this APD cut for kids - will the Uk tourist industry suffer ?
Danny Alexander was just on Radio 5 - a woman was wanting a cut of 5% to VAT on tourism-related items to help the UK torusim industry.
Danny pipes up and says he is not convinced by the cut to VAT. He claims he has helped tourism by the APD cut.
Yes Danny. In fecking THAILAND!
Jeez....what have these politicians got for brains?
APD also applies to foreigners coming to the UK. They fly in, and they fly out, and their ticket (bought in New York or Sydney or Abu Dhabi) includes APD.
Both the cost of visiting Britain and leaving Britain has been reduced.
The consensus is that this was a bravura performance from Ed Balls, backed up by the OBR statistics.Even Andrew Neil called Osborne's long term projection of a surplus as being 'Shangrila land'
A bravura performance by Ed Balls would be one where he apologised for fecking the the UK economy and announces he is going to leave politics forthwith and work in an Ebola hospital in Guinea....
3% growth forecast in 2014, up from 2.7% predicted in March
2.4% growth forecast in 2015, followed by 2.2%, 2.4%, 2.3% and 2.3% in the following four years
500,000 new jobs created this year. 85% of new jobs full-time
Unemployment set to fall to 5.4% in 2015
Inflation predicted to be 1.5% in 2014, falling to 1.2% in 2015
Public borrowing/deficit
Deficit 'cut in half' since 2010
Borrowing set to fall from £97.5bn in 2013-14 to £91.3bn in 2014-15.
Deficit projected to fall to £75.9bn in 2015, £40.9bn in 2016, £14.5bn in 2017 before reaching a £4bn surplus in 2018
By 2019-20 Britain will have a surplus of £23bn
Debt as a share of GDP to rise from 80.4% this year to 81.1% next year before falling in every year. reaching 72.8% in 2019-20
Tax receipts up to 2017-18 forecast to be £23bn lower than predicted
World War One debt to be repaid
considering where we were in 2010 whats to moan about?
would labour have really done any better?
Fantastic tractor stats, Comrade! You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!
So the economy and the government are doing well then...? You will have to work harder than that poor effort to justify yourself in your own soviet-style fantasy world.
[sigh] *Avery would have got the joke*
I was rather hoping he'd return today
Likewise. If the Autumn Statement cannot bring out a rash of yellow boxes I fear the worst.
And, if so, that might throw out Labour's calculations on how many properties there will be above the £2 mio threshold to raise the sorts of sums they say they will raise.
So many properties these days have extra bits tacked on, or outbuildings, or conservatories in a desperate bid for more lebensraum
Weren't the Scottish Conservatives tweeting a bunch of complaints about the SNP Stamp Duty reform?
The break even points are very different 250k vs 900 k - and one is a tax cut, the other not.
Will the SNP be huffing when sales of high value houses get rushed through before the spring thus denying the SNP revenue ? Titter.
Different principle - graduated, not doorstep thesholds.
So if you are buying a £500k house in Edinburgh - what is the stamp duty in April and then May ?
Of course, yes, time rather than cost on the x-axis ... but at least the Tories hae suddenly decided that the SNP (or even SLAB) ideas are good ones (and not for the first time).
Didn't watch the Autumn [December isn't autumnal...] Statement but just checked the main announcements on the BBC. Doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about. I didn't miss anything, did I?
It's still autumn, in fact late summer, in my garden. Summer flowers are still flowering and I have snowdrops also flowering and the Christmas camellias about to burst into flower.
One year I had both jasmine and a sunflower still flowering at Xmas.
The joys of West Hampstead gardens!! Bet you don't get that in California, eh Charles?
In California it's summer all year round...
(Actually, I would miss the seasons - early autumn is my favourite. But it doesn't help with the marketing spin...)
I'll trade if you like.
In Wales we get early autumn for most of the year.
this APD cut for kids - will the Uk tourist industry suffer ?
Danny Alexander was just on Radio 5 - a woman was wanting a cut of 5% to VAT on tourism-related items to help the UK torusim industry.
Danny pipes up and says he is not convinced by the cut to VAT. He claims he has helped tourism by the APD cut.
Yes Danny. In fecking THAILAND!
Jeez....what have these politicians got for brains?
APD also applies to foreigners coming to the UK. They fly in, and they fly out, and their ticket (bought in New York or Sydney or Abu Dhabi) includes APD.
Both the cost of visiting Britain and leaving Britain has been reduced.
I suppose it would have been against some European competition law to just reduce it for those who live outside the UK?
