Latest Canadian Parliament seat projection: "123 -37 seats Conservative 163 +44 seats New Democrat 17 -8 seats Bloc Québécois 32 +0 seats Green 3 +1 seat People's Party 0 +0 seats
Remarkable transformation over the past 30 days, how much due to Trump. Now indicates a hung Parliament, may be a Con/Bloc coalition or amazingly a Liberal led one again. Surely the Cons cannot slide further.
Suggests Polievre's Conservatives will fall short of a majority, shades of Cameron 2010 for Poilievre, he was heading for a landslide then international events conspired to deny him a majority with the governing party also changing its leader (and remember Gordon Brown did get an initial bounce when he replaced Blair)
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
I think it's more that we're taxing the wrong people, and things. Can I start with property taxes; why are they calculated on the same basis, and the top valuation is the same, in Oldham and Westminster.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
Yes but we need to have a sensible grown up conversation about what we can sensibly cut (and the positives and negatives of doing so). If we have that conversation and the end result is still expenditure vastly greater than income then we need have an equally grown up conversation about taxation. There is literally no alternative.
I don't fucking miss mine. The firing pin broke on it and we had no spares so I threw it in the Shatt Al Arab. I then bought an M4 off a heavily indebted USN combat medic with the heavy duty "SOCOM" barrel. That was an unparalleled implement of wilful murder and I wish I still had it.
Anything not using telescoped rounds is obsolescent now, though.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
Aren't judges, or at least some of them, elected in the USA?
Just goes to show very difficult to tell mobsters and lawyers apart.....
Although sometimes there is a little rat of sunlight that cheers you up
the gunman used a revolver which was smuggled in a hollowed-out book
A revolver? Rather retro. Why not a semi-automatic? Was it for reliability?
Need to be a big book to hide a semi!
I miss my SA80
{narrator - The police failed to equity why someone would bring a Folio edition of Lies Of Vladimir Putin into a court room. The fact that it had an SA80 hidden in it was almost inevitable.}
Should have been an obvious clue to its unreliable contents.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
Just goes to show very difficult to tell mobsters and lawyers apart.....
Although sometimes there is a little rat of sunlight that cheers you up
the gunman used a revolver which was smuggled in a hollowed-out book
A revolver? Rather retro. Why not a semi-automatic? Was it for reliability?
Need to be a big book to hide a semi!
I miss my SA80
Semi-automatic pistol, not semi-automatic rifle. Examples of small semi-automatic pistols are the Ruger LCP, the Smith and Wesson Shield, and - Bond again - the Walther PPK
Smaller than that would require the type of ladies' gun used in legend by riverboat gamblers in the 19th century, or maybe during cotillions to repel unwanted advances
Historic England already has a tremendous backlog of images that they’re slowly uploading to their site. It’s worth a periodic look to see what’s new - the last batch of Aerofilm images they uploaded had some lovely shots.
I love the immediate postwar Aerofilms stuff. Aerial photography had matured to create fantastic quality, and the excess of pilots and aircraft enabled a large number of great photographs.
- but both are priceless. Been looking at some fascinating wartime photos on NCAP of my town with air raid shelters, allotments on the public park, and an army convoy driving down the street. And the old mills down the way.
IIRC the postwar stuff was in part a systematic RAF project to map the whole of the UK.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
The problem arises through making judges legislators.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
We pay them not to work. Their benefits get withdrawn nearly as fast as any money they make.
Would you work a shitty job for about £1 an hour increased income?
It’s called a rational economic decision.
I’ve sat across from people who are terrified of doing more than 16 hours a week because of this shit.
And some who bravely decided to plough through to get a better job on the other side. The company I am associated with has helped a few swim that river.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
I have no problem with a youth mobility scheme but Labour have not put a number on them but it is suggested 70,000
The excessive immigration has been stopped and immigration numbers should fall, but as far as I am concerned if we need workers in hospitiaity and building then we need them permanently not just for 2 or 3 years and then to return home
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
We are at war Malmesbury! Time for the manor lords to pay their share. Rename it the Geld.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
Labour will just increase tax some more then
Which will reduce the take further whilst destroying the lives of millions of people. How is this not evil ?
