost curve when it comes to price per kill. A £20 million tank and four experienced crew members lost to a £1,000 drone operated by a kid with only a few days training – who probably isn’t even on the same map sheet as the tank,” he said...

Major James Faire, 35, said: “The way in which the British Army wishes to employ this platform and the way in which we want to fight, is not the way in which the conflict in Ukraine is currently being conducted.

“We would like to try and avoid getting ourselves into the situation where we are in trenches, unable to move, with drones consistently overhead.” He said the army would want to remain mobile “without getting bogged down”...

So the lessons we draw from Ukraine are that... we plan not to fight a war in the same manner.

As a means of "delivering an army that is ready to out-think and out-manoeuvre any adversary", that is ... Melchett level.

O/T question...

Looks like we will have to cancel a cruise booked for Feb as I have broken my leg and my orthopaedic consultant is not confident it will be fixed well enough in time for me to travel safely. Due to pay the balance on Monday so now is the time to cancel.

Cunard won't give me back the deposit (c. £2k) but I could claim it off my travel insurance.

Question: do any PBers have experience of what impact claiming on travel insurance might have on future premiums? Just wondering if it's like pet insurance - claim once and the insurers bump up future premiums massively. The thing is with travel insurance, I feel it's non-negotiable as the costs if uninsured could be huge.

Any views?

Can't tell you about the insurance, but can tell you the holiday companies love cancellations. And they can claim the VAT back too.

Yeah, I bet. It's an accessible cabin too and there's always a wait list for those as cruises approach so they will haave no issue reselling it. I'll ask them is they'll give me a future cruise credit for the deposit but I know the answer :-(

It’s always worth asking about credit for the deposit if they resell the cabin, especially if there’s likely to be demand for it. Say that you’ll rebook straight away.

I follow this lady who blogs about cruises, there’s a load of useful information on her website. https://emmacruises.com/

Good luck and get well soon!

Ok, just to close the loop on this one - I called Cunard and indeed they are willing to transfer my booking to a future cruise of the same or greater value, which seems fair enough to me. So thank-you to @Sandpit for that suggestion, I'm not sure if they'd have offered it if I hadn't asked - it's not enshrined in their booking conditions.

@Big_G_NorthWales: I absolutely agree, I would never travel abroad these days without travel insurance. Im sorry that it has become too expensive for you now, I'm glad for you that you did a lot of travelling when you could.

Don't delay - seize the day! is a great mantra.

Finally, thank you to those who wished me well - I am fine, but my leg break (femur) is unfortunately going to be a slow healing process. I am reminded that despite our political differences and often heated debates PB is a great collection of virtual friends.

Thanks all!

O/T question...

Looks like we will have to cancel a cruise booked for Feb as I have broeken my leg and consultant is not confident it will be fixed well enough for me to safely travel. Due to pay the balance on Monday so now is the time to cancel.

Cunard won't give me back the deposit (c. £2k) but I could claim it off my travel insurance.

Question: do any PBers have experience of what impact claiming on travel insurance might have on future premiums? Just wondering if it's like pet insurance - claim once and the insurers bump up future premiums massively. The thing is with travel insurance, I feel it's non-negotiable as the costs if uninsured could be huge.

Any views?

Very sorry to hear that. Hope the break mends more speedily than you expect.

Funny day. Two different business phone calls. And I had two different ladies both say unprompted that I was "well spoken".

The English are odd.

Things 1 and 2 both sound more convincingly Estuary than I do. After all, they were born in Romford, not near the Solent.

Shortly after the start of our temporary sojourn in Yorkshire, someone said to us, "make sure they don't lose their lovely accents". I still don't know what to make of that.

People love talking about how other people speak. It's been a while since anyone has told my wife (born in Margate to Sri Lankan parents) what nice English she has, people seem to have got over that now. But if people ask me where I'm from the "you don't sound very Scottish" is almost inevitable. I've given up trying to explain the 32 years since I left Scotland, the English parents, the six years childhood sojourn in Newastle, the growing up in the most English place in Scotland... I just shrug. Sorry to disappoint you, I want to say.

Funny day. Two different business phone calls. And I had two different ladies both say unprompted that I was "well spoken".

The English are odd.

Things 1 and 2 both sound more convincingly Estuary than I do. After all, they were born in Romford, not near the Solent.

Shortly after the start of our temporary sojourn in Yorkshire, someone said to us, "make sure they don't lose their lovely accents". I still don't know what to make of that.

As a Brummie I have, quite remarkably, never heard such a statement within earshot.

My wife loves the Brummie accent, but then she does have weird tastes. I mean she married me.