Glad to see this forum finally becoming bullish on crypto.
XMR is perfectly fine for drugs but that's no reason to invest in it as the price shouldn't appreciate appreciably.
Hah. True that.
But it's all very well and good if you're getting it in advance via telegram or the dark web, but what about that ill-advised second 8 ball at 4am? Where a handful of twenties collectively hastily gathered from the people in the room who are "up for it" is far more convenient than one person beaning his gourd off going Coinbase -> Cake wallet -> XMR -> Dealer (a process which, I'm told, can take several hours, apparently). Then asking everyone else to venmo their share the next day...
Similarly, note the pong of stale weed on every high street from Land's End to John'O'Scrotes. All of it bought with, I'd imagine, a twenty pound note or two. As long as the market for drugs exists - and that market is estimated at £9-10 _billion_ a year in the UK - there will be a market for frictionless, anonymous currency. Crypto might get there eventually, but until then, that's 9-10 billion (less whatever gets bought in crypto) happening in cash payments happening annually.
So if the illegal drugs market is the number 1 customer for cash, wouldn't abandoning cash be a means of combating illegal drugs?
Good evening, everybody
As I commented on minimum alcohol pricing the other day: addicts were never going to go "well, the price of special brew has gone up, I'll go for a nice run instead".
Similarly, if cash is phased out, my guess is the outcome would be new ways to pay for drugs would be sought, rather than fewer drugs would be taken.
As others have pointed out, you'd use XMR. It's not frictionless at the moment, but I can guarantee you a new, frictionless solution for paying for coke anonymously via XMR or similar at 4am on a friday night would exist within 5 minutes of cash being phased out.
As I say, drugs are a ten billion quid a year market. I'll believe cash is dead the day dealers - the 4am kind, not the darkweb/telegram kind - take crypto. Until then, that's an awful lot of paper cash changing hands every year.
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
Thing is, if you buy a phone for £200-300 it makes you a lot less worried about losing it, dropping it on the floor, etc. Plus if you are in the google ecosystem then you just log in a la your Apple ID and on you go on a new machine.
Though if it's the only way you have of paying for anything then losing it might be slightly inconvenient.
Not really, far less worrying than losing your wallet.
I keep a spare old phone home as an emergency backup. I smashed my phone last year, I got home and took my old device out, put in the SIM card, logged onto my apps and all my cards were transferred over and I was back up and running immediately.
Olden days I'd have had to wait to get new cards printed and sent out, and even older days any cash I had would have been just lost.
When I got my new phone then I just transferred everything back immediately.
Plus its an option to have everything on your watch too, so can use that when phone is unavailable.
Why are you replying to me you fucking troll? fuck off
You're the troll that's being abusive, I was just politely taking part in a conversation.
If you want to be abusive why don't you just go back to taking the AfD/Russia's side against Ukraine again.
He doesn't want you to reply to his posts so why do it?
Because he (?) doesn't get to set the rules. It's a discussion board. If you don't want people to discuss things with you then the door's over there.
For all those remainers that hate cash perhaps a brexit benefit
a proposalfor a regulation on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins that provides for detailed rules to preserve the effectiveness of the legal tender status of cash in practice and thus for citizens to have access to the physical form of central bank money. The scope and effects of the legal tender of cash is based on Article 133 TFEU;
As I understand it, the Germans have been very reluctant to move away from cash. I don’t know if that is still the case.
That's very much the case - Eek twin A didn't buy something last week as the stall was cash only (even though the item was €140) and the only cashpoint was in a bank that looked locked (the area where the cashpoint was wasn't actually locked but she only discovered that far later).
The only other place I've had to get cash out recently is a shop in Antalya - which given that he sold hand made tile mosaics wasn't that surprising.
Cash is still king in Germany. Not going anywhere anytime soon, at least for smaller payments.
I'm probably one of the few people here who actually works on a till, and cash is still used more frequently than cards. I see lots of people getting their wallets out and passing over the 2 or 3 cards they have to pull out some cash.
Cash payers are much more likely to leave a tip.
And it happens at least once a day that someone tries to pay with a card and it doesn't work, so they pay cash. And more often that someone tries to pay by phone and it asks them to "insert their card".
Some people on here have never had the experience of needing cash, but they tend to be the people I anyway suspect of rarely leaving their basement, and doing all their shopping online.
I also don't personally know any child who doesn't get their pocket money in hard cash.
That sounds about where we were 10-15 years ago. I'd say that 95% of my out-of-house spend is now electronic - though I do know people who are still much lower.
The pandemic killed my cash habit. Before it I used cash quite a lot. Since, not at all. It'd feel odd to me now, messing around with bits of paper and metal to pay for things. I'm still behind the curve though. I use a card not my phone.