3% growth forecast in 2014, up from 2.7% predicted in March
2.4% growth forecast in 2015, followed by 2.2%, 2.4%, 2.3% and 2.3% in the following four years
500,000 new jobs created this year. 85% of new jobs full-time
Unemployment set to fall to 5.4% in 2015
Inflation predicted to be 1.5% in 2014, falling to 1.2% in 2015
Public borrowing/deficit
Deficit 'cut in half' since 2010
Borrowing set to fall from £97.5bn in 2013-14 to £91.3bn in 2014-15.
Deficit projected to fall to £75.9bn in 2015, £40.9bn in 2016, £14.5bn in 2017 before reaching a £4bn surplus in 2018
By 2019-20 Britain will have a surplus of £23bn
Debt as a share of GDP to rise from 80.4% this year to 81.1% next year before falling in every year. reaching 72.8% in 2019-20
Tax receipts up to 2017-18 forecast to be £23bn lower than predicted
World War One debt to be repaid
considering where we were in 2010 whats to moan about?
would labour have really done any better?
Fantastic tractor stats, Comrade! You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!
So the economy and the government are doing well then...? You will have to work harder than that poor effort to justify yourself in your own soviet-style fantasy world.
[sigh] *Avery would have got the joke*
I was rather hoping he'd return today
Likewise. If the Autumn Statement cannot bring out a rash of yellow boxes I fear the worst.
"You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!" is of course a line from The Hunt For Red October, said by Tim Curry (submarine's doctor) to Sean Connery (Captain Ramius).
Ramius orders the doctor to organise an evacuation of the sub's crew after a so-called "reactor leak" while he and his officers "scuttle the ship" (in reality he will hand it over to the USA).
this APD cut for kids - will the Uk tourist industry suffer ?
Danny Alexander was just on Radio 5 - a woman was wanting a cut of 5% to VAT on tourism-related items to help the UK torusim industry.
Danny pipes up and says he is not convinced by the cut to VAT. He claims he has helped tourism by the APD cut.
Yes Danny. In fecking THAILAND!
Jeez....what have these politicians got for brains?
APD also applies to foreigners coming to the UK. They fly in, and they fly out, and their ticket (bought in New York or Sydney or Abu Dhabi) includes APD.
Both the cost of visiting Britain and leaving Britain has been reduced.
I suppose it would have been against some European competition law to just reduce it for those who live outside the UK?
It wouldn't be against EU law (which states that you have to treat EU citizens, irrespective of where in the continent they reside equally).
However, it would be an administrative nightmare due to the current nature of the tax. The way APD is structured is on as a tax on certain journey legs, and has no relationship to where (and how) the ticket is booked, or who the nationality of the purchaser (or traveller) is.
New election in Sweden on March 22nd. The socialist comeback lasted about 10 minutes. Couldn't even pass a budget.
So it seems like the socialists took a small party for granted and assumed it would let them run a minority government without concessions?
This is why Cameron was smart to go for a coalition. Minority governments can be tough.
Maths didn't work out whichever way they played it. Even with the Greens in government and ex-commies supporting them it could never work. The 4 Alliance (centre right) parties + Swedish Democrats, (Swekip), just had more votes. Total amateur hour really.
All the Alliance have to campaign on is: 'look at them, they are clueless', and they'll be back in March. Seem to be some behind the scenes moves to persuade Reinfeldt to come swanning back to bring some stability. Not sure that's such a great idea though since he alienated a lot of Conservative voters with his mass immigration policy, (100,000 successful asylum seekers in Sweden this year, would equate to over 600,000 in the UK!). That's why the Swedish Democrats polled so well last time. What a mess.
Mr. Anorak, one of the many joys of global warming is that whenever the weather's remotely interesting someone claims it's evidence that an entirely unproven theory's correct. It's like Goodness Gracious Me's Mister India.
Hot weather - global warming Cold weather - global warming Rainy weather - global warming Dry weather - global warming
I realise you're probably pulling my leg, but I'm procrastinating because I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a certain little story. So I've indulged your silliness, even though you're a bounder.
I was indeed teasing. I would point out, though, that every snowflake is pointed to by AGW deniers as 'proof' there is no warming happening. It's a deliberate (or uneducated) trait on both sides of the issue.
Weather and Climate are different. What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
Crickey soak the rich doubled, while little old granny still get stiffed as well.
Modern politicians of all stripes cannot abide people being comfortably off. They see us as a wolf sees a flock of sheep.
Er, if there's a deficit and people it is think a priority is to close it, then "the comfortably off" are certainly a section of society I would approach to help out.
Mr. Anorak, one of the many joys of global warming is that whenever the weather's remotely interesting someone claims it's evidence that an entirely unproven theory's correct. It's like Goodness Gracious Me's Mister India.
Hot weather - global warming Cold weather - global warming Rainy weather - global warming Dry weather - global warming
I realise you're probably pulling my leg, but I'm procrastinating because I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a certain little story. So I've indulged your silliness, even though you're a bounder.
