''Hmm, a self made rich person, the sort Labour hates the most, no privilege, normal state school education, worked hard, had some success, terrible.''
And very well known by the google box millions who will decide the general election.
Better to have one big heap of horse manure than a series of small heaps.
Besides, this weekend is far more notable for the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the F1 title decider. I do hope Rosberg takes it, but can't see that happening unless Hamilton's car explodes.
King Cole, dare I ask what the 'Attlee method' involves?
Mr D, I’ve forgotten who it was, not a Cabinet member, I admit, but a junior minister who was called in to see Attlee. The PM told him he was dismissing him. "But why” protested the sackee. "Afraid you’re not up to it” was the reply!
And very well known by the google box millions who will decide the general election.
And again the contrast between the millions of people who willingly gave up their cash to support Ms Klass in her career, and the millions Ed will steal cash from tax heavily to fund his pet causes
Better to have one big heap of horse manure than a series of small heaps.
Besides, this weekend is far more notable for the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the F1 title decider. I do hope Rosberg takes it, but can't see that happening unless Hamilton's car explodes.
if we have to declare a winner then the winner is Ed
"You can't just point at things and tax them" is going to haunt him all the way to the election.
You can already imagine the posters
At which I would advise Labour to 'point' to the pasty tax.
Yes, it does depend what those things are. Most people are probably OK about taxing houses worth £2million plus, but think it's a little ridiculous to try and tax pasties.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
But it won't happen, in the same way as income taxes are not indexed, governments love fiscal drag for increasing the tax take without all that nasty making announcements and risking pissing the electorate off. Fiscal drag is the number one method employed by just about all chancellors to full the first rule of taxation "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”
Mr. Eagles, and the hour long Twittery thingummyjig I'm doing about humour in genre fiction (with a few others) I'm doing on the 23rd.
Mr. O/King Cole, harsh but fair, and cheers for the answer. Mind you, was much nicer than the method by which Alexander ended Cleitus the Black's career.
''And again the contrast between the millions of people who willingly gave up their cash to support Ms Klass in her career, and the millions Ed will steal cash from tax heavily to fund his pet causes ''
For labour people, anybody with money is 'rich'
The voters view it much more subtly, in my view. For them there are the 'good luck to you' rich and the 'undeserving' rich. And all of both these categories will have many subsets within them.
Mind you if he doesn't budge, and the LDs are wiped out, he might be the next LD leader and I have him at 40/1.
"The shake-up has now been delayed to the weeks before Christmas."
Given Mr Carmichael's personal vote in the islands, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he took a leaf out of the SNP book and threatened to become an independent indy from the London LD party. The Scottish LDs were always a pro-home rule party after all.
Perhaps relevant - now, at least - is that the Coalition (I presume meaning the Tories) probably didn't do themselves any favours in fishing areas in recent weeks by refusing to involve the Scottish Government fisheries minister in EU discussions.
Another possibility is that it has to do with terms and conditions (though I have no idea of these at Westminster) - or simply wishing to retire on a high - Mr C some months back suggested he would retire at the next GE, but that was admittedly after he reprised the role of dinner at Jurassic Park feeding time in one of the indyref debates, and I am not sure what he intends now.
Actually I think a charge for the visa waiver scheme is a good idea. Why not? If people pre-register on-line it saves some time at immigration, and it helps the spooks scan for people they might be interested in. The US ESTA scheme costs $14, so it's very much in line.
Of course it's not going to fund 1000 new jobs, but it's a sensible enough proposal in itself.
Epic, which genius thought that would be a good idea. So of those 1000 new people working at the Border Agency, how many of those would be involved in collecting, handling and processing this new charge? How many ports and airports do we have, how many new staff at each point of entry, how many managers and other admin types to control it. How much to defense the undoubted load of lawsuits that will follow as people challenge the charge. Talk about making policy up on the hoof.
Edit: I see Uncle Sam doesn't something similar, although he has rather more people wanting to get it, its like when I talk to IT people turning up from India looking for work, they tell me they came here because they couldn't get into America.
Epic, which genius thought that would be a good idea. So of those 1000 new people working at the Border Agency, how many of those would be involved in collecting, handling and processing this new charge? How many ports and airports do we have, how many new staff at each point of entry, how many managers and other admin types to control it. How much to defense the undoubted load of lawsuits that will follow as people challenge the charge. I also wonder what will happen when Uncle Sam phones up and tells the government to p*ss off or it will impose mirror arrangements on UK tourists going to America, and possibly other countries decide to follow suit. Talk about making policy up on the hoof.
You might want to rethink that post having done some homework!
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
I like the supposition that London house prices will increase at 19% per annum forever.