It seems those who manage without cash are welcome to their view, but equally so are those who use cash
For me, I rarely use cash and everyone who provides a service to us is paid by bcs usually from my phone [and yes I am 80 and use technology widely]
However, for some cash is still relevant and why should we try to dictate to them on this issue
Each to their own
The difficulty comes with the observation that cash is more expensive to process, and the fewer people use it the more expensive it gets. Who pays?
There's a perfectly decent argument that goes "we should all pay because that's one of the things that society is about."
There's another that goes "the people causing the expense should pay", in which case the use of cash would become horribly expensive. Again, it's a legit argument, and it's sort of what happens with shopping in general- if you can't get to a mega-supermarket and then get back with your shopping, expect to pay more to use the corner shop.
We're not at a decision point just yet, though it is probably coming sooner than we think.
The Euro could be a casualty of the end of cash. It would suddenly become much easier for a country to flip to a national currency the next time there's a crisis.
I always travel with cash and credit cards . You never know when there will be some technical issue as we saw just a while back . And I always tip in cash as I don’t trust restaurants to pass that onto staff if you add it to your card . Call me old fashioned but I don’t have cards on my phone , again what if there’s some drama with that.
There are enough occasions when Google Pay doesn't work for me to carry one card as backup. Although my watch does Garmin Pay and I haven't set it up yet. Our Residents Association account still uses cheques as free accounts with double signatures on electronic payments don't seem to exist (maybe they do now, should do some research) but as Treasurer I normally pay bills myself and I can pay in a cheque on my phone. The two things I mostly use cash for are my barber who prefers cash, and my weekly running club subs
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
Thing is, if you buy a phone for £200-300 it makes you a lot less worried about losing it, dropping it on the floor, etc. Plus if you are in the google ecosystem then you just log in a la your Apple ID and on you go on a new machine.
Though if it's the only way you have of paying for anything then losing it might be slightly inconvenient.
Not really, far less worrying than losing your wallet.
I keep a spare old phone home as an emergency backup. I smashed my phone last year, I got home and took my old device out, put in the SIM card, logged onto my apps and all my cards were transferred over and I was back up and running immediately.
Olden days I'd have had to wait to get new cards printed and sent out, and even older days any cash I had would have been just lost.
When I got my new phone then I just transferred everything back immediately.
Plus its an option to have everything on your watch too, so can use that when phone is unavailable.
Why are you replying to me you fucking troll? fuck off
You're the troll that's being abusive, I was just politely taking part in a conversation.
If you want to be abusive why don't you just go back to taking the AfD/Russia's side against Ukraine again.
He doesn't want you to reply to his posts so why do it?
Yeah. He’s asked politely several times before. Common courtesy would,surely apply.
Because we'd probably destroy the screen within a couple of months ?
Indeed. I have a Nokia mil std rugged phone and it is brilliant, you can drop it on concrete and it bounces. Don't understand why rugged phones aren't more of a thing. It's waterproof, too
Two observations from a friend in the US, who spends part of each year in Arizona, and part in Pennsylvania: From Arizona last winter: The McCain supporters and the Trumpistas are locked in a "death match" over the control of the party.
From Pennsylvania, currently: He has seen almost no political ads -- so far. So, for many voters, the campaign there has not really begun.
(I haven't seen many ads for state races here in Washington, so far.)
The Trumpistas won the AZ deathmatch, I think ?
Almost no ads in PA yet ? Wow. You got me searching.
These stats don't look great for my Florida bet (though that may change this month, with the closer polls ?): https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834580226732425299 FL Presidential ad spending in August 2020: 🔵$21.7m 🔴$8m
FL Presidential ad spending in August 2024: 🔴$176k 🔵$174k
You'd have noticed in Georgia; Campaigns ran nearly 700 ads in Atlanta on day of the Harris, Trump debate
Ah, here's PA. As far as your friend is concerned, both campaigns are wasting a heap of cash. https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834260862313382038 "Harris will ban all fracking...that will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work."
Trump's newest ad attacks Harris on fracking. #PAPol has seen $260m in aired Presidential spending since Super Tuesday, making up 23% of all aired Presidential spending.
...Harris then got free debate airtime for her pro-fracking declaration.
State of ad bookings going ahead.
https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1833707199010312370 The first debate between Harris and Trump has concluded. Here's a look at future ad support in key states. Harris/allies currently hold the advantage in each battleground:
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
Thing is, if you buy a phone for £200-300 it makes you a lot less worried about losing it, dropping it on the floor, etc. Plus if you are in the google ecosystem then you just log in a la your Apple ID and on you go on a new machine.
Though if it's the only way you have of paying for anything then losing it might be slightly inconvenient.
Not really, far less worrying than losing your wallet.
