Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Indeed, though it may depend on the chap that is topping you. There is probably quite a bit of choice in Sitges.
Ewww no. I'd be one of those celibate gays. Who actually likes girls as well. In fact: only girls. Gayness would just be my "lived experience". I'd self identify as gay despite being obviously hetero
You might as well go the whole hog. You never know, you might enjoy it once you get used to it. You could then be someone who is gay but identifies as straight
I'm FAR too toppy and I also hate sex via the Bakerloo Line
I once had a famous TV celeb girlfriend - very beautiful then, oh so beautiful - who offered me the tradesman's entrance as a "birthday treat" and I did it for 3 seconds with fastidious distaste, then desisted with much relief
I have sometimes wondered if he drives a Seat Leon. If he had a grand house in Leon, we would be able to say that Leon has a seat in Leon where he parks his Seat Leon.
It's actually worth doing that just to be able to say that. Nice
SeanT can only live in Jean, which isn't quite as good
HAH, in your face, weird stalker
SeanT could be sean tea drinking in Leon's seat in León, where a while later he was driven in Leon's Seat Leon to a barbers, where he had his hair expertly shaun to a T
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Indeed, though it may depend on the chap that is topping you. There is probably quite a bit of choice in Sitges.
Ewww no. I'd be one of those celibate gays. Who actually likes girls as well. In fact: only girls. Gayness would just be my "lived experience". I'd self identify as gay despite being obviously hetero
You might as well go the whole hog. You never know, you might enjoy it once you get used to it. You could then be someone who is gay but identifies as straight
I'm FAR too toppy and I also hate sex via the Bakerloo Line
I once had a famous TV celeb girlfriend - very beautiful then, oh so beautiful - who offered me the tradesman's entrance as a "birthday treat" and I did it for 3 seconds with fastidious distaste, then desisted with much relief
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Would end badly.
Doesn't he just quietly expire on a beach, yearning for some nubile boy, while Mahler's Fifth plays in the background?
Having recently witnessed death at close quarters, that's not a bad way to go. Sign me up. But make it a Montenegrin teen girl as the impossible object of aged desire
Isn't it generally assumed to be typhoid that finishes off von Aschenbach? Not that pleasant I'd guess. Still, probably better than the author's subsequent 40 years of repression and making his family bloody miserable.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
I only went there for the train ride. Also, I was a tourist so no point being too sniffy about things being touristy. There's a nice beach and places to get food, so it was fine.
The food is good in Soller, but it is overwhelmed with tourists
That's why I prefer Palma - in Majorca. It's a proper city that is itself, it doesn't need tourists that much, and it easily absorbs those it has (most people head further out to the beaches and the coasts)
Palma's fabulous. May I recommend my favourite hotel, in the middle of the old town, quiet, but with an adjacent plaza for late night drinks: https://www.posadaterrasanta.com/en/
Yeah I love Palma. It is overlooked, in a good way
The one thing that might annoy me is the stupid dinner times, But that's OK, if I am going to be this weird gay but not gay character, reading Cavafy and smoking nanorillos, and constantly drunk on VROS Palo Cortado, I can insist on having solitary dinners at 7.30pm like a proper Englishman, while sneering at the Germans who dine at 5
I’m currently in a lounge in CDG on our way back from Guadeloupe - where literally no one (and no restaurants) are open in the evening.
The options really were eat at Lunchtime or hit Carrefour for snacks.
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Be advised Sitges is horrendously expensive, very small and , it's saving grace for me, full of Wildeans!
I have sometimes wondered if he drives a Seat Leon. If he had a grand house in Leon, we would be able to say that Leon has a seat in Leon where he parks his Seat Leon.
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Indeed, though it may depend on the chap that is topping you. There is probably quite a bit of choice in Sitges.
Ewww no. I'd be one of those celibate gays. Who actually likes girls as well. In fact: only girls. Gayness would just be my "lived experience". I'd self identify as gay despite being obviously hetero
You might as well go the whole hog. You never know, you might enjoy it once you get used to it. You could then be someone who is gay but identifies as straight
I'm FAR too toppy and I also hate sex via the Bakerloo Line
I once had a famous TV celeb girlfriend - very beautiful then, oh so beautiful - who offered me the tradesman's entrance as a "birthday treat" and I did it for 3 seconds with fastidious distaste, then desisted with much relief
We are past the lagershed, aren't we?
I believe not all gay men like to explore the house via the back door, though as you travel a lot it, it may be useful for you to be a master of many tongues.
León is also a fine place. We went there last October for the first time. The cathedral is indescribably beautiful. The old town had the feel of one of those colonial backwaters you get in Garcia Marquez novels.
I've loved everywhere I've stopped in Northern Spain on the few roadtrips I've done to Portugal
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Indeed, though it may depend on the chap that is topping you. There is probably quite a bit of choice in Sitges.
Ewww no. I'd be one of those celibate gays. Who actually likes girls as well. In fact: only girls. Gayness would just be my "lived experience". I'd self identify as gay despite being obviously hetero
You might as well go the whole hog. You never know, you might enjoy it once you get used to it. You could then be someone who is gay but identifies as straight
I'm FAR too toppy and I also hate sex via the Bakerloo Line
I once had a famous TV celeb girlfriend - very beautiful then, oh so beautiful - who offered me the tradesman's entrance as a "birthday treat" and I did it for 3 seconds with fastidious distaste, then desisted with much relief
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
I have sometimes wondered if he drives a Seat Leon. If he had a grand house in Leon, we would be able to say that Leon has a seat in Leon where he parks his Seat Leon.
León is also a fine place. We went there last October for the first time. The cathedral is indescribably beautiful. The old town had the feel of one of those colonial backwaters you get in Garcia Marquez novels.
I've loved everywhere I've stopped in Northern Spain on the few roadtrips I've done to Portugal
Pamplona was another I'd love to revisit
I really should do the Camino de Santiago soon
I’d like to go Rioja in early-mid Autumn as the vines turn. I have a number of viticultural fact finding visits I plan to make over the next few years: Marne valley, Muscadet, Georgia (for Qvevri winemaking), Willamette valley. Rioja wouldn’t be fact finding though - no real relevance for English wine making, just very pretty.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
All Labour have to offer by contrast is horses. But they are at least the correct horses.
