Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
Now 1.41....And remember it now takes proper money to shift it.
Do large companies bet using Betfair Exchange? Never considered the idea before.
I thought the betting companies used it routinely for mitigating their positions.
Until 2 days ago there wasn't that much liquidity in the market. Then £100k went into Tory Majority market in less than hour. I don't think that is betting companies, more like city people.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds. Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
No, that's for the folk who get triggered by them.
Anyone have a suggestion as to why Con Majority seems to be rising fast in the bookies odds today?
1) The Tories are 10% ahead in the polls and there is only a week left before the election. 2) Any increase in the Labour vote seems to be in places where it doesn't matter not up North where seats are looking lost.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner suggests Nato has not been on the right side of history, as he seemingly defended Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the defence alliance.
Anyone have a suggestion as to why Con Majority seems to be rising fast in the bookies odds today?
1) The Tories are 10% ahead in the polls and there is only a week left before the election. 2) Any increase in the Labour vote seems to be in places where it doesn't matter not up North where seats are looking lost.
That doesn't explain the sudden movement. Somebody definitely think they have inside info (if they have or not, is a different matter).
Now 1.41....And remember it now takes proper money to shift it.
Do large companies bet using Betfair Exchange? Never considered the idea before.
There’s certainly a lot of hedge-fund types and day traders on the bigger political markets, playing with six-figure sums. Not sure how this works any more with the Betfair Premium Charge though.
It’s possible that someone has sight of the next MRP, or is trying to drive the market for political reasons to promote a certain narrative.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner suggests Nato has not been on the right side of history, as he seemingly defended Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the defence alliance.
Via Telegraph
Well Barry is big fan of the Chinese...It is a reminder that Corbynism isn't just about taxing the rich until the pips squeak, it is fundamentally against many of the Western institutions.
Hence Tax Credits, where the majority of the population have to pay taxes then fill in forms to be allowed to get some of it back again. Far better to just reduce the tax rate in the first place.
Not really, you can't ask companies to collect detailed information about living (and caring) commitments to determine the amount of tax to be paid.
The only way around it would be to move towards a different tax system where income tax and NI was paid by the employee rather than deducted by the employer. As that approach is common in the EU I really can't see it being implemented by the Tories and HMRC like the way money is paid at the moment.
I’d love to see a system where people have to pay their own taxes. Most people in the US have to write a cheque for the taxman every year, that should focus the mind somewhat towards what government does with the money. Employer NI needs to be scrapped, it’s quite literally a tax on jobs.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
Anyone have a suggestion as to why Con Majority seems to be rising fast in the bookies odds today?
I guess that the polls rough consistency and the fact that the GE is fast approaching means that punters are getting convinced on a Con Maj. Price probably will be around 1.25- 1.30 on GE night if polls remain consistent.
With just over a week to go, today's polling results are likely to prove crucial:
Tory Lead of 4%-5% or less ... all still to play for. Tory Lead of 7%-8% or more ... probably all over bar the shouting. Current Betfair Odds: 71% Tory Maj, 29% No Overall Maj.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds. Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
No, that's for the folk who get triggered by them.
No, it’s for rather inadequate people who get on their high-horse and presume to go around lecturing other people on how they should live their lives based on an obsequious ideology.
It's well worth watching this brief Michael Crick report on Claire Wright in East Devon. Apart from anything else, it indicates how savvy people are now on Tactical Voting. This will be one of THE stories of this election.
Thanks, interesting video. The other Michael Crick election videos are also informative.
They are.
It's getting wearisome the way in which some Tories on here are just jumping on anything and everything without first engaging their brains. It's disappointing for a site like this at which the standards are normally high.
I'm sure it will revert later this month.
I was in East Devon constituency for work on Monday. I’m not sure what the independent posters you spoke of look like - I only noticed one Labour sign in Littleham for most of the day, and I saw one further Tory sign later in the day. There did seem to be less Tory signs than elsewhere in Devon
Just a warning that the big movements on Betfair could be based on nothing material at all.
Indeed. But it is striking that the movements have happened simultaneously in the betting AND currency markets.
Gun to head, I’d say there’s a City rumour of a very favourable poll for the Tories
Could be, although it’s difficult to see how material that could be given that the Tories have had some rather healthy poll leads in the last few days.
Most city traders are linked in by WhatsApp to others, so it could be that one player has made a big move (perhaps based on the fact Trump hasn’t blown it up, Neil is likely off, there’s only a week to go and poll leads are good) and the rest are herding.
It's well worth watching this brief Michael Crick report on Claire Wright in East Devon. Apart from anything else, it indicates how savvy people are now on Tactical Voting. This will be one of THE stories of this election.
Thanks, interesting video. The other Michael Crick election videos are also informative.
They are.
It's getting wearisome the way in which some Tories on here are just jumping on anything and everything without first engaging their brains. It's disappointing for a site like this at which the standards are normally high.
I'm sure it will revert later this month.
I was in East Devon constituency for work on Monday. I’m not sure what the independent posters you spoke of look like - I only noticed one Labour sign in Littleham for most of the day, and I saw one further Tory sign later in the day. There did seem to be less Tory signs than elsewhere in Devon
East Devon seems to be a seat where the established anti-Tory political parties have almost given up on trying to win and are giving the independent candidate a free ride. The YouGov MRP study has Labour on 6%, the LDs on 4%, and the Greens on 2%.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
It’s far more complex than that, and really orientated around all 10 billion people in the world moving to a very similar (western skewed) diet. Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
Just a warning that the big movements on Betfair could be based on nothing material at all.
Indeed. But it is striking that the movements have happened simultaneously in the betting AND currency markets.
Gun to head, I’d say there’s a City rumour of a very favourable poll for the Tories
Could be, although it’s difficult to see how material that could be given that the Tories have had some rather healthy poll leads in the last few days.
Most city traders are linked in by WhatsApp to others, so it could be that one player has made a big move (perhaps based on the fact Trump hasn’t blown it up, Neil is likely off, there’s only a week to go and poll leads are good) and the rest are herding.