I keep a spare old phone home as an emergency backup. I smashed my phone last year, I got home and took my old device out, put in the SIM card, logged onto my apps and all my cards were transferred over and I was back up and running immediately.
Olden days I'd have had to wait to get new cards printed and sent out, and even older days any cash I had would have been just lost.
When I got my new phone then I just transferred everything back immediately.
Plus its an option to have everything on your watch too, so can use that when phone is unavailable.
Why are you replying to me you fucking troll? fuck off
You're the troll that's being abusive, I was just politely taking part in a conversation.
If you want to be abusive why don't you just go back to taking the AfD/Russia's side against Ukraine again.
He doesn't want you to reply to his posts so why do it?
Because he (?) doesn't get to set the rules. It's a discussion board. If you don't want people to discuss things with you then the door's over there.
Cash is both the lifeblood of the drugs trade and (because it needs laundering) the bane of its existence. I suspect its abolition would lead to much more cash like and untraceable micro payment schemes which would be like Christmas come early for your local dealer. Unintended consequences.
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
Thing is, if you buy a phone for £200-300 it makes you a lot less worried about losing it, dropping it on the floor, etc. Plus if you are in the google ecosystem then you just log in a la your Apple ID and on you go on a new machine.
Though if it's the only way you have of paying for anything then losing it might be slightly inconvenient.
Not really, far less worrying than losing your wallet.
I keep a spare old phone home as an emergency backup. I smashed my phone last year, I got home and took my old device out, put in the SIM card, logged onto my apps and all my cards were transferred over and I was back up and running immediately.
Olden days I'd have had to wait to get new cards printed and sent out, and even older days any cash I had would have been just lost.
When I got my new phone then I just transferred everything back immediately.
Plus its an option to have everything on your watch too, so can use that when phone is unavailable.
Why are you replying to me you fucking troll? fuck off
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
Young people just getting on the house ladder in their 1 bed apartments will be effected as well. But stretching a load of single oldies who are asset rich but cash poor will be terrible PR.
Surely it is just easier to add bands and increase the tax take that way?
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
Oh and I forgot to say @Selebian I loved you idea of police using photo recognition of the bottoms of cyclists. I think that could catch on, although when they send you a picture of your bottom in the post with the fine and points on your licence you are going to need someone to confirm it is your bottom or set up a series of mirrors. If the latter I suggest doing that with the curtains closed.
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
Only if he passes his motorbike licence and he wouldn't be banned from cycling down an A road if he got his cycling licence either
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
Young people just getting on the house ladder in their 1 bed apartments will be effected as well. But stretching a load of single oldies who are asset rich but cash poor will be terrible PR.
Surely it is just easier to add bands and increase the tax take that way?
Your last sentence should have happened at the introduction of council tax, and is long overdue
538 says that out of 100 simulations in Pennsylvania Harris wins 52 and Trump 48. That’s about as close to a coin toss as you can get.
Walz has been very good but I still think Shapiro was the better choice.
Walz helps in Wisconsin and Ne02 but combined yes they only come to 11 EC votes compared to 19 in PA.
Walz also reassures progressive leftists and Muslims in the Democrats more than Shapiro but Shapiro is more centrist and would have appealed more to Independents and the Jewish vote.
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
I think you miss the point I'm making - they don't want to limit anything in the discussion when council tax may be being replaced with something else.
After all you didn't get a discount in Northern Ireland unless you are over 70..
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
Reform of council tax is something that government's have repeatedly avoided due to fear of the consequences. On the one hand, in general governments should avoid doing things that are wildly unpopular in a democracy. Reform should have the consent of the people.
But council tax is a mess and it would be good if Britain finally had a government brave enough to do something that needed doing and be prepared to try to convince the voters they were doing the right thing.
The polling on the winter fuel allowance has not been nearly as bad as the reaction in the media, so perhaps reform of council tax wouldn't be as unpopular as people imagine. Maybe the voters are ready for government to do some unpalatable things?
Is that an admission that the 2 million immigrants they took from other places isn't working out? When they talk about skilled jobs one example they give is bus drivers (something you can learn to do in a few months via a training course) and IT workers with no formal qualifications (I presume German authorities missed the memo about AI).
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
Reform of council tax is something that government's have repeatedly avoided due to fear of the consequences. On the one hand, in general governments should avoid doing things that are wildly unpopular in a democracy. Reform should have the consent of the people.
But council tax is a mess and it would be good if Britain finally had a government brave enough to do something that needed doing and be prepared to try to convince the voters they were doing the right thing.
The polling on the winter fuel allowance has not been nearly as bad as the reaction in the media, so perhaps reform of council tax wouldn't be as unpopular as people imagine. Maybe the voters are ready for government to do some unpalatable things?