The UK has nearly £50b worth of Russian assets frozen, including the Abramovich money.
Chris Bryant put forward a bill giving the UK government 60 days to seize those assets. David Lammy demanded a plan to seize the assets and gave the government 90 days to do so.
It's odd that now that they are in government, 230+ days have passed and yet they still haven't moved on this.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
The problem arises through making judges legislators.
That’s the primary problem.
The secondary problem is that judges are generally easy to appoint and hard to remove.
So you end up with a legislature appointed for life, with no recourse. And also is the primary and most powerful legislature. No one can overrule them.
The old fashioned House Of Lords (pre 1910) wasn’t that powerful.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
Most people working in those sectors are Brits.
If firms are struggling to fill vacancies then have you considered the wages they are offering may be too low, or that the terms and conditions they are offering are not good enough?
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
Problem is - there is nothing that can easily be taxed.
It’s almost like Rishi and Hunt shouldn’t have cut employee NI
Last night got nasty. We're just a (mostly) British politics site. Imagine how nasty this is going to get for the people who are directly impacted by Trump and Trumpism.
Some people will like Trump and Trumpism because he's for something they want - a return to the good old days, a fat tax cut for the people who have brainwashed them etc. For others its because he's against the things they are against - fags, women, non-whites. For a minority, they're on board because they have a shared enemy. As we witnessed last night.
As we saw with Brexit, when the goal is contradictory and ill-defined, you can't possibly keep everyone happy, whether they support you or not. The irrationality hoops some people are going to be asked to jump through will literally send them mad. And the greatest show of all - the fallout when Trump throws Musk overboard. That will be some show...
Yes it did get tetchy and I come here less and less of an evening as a consequence.I doubt people care a great deal. From my view it won’t get any better. Ever since Trump won there are a hardcore who cannot accept it and the language is incendiary and inflammatory. Even yours in your post using terms like ‘brainwashed’.
People just cannot accept people vote for someone or a party they don’t like for positive reasons. We see it with Reform too.
This group is largely full of entitled, well off, middle class white, middle aged, white men who sneer at the underclass and anyone who dares to dissent from their world view. The poor are fools for not seeing Angela Rayner as a working class hero and voting against their own interests if they vote for someone they don’t like.
Fuck them.
The likes of Leon and Dura Ace still make this place worth reading.
FPT because I want to add some context to my use of the word "brainwashed"
There are a sizeable group of people who profess to dislike being told what to do and what to think. They blame the thing whose name has evolved over time - political correctness, woke, BLM, the blob. Whatever you call it, there is definitely - they say - a push to make everyone think the same and they won't stand for it.
I say brainwashed because these same "you can't tell me what to think or what to say" angry people then all parrot the exact same fact-free FUD. FUD is fear, uncertainty & doubt. At times this is at least rooted in a basis of fact which is then heavily manipulated or openly warped. At other times its literal demonstrable lies.
These people are brainwashed. Gaslit. Lied to. Manipulated. Call it what you want. To make them angry so that they will behave in - and vote - in a certain way. They're right that there is a movement trying to push everyone to say and think the same. Its just that they are the targets and they are the people complying.
This *is* brainwashing. There's chunks of it on the left (c.f. trots now backing Putin because he's the enemy of the enemies of Corbyn), and chunks of it on the right where we have weaponised ignorance manipulated to provoke literal riots last summer.
The term may be disputed, but we're all influenced by our regular sources of news etc. And when people suddenly flip positions and parrot uniform reasoning despite not wanting to be told what to do, well its obvious.