A battery of them, one might say.
And whilst it's true that the Conservatives did seem to be delivering on unicorns for a while, I get the impression that when nasty mean people say "hey, that's a donkey with a traffic cone cruelly stapled to its nose", the nasty mean people get more of a hearing than they did a couple of years ago.
It's not that people don't want unicorns, especially with respect to Eurorelations. And there's still a belief that the right leader would be able to get us a unicorn. Just not that the Conservatives are those leaders.
Morning all! I agree with @Heathener - the public mood is mutinous. And the latest Tory obscenity is the attack on British men of Pakistani heritage.
Yes, we have a few examples of Pakistani "grooming gangs" which the authorities ignored. But she's basically just given all the white men who do this the green light to not be suspected.
They *can't* be a nonce. They have white skin. Just like Jimmy Saville . This is crayon politics aimed at genuinely ignorant people who have had this weaponised by certain newspapers as a stick to beat anyone with funny skin. Or anyone who actually has a faith unlike the ignorant white racist.
Before anyone says I am being exclusionary, I am not. Some heinous acts have been carried out by British men of Pakistani heritage. As well as by white men of non-Pakistani heritage. Personally I think we should go after criminals - hard to do when the government have gutted the justice system.
I feel for you
an Asian PM and and Asian home secretary so you cant cry racist.
You must be gutted.
Laughable. This is a policy written in crayon to stoke racism. BTW "Asian" is itself racist when you are claiming that a Hindu PM and an Indian-heritage HS are the same as people of Pakistani origin.
Can't be racist? You ever heard Indians and Pakistanis going at each other? This is someone from one heritage branding people of a different heritage to all be perverts. It is *inherently racist.
Growing up in Rochdale in the 1980s, "paki" what white person shorthand for all the Asians in the town. Despite the reality that we had sizable communities from India. Kashmir. Bangladesh. And yes Pakistan. Branding anyone with brown skin as a unitary group - "Asian" in your case - is as ignorant as my Gran calling the Indian family next door "the Pakis"
It is 2023. Really sad to read that level of ignorance is live and well. Then again we know this - that policy is aimed square at them.
Ive sat in rooms with hindus sikhs and buddhists and what they say about the muslims would have me put in jail if I said it.
And thats the point, you and your pastey faced cohorts run around yelling racism when there is no equal application of the law and all that counts is which group meets your virtue signalling twaddle this week.
So having experienced Asian on Asian racism yourself - as I have - why have you said that the HS can't be racist towards a different Asian heritage?
You mention equal application of the law. Growing up in Rochdale the local monster was Cyril Smith. Who got away with it. In more recent times the monsters have been Pakistani heritage. Who got away with it.
If inbuilt racism is the reason why we don't apply the law equally, why do we keep having appalling cases where mass offenders eventually get caught? If racism is why the Pakistani heritage gang members took so long to get caught, was it also racism that the same system ignored Smith?
Not the smartest thing you have ever posted.
It was plain that there was a very great reluctance on the part of the authorities to deal with the concerns raised by Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion due to its being “ a cultural matter.”
But overall, I’ve reached the conclusion that too many people in authority really are unbothered by child abuse, unless it’s done to their own children.
It's very sad, Britons are far more interested in animals than children.
Have you ever stopped to ponder why that might be?
Why do you think it might be?
I can only speak for myself. The one thing the world could could easily get by without is further increases in population. Those that want to have children are freel to do so but the children are their responsibility. We happily pay taxes toward their education, healthcare and protection but beyond that it's down to the parents.
If however humans don't intervene to protect other species and prevent the trashing of the planet in general then nobody else is going to. There is barely a problem that the world faces that isn't exacerbated by an ever-increasing population. Drought, famine, climate change, destruction of habitat. I guess my money goes to support animal and environmental charities because I don't believe that humans have the right to push everything else off the face of the earth,
Without enough children in the next few generations, you will be screwed in retirememt. If you have a public pension and healthcare, they need to pay in the taxes to keep it going. If you have private healthcare, you need young people subsidizing the risk pools to keep premiums down. If you have a private pension, the rate of return on investment is only possible by having enough workers to keep growth going.
Climate change and habitat destruction should be addressed by direct regulation on those things.
So a constantly expanding Ponzi scheme in reality?
It is not a Ponzi scheme to have a relatively fixed relationship between the number of workers and the number of non-workers.
If the numbers of elderly/non-workers keeps increasing and the number of workers required to support them therefore also keeps increasing aren't we in a loop that means the population has to keep on growing?
It is a Ponzi scheme if - and only if - life expectancy can rise infinitely.
As it cannot, it is trivially and obviously not a Ponzi scheme.
Whilst life expectancy obviously cannot rise indefinitely it has a very long way to go before it reaches developed nation levels in 80% of the world. World population growth is slowing but in absolute terms I don't think it is sustainable without there being major consequences for the planet (17 million net growth in the first 12 weeks of this year). Fortunately I won't be around to find out but I find human complacency quite fascinating at times.
The planet is perfectly capable of supporting 30 or 40 billion people in comfort.
Yet we're going to see populations peak way below that level.
Basically, not buying into riduculous alarmism is somehow complacency.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Message discipline is impressive but I do wonder if they are locking themselves into difficulties later if they then change course.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Lammy isn't as daft as he used to be. I've always rather liked him, but he's always talked complete nonsense. I think he's fixing this, but its all come too late for him politically.
A nationalist MSP caused an innocent woman to be investigated for a hate crime after she wrongly claimed opponents of Nicola Sturgeon’s gender self-ID laws had booked her a “malicious” bikini wax.
Karen Adam, who represents Banffshire and Buchan Coast for the SNP, complained in December that she had been a victim of abuse and intimidation after she received an unsolicited confirmation for an intimate salon appointment.
She publicly blamed critics of self-ID laws for making a booking “focused on my genitals” at the same time that a crunch Holyrood debate on the controversial gender laws was due to take place.
However, the Telegraph understands that it took a police probe to find out that the incident was the result of an innocent mix-up at the Edinburgh salon.