Well, we can hope.
It's not the just the bands and the way it is calculated- it's the overall rate too. It's absurd that I spend only just over 1% of my gross income on council tax, water and sewerage.
Instinctively, I'd want to push that up to at least 10%, with corresponding drops in income tax/national insurance, and even capital gains tax. Everywhere I look, we seem to end up taxing the wrong thing in the UK.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
Removing the discount would also effect single parents with children under 18 in the household. I would be astonished if they remove the discount as it could push those people into a dire situation . I would really question if Labour had totally lost the plot. And to go after likely widows/widowers after they’ve lost the WFA and then hammer them with hundreds of pounds worth of extra costs on top of that.
During a trip to Washington to visit President Biden, the Prime Minister once more refused to rule out plans to end the single person’s discount for council tax.
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
I get the feeling that reform of council tax is on the agenda and it's going to be based on current value without discounts...
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
It will cause huge problems for them if they confirm the loss of the single person's discount which does not just apply to the elderly
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
Reform of council tax is something that government's have repeatedly avoided due to fear of the consequences. On the one hand, in general governments should avoid doing things that are wildly unpopular in a democracy. Reform should have the consent of the people.
But council tax is a mess and it would be good if Britain finally had a government brave enough to do something that needed doing and be prepared to try to convince the voters they were doing the right thing.
The polling on the winter fuel allowance has not been nearly as bad as the reaction in the media, so perhaps reform of council tax wouldn't be as unpopular as people imagine. Maybe the voters are ready for government to do some unpalatable things?
Well, we can hope.
It's not the just the bands and the way it is calculated- it's the overall rate too. It's absurd that I spend only just over 1% of my gross income on council tax, water and sewerage.
Instinctively, I'd want to push that up to at least 10%, with corresponding drops in income tax/national insurance, and even capital gains tax. Everywhere I look, we seem to end up taxing the wrong thing in the UK.
Of course, who trusts any government to introduce a new tax and re-balance that against removal of others...
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Indeed. And this week for example there was a salute for Ascension day - there was a practice outing a few days before and then the full horse artillery was doing it's thing in Hyde Park.
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
Only if he passes his motorbike licence and he wouldn't be banned from cycling down an A road if he got his cycling licence either
Nope. Provisional licence allows him at 16 on a moped and you were banning cyclist until 17 and they had to pass their test first so later than that in reality. But that isn't the point as it is easily fixed, but the point is you are creating a huge minefield of issues as just shown by that example. 100,000 of people would need to be employed to test almost the entire population, to MOT bikes, register every one, police them, register scraping and transfers. How many bikes do you think are out there. I am guessing many more than the entire population of the country. Nearly every child has a bike and for every adult that doesn't have one many have several.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
I just went back to look at the old thread and noted the bike discussion went down an even deeper rabbit hole.
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
Only if he passes his motorbike licence and he wouldn't be banned from cycling down an A road if he got his cycling licence either
Nope. Provisional licence allows him at 16 on a moped and you were banning cyclist until 17 and they had to pass their test first so later than that in reality. But that isn't the point as it is easily fixed, but the point is you are creating a huge minefield of issues as just shown by that example. 100,000 of people would need to be employed to test almost the entire population, to MOT bikes, register every one, police them, register scraping and transfers. How many bikes do you think are out there. I am guessing many more than the entire population of the country. Nearly every child has a bike and for every adult that doesn't have one many have several.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Two observations from a friend in the US, who spends part of each year in Arizona, and part in Pennsylvania: From Arizona last winter: The McCain supporters and the Trumpistas are locked in a "death match" over the control of the party.
From Pennsylvania, currently: He has seen almost no political ads -- so far. So, for many voters, the campaign there has not really begun.
(I haven't seen many ads for state races here in Washington, so far.)
The Trumpistas won the AZ deathmatch, I think ?
Almost no ads in PA yet ? Wow. You got me searching.
These stats don't look great for my Florida bet (though that may change this month, with the closer polls ?): https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834580226732425299 FL Presidential ad spending in August 2020: 🔵$21.7m 🔴$8m
FL Presidential ad spending in August 2024: 🔴$176k 🔵$174k
You'd have noticed in Georgia; Campaigns ran nearly 700 ads in Atlanta on day of the Harris, Trump debate
Ah, here's PA. As far as your friend is concerned, both campaigns are wasting a heap of cash. https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834260862313382038 "Harris will ban all fracking...that will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work."
Trump's newest ad attacks Harris on fracking. #PAPol has seen $260m in aired Presidential spending since Super Tuesday, making up 23% of all aired Presidential spending.
...Harris then got free debate airtime for her pro-fracking declaration.