Conversely this is why i like people like luckyguy despite very often disagreeing with his conclusions, as my impression is he is consistent and has thought through his positions and doesn't shy away from them.
Agreed. But in general we try to pigeonhole people into reliable supporters of X, and real people are often harder to categorise. PB is valuable because it offers a space where people can explore their opinions without being abused (much). Disagreeing with the ideas is fine, but one shouldn't slag off individuals because they've reached different conclusions. It sometimes just makes them interesting.
Partly because I used to be a professional politician, I'm used to interacting with people who disagree without either pretending to agree with them or slagging them off personally. Otherwise you end up with a set of echo chambers where everyone agrees and is bewildered when the world moves differently.
Interesting substitution of 'because' for 'despite'. I suspect it's more to do with your being a nice guy.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
Most people working in those sectors are Brits.
If firms are struggling to fill vacancies then have you considered the wages they are offering may be too low, or that the terms and conditions they are offering are not good enough?
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
I have no problem with a youth mobility scheme but Labour have not put a number on them but it is suggested 70,000
The excessive immigration has been stopped and immigration numbers should fall, but as far as I am concerned if we need workers in hospitiaity and building then we need them permanently not just for 2 or 3 years and then to return home
They are though, often, jobs which don't require much training. Hans can come for a year or so, then be replaced by Pierre and so on.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
And it’s a tax that is seriously due reform but no Government is willing to touch it
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
I find this rather silly response somewhat at odds with your NU10K hobby horse, given that the judiciary are a key example of the type.
Judges that were not working to undermine the aims of democratically elected Governments (including this one) would be great, but we must first: 1. Remove the basis in law for the dangerous and grotesque verdicts and encroachments into policy that we're seeing 2. Ensure that the top judge is once again a member of the Government and therefore accountable to the public
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
Most people working in those sectors are Brits.
If firms are struggling to fill vacancies then have you considered the wages they are offering may be too low, or that the terms and conditions they are offering are not good enough?
Or that we are paying people not to work.
Yes, don't get me started on the real marginal tax rate that people on 16 hours face. A common issue in hospitality.
Which is why some of the more dodgy firms in the sector have people working full time but 16 hours through the books with the rest cash in hand (often below minimum wage). The firm avoids NICs, the employee avoids tax, NIC and gets to claim benefits and if anyone comes to inspect the premises that just happens to be one of the employees 16 hours this week.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
"in recent years" the Government (in the shape of the Conservative Party) had to address Covid and its associated monumental once-in-a-century expense; and a European war that bent energy prices massively out of shape. Whatever flavour of government we had "in recent years" would have had to protect the private sector and protect against energy price shocks. That it flew in the face of what a Conservative government might be expected to do was neither here nor there. It's the awkwardness of events.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
Problem is - there is nothing that can easily be taxed.
It’s almost like Rishi and Hunt shouldn’t have cut employee NI
You're right, they should have abolished it, not just cut it.
They put up income tax and NI combined by more than they cut Employee NI. But you know that already.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
It would likely require much harder choices than a "digital services" tax, but otherwise, sensible.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
The unifying character here is the desire to lick the boot of authority. Authoritarians will latch onto to whichever self appointed “strong leader” is most appealing at a given time & Putin fits the bill perfectly.
They all want to break the British state to promote their revolutionary aims. Ironically precisely the sort of thing the Conservative Party was created to prevent.
Not at all. All Reform would do is restore the pre-Blairite constitutional settlement when life was far better. Blair's changes were far reaching and enormously damaging.
What do you mean by pre-Blairite constitutional settlement? He did a lot on the constitution but reversing most of the ones I can think of would surely be either near-impossible or very esoteric?
- Scottish and Welsh devolution - Good Friday agreement - abolishing (most) hereditary peers - Supreme Court and judicial appointments committee
The only 2 that seem to chime with the Reform position would be the human rights act, which was repeatedly slated for scrapping under the Tories then abandoned, and the Lisbon Treaty which is irrelevant now given we’ve left the EU.