''And again the contrast between the millions of people who willingly gave up their cash to support Ms Klass in her career, and the millions Ed will steal cash from tax heavily to fund his pet causes ''
For labour people, anybody with money is 'rich'
The voters view it much more subtly, in my view. For them there are the 'good luck to you' rich and the 'undeserving' rich. And all of both these categories will have many subsets within them.
I believe ,in addition , to having been a teenie pop group member, a classical musician and TV presenter , Ms Klaus also has the distinction of chasing a burglar away from her house!! Some Lady!
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
If you have an asset of £2 million, you are pretty much by definition very rich. Even if your asset of £2 million is supported by a mortgage, you must have a high income to have got the mortgage.
I don't disagree with that. But two points: under current rules, banks and building societies need to assess affordability. A tax which takes out several hundred pounds out of someone's income every month may very well have meant that the mortgage was no longer affordable. Even if the owners have equity they may not be able to raise the money. They can sell but why would someone else buy a property which will land them with a tax bill when they can buy a house at just under the threshold?
Secondly, those who have been living in houses a long time may have an asset allegedly worth £2 mio but not the income to pay the tax. So either they have to get a mortgage (unlikely if they're old and/or don't have the income to pay it) or sell.
Whatever else it achieves, appearing to force people to sell homes to pay a tax is not tremendously attractive, especially when putting a whole load more council tax bands at the top end would probably raise the same - if not more - money without so many of the possible downsides.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
If the tax will only raise £3k p.a. on houses between £2 and £3 mio then I, for one, don't believe him when he says that the threshold will be index-linked. Both parties (and Labour in particular) have form on the fiscal drag issue. I think that the mansion tax will very rapidly become a terraced house tax.
Alternatively. it will raise little money and is therefore pointless. In which case, why do it? Government by gesture is rarely good government.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
The figures in the papers a week or two ago suggested their was something like 110,000 properties in London worth over £2m currently, so 3k x 110,000 isn't going to get him that close to the £1.5bn or so he told us its going to raise, so either its going to raise peanuts, or his is telling whoppers about how much the rate is going to be.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
The figures in the papers a week or two ago suggested their was something like 110,000 properties in London worth over £2m currently, so 3k x 110,000 isn't going to get him that close to the £1.5bn or so he told us its going to raise, so either its going to raise peanuts, or his is telling whoppers about how much the rate is going to be.
Mind you if he doesn't budge, and the LDs are wiped out, he might be the next LD leader and I have him at 40/1.
"The shake-up has now been delayed to the weeks before Christmas."
Given Mr Carmichael's personal vote in the islands, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he took a leaf out of the SNP book and threatened to become an independent indy from the London LD party. The Scottish LDs were always a pro-home rule party after all.
Perhaps relevant - now, at least - is that the Coalition (I presume meaning the Tories) probably didn't do themselves any favours in fishing areas in recent weeks by refusing to involve the Scottish Government fisheries minister in EU discussions.
Another possibility is that it has to do with terms and conditions (though I have no idea of these at Westminster) - or simply wishing to retire on a high - Mr C some months back suggested he would retire at the next GE, but that was admittedly after he reprised the role of dinner at Jurassic Park feeding time in one of the indyref debates, and I am not sure what he intends now.
On second thoughts, ignore the first point, but the fact remains that anyone with that sort of incumbency advantage is to be treasured by the LDs - like Mr Kennedy.
However, the second point may have led to some tensions.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
I like the supposition that London house prices will increase at 19% per annum forever.
There average has been quite high with the odd downward blip for quite a long time, but in essence you are right, if Labour get elected and introduce this idiotic policy, London house prices will drop like a rock. Lots of London (ie Labour) voters stuck in negative equity, thats always a vote winner.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
The figures in the papers a week or two ago suggested their was something like 110,000 properties in London worth over £2m currently, so 3k x 110,000 isn't going to get him that close to the £1.5bn or so he told us its going to raise, so either its going to raise peanuts, or his is telling whoppers about how much the rate is going to be.
12.1% house price inflation will drag a few more places into Ed's fiscal net.
Actually I think a charge for the visa waiver scheme is a good idea. Why not? If people pre-register on-line it saves some time at immigration, and it helps the spooks scan for people they might be interested in. The US ESTA scheme costs $14, so it's very much in line.
Of course it's not going to fund 1000 new jobs, but it's a sensible enough proposal in itself.
If you can clear somebody for whatever you need the details for by them typing in their details from in a nasty website that keeps crashing on mobile (took me half an hour to get through that fecking ESTA thing last month, then another 20 minutes waiting around while the JAL people faffed around with their computer systems confusing themselves with my middle name) why can't you just get them from the airline?
There may be some pointless visa checks that can be abolished, but this thing is just a stupidly expensive way to raise a teensy little bit of money. It reminds me of playing Elite as a kid where you'd blow up some incredibly expensive spaceship to scoop up a teensy little barrel of cargo from the wreckage.