I was indeed teasing. I would point out, though, that every snowflake is pointed to by AGW deniers as 'proof' there is no warming happening. It's a deliberate (or uneducated) trait on both sides of the issue.
Weather and Climate are different. What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
How dare Osborne stand up in parliament and say that the deficit has been halved when the figures show clearly it has not been halved at all.What has changed is the way it has been reported in percentage terms.
Didn't watch the Autumn [December isn't autumnal...] Statement but just checked the main announcements on the BBC. Doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about. I didn't miss anything, did I?
It's still autumn, in fact late summer, in my garden. Summer flowers are still flowering and I have snowdrops also flowering and the Christmas camellias about to burst into flower.
One year I had both jasmine and a sunflower still flowering at Xmas.
The joys of West Hampstead gardens!! Bet you don't get that in California, eh Charles?
In California it's summer all year round...
(Actually, I would miss the seasons - early autumn is my favourite. But it doesn't help with the marketing spin...)
Currently on the 580, and I can safely say this is definitely not summer
Yesterday the algorithms saw me following politics from Japan in election season and figured I might need a large loudspeaker and a magnet to attach it to the roof of my car. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B32lAPFCUAAWFvh.png
Entertaining snark about Ministerial stats-massaging from the OBR:
"We have considered the evidence on the centrality of these plans – including the cross- government scrutiny that has taken place – and have weighed that against the recent history of optimism bias in universal credit plans and other projects of this sort."
3% growth forecast in 2014, up from 2.7% predicted in March
2.4% growth forecast in 2015, followed by 2.2%, 2.4%, 2.3% and 2.3% in the following four years
500,000 new jobs created this year. 85% of new jobs full-time
Unemployment set to fall to 5.4% in 2015
Inflation predicted to be 1.5% in 2014, falling to 1.2% in 2015
Public borrowing/deficit
Deficit 'cut in half' since 2010
Borrowing set to fall from £97.5bn in 2013-14 to £91.3bn in 2014-15.
Deficit projected to fall to £75.9bn in 2015, £40.9bn in 2016, £14.5bn in 2017 before reaching a £4bn surplus in 2018
By 2019-20 Britain will have a surplus of £23bn
Debt as a share of GDP to rise from 80.4% this year to 81.1% next year before falling in every year. reaching 72.8% in 2019-20
Tax receipts up to 2017-18 forecast to be £23bn lower than predicted
World War One debt to be repaid
considering where we were in 2010 whats to moan about?
would labour have really done any better?
Fantastic tractor stats, Comrade! You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!
So the economy and the government are doing well then...? You will have to work harder than that poor effort to justify yourself in your own soviet-style fantasy world.
[sigh] *Avery would have got the joke*
I was rather hoping he'd return today
Likewise. If the Autumn Statement cannot bring out a rash of yellow boxes I fear the worst.
He may just have been a tad busy....
Transvestism is quite time consuming. Or so I am reliably informed...
Yesterday the algorithms saw me following politics from Japan in election season and figured I might need a large loudspeaker and a magnet to attach it to the roof of my car. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B32lAPFCUAAWFvh.png
The Spectator did a wonderful article on the topic a few weeks ago - it was the column by the VC of Oglivie & Mather (forgot his name).
A buddy of his bought a lightweight climbing rope...Amazon came up with an autosuggestion of a black balaclava, baseball bat and heavy duty tape...
How dare Osborne stand up in parliament and say that the deficit has been halved when the figures show clearly it has not been halved at all.What has changed is the way it has been reported in percentage terms.
A politician! Twisting statistics!! HAS THE WORLD GONE STARK STARING MAD!!! No.
Didn't watch the Autumn [December isn't autumnal...] Statement but just checked the main announcements on the BBC. Doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about. I didn't miss anything, did I?
It's still autumn, in fact late summer, in my garden. Summer flowers are still flowering and I have snowdrops also flowering and the Christmas camellias about to burst into flower.
One year I had both jasmine and a sunflower still flowering at Xmas.
The joys of West Hampstead gardens!! Bet you don't get that in California, eh Charles?
In California it's summer all year round...
(Actually, I would miss the seasons - early autumn is my favourite. But it doesn't help with the marketing spin...)
Currently on the 580, and I can safely say this is definitely not summer
New election in Sweden on March 22nd. The socialist comeback lasted about 10 minutes. Couldn't even pass a budget.
So it seems like the socialists took a small party for granted and assumed it would let them run a minority government without concessions?
This is why Cameron was smart to go for a coalition. Minority governments can be tough.
No, problem was the lack of a majority. The centrist parties were caught napping by the election announcement - they are "trying to find someone to comment". The social democrat problem is that they lost the budget vote. The opposition problem is that they won it with the help of the Sweden Democrats, whom they claim to detest.