Thanks to Cyclefree for an excellent thread. While I don't wholly agree with Ken Clarke's support for FPTP as you would expect, there's very little else with which any sensible person could disagree.
If you want to know why, as someone who voted LEAVE in 2016, I am now in the 3% who would vote LD, it's not because of slavish party loyalty but because of the utter and abject failure of successive Conservative Governments to come up with any kind of sensible plan or idea not just about leaving the EU (the easy bit) but around the longer term political and economic relationships not just with the EU but with the rest of the world.
We needed to have that serious national conversation after 2016 but so much energy and vitriol had been expended in the preceding weeks and months there was no appetite and so too many abdicated responsibility to Theresa May and the Tories.
I'd revoke now and re-set the A50 clock and start again but trying to establish what it is we as a country want not just from our future relationship with the EU but how we see the UK's place in the wider world in the mid 21st century. What does "Global Britain" mean? How ought we to be engaging with the rising powers of India, Brazil and of course China as well as aiding Africa? How can we provide them the economic prosperity we have enjoyed without the environmental damage that we and others inflicted on the planet in the 19th and 20th centuries?
I've advocated re-joining and re-vitalising EFTA as a free trading group and I sense the "Common Market" would be much more widely supported than the "Single Market" but turning the clock back isn't a solution - we need to frame that free trading notion for the here and now and recognise there are areas of common interest which go beyond political or trading blocs.
Hence Tax Credits, where the majority of the population have to pay taxes then fill in forms to be allowed to get some of it back again. Far better to just reduce the tax rate in the first place.
Not really, you can't ask companies to collect detailed information about living (and caring) commitments to determine the amount of tax to be paid.
The only way around it would be to move towards a different tax system where income tax and NI was paid by the employee rather than deducted by the employer. As that approach is common in the EU I really can't see it being implemented by the Tories and HMRC like the way money is paid at the moment.
I’d love to see a system where people have to pay their own taxes. Most people in the US have to write a cheque for the taxman every year, that should focus the mind somewhat towards what government does with the money. Employer NI needs to be scrapped, it’s quite literally a tax on jobs.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
Hence Tax Credits, where the majority of the population have to pay taxes then fill in forms to be allowed to get some of it back again. Far better to just reduce the tax rate in the first place.
Not really, you can't ask companies to collect detailed information about living (and caring) commitments to determine the amount of tax to be paid.
The only way around it would be to move towards a different tax system where income tax and NI was paid by the employee rather than deducted by the employer. As that approach is common in the EU I really can't see it being implemented by the Tories and HMRC like the way money is paid at the moment.
I’d love to see a system where people have to pay their own taxes. Most people in the US have to write a cheque for the taxman every year, that should focus the mind somewhat towards what government does with the money. Employer NI needs to be scrapped, it’s quite literally a tax on jobs.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
The new IR35 rules make no sense at all. They will lead to a massive negative change in labour mobility, concentrate most of the jobs in two or three large cities, make maternity cover and project work more expensive for everyone. Very poorly thought through.
No, it’s for rather inadequate people who get on their high-horse and presume to go around lecturing other people on how they should live their lives based on an obsequious ideology.
Which sounds a great deal like you. I have no problem with vegans, and eat meat. You, on the other hand...
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds. Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
No, that's for the folk who get triggered by them.
No, it’s for rather inadequate people who get on their high-horse and presume to go around lecturing other people on how they should live their lives based on an obsequious ideology.
Not all vegans do that. I was a vegetarian for many years and never spoke of it unless some annoying person asked "why are you vegetarian?". My response in my head was "why aren`t you vegetarian?" but refrained out of politeness. I would explain that I was a vegetarian because I wasn`t prepared to eat what I wasn`t prepared to kill. That shut them up.
I`ve hardened up these days. I reckon I could kill a cow. Not with a knife though - I`d have to run it over.
Just a warning that the big movements on Betfair could be based on nothing material at all.
Indeed. But it is striking that the movements have happened simultaneously in the betting AND currency markets.
Gun to head, I’d say there’s a City rumour of a very favourable poll for the Tories
Could be, although it’s difficult to see how material that could be given that the Tories have had some rather healthy poll leads in the last few days.
Most city traders are linked in by WhatsApp to others, so it could be that one player has made a big move (perhaps based on the fact Trump hasn’t blown it up, Neil is likely off, there’s only a week to go and poll leads are good) and the rest are herding.
Yes, it might just be a wave of sentiment as the markets opened this morning. The madness, or wisdom, of crowds.
Anyone have a suggestion as to why Con Majority seems to be rising fast in the bookies odds today?
I guess that the polls rough consistency and the fact that the GE is fast approaching means that punters are getting convinced on a Con Maj. Price probably will be around 1.25- 1.30 on GE night if polls remain consistent.
Thanks for that.
Wasn't sure if i had missed some major polling today or not.
Thanks to Cyclefree for an excellent thread. While I don't wholly agree with Ken Clarke's support for FPTP as you would expect, there's very little else with which any sensible person could disagree.
If you want to know why, as someone who voted LEAVE in 2016, I am now in the 3% who would vote LD, it's not because of slavish party loyalty but because of the utter and abject failure of successive Conservative Governments to come up with any kind of sensible plan or idea not just about leaving the EU (the easy bit) but around the longer term political and economic relationships not just with the EU but with the rest of the world.
We needed to have that serious national conversation after 2016 but so much energy and vitriol had been expended in the preceding weeks and months there was no appetite and so too many abdicated responsibility to Theresa May and the Tories.
I'd revoke now and re-set the A50 clock and start again but trying to establish what it is we as a country want not just from our future relationship with the EU but how we see the UK's place in the wider world in the mid 21st century. What does "Global Britain" mean? How ought we to be engaging with the rising powers of India, Brazil and of course China as well as aiding Africa? How can we provide them the economic prosperity we have enjoyed without the environmental damage that we and others inflicted on the planet in the 19th and 20th centuries?