A woman with a very similar name to Ms Adam had tried to make a genuine appointment and the MSP got the confirmation email, in what police sources confirmed was an “administrative error”.
Critics of Ms Adam said her reaction to receiving the email, which she also wrote about at length in a national newspaper column, exposed her “absurd persecution complex” and raised doubts over whether she was clever enough to be an MSP.
It is understood that the woman who made the booking was phoned up by police and warned that she was at the centre of a hate crime probe, before it was established that the MSP had leapt to the wrong conclusion.
These criminals just snap their fingers and eth police come running, if a member of the public phoned up with that garbage they would be chased. The clown was also allowed to print it in a newspaper, no doubt the inhouse toilet roll one.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Starmer's dedicated to saying what he thinks he needs to say to win an election
Once it's won he'll say "Things have changed, so I've had to change my plans" and he'll do exactly what he wants to do
Things will have changed; he won't need to win an election
I don't think he has the self belief to really convince himself that he can win a second election, so I think he'll try to get everything done asap - if he has the numbers in Parliament
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Message discipline is impressive but I do wonder if they are locking themselves into difficulties later if they then change course.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Nandy isn't really a Brexit convert. She's consistently argued throughout that, despite her wish to remain, Labour needed to respect the 2016 result and just leave, without the nonsense of a second referendum.
León is also a fine place. We went there last October for the first time. The cathedral is indescribably beautiful. The old town had the feel of one of those colonial backwaters you get in Garcia Marquez novels.
I've loved everywhere I've stopped in Northern Spain on the few roadtrips I've done to Portugal
Pamplona was another I'd love to revisit
I really should do the Camino de Santiago soon
Yep, I am a huge fan of northern Spain. I lived in a place called Lleida - on the road to Zaragoza just inside Catalonia - for five years on and off back in the last 1980s and early 1990s. I fell in love with the vast landscapes, the huge skies, the emptiness and the mountains always in the distance. It is definitely not the costas! We go back a lot. Did a month in Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla-León and Madrid last October. We're doing a month in the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja and Aragon this October. Cannot wait!
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Message discipline is impressive but I do wonder if they are locking themselves into difficulties later if they then change course.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Nandy isn't really a Brexit convert. She's consistently argued throughout that, despite her wish to remain, Labour needed to respect the 2016 result and just leave, without the nonsense of a second referendum.
I think those of who are desperate to rejoin and are annoyed at Starmer for not committing Labour to doing so also need to consider the following question. Would the EU accept an application by a Starmer government for the UK to rejoin it, right now? Because the answer is no. They'd want polling for rejoin to be at around 70%, and probably would want there to be cross-party consensus that the UK should rejoin.
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Message discipline is impressive but I do wonder if they are locking themselves into difficulties later if they then change course.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Two scenarios that would make it worth changing course;
One where the Brexit Status Quo becomes really unpopular. By that, I mean even less popular than the government, so that the blue team can't rally support by shouting "Brexit is in peril". That's not quite happened yet, for all that we're near a state change (the water is cold, but not frozen.) I don't think that sorting NI, or being friendly via the EPC will be game-changers there. Neither of them sorts the day-to-day embuggernaces that we're seeing right now, for example.
The other is where Starmer is forced into some sort of review post-2024 that he can blame on the Lib Dems.
Basically, any Eurochange has to be Starmer following the public, not leading. Not dignified, but since when has politics been dignified?
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Morning all! I agree with @Heathener - the public mood is mutinous. And the latest Tory obscenity is the attack on British men of Pakistani heritage.
Yes, we have a few examples of Pakistani "grooming gangs" which the authorities ignored. But she's basically just given all the white men who do this the green light to not be suspected.
They *can't* be a nonce. They have white skin. Just like Jimmy Saville . This is crayon politics aimed at genuinely ignorant people who have had this weaponised by certain newspapers as a stick to beat anyone with funny skin. Or anyone who actually has a faith unlike the ignorant white racist.
Before anyone says I am being exclusionary, I am not. Some heinous acts have been carried out by British men of Pakistani heritage. As well as by white men of non-Pakistani heritage. Personally I think we should go after criminals - hard to do when the government have gutted the justice system.
I feel for you
an Asian PM and and Asian home secretary so you cant cry racist.
You must be gutted.
Laughable. This is a policy written in crayon to stoke racism. BTW "Asian" is itself racist when you are claiming that a Hindu PM and an Indian-heritage HS are the same as people of Pakistani origin.
Can't be racist? You ever heard Indians and Pakistanis going at each other? This is someone from one heritage branding people of a different heritage to all be perverts. It is *inherently racist.
Growing up in Rochdale in the 1980s, "paki" what white person shorthand for all the Asians in the town. Despite the reality that we had sizable communities from India. Kashmir. Bangladesh. And yes Pakistan. Branding anyone with brown skin as a unitary group - "Asian" in your case - is as ignorant as my Gran calling the Indian family next door "the Pakis"
It is 2023. Really sad to read that level of ignorance is live and well. Then again we know this - that policy is aimed square at them.
Ive sat in rooms with hindus sikhs and buddhists and what they say about the muslims would have me put in jail if I said it.
And thats the point, you and your pastey faced cohorts run around yelling racism when there is no equal application of the law and all that counts is which group meets your virtue signalling twaddle this week.
So having experienced Asian on Asian racism yourself - as I have - why have you said that the HS can't be racist towards a different Asian heritage?
You mention equal application of the law. Growing up in Rochdale the local monster was Cyril Smith. Who got away with it. In more recent times the monsters have been Pakistani heritage. Who got away with it.
If inbuilt racism is the reason why we don't apply the law equally, why do we keep having appalling cases where mass offenders eventually get caught? If racism is why the Pakistani heritage gang members took so long to get caught, was it also racism that the same system ignored Smith?
Not the smartest thing you have ever posted.
It was plain that there was a very great reluctance on the part of the authorities to deal with the concerns raised by Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion due to its being “ a cultural matter.”
But overall, I’ve reached the conclusion that too many people in authority really are unbothered by child abuse, unless it’s done to their own children.
It's very sad, Britons are far more interested in animals than children.