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
The AVERAGE house price in London is £514,000, and houses in the past year in London increased by 19.1% on average, so in 8 years the average house will be over £2m at that rate. 8 years isn't very long for a couple with a young family.
All Labour needs to do is say the £2m will go up by some index [ say the CGT indexation allowance ] and that will be that.
It will be seen as fair.
Mr. Surbiton, Ed Balls has already given such assurances. He has said that the £2m will be "indexed linked". He didn't say how or by what index, I grant you, but he has said that Labour will not allow more properties to be dragged into the net.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
The figures in the papers a week or two ago suggested their was something like 110,000 properties in London worth over £2m currently, so 3k x 110,000 isn't going to get him that close to the £1.5bn or so he told us its going to raise, so either its going to raise peanuts, or his is telling whoppers about how much the rate is going to be.
12.1% house price inflation will drag a few more places into Ed's fiscal net.
Yes I said as much a few posts down and some people sucked their teeth at my figures. The idea that this is a tax on mansions is laughable anyway, a 4 bedroom terrace on one of the side roads off the Fulham Road currently on Rightmove for £2m.
Outlining a five-point plan, Ms Cooper said she wanted to see a stronger enforcement of border controls to build confidence in the system; smarter immigration, so the UK attracts the people it needs; action to tackle the unequal impact immigration has on jobs and wages; fairer rules to make sure everyone contributes and an honest debate challenging the politics of division.
What's the "smarter immigration so the UK attracts the people it needs"? Will Labour reduce unskilled EU immigration, or the arranged bridges from rural parts of the subcontinent?
Mr. Antifrank, exclusively on the very rich? I seriously doubt that's true (prices have gone crazy in London), and there's another issue. Those with £1m or £500,000 houses will be very nervous of the threshold coming down ever more.
Not so much mission creep, as tax creep.
If you have an asset of £2 million, you are pretty much by definition very rich. Even if your asset of £2 million is supported by a mortgage, you must have a high income to have got the mortgage.
I don't disagree with that. But two points: under current rules, banks and building societies need to assess affordability. A tax which takes out several hundred pounds out of someone's income every month may very well have meant that the mortgage was no longer affordable. Even if the owners have equity they may not be able to raise the money. They can sell but why would someone else buy a property which will land them with a tax bill when they can buy a house at just under the threshold?
Secondly, those who have been living in houses a long time may have an asset allegedly worth £2 mio but not the income to pay the tax. So either they have to get a mortgage (unlikely if they're old and/or don't have the income to pay it) or sell.
Whatever else it achieves, appearing to force people to sell homes to pay a tax is not tremendously attractive, especially when putting a whole load more council tax bands at the top end would probably raise the same - if not more - money without so many of the possible downsides.
Why wouldn't putting up the upper bands of the council tax have the same downsides you mention?
Actually I think a charge for the visa waiver scheme is a good idea. Why not? If people pre-register on-line it saves some time at immigration, and it helps the spooks scan for people they might be interested in. The US ESTA scheme costs $14, so it's very much in line.
Of course it's not going to fund 1000 new jobs, but it's a sensible enough proposal in itself.
If you can clear somebody for whatever you need the details for by them typing in their details from in a nasty website that keeps crashing on mobile (took me half an hour to get through that fecking ESTA thing last month, then another 20 minutes waiting around while the JAL people faffed around with their computer systems confusing themselves with my middle name) why can't you just get them from the airline?
There may be some pointless visa checks that can be abolished, but this thing is just a stupidly expensive way to raise a teensy little bit of money. It reminds me of playing Elite as a kid where you'd blow up some incredibly expensive spaceship to scoop up a teensy little barrel of cargo from the wreckage.
Good point about Elite- I have never thought about the moral question of waste and destruction in Elite before!!
Reading discussion FPT on what Lib Dems would ask for to agree on a EU referendum, if the Tories were running a minority Government, not sure LD side was put across. As an albeit disillusioned Lib Dem, I'd suggest the following:
1. If Cameron has over 300 MPs, he'd get a referendum bill through with no deal in 2015. Both Lib Dems and Labour would be leaderless, there are enough rebels in both parties who would support a referendum if it came to it (remember 25% of Lib Dem MPs rebelled on Lisbon) and a few UKIP / NI votes would get it over the line. The Lords would be harder - but as it would be a Government bill on a manifesto commitment, they couldn't use the same tricks. 2. I'd expect allowing 16-17 year olds to vote would be the red line from the LD side. 3. LDs would have to be offered something tasty the Tories wouldn't want. PR, full Lords Reform, possibly big expansion of onshore wind farm subsidies. Lords Reform most likely. 4. For management sake, there would probably be have to be a single bill for the EU referendum and the paired Lib Dem measure, so that there is no chance for either party to back out with only one side in place, and to make it very difficult for awkward backbenchers to kill the deal on the side they didn't like.