I've advocated re-joining and re-vitalising EFTA as a free trading group and I sense the "Common Market" would be much more widely supported than the "Single Market" but turning the clock back isn't a solution - we need to frame that free trading notion for the here and now and recognise there are areas of common interest which go beyond political or trading blocs.
Labour must be green with envy seeing Boris getting all the media coverage this morning meeting and welcoming world leaders
Probably but I have never been convinced. Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom is that being seen with other leaders is a good thing. But I bet there are a few fingers crossed at CCHQ that a Boris/Trump love-in does not revive sell-off fears.
Anyone have a suggestion as to why Con Majority seems to be rising fast in the bookies odds today?
I think you mean the odds are shortening? With the Tories holding a lead in the polls, all other things remaining equal, this is bound to happen as the clock runs down and there is less time to eliminate such a lead.
Ken Clarke has timed his retirement beautifully. The decline in personal probity that the likes of Johnson, Fox, Williamson have brought makes his dubious directorships in British American Tobacco and the like seem relatively minor.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner suggests Nato has not been on the right side of history, as he seemingly defended Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the defence alliance.
Via Telegraph
Well Barry is big fan of the Chinese...It is a reminder that Corbynism isn't just about taxing the rich until the pips squeak, it is fundamentally against many of the Western institutions.
Precisely! This is why so many of us who remember the 80s and the Bennites are so aghast at Corbyn and his allies taking over the Labour Party. Corbyn is fundamentally anti-Western and anti-British. He couldn't care less about Brexit (undoubtedly a supporter of Leave privately), hates NATO, and would be delighted at the break-up of the Union. The more chaos the better as this provides an opportunity for a full-on Socialist makeover.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
It’s far more complex than that, and really orientated around all 10 billion people in the world moving to a very similar (western skewed) diet. Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
My point, Nigel, is that many people feeling impotent about global warming, and guilty about their lifestyles, and veganism is a very obvious hairy shirt to be worn. It’s like the modern equivalent of the medieval flagellants who whipped themselves over the Black Death to repent for the sins of mankind.
Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white.
We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables.
That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds. Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
No, that's for the folk who get triggered by them.
No, it’s for rather inadequate people who get on their high-horse and presume to go around lecturing other people on how they should live their lives based on an obsequious ideology.
Not all vegans do that. I was a vegetarian for many years and never spoke of it unless some annoying person asked "why are you vegetarian?". My response in my head was "why aren`t you vegetarian?" but refrained out of politeness. I would explain that I was a vegetarian because I wasn`t prepared to eat what I wasn`t prepared to kill. That shut them up.
I`ve hardened up these days. I reckon I could kill a cow. Not with a knife though - I`d have to run it over.
That’s interesting. I’ve never had a problem with vegetarians, actually. Never. And they’ve always been around.
By contrast, I can’t think of a single Vegan who hasn’t presumed to lecture me.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner suggests Nato has not been on the right side of history, as he seemingly defended Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the defence alliance.
Via Telegraph
Well Barry is big fan of the Chinese...It is a reminder that Corbynism isn't just about taxing the rich until the pips squeak, it is fundamentally against many of the Western institutions.
Precisely! This is why so many of us who remember the 80s and the Bennites are so aghast at Corbyn and his allies taking over the Labour Party. Corbyn is fundamentally anti-Western and anti-British. He couldn't care less about Brexit (undoubtedly a supporter of Leave privately), hates NATO, and would be delighted at the break-up of the Union. The more chaos the better as this provides an opportunity for a full-on Socialist makeover.
No, it’s for rather inadequate people who get on their high-horse and presume to go around lecturing other people on how they should live their lives based on an obsequious ideology.
Which sounds a great deal like you. I have no problem with vegans, and eat meat. You, on the other hand...
And, you’ve been a twat since birth.
Like I’ve said before: it’s not your fault; it’s all in the name.
The worst people in politics and political debate have the misfortune to be encumbered with the Christian name of “Nigel”.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
The new IR35 rules make no sense at all. They will lead to a massive negative change in labour mobility, concentrate most of the jobs in two or three large cities, make maternity cover and project work more expensive for everyone. Very poorly thought through.
The Conservatives have lost Mrs Stodge's vote because of this and she is desperately worried for her future. She has contracted in the financial sector for 25 years and now sees that career ending.
Banks are already trying to squeeze out contractors and force them on to either fixed term contracts or become permanent members of staff.
Coming from a supposedly pro-business Conservative Party, this is just beyond belief. Contractors do not have it "easy" any more - they pay NI and of course Corporation Tax and forego benefits such as sick and holiday pay. They also provide a mobile work force which can be easily brought in at an institution which is perhaps under the threat of regulatory intervention and needs to get its systems and processes up to speed.
How anyone who is considering voting Conservative can support this nonsense is beyond me.
Hence Tax Credits, where the majority of the population have to pay taxes then fill in forms to be allowed to get some of it back again. Far better to just reduce the tax rate in the first place.
Not really, you can't ask companies to collect detailed information about living (and caring) commitments to determine the amount of tax to be paid.
The only way around it would be to move towards a different tax system where income tax and NI was paid by the employee rather than deducted by the employer. As that approach is common in the EU I really can't see it being implemented by the Tories and HMRC like the way money is paid at the moment.
I’d love to see a system where people have to pay their own taxes. Most people in the US have to write a cheque for the taxman every year, that should focus the mind somewhat towards what government does with the money. Employer NI needs to be scrapped, it’s quite literally a tax on jobs.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
The new IR35 rules make no sense at all. They will lead to a massive negative change in labour mobility, concentrate most of the jobs in two or three large cities, make maternity cover and project work more expensive for everyone. Very poorly thought through.
I don't think it even helps people in some of those large cities. The biggest whines I've so far heard are from people living in Glasgow..
On the other hand it did give me the final push to actually go and create some software and work full time on plan b.
Downside is the software is now written and I need to drop working on it to spend time doing marketing while trying to find someone I trust to take over.
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
That's funny, I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various English tabloids. I guess they must be more Scandinavian in their outlook down there than I'd previously thought.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
You ever met one who doesn’t?