My guess is that the result will see polarisation and one or two or the small parties may be squeezed out, which would be bad news for the centre-right as they have two parties near the 4% threshold. But it could go either way.
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
Yesterday the algorithms saw me following politics from Japan in election season and figured I might need a large loudspeaker and a magnet to attach it to the roof of my car. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B32lAPFCUAAWFvh.png
Did you notice the "WTF" in the search box at the bottom?
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
According to Zoopla, there were 8 out of 74,566 properties in Scotland that went for £2m or more in the last 12 months. Not what you'd call a huge chunk of the market.
"You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!" is of course a line from The Hunt For Red October, said by Tim Curry (submarine's doctor) to Sean Connery (Captain Ramius).
Ramius orders the doctor to organise an evacuation of the sub's crew after a so-called "reactor leak" while he and his officers "scuttle the ship" (in reality he will hand it over to the USA).
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
According to Zoopla, there were 8 out of 74,566 properties in Scotland that went for £2m or more in the last 12 months. Not what you'd call a huge chunk of the market.
On that evidence, Mr Osborne's change is presumably an attempted douceur to his party members - much as the abolition of business rates on country sports and hunting estates was in 1994 ( Tory change I had not known about and which astounded me when I read about it this week).
"You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!" is of course a line from The Hunt For Red October, said by Tim Curry (submarine's doctor) to Sean Connery (Captain Ramius).
Ramius orders the doctor to organise an evacuation of the sub's crew after a so-called "reactor leak" while he and his officers "scuttle the ship" (in reality he will hand it over to the USA).
The orders are to engage the quiet man drive!
Then we will sail to Rochester, where the sun is warm and so is the... Kipper-ship
The stamp duty changes are sensible in their own right and long overdue. The clever bit is bringing them in immediately. Savings will be made by a lot of people between now and May. I would be surprised if that doesn't contribute to shoring up Conservative votes among homeowners, or at least make them think twice. For a lot of people (I suspect especially in marginals in the South, considering average house prices), you're looking at potentially thousands of pounds saved, depending on exact property.
Come the GE, all parties routinely bring out their "we've saved you £XXXX over the past 5 years", or "they'll cost you £XXXX more per year" posters. And they always use some interesting calculations to underpin the most extreme figures each way. If the Tories are smart, they'll calculate how much an average family pays in stamp duty over a 5 year period and then add the potential savings under the new regime to their figures. Could make the headline figure better by hundreds or even thousands or, put another way, significantly increase the percentage off families financially better off over the past 5 years. Given that cost of living is a key Labour theme, this is a clever way of adjusting the headline figures. It will also be difficult for Labour to unpick without drawing attention to the stamp duty saving in the first place.
More generally, I am disappointed that the deficit isn't lower. But better to slip behind an ambitious target than an unambitious one. Aiming to clear the deficit in 5 years has led to roughly halving it. If they'd started off only trying to half it, I doubt it would be down by even a quarter. There's too much resistance to change to start by aiming low.
Given that this was the last chance to put in place new things (the Budget will be a more hypothetical exercise) and given the stamp duty changes to smooth out one crazy system, it's disappointing - if entirely politically understandable - that they haven't smoothed out the idiocy of the personal allowance clawback above £100k. The marginal tax rate between 100k-120k is 60%. It then drops back to 40% before going up to 45% at 150k. This sequence is clearly insane.
Given that many earning between £100k-£120k can adjust their income, and by that stage you're generally reasonably comfortable anyway, it's a huge disincentive to work more, limiting the overall tax take. And even if you are trapped in that range, it makes far more sense to divert the excess into pensions or some other way to reduce your net pre-tax income than to actually spend the money, thus reducing the benefit to the wider economy.
You could almost see the logic to it while there wasn't an additional rate but now there is, the clawback should be removed (if necessary, adjust the additional rate by a fraction of a percent to balance the effect, though the additional rate is pointless anyway outside of its symbolism).
World's smallest violin issue, I know, but it really is a crazy kink.
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
According to Zoopla, there were 8 out of 74,566 properties in Scotland that went for £2m or more in the last 12 months. Not what you'd call a huge chunk of the market.
On that evidence, Mr Osborne's change is presumably an attempted douceur to his party members - much as the abolition of business rates on country sports and hunting estates was in 1994 ( Tory change I had not known about and which astounded me when I read about it this week).
But the point stands that the break even point for the SNP stamp duty changes has been lowered down by the CoTE today.
The Tories defending racist dog whistles in Thurrock, Labour taking no action over girlfriend beating in Romford... no wonder Essex is going UKIP
**Tries in vain to stop self pointing out that Romford is in Greater London**
It can be both though surely?