I'm relaxed about a referendum myself, although I'd want it to be done quickly to minimise the uncertainy. I think it would be 80% chance of IN winning, and watching the fireworks of the Tory party imploding when actually forced to campaign for the polar IN/ OUT would be a true spectacle to enjoy.
One positive thing about the Labour announcement is this
The party would fund the staff with a charge for visitors from the United States and 55 other countries with a visa waiver agreement with the UK.
What would make this into a genuinely great policy would be if they added that US visitors will have to use the same god-awful online system that they elected people to foist on anyone unlucky enough to be visiting the US.
Mr. Away, I believe a new Elite game is forthcoming (if memory serves, there's a paid-for Beta now, but you get the game with no extra cost when it comes out).
Mr. Socrates, it's Wernicke's Aphasia in a speech (she's not the only politician, of course, to do it).
Vague positive nonsense nobody could disagree with (more fairness), no specifics whatsoever.
In their defence on the specifics, there's enough there that I'd be trying to work out the best way to vote tactically against Labour if they hadn't already taken my vote away for being too foreign.
One positive thing about the Labour announcement is this
The party would fund the staff with a charge for visitors from the United States and 55 other countries with a visa waiver agreement with the UK.
What would make this into a genuinely great policy would be if they added that US visitors will have to use the same god-awful online system that they elected people to foist on anyone unlucky enough to be visiting the US.
Last time I used the US system it took 30 seconds and I only needed to do it once to cover four trips I made over two years.
if we have to declare a winner then the winner is Ed
"You can't just point at things and tax them" is going to haunt him all the way to the election.
You can already imagine the posters
At which I would advise Labour to 'point' to the pasty tax.
Yes, it does depend what those things are. Most people are probably OK about taxing houses worth £2million plus, but think it's a little ridiculous to try and tax pasties.
You can't refute something which successfully becomes indicative of the zeitgeist. No one is listening by then.
This is where Labour could do with tim back. Right now, he'd be smearing and debasing the poor young woman with whatever it took. Think what he did with Kirstie Allsopp!
On London house prices, 19% is obviously too high to be sustainable, but very high house price inflation is certainly possible when population growth outstrips house building.
One positive thing about the Labour announcement is this
The party would fund the staff with a charge for visitors from the United States and 55 other countries with a visa waiver agreement with the UK.
What would make this into a genuinely great policy would be if they added that US visitors will have to use the same god-awful online system that they elected people to foist on anyone unlucky enough to be visiting the US.
Last time I used the US system it took 30 seconds and I only needed to do it once to cover four trips I made over two years.
I don't believe you - there were too many fields for you to have possibly done the whole thing in 30 seconds, even if the bastard thing didn't keep crashing on you like it did on me.
Are they trying to tw*t her out of existence on twitter? At least 2 different posters on here today called her 'shrewish' and a 'rich b1tch'. I love the way they show their true colours when they've been right royally rogered!
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
One positive thing about the Labour announcement is this
The party would fund the staff with a charge for visitors from the United States and 55 other countries with a visa waiver agreement with the UK.
What would make this into a genuinely great policy would be if they added that US visitors will have to use the same god-awful online system that they elected people to foist on anyone unlucky enough to be visiting the US.
Last time I used the US system it took 30 seconds and I only needed to do it once to cover four trips I made over two years.
I don't believe you - there were too many fields for you to have possibly done the whole thing in 30 seconds, even if the bastard thing didn't keep crashing on you like it did on me.
If I remember correctly, there was an easy way to retrieve a previous application from two years ago. I just had to add fresh credit card data. I remember it crashing a lot when they first brought it in, but I've had no problems since.
Are they trying to tw*t her out of existence on twitter? At least 2 different posters on here today called her 'shrewish' and a 'rich b1tch'. I love the way they show their true colours when they've been right royally rogered!
Who said those things? Did she even complain about paying it herself? I believe her comments was how it affected old ladies.
Are they trying to tw*t her out of existence on twitter? At least 2 different posters on here today called her 'shrewish' and a 'rich b1tch'. I love the way they show their true colours when they've been right royally rogered!
Are they trying to tw*t her out of existence on twitter? At least 2 different posters on here today called her 'shrewish' and a 'rich b1tch'. I love the way they show their true colours when they've been right royally rogered!
Who said those things? Did she even complain about paying it herself? I believe her comments was how it affected old ladies.
I believe it was Surbiton & Old Man Cole - the nasty party showing its true colours.
"The NHS is going backwards – it's getting harder to see a GP and waiting lists are going up – and the pressure on NHS budgets is set to get tighter in the years ahead."
