Best Of

On topic this completely ridiculous non-hypothecation of taxes on "bad things" to justify them by showing the money is then spent on "good things" is completely out of hand and the source of very bad policy so it is hardly surprising we might find one Gordon Brown once again indulging in it.

We have seen it with the money supposedly being raised by the application of VAT on school fees which was supposed to fund additional spending (whilst completely ignoring the collateral costs dumped on local authorities as a result) in education. We had the "penny to save the NHS" from the Lib Dems. We have the pretense that NI has something to do with the funding of the NHS and the State Pension. We had the nonsense of taxes on Sugary drinks to supposedly fund school sports.

None of the hypothecations are legally binding. None of them are rational. The link between the money "raised" (or lost) is tenuous at best. It is a genuinely idiotic way to determine tax policy. We need to simplify and clarify our tax system to allow investment decisions to be made in a coherent context if we are to maximise growth. These policies are for the simple minded.

You know this, I know this, but unfortunately it works very well on getting the general public onboard. And vice versa when politicians are more upfront, hey you are going to have to pay extra for things that aren't sweeties / save the starving kids, they get hammered.

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I just bought a handsome William IV mahogany table for £129

wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”

Is this true? It seems true from this deal

OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival

Yes, for quite a long time.

It's also driven by large furniture and houses getting smaller, and fashion.

Mum and dad were in a 5000sqft former manor house for their last 40 years, of which restoration took 25 years. They had at least 3 full size (8 person) dining tables from relatives, and had amassed a collection of Guy Rogers 1960s Manhattan teak furniture of 3 full size double bed converting sofas, and about 9 chairs, as old friends moved to smaller houses - different period, same principle.

Estate sales of boomers (OK: former boomers) are one place to be.

Big and brown has been difficult to give away for a long time.

When the LAB LEAKED covid killed my mother I burned most of her antique furniture in the paddock of her house in North Yorks because getting rid of it was such a tiresome pain in the dick. There is literally no way to get rid of a massive 300kg 18th C. Flemish oak wardrobe other than burning it.

We've been clearing my late MIL's house most of the year, it seems never ending. Most of the furniture has gone to charity. Attempts to sell stuff online have not really been worth the hassle. Problems like the 4 piece suite which doesn't have fire certificates on it (meaning charities will not trust it) have had us pulling our hair out.
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Dinning room table with 6 matching chairs, crockery sideboards, glass cabinets, we literally cannot give them away.

The fire cert thing is full on mental.
My mother tried to give away a chair she reupholstered (a hobby) in 100% wool.
Impossible without a cert.

I just bought a handsome William IV mahogany table for £129

wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”

Is this true? It seems true from this deal

OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival

Yes, for quite a long time.

It's also driven by large furniture and houses getting smaller, and fashion.

Mum and dad were in a 5000sqft former manor house for their last 40 years, of which restoration took 25 years. They had at least 3 full size (8 person) dining tables from relatives, and had amassed a collection of Guy Rogers 1960s Manhattan teak furniture of 3 full size double bed converting sofas, and about 9 chairs, as old friends moved to smaller houses - different period, same principle.

Estate sales of boomers (OK: former boomers) are one place to be.

Big and brown has been difficult to give away for a long time.

When the LAB LEAKED covid killed my mother I burned most of her antique furniture in the paddock of her house in North Yorks because getting rid of it was such a tiresome pain in the dick. There is literally no way to get rid of a massive 300kg 18th C. Flemish oak wardrobe other than burning it.

We've been clearing my late MIL's house most of the year, it seems never ending. Most of the furniture has gone to charity. Attempts to sell stuff online have not really been worth the hassle. Problems like the 4 piece suite which doesn't have fire certificates on it (meaning charities will not trust it) have had us pulling our hair out.
.
Dinning room table with 6 matching chairs, crockery sideboards, glass cabinets, we literally cannot give them away.

David, council take 5 large items away for 30 quid. Jigsaw and hammer can make the rest of smaller items into fire material, get yourself a 30 quid incinerator bin out of B&Q. So 60 quid and a bit of work and nothing beats a good fire.

I just bought a handsome William IV mahogany table for £129

wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”

Is this true? It seems true from this deal

OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival

Yes, for quite a long time.

It's also driven by large furniture and houses getting smaller, and fashion.

Mum and dad were in a 5000sqft former manor house for their last 40 years, of which restoration took 25 years. They had at least 3 full size (8 person) dining tables from relatives, and had amassed a collection of Guy Rogers 1960s Manhattan teak furniture of 3 full size double bed converting sofas, and about 9 chairs, as old friends moved to smaller houses - different period, same principle.

Estate sales of boomers (OK: former boomers) are one place to be.