Well quite obviously the vegans who keep quiet about it, you never hear from!
I don't know why you find veganism so threatening, it is completely unremarkable in Leicester as several communities are.
I did a new constituency specific YouGov with tactical voting questions earlier.
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
I’d like to see some objective academic studies before I started to believe that Scandinavians have “much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment” than, for example, English people. My experience, as a Scandinavian, is quite the opposite. We are very kind and tolerant towards non-Scandinavians.
The one area where the English are much better is day-to-day friendliness, eg small talk and inquisitiveness with foreigners. Scandinavians are dreadful at that. But they are also shite at talking with their next door neighbours, so nothing to do with the foreigners per se.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
It’s far more complex than that, and really orientated around all 10 billion people in the world moving to a very similar (western skewed) diet. Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
My point, Nigel, is that many people feeling impotent about global warming, and guilty about their lifestyles, and veganism is a very obvious hairy shirt to be worn. It’s like the modern equivalent of the medieval flagellants who whipped themselves over the Black Death to repent for the sins of mankind. Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white. We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables. That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
Which sounds entirely reasonable. My issue was with your previous posts.
Point about most vegans of my acquaintance is that they have of necessity to be vocal in order to be served with vegan food. That goes for vegetarians to some extent, too. The seeming determination of either restaurants or friends to sabotage their diets is a curious phenomenon - and perhaps not entirely unrelated to your own apparent animosity towards them.
Hence Tax Credits, where the majority of the population have to pay taxes then fill in forms to be allowed to get some of it back again. Far better to just reduce the tax rate in the first place.
Not really, you can't ask companies to collect detailed information about living (and caring) commitments to determine the amount of tax to be paid.
The only way around it would be to move towards a different tax system where income tax and NI was paid by the employee rather than deducted by the employer. As that approach is common in the EU I really can't see it being implemented by the Tories and HMRC like the way money is paid at the moment.
I’d love to see a system where people have to pay their own taxes. Most people in the US have to write a cheque for the taxman every year, that should focus the mind somewhat towards what government does with the money. Employer NI needs to be scrapped, it’s quite literally a tax on jobs.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
The new IR35 rules make no sense at all. They will lead to a massive negative change in labour mobility, concentrate most of the jobs in two or three large cities, make maternity cover and project work more expensive for everyone. Very poorly thought through.
I don't think it even helps people in some of those large cities. The biggest whines I've so far heard are from people living in Glasgow..
On the other hand it did give me the final push to actually go and create some software and work full time on plan b.
Downside is the software is now written and I need to drop working on it to spend time doing marketing while trying to find someone I trust to take over.
The population bit is the most interesting from my point of view. Manchester is expected to have a population of 637,000 by 2025. From a psephological perspective, this is interesting: Manchester Central already has an electorate of around 95,000 (2017 figures - in all likelihood it may now be over 100,000). We can expect, at the next review, more representation for Manchester. And I wonder whether this is part of a larger trend: for decades we have been used to boundary reviews favouring the Conservatives, with Labour-heartland seats losing population and Tory-shires gaining. I wonder whether this assumption will necessarily continue to hold.
The forthcoming IR35 changes (which will destroy the contractor and specialist freelancer market in the UK) are because of HMRC's desperate need to keep that Employer NI coming in. It's a brilliant hidden tax.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
The new IR35 rules make no sense at all. They will lead to a massive negative change in labour mobility, concentrate most of the jobs in two or three large cities, make maternity cover and project work more expensive for everyone. Very poorly thought through.
The Conservatives have lost Mrs Stodge's vote because of this and she is desperately worried for her future. She has contracted in the financial sector for 25 years and now sees that career ending.
Banks are already trying to squeeze out contractors and force them on to either fixed term contracts or become permanent members of staff.
Coming from a supposedly pro-business Conservative Party, this is just beyond belief. Contractors do not have it "easy" any more - they pay NI and of course Corporation Tax and forego benefits such as sick and holiday pay. They also provide a mobile work force which can be easily brought in at an institution which is perhaps under the threat of regulatory intervention and needs to get its systems and processes up to speed.
How anyone who is considering voting Conservative can support this nonsense is beyond me.
I will be voting Conservative but, as a freelancer, I agree that the IR35 stuff is a shambles and, as you say, simply bizarre coming from a Tory government.
It’s Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
My point, Nigel, is that many people feeling impotent about global warming, and guilty about their lifestyles, and veganism is a very obvious hairy shirt to be worn. It’s like the modern equivalent of the medieval flagellants who whipped themselves over the Black Death to repent for the sins of mankind. Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white. We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables. That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
Which sounds entirely reasonable. My issue was with your previous posts.
Point about most vegans of my acquaintance is that they have of necessity to be vocal in order to be served with vegan food. That goes for vegetarians to some extent, too. The seeming determination of either restaurants or friends to sabotage their diets is a curious phenomenon - and perhaps not entirely unrelated to your own apparent animosity towards them.
A reasonable post. And my issue, likewise, was with your posts.
I’ve never seen a movement like vegetarianism that seeks to provoke or change others diets from the point of view of morality. Veganism is, and it irritates me.
Lincoln , very close fight Just my two pence worth of thoughts, wrt Lincon. Have lived and worked there, so know a little about it. Pros and Cons, for Labour Karen Lee Pros: -Student vote - around 1500 -Brexit Party to split Leave votes -Possible tactical voting from Greens and even LD Karen has been more hands on and visible in Lincon, with a more down to earth nature. Being a nurse also helps, given the way the public services are at the moment. Cons: -Her biggest threat comes from being strongly remain in a 55-45 leave Constituency. A lot of people feel let down, even calling her a traitor. How much of this would translate into votes, time will tell - As usual JC, but he was there in 2017, so people have got used to him, like a rash.