Well since 1965, it's been in the London Borough of Havering. And is served by London Buses (and the London Underground, if you count Hornchurch as Romford-ish).
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
I bow down to your accounting expertise. But we are (or at least I am) not in London. 300K is well over the average price of a house in Edinburgh and not much below 2x the Scottish average.
The Tories defending racist dog whistles in Thurrock, Labour taking no action over girlfriend beating in Romford... no wonder Essex is going UKIP
Slightly off on a tangent: does Romford consider itself to be Essex or London?
Sunil is the authority on this!
I consider it Essex really, although probably more accurate to say a bit of both as Boris is the Mayor and London Transport or tfl whatever its called, are the public transport providers, the MET are the police...
How dare Osborne stand up in parliament and say that the deficit has been halved when the figures show clearly it has not been halved at all.What has changed is the way it has been reported in percentage terms.
A politician! Twisting statistics!! HAS THE WORLD GONE STARK STARING MAD!!! No.
As Osborne said ... '' As a percentage of GDP, today the deficit is also forecast to fall this year, down by 0.6% of GDP. Down from what the OBR describe today as “the post-war record deficit of 10.2% of GDP” in 2009-10. To 5% this year. The deficit no longer down by a third – but now cut in half. ''
Mr. Anorak, one of the many joys of global warming is that whenever the weather's remotely interesting someone claims it's evidence that an entirely unproven theory's correct. It's like Goodness Gracious Me's Mister India.
Hot weather - global warming Cold weather - global warming Rainy weather - global warming Dry weather - global warming
I realise you're probably pulling my leg, but I'm procrastinating because I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a certain little story. So I've indulged your silliness, even though you're a bounder.
I was indeed teasing. I would point out, though, that every snowflake is pointed to by AGW deniers as 'proof' there is no warming happening. It's a deliberate (or uneducated) trait on both sides of the issue.
Weather and Climate are different. What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
The incontrovertable fact proved by several diffferent satellite measurements (the only way to measure 'global temperatures as opposed to local weather) is that there has been no global warming for between 15 - 18 years. No global warming.
The stamp duty changes are sensible in their own right and long overdue. The clever bit is bringing them in immediately. Savings will be made by a lot of people between now and May. I would be surprised if that doesn't contribute to shoring up Conservative votes among homeowners, or at least make them think twice. For a lot of people (I suspect especially in marginals in the South, considering average house prices), you're looking at potentially thousands of pounds saved, depending on exact property.
If the Tories are smart, they'll calculate how much an average family pays in stamp duty over a 5 year period and then add the potential savings under the new regime to their figures. Could make the headline figure better by hundreds or even thousands or, put another way, significantly increase the percentage off families financially better off over the past 5 years. Given that cost of living is a key Labour theme, this is a clever way of adjusting the headline figures. It will also be difficult for Labour to unpick without drawing attention to the stamp duty saving in the first place.
More generally, I am disappointed that the deficit isn't lower. But better to slip behind an ambitious target than an unambitious one. Aiming to clear the deficit in 5 years has led to roughly halving it. If they'd started off only trying to half it, I doubt it would be down by even a quarter. There's too much resistance to change to start by aiming low.
Given that this was the last chance to put in place new things (the Budget will be a more hypothetical exercise) and given the stamp duty changes to smooth out one crazy system, it's disappointing - if entirely politically understandable - that they haven't smoothed out the idiocy of the personal allowance clawback above £100k. The marginal tax rate between 100k-120k is 60%. It then drops back to 40% before going up to 45% at 150k. This sequence is clearly insane.
Given that many earning between £100k-£120k can adjust their income, and by that stage you're generally reasonably comfortable anyway, it's a huge disincentive to work more, limiting the overall tax take. And even if you are trapped in that range, it makes far more sense to divert the excess into pensions or some other way to reduce your net pre-tax income than to actually spend the money, thus reducing the benefit to the wider economy.
You could almost see the logic to it while there wasn't an additional rate but now there is, the clawback should be removed (if necessary, adjust the additional rate by a fraction of a percent to balance the effect, though the additional rate is pointless anyway outside of its symbolism).
World's smallest violin issue, I know, but it really is a crazy kink.
The Tories defending racist dog whistles in Thurrock, Labour taking no action over girlfriend beating in Romford... no wonder Essex is going UKIP
Slightly off on a tangent: does Romford consider itself to be Essex or London?
Sunil is the authority on this!
I consider it Essex really, although probably more accurate to say a bit of both as Boris is the Mayor and London Transport or tfl whatever its called, are the public transport providers, the MET are the police...
70/30 Essex/London?
Greater London is officially a "Ceremonial County" as well as an administrative one.
