Best Of

Plus how many times are we going to hear Lab trot (geddit?) out the phrase "to fund the NHS"? As Cyclefree noted, not every bloody thing in this country should be structured around the NHS which, as readers will be aware I believe, is a useless, not fit for purpose organisation as interested in killing people as mending their broken legs.

How about farmers pay their taxes so we can fund our armed forces to deal with Russia?

Farmers have done quite well out of Ukraine; wheat prices went up 50% during the start of the invasion.

Other sectors got whacked with a windfall tax when that happened...

Do farmers only produce wheat? Fertiliser costs went up by up to 400% during the start of the invasion through 2022 and are still 50% higher. Apart from that hey.

One for @turbotubbs

“Berkeley Professor Says Even His ‘Outstanding’ Students With 4.0 GPAs Aren’t Getting Any Job Offers — ‘I Suspect This Trend Is Irreversible’”

“The professor hypothesizes that even people starting college today will find themselves in a bit of a bind 4 years down road when they are looking for employment.”

https://www.yourtango.com/sekf/berkeley-professor-says-even-outstanding-students-arent-getting-jobs

This is going to devastate the entire university sector. As I predicted

We've been hiring for a few IT posts recently. And we're seeing a glut of both bootcamp people and regular graduates & masters students. The supply side still seems to be in a 2020/2021 'gold rush' mode (which kind of aligns for when recent grad's would have been half-looking at the job market to make a final degree decision) and the demand side is in a 'woahhhhh there!' one.

Not especially seeing any effect of AI on hiring (other than LLM generated CV's, which are grim reading).

TSE still on his anti-farmer crusade I see...

TSE is a troll.

He does it to get a rise out of the Tory right, which seems to be his mission in life.

Best response is simply to ignore it.

He writes the headers so how can you ignore him?

There isn't much dissent from the PB Tory echo chamber at the moment so perhaps TSE is just throwing a little flavour of Devil's advocate into the mix to keep you lot on your toes.

Back to the good old days with the rabid right reminding everyone who had forgotten what the true face of the Tory/UKIPers look like. It's refreshing and for those who have been posting for a long time quite nostalgic. A pity so many changed their usernames during the recent dark days but you can't have everything

On TSE headers: his headers, so he can write what he likes. And he has a bit of a tendency to troll the right – again, he can write what he likes. Worth noting that he did write a header yesterday which was uncharacteristically Kemi-positive, though.

But on this particular issue, as a right-wing voice I agree with TSE. I’m still broadly Kemi positive, but she needs to avoid the tendency to oppose EVERYTHING the government does; or at least to nuance her opposition. WFA was a cynical Brown-era tactic and made no sense then and should definitely be abolished, if for no other reason on the principle of simplification of the jungle of the benefit system. And farmers’ IHT: yes, it appears, like the private school tax, part of an assault on Labours’ enemies – but it wasn’t really performing the job it was designed to. At the very least, we need to consider a better situation.

At the very least, KB makes herself a hostage to fortune by opposing EVERYTHING – in the (unlikely, in my view) event that she wins power, she has given herself some very expensive millstones.

Is it me or has Israel-Palestine completely gone off the news radar since the US election ?

Muslim-Americans (pre-election). "Biden is not doing enough for the Palestinians! We will vote against Kamala to send a message!"
Muslim-Americans (post-election). "Oh shit"

Latinos (pre-election). "We are here to stay and Biden is not doing enough for us! We will vote against Kamala to send a message!"
Latinos (post-election). "Oh shit"

I saw one vox pox with a latino who when asked about his undocumented mother and whether he was worried replied that they wouldn't deport her, she's been her years and worked all her life and has no criminal record.

Yeh. I guess he might be right.

Without doubt one of the worst thread headers TSE has ever done.

No party wins general elections without shoring up their core vote first and for Tories they include private school parents and farmers. Voters also want a choice not an echo, if you want to hammer farmers with inheritance tax and hit private school parents with VAT you vote Labour anyway and if the Tories don't stand up for farmers and private school parents they will leak voters to Reform and the LDs who will.

Plus 57% of voters oppose the hated tractor tax anyway

https://x.com/LukeTryl/status/1858787981303185664

Not to mention VAT on school fees will just reduce the scholarships they provide and hit smaller schools most making them even more exclusive. While we need family farms to produce our food, you can't make food from houses. Most farms may be asset rich but they are income poor

If you are asset rich but income poor, you can get a mortgage or similar sort of loan. It’s not difficult.

We need houses to live in. You can’t make houses from food (pace Hansel & Gretel).

Can you explain how you pay a mortgage from a poor income. The whole point is they will need to sell at least part of farm to pay it so making it even poorer income etc.
Idiocy thought up by morons. It should be tax applied when any sale is made , inheriting land is worth nothing unless you sell.

How can the land be worth so much if it is impossible to generate any income from it?

Inheriting any possession is worth nothing unless you sell.

You should only pay when you sell , up till then you have zero cash/income passed on. Not beyond teh wit of man to devise a scheme where they get tax when that asset or another one in it's place is sold and profit made.
Whreas saying those fields are worth 3M hand over cash please is insane.

Yay, @malcolmg and I actually agree on something (there maybe more things who knows?)!

So here is the thing for those that wish to buy Starmer's pack of lies on this subject: Farmers may be asset rich (land buildings equipment), but the reality is that when the elderly farmer dies there is no spare cash to pay the tax bill as farm incomes are now so low. The next generation will be forced to sell, meaning that their income is now even lower. This is how the family farm is killed off, particularly in areas such as Scotland and Wales.

The idea that only a small number of family farms will be affected is a complete lie. It is about as truthful as Rachel Reeves' CV ffs!

How are the assets of the farm valued for IHT purposes - e.g. Is it better to die when you have a 7 year old combine harvester that's worth 25% of it's original value (18% reducing balance as per HMRC's main rate pool capital allowance) rather than a new one ?

Farm machinery would be valued on the same basis as the capital goods of any other business, i.e. market value: https://www.gov.uk/business-relief-inheritance-tax

The farm can claim business asset relief to get them taxed at a lower rate of IHT. The land is valued on the basis that it could only ever be used for farming.

To compensate for the fact that farms are not cash rich, they get 10 years to pay their IHT bill - another privilege which is not extended to the rest of us.