Have you ever stopped to ponder why that might be?
Why do you think it might be?
I can only speak for myself. The one thing the world could could easily get by without is further increases in population. Those that want to have children are freel to do so but the children are their responsibility. We happily pay taxes toward their education, healthcare and protection but beyond that it's down to the parents.
If however humans don't intervene to protect other species and prevent the trashing of the planet in general then nobody else is going to. There is barely a problem that the world faces that isn't exacerbated by an ever-increasing population. Drought, famine, climate change, destruction of habitat. I guess my money goes to support animal and environmental charities because I don't believe that humans have the right to push everything else off the face of the earth,
Without enough children in the next few generations, you will be screwed in retirememt. If you have a public pension and healthcare, they need to pay in the taxes to keep it going. If you have private healthcare, you need young people subsidizing the risk pools to keep premiums down. If you have a private pension, the rate of return on investment is only possible by having enough workers to keep growth going.
Climate change and habitat destruction should be addressed by direct regulation on those things.
So a constantly expanding Ponzi scheme in reality?
It is not a Ponzi scheme to have a relatively fixed relationship between the number of workers and the number of non-workers.
If the numbers of elderly/non-workers keeps increasing and the number of workers required to support them therefore also keeps increasing aren't we in a loop that means the population has to keep on growing?
It is a Ponzi scheme if - and only if - life expectancy can rise infinitely.
As it cannot, it is trivially and obviously not a Ponzi scheme.
It’s not a Ponzi scheme if your immigrants are only temporary, and can’t claim pensions in perpituity.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
I am curious which group you have me in?
I was thinking exactly the same thing about myself.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
I am curious which group you have me in?
I was thinking exactly the same thing about myself.
We can be our own group Richard....we should call it the sane people group
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
How come there's no Tory HERD?
I’m not clear how centre right relates to Tory. Is this the former / centrist Cameroonian Tories?
Lib Dems nicely over represented and Greens woefully underrepresented (unless BJO is planning on giving them a try).
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Are you considering turning gay or just turning into Laurence Durrell?
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Indeed, though it may depend on the chap that is topping you. There is probably quite a bit of choice in Sitges.
Ewww no. I'd be one of those celibate gays. Who actually likes girls as well. In fact: only girls. Gayness would just be my "lived experience". I'd self identify as gay despite being obviously hetero
You might as well go the whole hog. You never know, you might enjoy it once you get used to it. You could then be someone who is gay but identifies as straight
I'm FAR too toppy and I also hate sex via the Bakerloo Line
I once had a famous TV celeb girlfriend - very beautiful then, oh so beautiful - who offered me the tradesman's entrance as a "birthday treat" and I did it for 3 seconds with fastidious distaste, then desisted with much relief
We are past the lagershed, aren't we?
She got around. SeanT once claimed to have done the business with her in a French church.
Anyway back to your fast developing epicurean bedroom tastes. Go for it, I suspect the thinking man's Rylan Clark label would work for you.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Link to the Google spreadsheet or it didn't happen.
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
How come there's no Tory HERD?
Because the PB Tories went into a snowflakey spasm at being titled as such, and an official PB ban on the term came into effect - obviously never rescinded.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
We spent too much time studying humanities at school, probably.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
We spent too much time studying humanities at school, probably.
No just at least corbyns labour had principles and you knew what you are voting for. Lib dems have no principles and are happy to lie about what they stand for to get votes always have been and always will be. Vote lib dem then watch the roulette wheel spin to see what they will actually do because you can guarantee what they claim they will do pre election is a complete and utter lie
Hell a lib dem preelection claim is more dishonest than anything Boris has ever said and lets face it if Boris was pinochio the tip of his nose would be three time zones removed from his chin
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
Oddly enough, while I worked hard for Liberal candidates,I was quite relaxed about LibDems. Maybe that was because they didn’t really seem to want my help. Or perhaps I was a bit piqued.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
We spent too much time studying humanities at school, probably.
No just at least corbyns labour had principles and you knew what you are voting for. Lib dems have no principles and are happy to lie about what they stand for to get votes always have been and always will be. Vote lib dem then watch the roulette wheel spin to see what they will actually do because you can guarantee what they claim they will do pre election is a complete and utter lie
You mean the Lib Dems entered coalition government as the smaller of two parties and didn’t enact everything on their election manifesto?
Here’s a sample of things we promised to do which we actually delivered:
- Raising the tax free allowance to 10k - Introducing the pupil premium - shared parental leave - the right to flexible working for parents - remove compulsory retirement age - (cough, ahem) introduce the pensions triple lock. Sorry everyone - green investment bank - school insulation programme - Massive expansion of renewable energy - Scrap ID cards programme
Now I don’t support some of those, but given the party had around a fifth of the government MPs it’s not bad going.
Let’s now have a think about some of the things Boris Johnson promised the electorate at the last election.
Braverman is now planning to deport the security guards who helped to safely evacuate the former British Embassy in Kabul.
I wonder who on earth she thinks she’s going to impress with these sorts of policies. I would have thought the best way to win as a hardline Home Secretary is through divide and rule: do nice things where there’s clear public support for doing so, all the better to be brutal with others the public deem less deserving.
Same open goal the government missed on strikes, where they could have been nicey nicey with the nurses and played hardball with the RMT but instead spent weeks ignoring NHS workers and ended up turning public opinion against themselves.
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
We spent too much time studying humanities at school, probably.
No just at least corbyns labour had principles and you knew what you are voting for. Lib dems have no principles and are happy to lie about what they stand for to get votes always have been and always will be. Vote lib dem then watch the roulette wheel spin to see what they will actually do because you can guarantee what they claim they will do pre election is a complete and utter lie
You mean the Lib Dems entered coalition government as the smaller of two parties and didn’t enact everything on their election manifesto?
Here’s a sample of things we promised to do which we actually delivered:
- Raising the tax free allowance to 10k - Introducing the pupil premium - shared parental leave - the right to flexible working for parents - remove compulsory retirement age - (cough, ahem) introduce the pensions triple lock. Sorry everyone - green investment bank - school insulation programme - Massive expansion of renewable energy - Scrap ID cards programme
Now I don’t support some of those, but given the party had around a fifth of the government MPs it’s not bad going.