The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 The Human Rights Act of 1998
Both are wholly pernicious and need to, and I think will go.
Bank of England independence also has a constitutional bearing, and has been equally harmful, whilst patently failing in its stated aim to avoid economic shocks. The lack of political accountability has actually led to worse and more reckless monetary policy.
I do wonder when the Reformy types work out that all they need is different judges. Even MAGA got there in the end.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
I find this rather silly response somewhat at odds with your NU10K hobby horse, given that the judiciary are a key example of the type.
Judges that were not working to undermine the aims of democratically elected Governments (including this one) would be great, but we must first: 1. Remove the basis in law for the dangerous and grotesque verdicts and encroachments into policy that we're seeing 2. Ensure that the top judge is once again a member of the Government and therefore accountable to the public
With all due respect you don’t understand the legal system at all if you think re-forming the appellate committee of the House of Lords will change ANYTHING. The judges are the same, regardless of whether they sit in the Lords or in the Supreme Court. At the end of the day Parliament is still sovereign and judges can only interpret inconsistencies in the law. If you want less “judicial activism” then Parliament should write better and clearer laws. The commons literally leaves gaping gaps in legislation because they are lazy for judges to fix. All you are spouting is populist nonsense about all the solutions being easy when they are not. As usual the actual answer is hard work and actual accountability of our elected representatives.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
"in recent years" the Government (in the shape of the Conservative Party) had to address Covid and its asscoaited monumental once-in-a-century expense; and a European war that bent energy prices massively out of shape. Whatever flavour of government we had "in recent years" would have had to protect the private sector and protect against energy price shocks. That it flew in the face of what a Conservative government might be expected to do was neither here nor there. It's the awkwardness of events.
That's the same level of excuse-making as Brown's defenders make.
The problem is the Tories made political choices of things they would not cut, like welfare for pensioners or the NHS beloved by pensioners, and cut everything else. But they ran out of other things to cut, but continued to increase expenditure on the triple lock welfare etc.
That, not Covid, is why the Tories left office bequeathing an even higher level of expenditure on welfare than Gordon Brown did, despite the fact unemployment was lower.
Welfare today is going on the grey vote, and until it gets touched it is only going to keep ballooning and needing ever higher taxes.
Just goes to show very difficult to tell mobsters and lawyers apart.....
Although sometimes there is a little rat of sunlight that cheers you up
the gunman used a revolver which was smuggled in a hollowed-out book
A revolver? Rather retro. Why not a semi-automatic? Was it for reliability?
Need to be a big book to hide a semi!
I miss my SA80
Semi-automatic pistol, not semi-automatic rifle. Examples of small semi-automatic pistols are the Ruger LCP, the Smith and Wesson Shield, and - Bond again - the Walther PPK
Smaller than that would require the type of ladies' gun used in legend by riverboat gamblers in the 19th century, or maybe during cotillions to repel unwanted advances
Remember in our system Parliament can overrule any judicial judgment with primary legislation, regardless of whether it came from the Supreme Court or the House of Lords. Blair did not change that. Our elected representatives should stop blaming others bodies for their incompetence and actually do their jobs. Likewise, people like @Luckyguy1983 should stop importing American issues which do not exist in this country. If you don’t like the law, Parliament can change the law. It just doesn’t.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
£1 would be enough to raise spending to 2.5% of GDP, without stinging/disrupting too much. Not a bad idea at all.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and to 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven. Or quadruple council tax.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
“We’re getting a little bit shaky. We’re getting the yips on this stuff. Like I want to find out,” Trump said. “We’re going to open up the doors. I’m going to see if we have gold there. Did anybody steal the gold in Fort Knox?”
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
£1 would be enough to raise spending to 2.5% of GDP, without stinging/disrupting too much. Not a bad idea at all.