Reading discussion FPT on what Lib Dems would ask for to agree on a EU referendum, if the Tories were running a minority Government, not sure LD side was put across. As an albeit disillusioned Lib Dem, I'd suggest the following:
1. If Cameron has over 300 MPs, he'd get a referendum bill through with no deal in 2015. Both Lib Dems and Labour would be leaderless, there are enough rebels in both parties who would support a referendum if it came to it (remember 25% of Lib Dem MPs rebelled on Lisbon) and a few UKIP / NI votes would get it over the line. The Lords would be harder - but as it would be a Government bill on a manifesto commitment, they couldn't use the same tricks. 2. I'd expect allowing 16-17 year olds to vote would be the red line from the LD side. 3. LDs would have to be offered something tasty the Tories wouldn't want. PR, full Lords Reform, possibly big expansion of onshore wind farm subsidies. Lords Reform most likely. 4. For management sake, there would probably be have to be a single bill for the EU referendum and the paired Lib Dem measure, so that there is no chance for either party to back out with only one side in place, and to make it very difficult for awkward backbenchers to kill the deal on the side they didn't like.
I'm relaxed about a referendum myself, although I'd want it to be done quickly to minimise the uncertainy. I think it would be 80% chance of IN winning, and watching the fireworks of the Tory party imploding when actually forced to campaign for the polar IN/ OUT would be a true spectacle to enjoy.
Yes I'm also relaxed about a referendum and probably would be with the 25% above. Like you I would also be confident of an In vote. Labour by contrast always want to be controlling things as shown in the Myleene Klass discussion and by the 52% of their voters above who declare they support their party because it is opposed to holding a referendum. Personally I'd opt for PR rather than Lords reform as our "reward" because of the worsening democratic deficit in this country.
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
Its worse than that, imagine a couple in their early 70s, on a pension, so can't afford the tax, so it rolls up every year. They live another 15 years. When they die their estate gets hit for 45k possibly plus interest, after IHT. Its a death tax by the back door.
Pity Shadsy put up his SNP seats bar up to 22.5 this morning. The over 20.5 was a decent bet.
I still managed to get on the SNP at 5/2 in East Dunbartonshire before he cut to 2/1 which is nice. Personally I'd go 7/4 on all three LD/LAB/SNP right now. Hard to believe the SNP were 80/1 as recently as September.
I suspect Ladbrokes will take a hammering if the SNP poll anywhere near their current levels in May. I hope Shadsy keeps his job, anyway.
The NHS is going backwards – it's getting harder to see a GP and waiting lists are going up – and the pressure on NHS budgets is set to get tighter in the years ahead."
I'm a masochist - I dye my dark brunette hair chestnut red to get attention. I confess - red hair works better on females. Unless they're genetically Duracell and freckled.
Blonds only, tight controls on dark hair and absolutely no gingers
My red-headed grandson is being subjected to some rather nasty bullying at the secondary school at which he started last September. Solely, apparently, because of his hair colour.
Actually I think a charge for the visa waiver scheme is a good idea. Why not? If people pre-register on-line it saves some time at immigration, and it helps the spooks scan for people they might be interested in. The US ESTA scheme costs $14, so it's very much in line.
Of course it's not going to fund 1000 new jobs, but it's a sensible enough proposal in itself.
If you can clear somebody for whatever you need the details for by them typing in their details from in a nasty website that keeps crashing on mobile (took me half an hour to get through that fecking ESTA thing last month, then another 20 minutes waiting around while the JAL people faffed around with their computer systems confusing themselves with my middle name) why can't you just get them from the airline?
There may be some pointless visa checks that can be abolished, but this thing is just a stupidly expensive way to raise a teensy little bit of money. It reminds me of playing Elite as a kid where you'd blow up some incredibly expensive spaceship to scoop up a teensy little barrel of cargo from the wreckage.
Good point about Elite- I have never thought about the moral question of waste and destruction in Elite before!!
Also in child computer game political philosophy news, we had a game where you had to pretend to run Great Britain. You'd do this by tweaking a bunch of different parameters for things like income tax and unemployment benefit. You'd try to synchronize this with the electoral cycle, so that come election time you'd have some money in the bank and a (temporarily) booming economy.
One of the more precocious computer nerds in the school figured out that you could set unemployment benefit to a large negative number. Not only did this reduce the incentive to be on the dole, the 100,000 billionaires who continued to sign on provided enough money to finance the rest of the government. I won't mention the scheming little brat who I'm pretty sure came up with this wheeze, except to say that he's currently the member of parliament for Dover.
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
Its worse than that, imagine a couple in their early 70s, on a pension, so can't afford the tax, so it rolls up every year. They live another 15 years. When they die their estate gets hit for 45k possibly plus interest, after IHT. Its a death tax by the back door.
Pity Shadsy put up his SNP seats bar up to 22.5 this morning. The over 20.5 was a decent bet.