Conservative: Karl McCartney Pros: strongly Brexit, will he polarise the 55% vote? Tyen he wins Cons: quite a few , actually. -Has been MP for 7 years, so has a lot to answer, when he promises new stuff, like park and ride -Lot of people have been hurt by 9 years of austerity, so again on the back foot - Has this impresion of being arrogant and little too full of himself. Read his facebook page, with mostly negative comments from the public - Was involved in the expenses scandal as well as hiring his wife. People have not forgotten that
So, overall it's going to be a close fight, with Karen slightly ahead. However, if the Tories had selected a newbie, with not much baggage as Karl, then most likely the Tories had this in the bag. My verdict, close win for Karen, less than 1000 votes . Please feel free to disagree. The red wall in the North has been shaken. Whether it will crumble, will depend on many factors and not only on Brexit alone
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
You ever met one who doesn’t?
Well quite obviously the vegans who keep quiet about it, you never hear from!
I don't know why you find veganism so threatening, it is completely unremarkable in Leicester as several communities are.
I did a new constituency specific YouGov with tactical voting questions earlier.
It’s threatening because they want to eliminate meat from our culture, it’s fast growing and I don’t want it to reach critical mass.
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
I’d like to see some objective academic studies before I started to believe that Scandinavians have “much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment” than, for example, English people. My experience, as a Scandinavian, is quite the opposite. We are very kind and tolerant towards non-Scandinavians...
@Burgessian is perhaps thinking of the Swedish Democrats ?
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
I’d like to see some objective academic studies before I started to believe that Scandinavians have “much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment” than, for example, English people. My experience, as a Scandinavian, is quite the opposite. We are very kind and tolerant towards non-Scandinavians.
The one area where the English are much better is day-to-day friendliness, eg small talk and inquisitiveness with foreigners. Scandinavians are dreadful at that. But they are also shite at talking with their next door neighbours, so nothing to do with the foreigners per se.
Stuart, it's anecdotal so far as I'm concerned. But, historically, there were quite strong fascist movements in most of the Scandi countries. Obviously social democracy has prevailed but there is a vein of that kind of sentiment there. BTW have Scandi friends and acquaintances so by no means down on those countries at all - quite the oppo.
It’s Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
My point, Nigel, is that many people feeling impotent about global warming, and guilty about their lifestyles, and veganism is a very obvious hairy shirt to be worn. It’s like the modern equivalent of the medieval flagellants who whipped themselves over the Black Death to repent for the sins of mankind. Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white. We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables. That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
Which sounds entirely reasonable. My issue was with your previous posts.
Point about most vegans of my acquaintance is that they have of necessity to be vocal in order to be served with vegan food. That goes for vegetarians to some extent, too. The seeming determination of either restaurants or friends to sabotage their diets is a curious phenomenon - and perhaps not entirely unrelated to your own apparent animosity towards them.
A reasonable post. And my issue, likewise, was with your posts.
Lincoln , very close fight Just my two pence worth of thoughts, wrt Lincon. Have lived and worked there, so know a little about it. Pros and Cons, for Labour Karen Lee Pros: -Student vote - around 1500 -Brexit Party to split Leave votes -Possible tactical voting from Greens and even LD Karen has been more hands on and visible in Lincon, with a more down to earth nature. Being a nurse also helps, given the way the public services are at the moment. Cons: -Her biggest threat comes from being strongly remain in a 55-45 leave Constituency. A lot of people feel let down, even calling her a traitor. How much of this would translate into votes, time will tell - As usual JC, but he was there in 2017, so people have got used to him, like a rash.
Conservative: Karl McCartney Pros: strongly Brexit, will he polarise the 55% vote? Tyen he wins Cons: quite a few , actually. -Has been MP for 7 years, so has a lot to answer, when he promises new stuff, like park and ride -Lot of people have been hurt by 9 years of austerity, so again on the back foot - Has this impresion of being arrogant and little too full of himself. Read his facebook page, with mostly negative comments from the public - Was involved in the expenses scandal as well as hiring his wife. People have not forgotten that
So, overall it's going to be a close fight, with Karen slightly ahead. However, if the Tories had selected a newbie, with not much baggage as Karl, then most likely the Tories had this in the bag. My verdict, close win for Karen, less than 1000 votes . Please feel free to disagree. The red wall in the North has been shaken. Whether it will crumble, will depend on many factors and not only on Brexit alone
Welcome to the site and thanks for the local detail.
@AlastairMeeks: Ken did not say who he would be voting for. He swerved the question rather elegantly.
@YBarddCwsc: I can assure you I will not be writing misty-eyed articles about Corbyn in future. I have already written a couple about him pointing out the similarities between him and Thatcher and Trump. That is as misty-eyed as I will ever get. I do think he is right to raise some of the issues with poverty, unequal shares of wealth etc - we are far too relaxed about having a society with extremes of wealth at one end and uncertainty and insecurity at the bottom in a manner a tad reminiscent of the late 19th century - but his views about how to address these issues are fundamentally cock-eyed and badly thought through.
I would have liked to hear more about whether he thought it necessary to listen to voters more not simply talk to them and also about what, if anything, he would have done differently in the 90’s if he’d realised what was happening under the surface.
It’s Instead, we should take far greater interest in the vernacular. For example, here in the UK, moderate amounts of grass-fed lamb and beef from Welsh and Scottish uplands, and the English north, isn’t really a problem whereas we should probably be flying in a few less daily planeloads of avocados and creating pressure in Malaysia and Brazil to clear rainforest for soy.
Well, of course global food production is more complex than a single paragraph - but that doesn't make it wrong. The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
My point, Nigel, is that many people feeling impotent about global warming, and guilty about their lifestyles, and veganism is a very obvious hairy shirt to be worn. It’s like the modern equivalent of the medieval flagellants who whipped themselves over the Black Death to repent for the sins of mankind. Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white. We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables. That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
Which sounds entirely reasonable. My issue was with your previous posts.
Point about most vegans of my acquaintance is that they have of necessity to be vocal in order to be served with vegan food. That goes for vegetarians to some extent, too. The seeming determination of either restaurants or friends to sabotage their diets is a curious phenomenon - and perhaps not entirely unrelated to your own apparent animosity towards them.