It wouldn't work because of the behavioural response. That might be mitigated somewhat by increased business rate/NDR revenue from High Streets, but not enough to cover it.
RefUK came second in a London local by-election yesterday in Hammersmith&Fulham. Their share of the vote wasn't very high but still you wouldn't have expected it in that sort of area.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
No, NI is not an income tax. It is used to determine eligibility for the state pension and JSA now too and should be extended to increasingly fund the NHS and social care not income tax.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
"in recent years" the Government (in the shape of the Conservative Party) had to address Covid and its asscoaited monumental once-in-a-century expense; and a European war that bent energy prices massively out of shape. Whatever flavour of government we had "in recent years" would have had to protect the private sector and protect against energy price shocks. That it flew in the face of what a Conservative government might be expected to do was neither here nor there. It's the awkwardness of events.
That's the same level of excuse-making as Brown's defenders make.
The problem is the Tories made political choices of things they would not cut, like welfare for pensioners or the NHS beloved by pensioners, and cut everything else. But they ran out of other things to cut, but continued to increase expenditure on the triple lock welfare etc.
That, not Covid, is why the Tories left office bequeathing an even higher level of expenditure on welfare than Gordon Brown did, despite the fact unemployment was lower.
Welfare today is going on the grey vote, and until it gets touched it is only going to keep ballooning and needing ever higher taxes.
The amount spent on Covid and fuel subsidies dwarfs any amount on choices made.
“We’re getting a little bit shaky. We’re getting the yips on this stuff. Like I want to find out,” Trump said. “We’re going to open up the doors. I’m going to see if we have gold there. Did anybody steal the gold in Fort Knox?”
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Abolishing the triple lock and freezing pensions are not cuts. They are avoiding future increases.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
No, NI is not an income tax. It is used to determine eligibility for the state pension and JSA now too and should be extended to increasingly fund the NHS and social care not income tax.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
"in recent years" the Government (in the shape of the Conservative Party) had to address Covid and its asscoaited monumental once-in-a-century expense; and a European war that bent energy prices massively out of shape. Whatever flavour of government we had "in recent years" would have had to protect the private sector and protect against energy price shocks. That it flew in the face of what a Conservative government might be expected to do was neither here nor there. It's the awkwardness of events.
That's the same level of excuse-making as Brown's defenders make.
The problem is the Tories made political choices of things they would not cut, like welfare for pensioners or the NHS beloved by pensioners, and cut everything else. But they ran out of other things to cut, but continued to increase expenditure on the triple lock welfare etc.
That, not Covid, is why the Tories left office bequeathing an even higher level of expenditure on welfare than Gordon Brown did, despite the fact unemployment was lower.
Welfare today is going on the grey vote, and until it gets touched it is only going to keep ballooning and needing ever higher taxes.
The amount spent on Covid and fuel subsidies dwarfs any amount on choices made.
Yes and those amounts being excluded from the data still leaves expenditure going up and taxes going up.
One-off expenditure isn't the problem, the problem is the structural deficit just as it was when Brown left office and just as it is today. We have a structural deficit not because of fuel subsidies which don't exist anymore, or furlough which doesn't exist anymore, but because of choices like the triple lock that have ballooned annual expenditure out of control.
18 to 30 year olds are less likely to need to use the NHS so a youth mobility scheme won’t be a negative there .
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
The London Labour mentality:
Twenty years ago - lets get some immigrants to do the construction jobs so we don't need to train anyone.
Now - where are the local construction workers ? Lets get some more immigrants to do the work.
Altogether now to the the tune of the Red Flag:
We'll keep the wages down and the house prices up. We'll keep the rentier flag flying here.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
£1 would be enough to raise spending to 2.5% of GDP, without stinging/disrupting too much. Not a bad idea at all.
It wouldn't work because of the behavioural response. That might be mitigated somewhat by increased business rate/NDR revenue from High Streets, but not enough to cover it.
How many fewer parcels would a £1 charge imply ?