I still managed to get on the SNP at 5/2 in East Dunbartonshire before he cut to 2/1 which is nice. Personally I'd go 7/4 on all three LD/LAB/SNP right now. Hard to believe the SNP were 80/1 as recently as September.
I suspect Ladbrokes will take a hammering if the SNP poll anywhere near their current levels in May. I hope Shadsy keeps his job, anyway.
He's a good bloke.
After his Indyref performance, Shadsy can do no wrong at Ladbroke Towers.
blimey how did that happen, I'm in for 10k now against the rochester traitor.
Please tell me, you're in for 10k of winnings were Kelly Tolhurst to win, and 10k isn't your stake.
correct. 'on' would be more accurate than 'in'
Phew.
You might yet be a winner.
I might be going to knock up the voters in Rochester on Thursday.
One of the best ways to get Americans, particularly female ones, going is to say that you're going out "knocking up". Or as I've said in the past, that my gt.grandfather earned his living as a "knocker-up"!
Means something entirely different in the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave!
Pity Shadsy put up his SNP seats bar up to 22.5 this morning. The over 20.5 was a decent bet.
I still managed to get on the SNP at 5/2 in East Dunbartonshire before he cut to 2/1 which is nice. Personally I'd go 7/4 on all three LD/LAB/SNP right now. Hard to believe the SNP were 80/1 as recently as September.
I suspect Ladbrokes will take a hammering if the SNP poll anywhere near their current levels in May. I hope Shadsy keeps his job, anyway.
He's a good bloke.
After his Indyref performance, Shadsy can do no wrong at Ladbroke Towers.
Scratch that, SNP were 50/1 in East Dunbartonshire in early september, according to oddschecker. The 80/1 was with PP earlier in the year.
Thanks for that Mr Indigo; quite honestly I was more impressed by Ed that I was by her. I thought she was just being shrewish.
Labour seems to be taking fire from luvvies & the media - who were onside during the time of St Tony. How the fuck did the Labour party end up in this position ?!
So they've thoroughly alienated their conservative (small c) WWC traditional voters with Islington 'this is what a feminist looks like' bollocks and open-door immigration. They've alienated their Scottish heartlands by being, err, anti-Scotland. They've alienated the Blairite / sensible wing by veering left. And thus became a party with only two constituencies - luvvies and dinosaurs. Klass is one of the luvvies and they ain't happy. Mansion Tax was always going to make rich London lefty luvvies have a cow. And that leaves - Ta Da - the unions. All Ed now has to do is piss them off and he can call Bingo.
I'm a masochist - I dye my dark brunette hair chestnut red to get attention. I confess - red hair works better on females. Unless they're genetically Duracell and freckled.
Blonds only, tight controls on dark hair and absolutely no gingers
My red-headed grandson is being subjected to some rather nasty bullying at the secondary school at which he started last September. Solely, apparently, because of his hair colour.
Ms Plato, don't say that sort of thing to an old man. Rich chestnut hair!!!! You'll have me all of a whatsit!
It is rubbish isn't it. How will this be collected. We could set up a US style program, God knows how much that will cost. We could add it to the price of an air ticket. Again, how will that be administered? How about people coming in by ferry from France? Or over the border from ROI into NI.
I expect the media will nod it through with barely a whimper as more proof Labour are serious on immigration.
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
Its worse than that, imagine a couple in their early 70s, on a pension, so can't afford the tax, so it rolls up every year. They live another 15 years. When they die their estate gets hit for 45k possibly plus interest, after IHT. Its a death tax by the back door.
Oh boo hoo.
I have to agree its hardly the most heart pulling story ever !!
And Maureen Lipman amongst others. As a set, they're very noticeable. I think they're no more worthy than AN Other, but they grab attention. It does play into the wider vote market.
OT May I recommend Bastille for pop music. Their album Bad Blood has some super songs on it even their singer has a peculiar pitch. Things We Lost In The Firehttps://youtube.com/watch?v=MGR4U7W1dZU
Thanks for that Mr Indigo; quite honestly I was more impressed by Ed that I was by her. I thought she was just being shrewish.
Labour seems to be taking fire from luvvies & the media - who were onside during the time of St Tony. How the fuck did the Labour party end up in this position ?!
So they've thoroughly alienated their conservative (small c) WWC traditional voters with Islington 'this is what a feminist looks like' bollocks and open-door immigration. They've alienated their Scottish heartlands by being, err, anti-Scotland. They've alienated the Blairite / sensible wing by veering left. And thus became a party with only two constituencies - luvvies and dinosaurs. Klass is one of the luvvies and they ain't happy. Mansion Tax was always going to make rich London lefty luvvies have a cow. And that leaves - Ta Da - the unions. All Ed now has to do is piss them off and he can call Bingo.