A reasonable post. And my issue, likewise, was with your posts.
The Conservatives have lost Mrs Stodge's vote because of this and she is desperately worried for her future. She has contracted in the financial sector for 25 years and now sees that career ending.
Banks are already trying to squeeze out contractors and force them on to either fixed term contracts or become permanent members of staff.
Coming from a supposedly pro-business Conservative Party, this is just beyond belief. Contractors do not have it "easy" any more - they pay NI and of course Corporation Tax and forego benefits such as sick and holiday pay. They also provide a mobile work force which can be easily brought in at an institution which is perhaps under the threat of regulatory intervention and needs to get its systems and processes up to speed.
How anyone who is considering voting Conservative can support this nonsense is beyond me.
I will be voting Conservative but, as a freelancer, I agree that the IR35 stuff is a shambles and, as you say, simply bizarre coming from a Tory government.
I've said for years Employers NI should be abolished - if it was all this IR35 stuff could go away. The problem is that many companies are deliberately attempting to dodge Employers NI. I suspect if Employers NI were to be abolished it could result in an increase in Employees NI and Income Tax and a reduction in benefits paid out.
I have heard of many dodgy businesses employing people and paying them in cash more than what their payslip says - in order to dodge Employers NI, Employees NI, Income Tax and potentially allow the employee to claim more benefits. As both parties benefit from this fraud nobody says anything. This is an unfair burden then on competitor businesses that are not dodgy. There are of course potential punishments for both parties if they get caught but people commit fraud because they don't expect to be caught.
If Employers NI were abolished then there would be an incentive still for the Employee to commit fraud but the risk/reward ratio for the Employer would be dramatically changed. You would be removing the direct incentive on the Employer to do this.
Oh - and @YBarddCwsc: the reason I have not commented on the Rosie Lib Dems story (whether from my pulpit or otherwise) is because I have no idea about it.
Lincoln , very close fight Just my two pence worth of thoughts, wrt Lincon. Have lived and worked there, so know a little about it. Pros and Cons, for Labour Karen Lee Pros: -Student vote - around 1500 -Brexit Party to split Leave votes -Possible tactical voting from Greens and even LD Karen has been more hands on and visible in Lincon, with a more down to earth nature. Being a nurse also helps, given the way the public services are at the moment. Cons: -Her biggest threat comes from being strongly remain in a 55-45 leave Constituency. A lot of people feel let down, even calling her a traitor. How much of this would translate into votes, time will tell - As usual JC, but he was there in 2017, so people have got used to him, like a rash.
Conservative: Karl McCartney Pros: strongly Brexit, will he polarise the 55% vote? Tyen he wins Cons: quite a few , actually. -Has been MP for 7 years, so has a lot to answer, when he promises new stuff, like park and ride -Lot of people have been hurt by 9 years of austerity, so again on the back foot - Has this impresion of being arrogant and little too full of himself. Read his facebook page, with mostly negative comments from the public - Was involved in the expenses scandal as well as hiring his wife. People have not forgotten that
So, overall it's going to be a close fight, with Karen slightly ahead. However, if the Tories had selected a newbie, with not much baggage as Karl, then most likely the Tories had this in the bag. My verdict, close win for Karen, less than 1000 votes . Please feel free to disagree. The red wall in the North has been shaken. Whether it will crumble, will depend on many factors and not only on Brexit alone
Thanks for that - I`ve had a tenner on Lab at 13/8
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
I’d like to see some objective academic studies before I started to believe that Scandinavians have “much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment” than, for example, English people. My experience, as a Scandinavian, is quite the opposite. We are very kind and tolerant towards non-Scandinavians...
@Burgessian is perhaps thinking of the Swedish Democrats ?
The difference is that the Scandinavians, due to PR voting systems, have separate parties, whereas England has “wings” within parties. Eg. in Sweden there are: - two LibDem parties (urban and rural) - three Labour parties (centre-left, left and feminist) - two Green parties (left and centrist) - three conservative parties (social conservatives, economic liberals and anti-migration)
So, while the Danish People’s Party and the Sweden Democrats are highly visible, they are matched, indeed exceeded, by anti-migration sentiment deeply imbedded in the Tory party in England, due to FPTP.
Ken Clarke has timed his retirement beautifully. The decline in personal probity that the likes of Johnson, Fox, Williamson have brought makes his dubious directorships in British American Tobacco and the like seem relatively minor.
Ethics are fading fast. Trump is an obvious villain but it's general. And what strikes me is that rather than politicians being held to a higher standard than the average joe it is now the opposite. Take the relentless lying of our PM - "Boris" - on matters both serious and trivial. In their own private life most people would, I suggest, soon get angry and irritated with such an individual. They would call him out, indicate their displeasure, probably drop him from their circle if he failed to reform. But the PM? This "Boris"? It's different for some reason. It's OK. He gets a pass. Regardless of one's politics this is not good.
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
You ever met one who doesn’t?
I know a fair few vegans, and none of them would give the slightest of fucks what you would think of them or "thrust it" at you. Unlike the sanctimonious tossers on here who absolutely have to tell us how great their views are and how wrong the other person is....
Current global meat production is undoubtedly bad for the planet. Without greatly reducing consumption, non-intensively farmed grass fed ruminants would not get anywhere near supplying current demand. At the moment, it’s increasing.
The "vegan" interior was a £3k option on my Taycan. Porsche know which way the wind is blowing.
Optioning Porsches to maximise their residual value is a fine art; it's very easy to over or under option them. The vegan interior ones are going to command a premium just for the novelty value - see also getting the "Mission E" wheels. I also object to hooning around in an inside out cow on ethical grounds.
Nobody in the UK has been banned for speeding in an electric vehicle yet. Challenge accepted. 🕶️
Vegan is in the OED as a synonym for “twat”.
That`s a view CasinoRoyale! Nothing wrong with being vegan as long an one doesn`t thrust it - virtue signally - in others` faces.
You ever met one who doesn’t?