A 10% fall would still get you enough revenue for 2.5% of GDP.
So there's an explanation why Badenoch is bad at PMQs, from another PB.
Cardinal Sins. It's a Tucci subject
Stanley Tucci would never have survived in the round the clock work schedule those actual Conclave cardinals are beholden to.
The production team on his Italian cooking show are beginning to complain about working with him.
His favourite diva-ish demand is that he really doesn't want to be on set after lunch.
Very Mediterranean of him.
Kemi Badenoch sounds like she's the reverse Tucci. Disgruntled aides are gossiping round the Westminster watering holes that she really doesn't like being asked to do much before lunch.
Saw Conclave last night. Really enjoyed it, although I was so close to the screen I could have been casting votes for the pope myself.
I was surprised that there haven't been complaints here or by Trump that is woke. Maybe it has and I haven't noticed.
It’s not that it’s woke, it’s more that it’s fucking terrible
Good acting, great cinematography, but only an imbecile would call it a fine, Oscar-worthy movie
It has possibly the most comically absurd ending in the history of Hollywood
Ive heard nothing about that and it makes me interested.
Does it basically recreate the ending of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, but in highbrow fashion?
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
No, NI is not an income tax. It is used to determine eligibility for the state pension and JSA now too and should be extended to increasingly fund the NHS and social care not income tax.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
Latest Canadian Parliament seat projection: "123 -37 seats Conservative 163 +44 seats New Democrat 17 -8 seats Bloc Québécois 32 +0 seats Green 3 +1 seat People's Party 0 +0 seats
Remarkable transformation over the past 30 days, how much due to Trump. Now indicates a hung Parliament, may be a Con/Bloc coalition or amazingly a Liberal led one again. Surely the Cons cannot slide further.
Suggests Polievre's Conservatives will fall short of a majority, shades of Cameron 2010 for Poilievre, he was heading for a landslide then international events conspired to deny him a majority with the governing party also changing its leader (and remember Gordon Brown did get an initial bounce when he replaced Blair)
Its quite a fun shape up really. Liberals probably cannot believe their luck.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
No, NI is not an income tax. It is used to determine eligibility for the state pension and JSA now too and should be extended to increasingly fund the NHS and social care not income tax.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
How about we put national insurance on non-work income ?
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Tonypandy involved zero deaths from the troops sent to restore order - rioting basically.
At Sydney Street, a bunch of armed robbers murdered an unarmed policeman. They holed up in a house and continued firing at the police. Churchill sent Army units as armed backup to the police - which was the standard policy at the time.
He then went to Sydney Street to see what was actually happening. As opposed to third hand reports.
The house caught fire - almost certainly due to the use of powder firearms from inside building. The same thing was a regular occurrence in such gun battles.
Churchill gave the order for the fire brigade to stay back, since the robbers were still shooting. No one emerged from the building, In the end.
The robbers were immigrants and Churchill was latter booed (by locals) for his perceived Liberal attitude towards immigrants.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Abolishing the triple lock and freezing pensions are not cuts. They are avoiding future increases.
Avoiding future increases is cutting in real terms. Indeed increasing in cash terms can still be a real terms cut.
If we said for the next few years that pensions would go up by a fixed 1% per annum (as many worked for salaries did under Osborne) then that would cut expenditure in real terms.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence
Ah, the broadband tax rolls around. Again.
It's pretty easy. Council tax accounts for about £50 billion, roughly the same as defence spending. Increase it from 0.5% of total house values to 0.75%.
Alternatively, revenge on Amazon for Bond. The UK gets about 5 billion packages a year delivered to homes. £2 flat tax on that, save the high street etc etc
Ha!
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
There is a simpler way
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
You are in Facebook la la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven.
I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
So do it, increase Income Tax by enough to replace NI and level the playing field.