On railway matters, good news in the budget for northern commuters in the fact the hated Pacer trains might be finally being replaced (they'd have to go by 2020 anyway for legislative reasons, but there was talk of refurbishing them).
On railway matters, good news in the budget for northern commuters in the fact the hated Pacer trains might be finally being replaced (they'd have to go by 2020 anyway for legislative reasons, but there was talk of refurbishing them).
Mr. Anorak, one of the many joys of global warming is that whenever the weather's remotely interesting someone claims it's evidence that an entirely unproven theory's correct. It's like Goodness Gracious Me's Mister India.
Hot weather - global warming Cold weather - global warming Rainy weather - global warming Dry weather - global warming
I realise you're probably pulling my leg, but I'm procrastinating because I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a certain little story. So I've indulged your silliness, even though you're a bounder.
I was indeed teasing. I would point out, though, that every snowflake is pointed to by AGW deniers as 'proof' there is no warming happening. It's a deliberate (or uneducated) trait on both sides of the issue.
Weather and Climate are different. What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
The incontrovertable fact proved by several diffferent satellite measurements (the only way to measure 'global temperatures as opposed to local weather) is that there has been no global warming for between 15 - 18 years. No global warming.
Only by cherry picking the start point as 1998 (an incredibly unusual hot year compared to the years immediately preceding and following it) can you come to that conclusion.
How dare Osborne stand up in parliament and say that the deficit has been halved when the figures show clearly it has not been halved at all.What has changed is the way it has been reported in percentage terms.
How dare Ed Balls show his face in public.
You do seem incredibly thin-skinned for someone shilling on behalf of the Party that BROKE OUR FECKING ECONOMY IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Classic Labour double counting by boring snoring Rachel Reeves just now on R4, claiming mansion tax will reduce the deficit? Eh, thicko, you've said you're spending the money on more doctors etc.
Labour really do have no economic plan apart from the magic money tree.
The stamp duty changes are sensible in their own right and long overdue. The clever bit is bringing them in immediately. Savings will be made by a lot of people between now and May .....
More generally, I am disappointed that the deficit isn't lower. But better to slip behind an ambitious target than an unambitious one. Aiming to clear the deficit in 5 years has led to roughly halving it. If they'd started off only trying to half it, I doubt it would be down by even a quarter. There's too much resistance to change to start by aiming low. ...
Good points Yes of course the deficit could be lower. But the other point is the cuts to government spending and the savings and efficiencies it has been making. There are two components to deficits - the govts own spending and the effects of the economic cycle. The drag of the Eurozone crisis and other sovereign debt issues, with pretty shocking levels of low overseas growth have had an effect. Meantime the govt have been cutting spending.
The issue is should the govt have tightened austerity to meet an arbitary target. Economics/politics is not an exact science, it is a juggling act, keeping plates spinning. If you want to criticise Osborne then just what alternative policy should he have followed?
"Under Scotland's LBTT, people buying houses priced below £324,280 will pay less than under the stamp duty system as it existed before 3 December. Those spending more than that will be worse off."
Mr. Anorak, one of the many joys of global warming is that whenever the weather's remotely interesting someone claims it's evidence that an entirely unproven theory's correct. It's like Goodness Gracious Me's Mister India.
Hot weather - global warming Cold weather - global warming Rainy weather - global warming Dry weather - global warming
I realise you're probably pulling my leg, but I'm procrastinating because I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a certain little story. So I've indulged your silliness, even though you're a bounder.
I was indeed teasing. I would point out, though, that every snowflake is pointed to by AGW deniers as 'proof' there is no warming happening. It's a deliberate (or uneducated) trait on both sides of the issue.
Weather and Climate are different. What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
The incontrovertable fact proved by several diffferent satellite measurements (the only way to measure 'global temperatures as opposed to local weather) is that there has been no global warming for between 15 - 18 years. No global warming.
Only by cherry picking the start point as 1998 (an incredibly unusual hot year compared to the years immediately preceding and following it) can you come to that conclusion.
Didn't watch the Autumn [December isn't autumnal...] Statement but just checked the main announcements on the BBC. Doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about. I didn't miss anything, did I?
It's still autumn, in fact late summer, in my garden. Summer flowers are still flowering and I have snowdrops also flowering and the Christmas camellias about to burst into flower.
One year I had both jasmine and a sunflower still flowering at Xmas.
The joys of West Hampstead gardens!! Bet you don't get that in California, eh Charles?
In California it's summer all year round...
My San Francisco friends frequently quoted Mark Twain:
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
As with many things in San Francisco, it was more creative than accurate:
Continuing on the CCHQ mantra I see, unfortunately, YOU ARE FECKING WRONG!