Let’s now have a think about some of the things Boris Johnson promised the electorate at the last election.
Really don't care lib dems have always been liars even before that. I notice you carefully omitted student fees which was one of the main planks of the manifesto....oh did they vote against student fee increases....no they didn't. My dislike for the lib dems far precedes them getting into coalition....they have always been liars from their winning here bar charts to having different promises in different constituencies. They can sod off I am a proud anyone but lib dem person as are most people in the country which is why hardly anyone gives you a vote 9 out of 10 people seem to agree with me else you might actually get more votes
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Are you considering turning gay or just turning into Laurence Durrell?
More importantly what will @Leon decide his pronouns will be ?
Your team reeling in the hapless Loser Party and at some pace.
Honest question, but what do you want Labour to do? -Do you want them to shift to being a rejoin party? -Do you think Labour can win on a rejoin platform? Are they more likely to win on such a platform than accepting Brexit in the short to medium term?
Labour are struggling because the voters want unicorns. The Conservatives own a unicorn farm, and Labour don't. Stop the boats unicorns, Rwandan unicorns and crush specific geographical location Asian groomer unicorns.
Don't forget only Conservatives deliver on unicorn issues, Brexit was a copper bottomed unicorn. Brexit is done. There is no going back anytime soon.
Good evening
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
Message discipline is impressive but I do wonder if they are locking themselves into difficulties later if they then change course.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Nandy isn't really a Brexit convert. She's consistently argued throughout that, despite her wish to remain, Labour needed to respect the 2016 result and just leave, without the nonsense of a second referendum.
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Are you considering turning gay or just turning into Laurence Durrell?
More importantly what will @Leon decide his pronouns will be ?
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Are you considering turning gay or just turning into Laurence Durrell?
More importantly what will @Leon decide his pronouns will be ?
It would actually be interesting to take a flash poll of PB contributors to see what the actual VI split of the group is.
Mine is simple I no longer vote because labour and tories are a waste of time. I would only consider voting for anyone other than an independent if it would keep a lib dem out
I’m flattered some people still find the Lib Dems relevant enough to vote against. There is hope yet.
dont be flattered its merely like taking matches away from a pyromaniac
The trouble with FPTP is that one has to balance what one would LIKE to do with what one thinks one OUGHT to in the constituency or country’s best interest. It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
No the lib dems never deserve a vote. I would have voted for Corbyns labour to keep a lib dem mp from occurring.
We spent too much time studying humanities at school, probably.
No just at least corbyns labour had principles and you knew what you are voting for. Lib dems have no principles and are happy to lie about what they stand for to get votes always have been and always will be. Vote lib dem then watch the roulette wheel spin to see what they will actually do because you can guarantee what they claim they will do pre election is a complete and utter lie
You mean the Lib Dems entered coalition government as the smaller of two parties and didn’t enact everything on their election manifesto?
Here’s a sample of things we promised to do which we actually delivered:
- Raising the tax free allowance to 10k - Introducing the pupil premium - shared parental leave - the right to flexible working for parents - remove compulsory retirement age - (cough, ahem) introduce the pensions triple lock. Sorry everyone - green investment bank - school insulation programme - Massive expansion of renewable energy - Scrap ID cards programme
Now I don’t support some of those, but given the party had around a fifth of the government MPs it’s not bad going.
Let’s now have a think about some of the things Boris Johnson promised the electorate at the last election.
Really don't care lib dems have always been liars even before that. I notice you carefully omitted student fees which was one of the main planks of the manifesto....oh did they vote against student fee increases....no they didn't. My dislike for the lib dems far precedes them getting into coalition....they have always been liars from their winning here bar charts to having different promises in different constituencies. They can sod off I am a proud anyone but lib dem person as are most people in the country which is why hardly anyone gives you a vote 9 out of 10 people seem to agree with me else you might actually get more votes
Were you the bloke who threw the leaflet back at me on that canvassing trip in the Lewisham East by-election, and threatened to set the Staffy on me? “You lot are communists”, he seethed.
Morning all! I agree with @Heathener - the public mood is mutinous. And the latest Tory obscenity is the attack on British men of Pakistani heritage.
Yes, we have a few examples of Pakistani "grooming gangs" which the authorities ignored. But she's basically just given all the white men who do this the green light to not be suspected.
They *can't* be a nonce. They have white skin. Just like Jimmy Saville . This is crayon politics aimed at genuinely ignorant people who have had this weaponised by certain newspapers as a stick to beat anyone with funny skin. Or anyone who actually has a faith unlike the ignorant white racist.
Before anyone says I am being exclusionary, I am not. Some heinous acts have been carried out by British men of Pakistani heritage. As well as by white men of non-Pakistani heritage. Personally I think we should go after criminals - hard to do when the government have gutted the justice system.
I feel for you
an Asian PM and and Asian home secretary so you cant cry racist.
You must be gutted.
Laughable. This is a policy written in crayon to stoke racism. BTW "Asian" is itself racist when you are claiming that a Hindu PM and an Indian-heritage HS are the same as people of Pakistani origin.
Can't be racist? You ever heard Indians and Pakistanis going at each other? This is someone from one heritage branding people of a different heritage to all be perverts. It is *inherently racist.
Growing up in Rochdale in the 1980s, "paki" what white person shorthand for all the Asians in the town. Despite the reality that we had sizable communities from India. Kashmir. Bangladesh. And yes Pakistan. Branding anyone with brown skin as a unitary group - "Asian" in your case - is as ignorant as my Gran calling the Indian family next door "the Pakis"
It is 2023. Really sad to read that level of ignorance is live and well. Then again we know this - that policy is aimed square at them.
Ive sat in rooms with hindus sikhs and buddhists and what they say about the muslims would have me put in jail if I said it.
And thats the point, you and your pastey faced cohorts run around yelling racism when there is no equal application of the law and all that counts is which group meets your virtue signalling twaddle this week.
So having experienced Asian on Asian racism yourself - as I have - why have you said that the HS can't be racist towards a different Asian heritage?