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
Its worse than that, imagine a couple in their early 70s, on a pension, so can't afford the tax, so it rolls up every year. They live another 15 years. When they die their estate gets hit for 45k possibly plus interest, after IHT. Its a death tax by the back door.
Oh boo hoo.
You can say that, it won't cost Ed your vote, it might well cost him theirs.
One more quick bitch on ESTA in case anyone is still thinking of voting Labour after they suggested inflicting something similar on people visiting Britain: It's horribly confusing to non-technical users and non-native English speakers. There are loads of scam sites out there that pretend to be ESTA and steal people's money and personal info. The people on the JAL desk had a special little card made up and a memorized explanation to warn people about the scam sites, because people are falling for them that often, which must then leave the unlucky person at JAL or some overworked US customs employee to deal with this confused, angry person.
PS The way to tell the difference is, if the website appears to be reasonably functional and competently designed, it's not the genuine US government website.
Comments
And very well known by the google box millions who will decide the general election.
You can already imagine the posters
Better to have one big heap of horse manure than a series of small heaps.
Besides, this weekend is far more notable for the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the F1 title decider. I do hope Rosberg takes it, but can't see that happening unless Hamilton's car explodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtKPMo-kDds
CRA: Sorry, but you're not up to the job,
steal cash fromtax heavily to fund his pet causesYes, it does depend what those things are. Most people are probably OK about taxing houses worth £2million plus, but think it's a little ridiculous to try and tax pasties.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/myleene-klass-recreates-im-celebrity-3414210
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/21/article-1184535-05020271000005DC-370_224x357.jpg
(I'm talking about a chocolate éclair, all of you get your minds out of the gutter)
Mr. O/King Cole, harsh but fair, and cheers for the answer. Mind you, was much nicer than the method by which Alexander ended Cleitus the Black's career.
For labour people, anybody with money is 'rich'
The voters view it much more subtly, in my view. For them there are the 'good luck to you' rich and the 'undeserving' rich. And all of both these categories will have many subsets within them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30091574
JUST KIDDING !!!
1) He's a smoker, and he's not allowed to smoke indoors, so he couldn't smoke between 7pm and 7am.
2) G4S are allowed to turn up announced between 7pm and 7am to calibrate the tag and box.
Perhaps relevant - now, at least - is that the Coalition (I presume meaning the Tories) probably didn't do themselves any favours in fishing areas in recent weeks by refusing to involve the Scottish Government fisheries minister in EU discussions.
Another possibility is that it has to do with terms and conditions (though I have no idea of these at Westminster) - or simply wishing to retire on a high - Mr C some months back suggested he would retire at the next GE, but that was admittedly after he reprised the role of dinner at Jurassic Park feeding time in one of the indyref debates, and I am not sure what he intends now.
Of course it's not going to fund 1000 new jobs, but it's a sensible enough proposal in itself.
http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/esta_info.html
Edit: I see Uncle Sam doesn't something similar, although he has rather more people wanting to get it, its like when I talk to IT people turning up from India looking for work, they tell me they came here because they couldn't get into America.
Annie Gaal @NyeBeverage · Nov 5
How Guy Fawkes became progressively less cool...
https://twitter.com/NyeBeverage/status/530056476409470976
Labour 34%
Conservative 31%
Green 13%
UKIP 10%
Liberal Democrat 7%
... because I didn't correct for WNV/DK in YouGov's compressed data table.
Of course, he also said that for properties valued at between two and three million pounds the tax will amount to about £3k per annum. That will raise trivial sums of money. So the whole exercise seems to be about perception and politics rather than "saving the NHS" or whatever slogan is to be applied. However, Labour doesn't seem to care about the real life experiences of ordinary people these days.
Secondly, those who have been living in houses a long time may have an asset allegedly worth £2 mio but not the income to pay the tax. So either they have to get a mortgage (unlikely if they're old and/or don't have the income to pay it) or sell.
Whatever else it achieves, appearing to force people to sell homes to pay a tax is not tremendously attractive, especially when putting a whole load more council tax bands at the top end would probably raise the same - if not more - money without so many of the possible downsides.
Alternatively. it will raise little money and is therefore pointless. In which case, why do it? Government by gesture is rarely good government.
However, the second point may have led to some tensions.
12.1% house price inflation will drag a few more places into Ed's fiscal net.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30094813
There may be some pointless visa checks that can be abolished, but this thing is just a stupidly expensive way to raise a teensy little bit of money. It reminds me of playing Elite as a kid where you'd blow up some incredibly expensive spaceship to scoop up a teensy little barrel of cargo from the wreckage.
Clearly rattled.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30091574
What's the "smarter immigration so the UK attracts the people it needs"? Will Labour reduce unskilled EU immigration, or the arranged bridges from rural parts of the subcontinent?