The economy was broken by criminal actions in the Banking and Financial services industries around the planet. People, you, and the Conservative Party are seemingly trying to protect by diverting attention from them.
If the Banks and FSI were so FECKING innocent, why are they now being hit with massive fines on both sides of the pond and having to set aside massive amounts of cash (mostly paid for by the tax payers of those countries, rather than by the shareholders and investors).
And the real killer question that many Tories do not want answered, is why are none of the guilty ones in prison, with all their ill gotten assets seized by the law enforcement agencies. There is enough evidence in emails and actual paper trails to put many in prison for many years. After all, the Great Train Robbers got 20 years for stealing £20 million, these people stole billions if not trillions, mostly to benefit their bonus pay from their organisations and stealing from the companies and the shareholders.
Are we talking about the banks who paid out more in bonuses to certain staff than they paid in dividends to shareholders, year on year, without even actually increasing the value of the shares - see Barclays. Yep!
Are we talking about the 18 hedge funds who subsidised Shadow Chancellor Osborne's office? Yep!
Are we talking about the big accountancy firms who got more money by selling add on products to the companies rather than by doing the job of protecting shareholders and customers? Yep!
There are many on this site who could give you lock, stock and smoking barrels, but mostly won't so as to continue the CCHQ party line. It would be refreshing to see what would actually come out.
Comments
Both the cost of visiting Britain and leaving Britain has been reduced.
This is why Cameron was smart to go for a coalition. Minority governments can be tough.
You don't know your own climate. Maybe that's because it's changing, eh?
See, for example, xkcd.
In Wales we get early autumn for most of the year.
If you buy a home worth £500k in Edinburgh ;
the stamp duty yesterday was £20k
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £15k
the SNP stamp duty from May will be £27.3k
Massive incentive to move house before 1st May.
Peer review of my calcs ?
Ramius orders the doctor to organise an evacuation of the sub's crew after a so-called "reactor leak" while he and his officers "scuttle the ship" (in reality he will hand it over to the USA).
"Here's a graph of the effective stamp-duty rate (ie % of purchase price going to George) old vs new:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/12/3/1417617338126/65fad949-69ed-49a5-9d00-79300be4596f-620x441.png"
However, it would be an administrative nightmare due to the current nature of the tax. The way APD is structured is on as a tax on certain journey legs, and has no relationship to where (and how) the ticket is booked, or who the nationality of the purchaser (or traveller) is.
All the Alliance have to campaign on is: 'look at them, they are clueless', and they'll be back in March. Seem to be some behind the scenes moves to persuade Reinfeldt to come swanning back to bring some stability. Not sure that's such a great idea though since he alienated a lot of Conservative voters with his mass immigration policy, (100,000 successful asylum seekers in Sweden this year, would equate to over 600,000 in the UK!). That's why the Swedish Democrats polled so well last time. What a mess.
What proof does anyone need for the 'entirely unproven theory'?
As of 1st of May it will rise on Scottish properties over £300k or so.
DYOR
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/mortgages/2014/10/stamp-duty-bill-for-average-properties-in-scotland-to-be-slashed
HMRC new stamp duty calculator
"Results based on SDLT rules from 4 December 2014"
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tools/sdlt/land-property-results.htm?dates_Transaction=01/01/2015&moneyResidential=300000&moneyNonResidential=0
For a 300k house in Ediburgh
the stamp duty tomorrow will be £5k
the SNP stamp duty from May will be £7.3k
SD now : £153.8k
SNP SD from May : £197k !
Look at what you get for your money though.
http://www.ros.gov.uk/pdfs/ros_statistical_release_jul-sep14.pdf
"We have considered the evidence on the centrality of these plans – including the cross- government scrutiny that has taken place – and have weighed that against the recent history of optimism bias in universal credit plans and other projects of this sort."
You should spend more time in SoCal...
My guess is that the result will see polarisation and one or two or the small parties may be squeezed out, which would be bad news for the centre-right as they have two parties near the 4% threshold. But it could go either way.
Could trade in for a 1000 sq metre house with 50 acres and still have change for a nice Bentley & Aston Martin for the Mrs. http://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbglrsgls070425
http://tinyurl.com/mlbdnqz
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B376t5xIEAAt8-h.png
Come the GE, all parties routinely bring out their "we've saved you £XXXX over the past 5 years", or "they'll cost you £XXXX more per year" posters. And they always use some interesting calculations to underpin the most extreme figures each way. If the Tories are smart, they'll calculate how much an average family pays in stamp duty over a 5 year period and then add the potential savings under the new regime to their figures. Could make the headline figure better by hundreds or even thousands or, put another way, significantly increase the percentage off families financially better off over the past 5 years. Given that cost of living is a key Labour theme, this is a clever way of adjusting the headline figures. It will also be difficult for Labour to unpick without drawing attention to the stamp duty saving in the first place.