You mention equal application of the law. Growing up in Rochdale the local monster was Cyril Smith. Who got away with it. In more recent times the monsters have been Pakistani heritage. Who got away with it.
If inbuilt racism is the reason why we don't apply the law equally, why do we keep having appalling cases where mass offenders eventually get caught? If racism is why the Pakistani heritage gang members took so long to get caught, was it also racism that the same system ignored Smith?
Not the smartest thing you have ever posted.
It was plain that there was a very great reluctance on the part of the authorities to deal with the concerns raised by Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion due to its being “ a cultural matter.”
But overall, I’ve reached the conclusion that too many people in authority really are unbothered by child abuse, unless it’s done to their own children.
It's very sad, Britons are far more interested in animals than children.
Have you ever stopped to ponder why that might be?
Why do you think it might be?
I can only speak for myself. The one thing the world could could easily get by without is further increases in population. Those that want to have children are freel to do so but the children are their responsibility. We happily pay taxes toward their education, healthcare and protection but beyond that it's down to the parents.
If however humans don't intervene to protect other species and prevent the trashing of the planet in general then nobody else is going to. There is barely a problem that the world faces that isn't exacerbated by an ever-increasing population. Drought, famine, climate change, destruction of habitat. I guess my money goes to support animal and environmental charities because I don't believe that humans have the right to push everything else off the face of the earth,
Without enough children in the next few generations, you will be screwed in retirememt. If you have a public pension and healthcare, they need to pay in the taxes to keep it going. If you have private healthcare, you need young people subsidizing the risk pools to keep premiums down. If you have a private pension, the rate of return on investment is only possible by having enough workers to keep growth going.
Climate change and habitat destruction should be addressed by direct regulation on those things.
So a constantly expanding Ponzi scheme in reality?
It is not a Ponzi scheme to have a relatively fixed relationship between the number of workers and the number of non-workers.
If the numbers of elderly/non-workers keeps increasing and the number of workers required to support them therefore also keeps increasing aren't we in a loop that means the population has to keep on growing?
It is a Ponzi scheme if - and only if - life expectancy can rise infinitely.
As it cannot, it is trivially and obviously not a Ponzi scheme.
Whilst life expectancy obviously cannot rise indefinitely it has a very long way to go before it reaches developed nation levels in 80% of the world. World population growth is slowing but in absolute terms I don't think it is sustainable without there being major consequences for the planet (17 million net growth in the first 12 weeks of this year). Fortunately I won't be around to find out but I find human complacency quite fascinating at times.
The planet is perfectly capable of supporting 30 or 40 billion people in comfort.
Yet we're going to see populations peak way below that level.
Basically, not buying into riduculous alarmism is somehow complacency.
It might be capable of it in theory but it is not even coping well with 8 billion in practice.
Morning all! I agree with @Heathener - the public mood is mutinous. And the latest Tory obscenity is the attack on British men of Pakistani heritage.
Yes, we have a few examples of Pakistani "grooming gangs" which the authorities ignored. But she's basically just given all the white men who do this the green light to not be suspected.
They *can't* be a nonce. They have white skin. Just like Jimmy Saville . This is crayon politics aimed at genuinely ignorant people who have had this weaponised by certain newspapers as a stick to beat anyone with funny skin. Or anyone who actually has a faith unlike the ignorant white racist.
Before anyone says I am being exclusionary, I am not. Some heinous acts have been carried out by British men of Pakistani heritage. As well as by white men of non-Pakistani heritage. Personally I think we should go after criminals - hard to do when the government have gutted the justice system.
I feel for you
an Asian PM and and Asian home secretary so you cant cry racist.
You must be gutted.
Laughable. This is a policy written in crayon to stoke racism. BTW "Asian" is itself racist when you are claiming that a Hindu PM and an Indian-heritage HS are the same as people of Pakistani origin.
Can't be racist? You ever heard Indians and Pakistanis going at each other? This is someone from one heritage branding people of a different heritage to all be perverts. It is *inherently racist.
Growing up in Rochdale in the 1980s, "paki" what white person shorthand for all the Asians in the town. Despite the reality that we had sizable communities from India. Kashmir. Bangladesh. And yes Pakistan. Branding anyone with brown skin as a unitary group - "Asian" in your case - is as ignorant as my Gran calling the Indian family next door "the Pakis"
It is 2023. Really sad to read that level of ignorance is live and well. Then again we know this - that policy is aimed square at them.
Ive sat in rooms with hindus sikhs and buddhists and what they say about the muslims would have me put in jail if I said it.
And thats the point, you and your pastey faced cohorts run around yelling racism when there is no equal application of the law and all that counts is which group meets your virtue signalling twaddle this week.
So having experienced Asian on Asian racism yourself - as I have - why have you said that the HS can't be racist towards a different Asian heritage?
You mention equal application of the law. Growing up in Rochdale the local monster was Cyril Smith. Who got away with it. In more recent times the monsters have been Pakistani heritage. Who got away with it.
If inbuilt racism is the reason why we don't apply the law equally, why do we keep having appalling cases where mass offenders eventually get caught? If racism is why the Pakistani heritage gang members took so long to get caught, was it also racism that the same system ignored Smith?
Not the smartest thing you have ever posted.
It was plain that there was a very great reluctance on the part of the authorities to deal with the concerns raised by Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion due to its being “ a cultural matter.”
But overall, I’ve reached the conclusion that too many people in authority really are unbothered by child abuse, unless it’s done to their own children.
It's very sad, Britons are far more interested in animals than children.
Have you ever stopped to ponder why that might be?
Why do you think it might be?
I can only speak for myself. The one thing the world could could easily get by without is further increases in population. Those that want to have children are freel to do so but the children are their responsibility. We happily pay taxes toward their education, healthcare and protection but beyond that it's down to the parents.
If however humans don't intervene to protect other species and prevent the trashing of the planet in general then nobody else is going to. There is barely a problem that the world faces that isn't exacerbated by an ever-increasing population. Drought, famine, climate change, destruction of habitat. I guess my money goes to support animal and environmental charities because I don't believe that humans have the right to push everything else off the face of the earth,
Without enough children in the next few generations, you will be screwed in retirememt. If you have a public pension and healthcare, they need to pay in the taxes to keep it going. If you have private healthcare, you need young people subsidizing the risk pools to keep premiums down. If you have a private pension, the rate of return on investment is only possible by having enough workers to keep growth going.