A bigger issue in Penn is going to be the massive Polish heritage vote there. Trump would let Putin roll in the tanks to Warsaw.
(Although I suspect Poland would be even more tenacious than Ukriane.)
Two observations from a friend in the US, who spends part of each year in Arizona, and part in Pennsylvania: From Arizona last winter: The McCain supporters and the Trumpistas are locked in a "death match" over the control of the party.
From Pennsylvania, currently: He has seen almost no political ads -- so far. So, for many voters, the campaign there has not really begun.
(I haven't seen many ads for state races here in Washington, so far.)
The Trumpistas won the AZ deathmatch, I think ?
Almost no ads in PA yet ? Wow. You got me searching.
These stats don't look great for my Florida bet (though that may change this month, with the closer polls ?): https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834580226732425299 FL Presidential ad spending in August 2020: 🔵$21.7m 🔴$8m
FL Presidential ad spending in August 2024: 🔴$176k 🔵$174k
You'd have noticed in Georgia; Campaigns ran nearly 700 ads in Atlanta on day of the Harris, Trump debate
Ah, here's PA. As far as your friend is concerned, both campaigns are wasting a heap of cash. https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834260862313382038 "Harris will ban all fracking...that will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work."
Trump's newest ad attacks Harris on fracking. #PAPol has seen $260m in aired Presidential spending since Super Tuesday, making up 23% of all aired Presidential spending.
...Harris then got free debate airtime for her pro-fracking declaration.
A bigger issue in Penn is going to be the massive Polish heritage vote there. Trump would let Putin roll in the tanks to Warsaw.
(Although I suspect Poland would be even more tenacious than Ukriane.)
Have you seen the size of the Polish army and the kit it has bought? If nuclear weapons weren’t a thing, they’d be in Moscow before we could trigger article 5.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Indeed. And this week for example there was a salute for Ascension day - there was a practice outing a few days before and then the full horse artillery was doing it's thing in Hyde Park.
Ascension day is forty days after Easter, so it was on the 9th of May this year. Are you sure that is what they were practicing for? Did you mean Accession day which was on the 8th of September?
Two observations from a friend in the US, who spends part of each year in Arizona, and part in Pennsylvania: From Arizona last winter: The McCain supporters and the Trumpistas are locked in a "death match" over the control of the party.
From Pennsylvania, currently: He has seen almost no political ads -- so far. So, for many voters, the campaign there has not really begun.
(I haven't seen many ads for state races here in Washington, so far.)
The Trumpistas won the AZ deathmatch, I think ?
Almost no ads in PA yet ? Wow. You got me searching.
These stats don't look great for my Florida bet (though that may change this month, with the closer polls ?): https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834580226732425299 FL Presidential ad spending in August 2020: 🔵$21.7m 🔴$8m
FL Presidential ad spending in August 2024: 🔴$176k 🔵$174k
You'd have noticed in Georgia; Campaigns ran nearly 700 ads in Atlanta on day of the Harris, Trump debate
Ah, here's PA. As far as your friend is concerned, both campaigns are wasting a heap of cash. https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834260862313382038 "Harris will ban all fracking...that will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work."
Trump's newest ad attacks Harris on fracking. #PAPol has seen $260m in aired Presidential spending since Super Tuesday, making up 23% of all aired Presidential spending.
...Harris then got free debate airtime for her pro-fracking declaration.
A bigger issue in Penn is going to be the massive Polish heritage vote there. Trump would let Putin roll in the tanks to Warsaw.
(Although I suspect Poland would be even more tenacious than Ukriane.)
Have you seen the size of the Polish army and the kit it has bought? If nuclear weapons weren’t a thing, they’d be in Moscow before we could trigger article 5.
Oh, and Poland is looking to buy nuclear reactors.
Cash will still be there even if most use card or phone.
Slot machines, tips in restaurants, charity collection boxes etc will all still use cash
I will admit I do still have to use cash for just 3 things and it is a pain. They are haircut, dog grooming and dog sitter. None of which should be necessary and which are a pain.
The 3 you give don't seem to be an issue anymore. Restaurant tips always take a card now, even if you offer cash. You never see slot machines that take cash anymore. In Las Vegas last year I saw no slot machines that took cash. It was cards, vouchers or plug your phone in. Ditto charity boxes and beggars now have machines.
Many places refuse cash. You can't use cash in any pub in Southwold and I now notice places advertising cash taken as if it is unusual. Eg one of the cafes on Southwold beach.
I never carry it. In Iceland a few years ago we went the whole holiday cashless.
It is doomed.
Why not just ping the dog groomer the money? Can do that with banking apps etc nowadays dead easily, that's how we pay the window cleaner.
I haven't used a cheque in 10 years.
???
How do you pay for dinner at White's when you are there as a guest and want to pay your way.