Vague positive nonsense nobody could disagree with (more fairness), no specifics whatsoever.
1. If Cameron has over 300 MPs, he'd get a referendum bill through with no deal in 2015. Both Lib Dems and Labour would be leaderless, there are enough rebels in both parties who would support a referendum if it came to it (remember 25% of Lib Dem MPs rebelled on Lisbon) and a few UKIP / NI votes would get it over the line. The Lords would be harder - but as it would be a Government bill on a manifesto commitment, they couldn't use the same tricks.
2. I'd expect allowing 16-17 year olds to vote would be the red line from the LD side.
3. LDs would have to be offered something tasty the Tories wouldn't want. PR, full Lords Reform, possibly big expansion of onshore wind farm subsidies. Lords Reform most likely.
4. For management sake, there would probably be have to be a single bill for the EU referendum and the paired Lib Dem measure, so that there is no chance for either party to back out with only one side in place, and to make it very difficult for awkward backbenchers to kill the deal on the side they didn't like.
I'm relaxed about a referendum myself, although I'd want it to be done quickly to minimise the uncertainy. I think it would be 80% chance of IN winning, and watching the fireworks of the Tory party imploding when actually forced to campaign for the polar IN/ OUT would be a true spectacle to enjoy.
"Labour's mansion tax will help to fund our NHS for the future."
http://www.labour.org.uk/blog/entry/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-labours-mansion-tax
Anyway, time for me to go for a bit.
The whole notion of a 'reply' to Myleene Klass is quite amusing.
Last time I used the US system it took 30 seconds and I only needed to do it once to cover four trips I made over two years.
We have already seen an entirely expected "rich b1tch" comment from a Lab supporter on here.
And it's the Cons that are supposed to be the nasty party.
I don't believe you - there were too many fields for you to have possibly done the whole thing in 30 seconds, even if the bastard thing didn't keep crashing on you like it did on me.
Labour's mansion tax will protect those who are asset-rich but cash-poor. People in high-value homes who do not have high incomes – those who do not pay the higher or top rate of tax, and earn less than £42,000 a year – will have the right to defer the mansion tax until their property changes hands.
Which will be their excuse to get it extended below £2m.
So we currently have Stamp Duty, Council Tax, and IHT.
And Labour want to add another property tax, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in the NHS.
"You can't just point at things and tax them". If only.
If I remember correctly, there was an easy way to retrieve a previous application from two years ago. I just had to add fresh credit card data. I remember it crashing a lot when they first brought it in, but I've had no problems since.
SaveED!
"The NHS is going backwards – it's getting harder to see a GP and waiting lists are going up – and the pressure on NHS budgets is set to get tighter in the years ahead."
Nothing to do with mass immigration, no siree.
I still managed to get on the SNP at 5/2 in East Dunbartonshire before he cut to 2/1 which is nice. Personally I'd go 7/4 on all three LD/LAB/SNP right now. Hard to believe the SNP were 80/1 as recently as September.
I suspect Ladbrokes will take a hammering if the SNP poll anywhere near their current levels in May. I hope Shadsy keeps his job, anyway.
He's a good bloke.
Please, somebody, take a photo of Myleene Klass wearing a "this is what a feminist looks like" t-shirt.
You might yet be a winner.
I might be going to knock up the voters in Rochester on Thursday.
Do they mean in Wales???
Mousey is surely the worst of all?
One of the more precocious computer nerds in the school figured out that you could set unemployment benefit to a large negative number. Not only did this reduce the incentive to be on the dole, the 100,000 billionaires who continued to sign on provided enough money to finance the rest of the government. I won't mention the scheming little brat who I'm pretty sure came up with this wheeze, except to say that he's currently the member of parliament for Dover.
Means something entirely different in the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave!
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/east-dunbartonshire/winning-party/bet-history/snp/today
Performing GOTV during an election, known as 'knocking up'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvassing
I had no idea.
*Innocent face*
How will this be collected. We could set up a US style program, God knows how much that will cost. We could add it to the price of an air ticket. Again, how will that be administered? How about people coming in by ferry from France? Or over the border from ROI into NI.
I expect the media will nod it through with barely a whimper as more proof Labour are serious on immigration.
OT May I recommend Bastille for pop music. Their album Bad Blood has some super songs on it even their singer has a peculiar pitch. Things We Lost In The Firehttps://youtube.com/watch?v=MGR4U7W1dZU
PS The way to tell the difference is, if the website appears to be reasonably functional and competently designed, it's not the genuine US government website.
Kippers rejoice, Labour has said that you can now talk about immigration without being labelled a racist.
Unless, of course, you intend to vote Ukip. In that case, you're still a racist.
But they've finally woken up to what some of their Northern MPs have been telling them for months. Mrs Duffy has won a reprieve (until May 2015).