Climate change and habitat destruction should be addressed by direct regulation on those things.
So a constantly expanding Ponzi scheme in reality?
It is not a Ponzi scheme to have a relatively fixed relationship between the number of workers and the number of non-workers.
If the numbers of elderly/non-workers keeps increasing and the number of workers required to support them therefore also keeps increasing aren't we in a loop that means the population has to keep on growing?
It is a Ponzi scheme if - and only if - life expectancy can rise infinitely.
As it cannot, it is trivially and obviously not a Ponzi scheme.
Whilst life expectancy obviously cannot rise indefinitely it has a very long way to go before it reaches developed nation levels in 80% of the world. World population growth is slowing but in absolute terms I don't think it is sustainable without there being major consequences for the planet (17 million net growth in the first 12 weeks of this year). Fortunately I won't be around to find out but I find human complacency quite fascinating at times.
The planet is perfectly capable of supporting 30 or 40 billion people in comfort.
Yet we're going to see populations peak way below that level.
Basically, not buying into riduculous alarmism is somehow complacency.
It might be capable of it in theory but it is not coping well with 8 billion.kmmmmm
The coming great demographic reversal is going to be very interesting though. I’m wondering if we may peak globally earlier and at a lower level than even the revised estimates suggest.
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Are you considering turning gay or just turning into Laurence Durrell?
More importantly what will @Leon decide his pronouns will be ?
Look at this truly bizarre correlation. The first is American counties by life expectancy. The second is American counties by immigration. It seems Americans are fleeing the places where they live longest, so they can go to places where they die at 56
It’s all to do with the Covid response and crime levels. People are leaving LA, SF, Portland, and NY; heading to mostly Miami and Austin.
It's all to do with personal tax levels, IMHO.
The places people are leaving have high taxes, and the places they are going have low taxes.
In my part of California, you pay:
13% state income tax (which also applies to capital gains) 11% sales tax Property tax based on the purchase price of your property. If you buy a $1m house, you will be paying c. $18,000/year in annual property taxes.
By contrast, in Nevada there are dramatically lower property taxes and no state income tax.
I’ll go with a fair bit of both. If you can WFH from Nevada or Texas, and don’t need to be in Silicon Valley five days a week, then of course you’ll leave.
Policymakers and large companies are belatedly realising, that people really hated spending two or three or four hours a day commuting.
In my day job I advise businesses on location, and the US is really unique in the way personal and property tax levels (as opposed to corporate taxes) have such a material effect. In the post-Covid WFH world this has definitely become more acute. It's also messing up a lot of companies' careful state tax planning that relied on them avoiding nexus in lots of states.
In other countries it's a consideration - Switzerland's cantons being an example, German municipal taxes another - but much less marked.
The US has this great advantage of federalism that hundreds of millions of people and thousands of businesses can simply jump in a car and move somewhere with the same language, currency and culture but different laws on almost everything: a giant 50 state experiment. The EU at least within Schengen is closer to that than it used to be, with the Euro and free movement, but language and culture are still much bigger barriers.
The UK will soon face a major problem with unattached WFH freelancers effing off to Portugal, Spain, Greece to be digital nomads, with residency rights, paying much lower taxes, in the sun
Look at the tax rate!
"Remote workers can pay a reduced tax rate of 15 per cent during the first four years of their stay, provided they earn below €600,000 a year. This is instead of the usual 24 per cent rate."
And note this, it allows Freedom of Movement
"Remote workers can also apply for a residency card, which grants the ability to travel throughout the EU while living in Spain."
You need to have had a relationship with the Spanish company for three years before you can apply though.
Or maybe your publications in Flint Knapper Espana would count?
No, you don't. In fact it's the opposite. They don't want you to be working for Spanish companies (and taking work from Spaniards)
"Spain's digital nomad visa is open to non-EU nationals who work remotely for non-Spanish companies. Applicants are allowed to get a maximum of 20 per cent of their income from Spanish firms
Both self-employed freelancers with multiple clients and remote workers employed by a single company outside of Spain are eligible for the visa."
I did not realise about the full-time employment bit. If I was a few years younger I would do it tomorrow. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am literally applying right now. Brexit has just been rendered almost meaningless in terms of FoM
The tax rate is hard to believe. 15%!!
It's 15% they wouldn't otherwise get, so it's a win for them too. Do you have to show a list of clients etc?
I believe so, but that's easily done for a freelancer
I'm busily looking for the obvious catch, but I have yet to find it. It seems incredibly generous, and yet also clever. It will be a real menace to the economies of rainier countries
I guess the catch is that you are restricted to the amount of time you can be in the UK for each year. Go over that and you are subject to tax here too. But it's not much of a catch.
From the Spanish, Portuguese etc perspective they are getting well-established, well-paid freelancers earning well above the average wage, so even though the tax rate is lower the income is still pretty healthy - and the incomers are spending money every day too.
Greece is doing it as well. If they had better bogs I'd probably go for Greece. A year on a beautiful island, with winter in Bangkok and 3 months in London in the late spring/summer? Sublime. That's pretty much a perfect lifestyle, if you have the ability to work from home, don't mind being a bit isolated, etc
I have friends in Spain and Greece. This is a real temptation
A lot of freelancers need Spain/Portugal for the better timezone.
True. If I do this I will probably end up doing Spain. And the toilets are a real issue in Greece. UGH
The food in Portugal is mediocre, it is amazing in much of Spain
But where in Spain? If it's a big city the obvious choices are Barcelona or Malaga. But maybe it's time think out of the box
Barcelona if I wanted to get stuff done. Galicia for bleak mornfulness. Not Seville; it's uninhabitable for three months a year. Maybe Granada.
Estepona looks fun
Donostia-San Sebastian has the best food and drink in Spain. Just 20 clicks from France too.
But by Spanish standards, it has really shite weather
If I'm gonna do this, I want my 2,500 hours of sun a year, minimum, and guaranteed long warm dry summers
Majorca? Plenty of space there to avoid the tourists.