Revolut.
But I pay my cleaner in cash. She doesn't have a card reader.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Indeed. And this week for example there was a salute for Ascension day - there was a practice outing a few days before and then the full horse artillery was doing it's thing in Hyde Park.
Ascension day is forty days after Easter, so it was on the 9th of May this year. Are you sure that is what they were practicing for? Did you mean Accession day which was on the 8th?
In the 1950s the editor of Cherwell (the Oxford university newspaper) was sent down for publishing a letter:
I wonder how many of your readers noticed that your headline 'How Long Can Jesus Stay Up?' [about the standing of Jesus College in the university football league] was published on Ascension Day?
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
"":: crashes your iPhone I'm told, if you miss the blue screen of death.
Two observations from a friend in the US, who spends part of each year in Arizona, and part in Pennsylvania: From Arizona last winter: The McCain supporters and the Trumpistas are locked in a "death match" over the control of the party.
From Pennsylvania, currently: He has seen almost no political ads -- so far. So, for many voters, the campaign there has not really begun.
(I haven't seen many ads for state races here in Washington, so far.)
The Trumpistas won the AZ deathmatch, I think ?
Almost no ads in PA yet ? Wow. You got me searching.
These stats don't look great for my Florida bet (though that may change this month, with the closer polls ?): https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834580226732425299 FL Presidential ad spending in August 2020: 🔵$21.7m 🔴$8m
FL Presidential ad spending in August 2024: 🔴$176k 🔵$174k
You'd have noticed in Georgia; Campaigns ran nearly 700 ads in Atlanta on day of the Harris, Trump debate
Ah, here's PA. As far as your friend is concerned, both campaigns are wasting a heap of cash. https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1834260862313382038 "Harris will ban all fracking...that will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work."
Trump's newest ad attacks Harris on fracking. #PAPol has seen $260m in aired Presidential spending since Super Tuesday, making up 23% of all aired Presidential spending.
...Harris then got free debate airtime for her pro-fracking declaration.
A bigger issue in Penn is going to be the massive Polish heritage vote there. Trump would let Putin roll in the tanks to Warsaw.
(Although I suspect Poland would be even more tenacious than Ukriane.)
Have you seen the size of the Polish army and the kit it has bought? If nuclear weapons weren’t a thing, they’d be in Moscow before we could trigger article 5.
Can you blame them with their history?
If only we had the gumption to accept that we are now effectively at war with Russia and need to rearm.
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
Indeed. And this week for example there was a salute for Ascension day - there was a practice outing a few days before and then the full horse artillery was doing it's thing in Hyde Park.
Ascension day is forty days after Easter, so it was on the 9th of May this year. Are you sure that is what they were practicing for? Did you mean Accession day which was on the 8th of September?
Edited to clarify.
Sorry no Accession day, as you say - but, 9th Sep - Charles to the throne. (or at least that's when they gave the salute)
Cash has been used for exchange for 4 or 5,000 years if not longer.
It 'aint going to disappear.
Horses were used for transportation for over 5,000 years too.
Horses haven’t gone away you know…
But they are obsolete as the primary mode of transportation is concerned.
Now they're a niche hobby for people, which was not the case in the past.
Same with cash, there might remain niche people who use it in the future but as far as a mode of exchange is concerned, its obsolete.
True: you don’t see many horses in central London these days. But the number isn’t zero either.
Actually you do see loads of horses in central London - it's the one place in the urban landscape where you do. (Not in the suburbs and not in most other cities)
Hyde park is served by a couple of private stables. Then you have the Guards. One of the people I row with helps teach the soldiers and horses of the cavalry.
What subject do they teach the horses?
FFS
Singing. Obviously.
Some will understand that, some on the other hand will not. And on the gripping hand...
I've largely stopped using cash. Having to go and get cash out of a machine is a faff. But that's my choice - I'm very happy for cash to continue to circulate.
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
I've just shot a video saying that Tesla is iPhone and every other EV is Android.
Its not to say that Android is bad or that there aren't brilliant Android devices. Its just that Apple is better. And I was a long time Apple refuser and iPhone cynic...
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
So I'll work the first 40 hours a week at minimum wage and the next two hours at £10,000 per hour.
Unfortunately, our plans to train our AI models to understand the EU’s rich cultural, social and historical contributions remain paused while EU regulators remain unable to agree how the law should be applied. As Mark and Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, recently warned, the EU risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
I can't see any positives, and I could come up with quite a few negatives. (Much like my view on the Trunip himself)
At work nobody is allowed to bring a Huawei device on premises.
How very dare you. It was none other than OGS himself who put me onto Xiaomi phones and they have been fantastic. That the CCP knows my every move is but a minor inconvenience, up with which I am able to put.