I know a fair few vegans, and none of them would give the slightest of fucks what you would think of them or "thrust it" at you. Unlike the sanctimonious tossers on here who absolutely have to tell us how great their views are and how wrong the other person is....
Well you clearly know they are vegans, so they must have told you about it at some point. I don`t go around telling people about my dietary preferences. And I never did for all the years I was a vegetarian.
Silly sloganeering. If you have finite assets, to allocate more to those with less you necessarily have to take from those with more. There's local pockets across which that is not necessarily true, and special rules might temporarily apply to pretendy assets like money, but overall it cannot not be the case.
They seem to manage a more balanced society in the Nordic countries. Their rich people appear to be happy being just wealthy rather than wanting to have it all and have everybody else poor. The UK is a sh**hole.
I have some experience of Scandinavia. It is rather more nuanced than that. There is a much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment there, for instance. I'm always struck by the obsession with migrants in the various Scandi-noir series.
I’d like to see some objective academic studies before I started to believe that Scandinavians have “much stronger racist anti-foreigner sentiment” than, for example, English people. My experience, as a Scandinavian, is quite the opposite. We are very kind and tolerant towards non-Scandinavians...
@Burgessian is perhaps thinking of the Swedish Democrats ?
The difference is that the Scandinavians, due to PR voting systems, have separate parties, whereas England has “wings” within parties. Eg. in Sweden there are: - two LibDem parties (urban and rural) - three Labour parties (centre-left, left and feminist) - two Green parties (left and centrist) - three conservative parties (social conservatives, economic liberals and anti-migration)
So, while the Danish People’s Party and the Sweden Democrats are highly visible, they are matched, indeed exceeded, by anti-migration sentiment deeply imbedded in the Tory party in England, due to FPTP.
PB is always a rich source of amusing human oddity, and your one man mission to establish England and Scotland as two entirely alien states seperated by a yawning chasm of cultural, historical, and anthropological unfamiliarity definitely marks you out as a true PB eccentric. England's immigrant obsessed old Tories eh? - obviously not a sentiment shared by any of their Scottish counterparts... Bit like when you went off on one about 'English wine shelves' being chock full of inferior New World plonk, whereas Scottish wine shelves were full of the 'infinitely superior' (and presumably more culturally satisfactory) European wines. It is odd and wonderful all at the same time.
Comments
2) Any increase in the Labour vote seems to be in places where it doesn't matter not up North where seats are looking lost.
Now, there’s a surprise.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner suggests Nato has not been on the right side of history, as he seemingly defended Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the defence alliance.
Via Telegraph
It’s possible that someone has sight of the next MRP, or is trying to drive the market for political reasons to promote a certain narrative.
As someone who is literally recruiting people at the moment - given that I can employ anywhere in the world it's not encouraging me to recruit in the UK.
Tory Lead of 4%-5% or less ... all still to play for.
Tory Lead of 7%-8% or more ... probably all over bar the shouting.
Current Betfair Odds: 71% Tory Maj, 29% No Overall Maj.
Gun to head, I’d say there’s a City rumour of a very favourable poll for the Tories
There did seem to be less Tory signs than elsewhere in Devon
The real keeper of the peace - not the EU
Most city traders are linked in by WhatsApp to others, so it could be that one player has made a big move (perhaps based on the fact Trump hasn’t blown it up, Neil is likely off, there’s only a week to go and poll leads are good) and the rest are herding.
The demand for soybeans has very little to do with us - China is by a massive distance the biggest importer. And much of the world's soybean production goes for livestock feed, which is the meat production we need to reduce.
Thanks to Cyclefree for an excellent thread. While I don't wholly agree with Ken Clarke's support for FPTP as you would expect, there's very little else with which any sensible person could disagree.
If you want to know why, as someone who voted LEAVE in 2016, I am now in the 3% who would vote LD, it's not because of slavish party loyalty but because of the utter and abject failure of successive Conservative Governments to come up with any kind of sensible plan or idea not just about leaving the EU (the easy bit) but around the longer term political and economic relationships not just with the EU but with the rest of the world.
We needed to have that serious national conversation after 2016 but so much energy and vitriol had been expended in the preceding weeks and months there was no appetite and so too many abdicated responsibility to Theresa May and the Tories.
I'd revoke now and re-set the A50 clock and start again but trying to establish what it is we as a country want not just from our future relationship with the EU but how we see the UK's place in the wider world in the mid 21st century. What does "Global Britain" mean? How ought we to be engaging with the rising powers of India, Brazil and of course China as well as aiding Africa? How can we provide them the economic prosperity we have enjoyed without the environmental damage that we and others inflicted on the planet in the 19th and 20th centuries?
I've advocated re-joining and re-vitalising EFTA as a free trading group and I sense the "Common Market" would be much more widely supported than the "Single Market" but turning the clock back isn't a solution - we need to frame that free trading notion for the here and now and recognise there are areas of common interest which go beyond political or trading blocs.
You, on the other hand...
I`ve hardened up these days. I reckon I could kill a cow. Not with a knife though - I`d have to run it over.
Wasn't sure if i had missed some major polling today or not.
The decline in personal probity that the likes of Johnson, Fox, Williamson have brought makes his dubious directorships in British American Tobacco and the like seem relatively minor.
Corbyn is fundamentally anti-Western and anti-British.
He couldn't care less about Brexit (undoubtedly a supporter of Leave privately), hates NATO, and would be delighted at the break-up of the Union. The more chaos the better as this provides an opportunity for a full-on Socialist makeover.
Veganism is a very purist and ideological diet (and many of its PETA adherents can’t believe their luck in its recent success in attaching itself limpet-like to the environmental movement) and a hugely fashionable fad; the truth is far more complex. It isn’t black and white.
We should be eating a well-balanced healthy diet that includes the right types of locally sourced, sustainably produced meat to high-welfare standards, on top of omnivorous sourcing of other fruits, nuts and vegetables.
That’s how we’ve evolved and the world has developed over hundreds of millions of years, and it’s the best way of preserving the biodiversity and unique habitats of our planet.