More generally, I am disappointed that the deficit isn't lower. But better to slip behind an ambitious target than an unambitious one. Aiming to clear the deficit in 5 years has led to roughly halving it. If they'd started off only trying to half it, I doubt it would be down by even a quarter. There's too much resistance to change to start by aiming low.
Given that this was the last chance to put in place new things (the Budget will be a more hypothetical exercise) and given the stamp duty changes to smooth out one crazy system, it's disappointing - if entirely politically understandable - that they haven't smoothed out the idiocy of the personal allowance clawback above £100k. The marginal tax rate between 100k-120k is 60%. It then drops back to 40% before going up to 45% at 150k. This sequence is clearly insane.
Given that many earning between £100k-£120k can adjust their income, and by that stage you're generally reasonably comfortable anyway, it's a huge disincentive to work more, limiting the overall tax take. And even if you are trapped in that range, it makes far more sense to divert the excess into pensions or some other way to reduce your net pre-tax income than to actually spend the money, thus reducing the benefit to the wider economy.
You could almost see the logic to it while there wasn't an additional rate but now there is, the clawback should be removed (if necessary, adjust the additional rate by a fraction of a percent to balance the effect, though the additional rate is pointless anyway outside of its symbolism).
World's smallest violin issue, I know, but it really is a crazy kink.
On the other hand, it's got the 01708 phone code.
Or more accurately bittersweet >< !
That does rather beg the question of why the SNP is bothering to impose it, but hey.
I consider it Essex really, although probably more accurate to say a bit of both as Boris is the Mayor and London Transport or tfl whatever its called, are the public transport providers, the MET are the police...
70/30 Essex/London?
No global warming.
The judge's comments are some of the most damning I've ever read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London
Although The City is considered a separate "Ceremonial County" within Greater London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30311722
They were such a poor train that there have been cases of trains running over their own engines when they've fallen out ...
http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/090828_B092009_Broad_Green.pdf
Not one of Derby's better products, although they were designed down to a price, and were much-modified bus bodies on a railway chassis.
Doesn't Russell Arnold have the most soothing voice?
You do seem incredibly thin-skinned for someone shilling on behalf of the Party that BROKE OUR FECKING ECONOMY IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Still waiting for the apology for that.
Labour really do have no economic plan apart from the magic money tree.
Yes of course the deficit could be lower. But the other point is the cuts to government spending and the savings and efficiencies it has been making.
There are two components to deficits - the govts own spending and the effects of the economic cycle.
The drag of the Eurozone crisis and other sovereign debt issues, with pretty shocking levels of low overseas growth have had an effect. Meantime the govt have been cutting spending.
The issue is should the govt have tightened austerity to meet an arbitary target. Economics/politics is not an exact science, it is a juggling act, keeping plates spinning. If you want to criticise Osborne then just what alternative policy should he have followed?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30319421
Korea's an ok circuit. Not a classic, but better than Singapore or Monaco by a fair margin. Having a week between that and Spain is stupid, though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30309468
"Under Scotland's LBTT, people buying houses priced below £324,280 will pay less than under the stamp duty system as it existed before 3 December. Those spending more than that will be worse off."
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
As with many things in San Francisco, it was more creative than accurate:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/twain.asp
Continuing on the CCHQ mantra I see, unfortunately, YOU ARE FECKING WRONG!
The economy was broken by criminal actions in the Banking and Financial services industries around the planet. People, you, and the Conservative Party are seemingly trying to protect by diverting attention from them.
If the Banks and FSI were so FECKING innocent, why are they now being hit with massive fines on both sides of the pond and having to set aside massive amounts of cash (mostly paid for by the tax payers of those countries, rather than by the shareholders and investors).
And the real killer question that many Tories do not want answered, is why are none of the guilty ones in prison, with all their ill gotten assets seized by the law enforcement agencies. There is enough evidence in emails and actual paper trails to put many in prison for many years. After all, the Great Train Robbers got 20 years for stealing £20 million, these people stole billions if not trillions, mostly to benefit their bonus pay from their organisations and stealing from the companies and the shareholders.
Are we talking about the banks who paid out more in bonuses to certain staff than they paid in dividends to shareholders, year on year, without even actually increasing the value of the shares - see Barclays. Yep!
Are we talking about the 18 hedge funds who subsidised Shadow Chancellor Osborne's office? Yep!
Are we talking about the big accountancy firms who got more money by selling add on products to the companies rather than by doing the job of protecting shareholders and customers? Yep!
There are many on this site who could give you lock, stock and smoking barrels, but mostly won't so as to continue the CCHQ party line. It would be refreshing to see what would actually come out.