Apple is the best.
There is no further discussion to be had.
It is slightly (ok hugely) sad to see how completely people fall for such marketing.
I’ve been an Apple user since 1994.
Only ever had one blue screen of death.
"":: crashes your iPhone I'm told, if you miss the blue screen of death.
MacOS 7 and 8 used to crash like fuck if you overloaded them (or messed around with SCSI cables without powering off) which was why they binned them in favour of a Unix derivative in ?2001.
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
I think it's a really poor incentive. Working hours that are too long leads to burnout and ill-health. Encouraging companies to rely on overtime discourages investment in productivity. It's awful for workers who have young children.
Great for a tax dodge though. I could imagine accepting a lower base salary in exchange for guaranteed overtime paid at a large multiple of my basic pay, enabling my employer and I to shift most of my income into overtime pay.
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
So I'll work the first 40 hours a week at minimum wage and the next two hours at £10,000 per hour.
Hadn't realised you were willing to sell yourself that cheaply...
Unfortunately, our plans to train our AI models to understand the EU’s rich cultural, social and historical contributions remain paused while EU regulators remain unable to agree how the law should be applied. As Mark and Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, recently warned, the EU risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation
The unexpected brexit bonus: unregulated AI.
How long before the EU tries to force the UK to bring regulations in line with theirs?
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
So I'll work the first 40 hours a week at minimum wage and the next two hours at £10,000 per hour.
Hadn't realised you were willing to sell yourself that cheaply...
I think he's conflating his working and after work experiences. Novelty costs!
Unfortunately, our plans to train our AI models to understand the EU’s rich cultural, social and historical contributions remain paused while EU regulators remain unable to agree how the law should be applied. As Mark and Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, recently warned, the EU risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation
This is probably good for the dominance of Anglosphere culture.
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
It might not make workers any richer but it would certainly make some lawyers richer.
Having spent the day using new OpenAI model, I can say we are still safe for the moment....it still gets very simple reasoning tasks wrong.
When the boss of the company that introduced it says "it's a lot less impressive once you've used it for a bit, but don't worry the next big thing is coming down the pike"...
'Pope Francis on Friday slammed both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and advised American Catholics to choose the 'lesser evil' in the upcoming U.S. elections.
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ? (Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
So I'll work the first 40 hours a week at minimum wage and the next two hours at £10,000 per hour.
Hadn't realised you were willing to sell yourself that cheaply...
Undervaluing oneself is the epitome of being humble and modest.
Comments
For me, I rarely use cash and everyone who provides a service to us is paid by bcs usually from my phone [and yes I am 80 and use technology widely]
However, for some cash is still relevant and why should we try to dictate to them on this issue
Each to their own
Similarly, if cash is phased out, my guess is the outcome would be new ways to pay for drugs would be sought, rather than fewer drugs would be taken.
As others have pointed out, you'd use XMR. It's not frictionless at the moment, but I can guarantee you a new, frictionless solution for paying for coke anonymously via XMR or similar at 4am on a friday night would exist within 5 minutes of cash being phased out.
As I say, drugs are a ten billion quid a year market. I'll believe cash is dead the day dealers - the 4am kind, not the darkweb/telegram kind - take crypto. Until then, that's an awful lot of paper cash changing hands every year.
https://conservativehome.com/2024/09/13/luke-de-pulford-when-it-comes-to-the-leadership-contenders-and-china-look-at-what-theyve-said-and-done-in-the-past/
There's a perfectly decent argument that goes "we should all pay because that's one of the things that society is about."
There's another that goes "the people causing the expense should pay", in which case the use of cash would become horribly expensive. Again, it's a legit argument, and it's sort of what happens with shopping in general- if you can't get to a mega-supermarket and then get back with your shopping, expect to pay more to use the corner shop.
We're not at a decision point just yet, though it is probably coming sooner than we think.
Holy moly this means GPT o1 beat gold threshold in International Olympiad in Informatics..
https://x.com/krishnanrohit/status/1834281847515480419
https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/1833707199010312370
The first debate between Harris and Trump has concluded. Here's a look at future ad support in key states. Harris/allies currently hold the advantage in each battleground:
PA:🔵$75m🔴$63m
MI:🔵$59m🔴$37m
GA:🔵$40m🔴$31m
WI:🔵$32m🔴$27m
AZ:🔵$37m🔴$21m
NC:🔵$31m🔴$16m
NV:🔵$22m🔴$6m
The GOP is either super confident about Nevada, or has written it off.
Tory party is sending localised attacks to supporters in constituencies of Labour MPs who voted to cut winter fuel payments' - Looks like CCHQ has already upped its game since the GE
https://x.com/JohnRentoul/status/1834606038667936012
@Selebian I just wanted to follow up one of your posts. You take out separate bike insurance to your house and contents insurance. Why?