A beautiful island but very damp in the winter.
I have never found Majorca particularly beautiful? The fabled north coast, where Graves lived, is overrun with tourists and snooty little hotels
The rest of it is quite meh. Menorca is lovelier, tho windy
However I do really like Palma, the Majorcan capital
My grandparents retired there back in the 1980s so I've been there quite a few times over the years. I only really know the area around Pollenca well, it is very pretty. I also love the old wooden train from Palma to Soller. I don't know the mega touristy bit in the South at all.
Soller is also mega touristy
... and very expensive. I love Puerta de Pollensa.. going in Sept. Can't wait
I reckon I've narrowed it down to Valencia, Estepona, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca
Menorca is a just-possible, also Cadaques or Sitges
Rent out my flat here - if I do this - spend winter in Bangkok
Do you not think Sitges may be a little bohemian for a man of your apparent reactionary tendencies?
I'm seriously thinking of turning gay for my Third Act
Tiny dog, flamboyant cerise trousers, indolent wrist movements. Smoking tiny tiny tiny cigarillos as I sip my vintage sherry, alone, on my balcony. In Cadaques. Reading Cavafy
There are worse fates
Would end badly.
I always think of Peter O'Toole in his stage performance of 'Geoffrey Bernard is Unwell' when such matters are discussed.
I was introduced to Jeffrey Bernard at the Coach and Horses in Soho after I'd just bought a flat on Old Compton Street. He said 'don't worry I'll show you the ins and outs'. I never quite knew what he was well known for. There were a lot of drunks who filled the bars in Soho. I never even got round to seeing the play..
Comments
Byronic might wander by, if we are being ironic
(Sunak, not NigelB)
I love her voice
The options really were eat at Lunchtime or hit Carrefour for snacks.
Bravo, Sunak and Braverman-than-me
Pamplona was another I'd love to revisit
I really should do the Camino de Santiago soon
David Lammy's interview with Beth Rigby is worth watching as despite her prompting him to consider Norway style deal he totally refuted it and certainly his opinion was indistinguishable from any Brexiteer
The door is wide open but neither Starmer of Lammy or Labour have the courage to walk through and affirm they would seek a Norway style solution
Starmer's dedication to the triple lock, NATO, the union flag, and Brexit and his need to increase retirement age towards 70 in his first term, may well disappoint many who are cheering him on into office at present
And whilst it's true that the Conservatives did seem to be delivering on unicorns for a while, I get the impression that when nasty mean people say "hey, that's a donkey with a traffic cone cruelly stapled to its nose", the nasty mean people get more of a hearing than they did a couple of years ago.
It's not that people don't want unicorns, especially with respect to Eurorelations. And there's still a belief that the right leader would be able to get us a unicorn. Just not that the Conservatives are those leaders.
Voters just seem to be done with them
Yet we're going to see populations peak way below that level.
Basically, not buying into riduculous alarmism is somehow complacency.
Lammy is one of the most pro-EU of the front bench. He would absolutely want to rejoin the SM if not the full EU. Opposite end of the spectrum from Nandy who remains a Brexit convert. They could usefully have him as a kite flyer with reasonable deniability. I suppose his shadow cabinet role makes that harder.
Once it's won he'll say "Things have changed, so I've had to change my plans" and he'll do exactly what he wants to do
Things will have changed; he won't need to win an election
I don't think he has the self belief to really convince himself that he can win a second election, so I think he'll try to get everything done asap - if he has the numbers in Parliament
At least, that's what I keep reading.
Because the answer is no. They'd want polling for rejoin to be at around 70%, and probably would want there to be cross-party consensus that the UK should rejoin.
One where the Brexit Status Quo becomes really unpopular. By that, I mean even less popular than the government, so that the blue team can't rally support by shouting "Brexit is in peril". That's not quite happened yet, for all that we're near a state change (the water is cold, but not frozen.) I don't think that sorting NI, or being friendly via the EPC will be game-changers there. Neither of them sorts the day-to-day embuggernaces that we're seeing right now, for example.
The other is where Starmer is forced into some sort of review post-2024 that he can blame on the Lib Dems.
Basically, any Eurochange has to be Starmer following the public, not leading. Not dignified, but since when has politics been dignified?
Labour Herd 15
Intel Labour/centre-left 18
LD 7
Nats 6
Neutral 19
Tory /Tory leaning 23
Centre-right 18
Total: 106 posters
Histogram analysis shows the first two categories post more than the last two in the ratio of about 60:40 or 65:35, depending (roughly) on how well/badly the Tories are doing at the time.
Lib Dems nicely over represented and Greens woefully underrepresented (unless BJO is planning on giving them a try).
Anyway back to your fast developing epicurean bedroom tastes. Go for it, I suspect the thinking man's Rylan Clark label would work for you.
It is DESIRABLE, here, perhaps, to vote LD. It is, maybe, SENSIBLE, in all our interests to vote Labour because that way Priti Patel might lose her seat.
CorrectHorseBattery
CorrectHorseBattery2
CorrectHorseBattery3
Hell a lib dem preelection claim is more dishonest than anything Boris has ever said and lets face it if Boris was pinochio the tip of his nose would be three time zones removed from his chin
Here’s a sample of things we promised to do which we actually delivered:
- Raising the tax free allowance to 10k
- Introducing the pupil premium
- shared parental leave
- the right to flexible working for parents
- remove compulsory retirement age
- (cough, ahem) introduce the pensions triple lock. Sorry everyone
- green investment bank
- school insulation programme
- Massive expansion of renewable energy
- Scrap ID cards programme
Now I don’t support some of those, but given the party had around a fifth of the government MPs it’s not bad going.
Let’s now have a think about some of the things Boris Johnson promised the electorate at the last election.
Hopefully this is nothing so venal and is just a bureaucratic error which will soon be rectified.
Same open goal the government missed on strikes, where they could have been nicey nicey with the nurses and played hardball with the RMT but instead spent weeks ignoring NHS workers and ended up turning public opinion against themselves.
Surely
Strangely for a strong Brexiteer he had a second home on the Cote d'Azur I believe