By contrast, I can’t think of a single Vegan who hasn’t presumed to lecture me.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7752923/Jeremy-Corbyn-bomb-makers-friend-IRA-terrorist-admirer-Corbyn.html
And, you’ve been a twat since birth.
Like I’ve said before: it’s not your fault; it’s all in the name.
The worst people in politics and political debate have the misfortune to be encumbered with the Christian name of “Nigel”.
Banks are already trying to squeeze out contractors and force them on to either fixed term contracts or become permanent members of staff.
Coming from a supposedly pro-business Conservative Party, this is just beyond belief. Contractors do not have it "easy" any more - they pay NI and of course Corporation Tax and forego benefits such as sick and holiday pay. They also provide a mobile work force which can be easily brought in at an institution which is perhaps under the threat of regulatory intervention and needs to get its systems and processes up to speed.
How anyone who is considering voting Conservative can support this nonsense is beyond me.
On the other hand it did give me the final push to actually go and create some software and work full time on plan b.
Downside is the software is now written and I need to drop working on it to spend time doing marketing while trying to find someone I trust to take over.
How do you know someone is a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you.
https://twitter.com/hthjones/status/1202168108317843457?s=20
I don't know why you find veganism so threatening, it is completely unremarkable in Leicester as several communities are.
I did a new constituency specific YouGov with tactical voting questions earlier.
The one area where the English are much better is day-to-day friendliness, eg small talk and inquisitiveness with foreigners. Scandinavians are dreadful at that. But they are also shite at talking with their next door neighbours, so nothing to do with the foreigners per se.
Point about most vegans of my acquaintance is that they have of necessity to be vocal in order to be served with vegan food. That goes for vegetarians to some extent, too. The seeming determination of either restaurants or friends to sabotage their diets is a curious phenomenon - and perhaps not entirely unrelated to your own apparent animosity towards them.
https://twitter.com/ShippersUnbound/status/1202167923223212035?s=20
https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/manchester-to-add-100000-people-and-65000-jobs-by-2036/
The population bit is the most interesting from my point of view. Manchester is expected to have a population of 637,000 by 2025.
From a psephological perspective, this is interesting: Manchester Central already has an electorate of around 95,000 (2017 figures - in all likelihood it may now be over 100,000). We can expect, at the next review, more representation for Manchester. And I wonder whether this is part of a larger trend: for decades we have been used to boundary reviews favouring the Conservatives, with Labour-heartland seats losing population and Tory-shires gaining. I wonder whether this assumption will necessarily continue to hold.
I’ve never seen a movement like vegetarianism that seeks to provoke or change others diets from the point of view of morality. Veganism is, and it irritates me.
That’s the source of my hostility to it.
Just my two pence worth of thoughts, wrt Lincon. Have lived and worked there, so know a little about it.
Pros and Cons, for Labour Karen Lee
Pros:
-Student vote - around 1500
-Brexit Party to split Leave votes
-Possible tactical voting from Greens and even LD
Karen has been more hands on and visible in Lincon, with a more down to earth nature. Being a nurse also helps, given the way the public services are at the moment.
Cons:
-Her biggest threat comes from being strongly remain in a 55-45 leave Constituency. A lot of people feel let down, even calling her a traitor. How much of this would translate into votes, time will tell
- As usual JC, but he was there in 2017, so people have got used to him, like a rash.
Conservative: Karl McCartney
Pros: strongly Brexit, will he polarise the 55% vote? Tyen he wins
Cons: quite a few , actually.
-Has been MP for 7 years, so has a lot to answer, when he promises new stuff, like park and ride
-Lot of people have been hurt by 9 years of austerity, so again on the back foot
- Has this impresion of being arrogant and little too full of himself. Read his facebook page, with mostly negative comments from the public
- Was involved in the expenses scandal as well as hiring his wife. People have not forgotten that
So, overall it's going to be a close fight, with Karen slightly ahead. However, if the Tories had selected a newbie, with not much baggage as Karl, then most likely the Tories had this in the bag.
My verdict, close win for Karen, less than 1000 votes . Please feel free to disagree.
The red wall in the North has been shaken. Whether it will crumble, will depend on many factors and not only on Brexit alone
@AlastairMeeks: Ken did not say who he would be voting for. He swerved the question rather elegantly.
@YBarddCwsc: I can assure you I will not be writing misty-eyed articles about Corbyn in future. I have already written a couple about him pointing out the similarities between him and Thatcher and Trump. That is as misty-eyed as I will ever get. I do think he is right to raise some of the issues with poverty, unequal shares of wealth etc - we are far too relaxed about having a society with extremes of wealth at one end and uncertainty and insecurity at the bottom in a manner a tad reminiscent of the late 19th century - but his views about how to address these issues are fundamentally cock-eyed and badly thought through.
I would have liked to hear more about whether he thought it necessary to listen to voters more not simply talk to them and also about what, if anything, he would have done differently in the 90’s if he’d realised what was happening under the surface.
https://twitter.com/MailPlus_/status/1202166062881607681?s=20
I have heard of many dodgy businesses employing people and paying them in cash more than what their payslip says - in order to dodge Employers NI, Employees NI, Income Tax and potentially allow the employee to claim more benefits. As both parties benefit from this fraud nobody says anything. This is an unfair burden then on competitor businesses that are not dodgy. There are of course potential punishments for both parties if they get caught but people commit fraud because they don't expect to be caught.
If Employers NI were abolished then there would be an incentive still for the Employee to commit fraud but the risk/reward ratio for the Employer would be dramatically changed. You would be removing the direct incentive on the Employer to do this.
EDIT: Has the paragraph spacing issue been fixed?
New Thread
- two LibDem parties (urban and rural)
- three Labour parties (centre-left, left and feminist)
- two Green parties (left and centrist)
- three conservative parties (social conservatives, economic liberals and anti-migration)
So, while the Danish People’s Party and the Sweden Democrats are highly visible, they are matched, indeed exceeded, by anti-migration sentiment deeply imbedded in the Tory party in England, due to FPTP.