I noted you said 3rd party liability insurance was available from the insurer without insuring the bike but that the cost was primarily admin. Interesting. It was many decades ago, before I was a house owner, I tried to do the same thing and couldn't and the admin cost was the reason given.
@hyufd I am convinced you were just trying to wind us all up and you did a cracking job at it, but just to point out how silly this is you would have the situation under your proposal where a 16 year would be banned from cycling down an A road, but if he puts a small motor on his bike and applies for a motorbike licence he can motor down the A road legally.
Now you can fix that conundrum easily enough, but surely you can see the whole thing is a can of worms. Eg where would the number plates that you insist on be fixed?
London Luton Airport: development consent decision extension
The application decision deadline is extended to 3 January 2025.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/london-luton-airport-development-consent-decision-extension
This has been dubbed the “widow’s tax” because it will affect millions of elderly people.
Not just elderly and he cannot be that stupid, can he?
Surely it is just easier to add bands and increase the tax take that way?
MICHIGAN GE: Mitchell Research
🟦 Harris: 48%
🟥 Trump: 48%
—
Full Ballot
🟦 Harris: 47%
🟥 Trump: 46%
🟨 RFK Jr: 2%
🟩 Stein: 1%
——
Who won the debate? (debate watchers)
Harris: 56%
Trump: 29%
Neither: 15%
https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/1834631925233008854
#New General election poll - North Carolina
🔴 Trump 50% (+2)
🔵 Harris 48%
Quantus #N/A - 815 LV - 9/12
https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1834639262647509059
Hence they don't want to commit to something which creates problems down the line...
Walz has been very good but I still think Shapiro was the better choice.
Mind you Council Tax changes are already in the pipeline under Wales labour
Walz also reassures progressive leftists and Muslims in the Democrats more than Shapiro but Shapiro is more centrist and would have appealed more to Independents and the Jewish vote.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gegkkg14ko
After all you didn't get a discount in Northern Ireland unless you are over 70..
But council tax is a mess and it would be good if Britain finally had a government brave enough to do something that needed doing and be prepared to try to convince the voters they were doing the right thing.
The polling on the winter fuel allowance has not been nearly as bad as the reaction in the media, so perhaps reform of council tax wouldn't be as unpopular as people imagine. Maybe the voters are ready for government to do some unpalatable things?
Well, we can hope.
Pissing off a chunk of the base over the VP nomination would be very stupid.
Notably, Walz was endorsed by both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups.
And has proved to be a very popular and effective campaigner, besides.
The VP choice has, historically, made little difference in the home state of the VP.
Instinctively, I'd want to push that up to at least 10%, with corresponding drops in income tax/national insurance, and even capital gains tax. Everywhere I look, we seem to end up taxing the wrong thing in the UK.
https://x.com/JohnRentoul/status/1834656416801456370
John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
Brady reveals he’d received only 10 letters of no confidence in Sunak when the 2024 election was called
(Although I suspect Poland would be even more tenacious than Ukriane.)
Singing. Obviously.
Edited to clarify.
But I pay my cleaner in cash. She doesn't have a card reader.
I wonder how many of your readers noticed that your headline 'How Long Can Jesus Stay Up?' [about the standing of Jesus College in the university football league] was published on Ascension Day?
If only we had the gumption to accept that we are now effectively at war with Russia and need to rearm.
(Edit: KC3 is doing well, but not that well!)
No tax to be levied on overtime worked after 40hrs/week.
Actually an interesting gambit, What does PB think ?
(Does it apply to investment bankers ? If so they’ll sleep in the office in the morning, and work through the night…)
What would it cost (he doesn’t care), and is it practical ?
Its not to say that Android is bad or that there aren't brilliant Android devices. Its just that Apple is better. And I was a long time Apple refuser and iPhone cynic...
https://x.com/nickclegg/status/1834594456689066225
Unfortunately, our plans to train our AI models to understand the EU’s rich cultural, social and historical contributions remain paused while EU regulators remain unable to agree how the law should be applied. As Mark and Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, recently warned, the EU risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation
Great for a tax dodge though. I could imagine accepting a lower base salary in exchange for guaranteed overtime paid at a large multiple of my basic pay, enabling my employer and I to shift most of my income into overtime pay.
How long before the EU tries to force the UK to bring regulations in line with theirs?
In 24 hours. From 600,000 individual donors.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2n2m10g6do
John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
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54m
Brady reveals he’d received only 10 letters of no confidence in Sunak when the 2024 election was called
'Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants or the one who (supports) killing babies,' Francis said. 'Both are against life.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13848321/pope-francis-attack-donald-trump-kamala-harris-voters-election.html