Big and brown has been difficult to give away for a long time.

When the LAB LEAKED covid killed my mother I burned most of her antique furniture in the paddock of her house in North Yorks because getting rid of it was such a tiresome pain in the dick. There is literally no way to get rid of a massive 300kg 18th C. Flemish oak wardrobe other than burning it.

We've been clearing my late MIL's house most of the year, it seems never ending. Most of the furniture has gone to charity. Attempts to sell stuff online have not really been worth the hassle. Problems like the 4 piece suite which doesn't have fire certificates on it (meaning charities will not trust it) have had us pulling our hair out.
.
Dinning room table with 6 matching chairs, crockery sideboards, glass cabinets, we literally cannot give them away.

I'm out of parents now but if I had to do it again, I would wait until probate closed and the house was my property then burn it down and claim the insurance. Much simpler.

I just bought a handsome William IV mahogany table for £129

wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”

Is this true? It seems true from this deal

OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival

Yes, for quite a long time.

It's also driven by large furniture and houses getting smaller, and fashion.

Mum and dad were in a 5000sqft former manor house for their last 40 years, of which restoration took 25 years. They had at least 3 full size (8 person) dining tables from relatives, and had amassed a collection of Guy Rogers 1960s Manhattan teak furniture of 3 full size double bed converting sofas, and about 9 chairs, as old friends moved to smaller houses - different period, same principle.

Estate sales of boomers (OK: former boomers) are one place to be.

Big and brown has been difficult to give away for a long time.

When the LAB LEAKED covid killed my mother I burned most of her antique furniture in the paddock of her house in North Yorks because getting rid of it was such a tiresome pain in the dick. There is literally no way to get rid of a massive 300kg 18th C. Flemish oak wardrobe other than burning it.

We've been clearing my late MIL's house most of the year, it seems never ending. Most of the furniture has gone to charity. Attempts to sell stuff online have not really been worth the hassle. Problems like the 4 piece suite which doesn't have fire certificates on it (meaning charities will not trust it) have had us pulling our hair out.
.
Dinning room table with 6 matching chairs, crockery sideboards, glass cabinets, we literally cannot give them away.

Good morning

Another labour ruse of raising taxes and then spending them on another spending commitment (which by the way is not popular according to polls) and at the same leaving the entirely 'self created Reeves black hole of 40 billion' untouched

Labour are addicted to taxing and spending, and just cannot help themselves

White the Tories just spent and borrowed.

Unprecented Covid and war in Ukraine and labour would have spent even more:

How much was spent on Covid-19 measures?

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in very high levels of public spending. Current estimates of the total cost of government Covid-19 measures range from about £310 billion to £410 billion. This is the equivalent of about £4,600 to £6,100 per person in the UK.

Official figures show that spending in 2020/21 was about £179 billion higher than had been planned before the pandemic for that year.

Source: National Audit Office and HM Treasury (NAO/HMT), Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and International Monetary Fund (IMF); see section 1.1 of this briefing for details. Calculated using UK population estimate from Office for National Statistics (ONS), Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2020, 25 June 2021

A picture is sometimes better than many words

If the government wants to introduce a tax on gambling they should target mobile games, gacha and other games which use ultra low odds mystery boxes to get kids to spend money on nonsense as well as partnerships with popular streamers who run tweaked versions of said games to make it seem as though the odds of pulling a top tier character/skin is substantially higher than the truth.

The level of fraud in that industry needs to be tackled and taxing them should be just a start.

I was unsurprised that the OSA did absolutely nothing to stop predatory games publishers targeting kids with gambling mechanics, it's almost as of the government doesn't know what it's doing and doesn't realise what is actually poisoning kids brains right now.

EA now only makes about 20% of it's revenue from the actual price of the game in shops. The rest comes from selling ultimate team packs for their sports games. Game publishers have ruthlessly exploited legal grey areas to get a generation of kids addicted to gambling mechanics and turn them into cash cows.

As rather brilliantly predicted in Reamde by Neal Stephenson in 2011.

Possibly gave them the idea.

I just bought a handsome William IV mahogany table for £129

wtf. A friend tells me “antique prices have collapsed”. “Especially for old brown stuff”

Is this true? It seems true from this deal

OTOH I might get it and find it collapses on arrival

Yes, for quite a long time.

It's also driven by large furniture and houses getting smaller, and fashion.

Mum and dad were in a 5000sqft former manor house for their last 40 years, of which restoration took 25 years. They had at least 3 full size (8 person) dining tables from relatives, and had amassed a collection of Guy Rogers 1960s Manhattan teak furniture of 3 full size double bed converting sofas, and about 9 chairs, as old friends moved to smaller houses - different period, same principle.

Estate sales of boomers (OK: former boomers) are one place to be.