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
No, NI is not an income tax. It is used to determine eligibility for the state pension and JSA now too and should be extended to increasingly fund the NHS and social care not income tax.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
How about we put national insurance on non-work income ?
Whatever it is put on it should increasingly be funding welfare, pensions and healthcare as it was created in the early 20th century to fund the emerging welfare state
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Wikipedie, which I've just checked to confirm my memory, says that only one person died in the miners strike and there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that soldiers were involved.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Churchill had major flaws, but there’s a whole cottage industry of quasi-historians, eager to build up a black legend about him.
RefUK came second in a London local by-election yesterday in Hammersmith&Fulham. Their share of the vote wasn't very high but still you wouldn't have expected it in that sort of area.
Albeit only by 0.4% ahead of the Tories and 1.2% ahead of the LDs, the Labour voteshare down 18% though they held it.
In the other by election in Hammersmith and Fulham though Reform were 4th
“We’re getting a little bit shaky. We’re getting the yips on this stuff. Like I want to find out,” Trump said. “We’re going to open up the doors. I’m going to see if we have gold there. Did anybody steal the gold in Fort Knox?”
The UK has nearly £50b worth of Russian assets frozen, including the Abramovich money.
Chris Bryant put forward a bill giving the UK government 60 days to seize those assets. David Lammy demanded a plan to seize the assets and gave the government 90 days to do so.
It's odd that now that they are in government, 230+ days have passed and yet they still haven't moved on this.
Fuckwits.
Nothing annoys voters more than when politicians promise to do something in opposition and then they don't do it when they get into office.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Abolishing the triple lock and freezing pensions are not cuts. They are avoiding future increases.
Avoiding future increases is cutting in real terms. Indeed increasing in cash terms can still be a real terms cut.
If we said for the next few years that pensions would go up by a fixed 1% per annum (as many worked for salaries did under Osborne) then that would cut expenditure in real terms.
That might, just about, keep pace with the increasing number of pensioners. Even with a planned increase in the state pension age, that is set to go up by about 15 percent in the next decade.
Putin is the one sending people into the meat grinder.
The displacement being exhibited right now is unbelievable.
They are just rehashing russian talking points from 2022 which, for a few years, the West did not pander to.
But now the order is in to accept the ludicrous reasoning.
You have to wonder if Putin and Musk/Trump have hatched up some secret plot to divvy up great lumps of the world between them. Nothing else makes much sense other than Trump has gone senile and Musk's brain is fried with ketamine.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Why is means testing the WFA the work of Satan but means testing the triple lock a brilliant idea?
That's good news. Nikon and Canon being serious players again, and maybe Japan's Rapidus fabs being competitive, will be good for us all. We want more competitors and secure suppliers. We should be talking to the Japanese government about working with them.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
We are borrowing too much, taxing too much, and spending too much
Seriously this cannot go on
Yes but we need to have a sensible grown up conversation about what we can sensibly cut (and the positives and negatives of doing so). If we have that conversation and the end result is still expenditure vastly greater than income then we need have an equally grown up conversation about taxation. There is literally no alternative.
I agree but this govt, of which I had high hopes and voted for, has blown that by doing a couple of things. Kicking into the long grass reform of care funding until, effectively, after the next election, and ruling out reform of the triple lock with their stupid Ming Vase strategy. There will be other things too but these, to me, are totemic.
They could have got this out of the way now and by 2029 most people would have forgotten and if things were getting better they would easily have got back in.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Why is means testing the WFA the work of Satan but means testing the triple lock a brilliant idea?
Because MT the TFL doesn't actually hit any Tory-voting pensioner this year. Whereas MT the WFA kicks them in the goolies, metaphorically, right away.
Also cos MT the WFA is a stupid idea anyway. Given how HMRC and DWP can't even communicate properly anyway. DWP can't even do proper PAYE as it is - no P60, no deduction at source.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Why is means testing the WFA the work of Satan but means testing the triple lock a brilliant idea?
Easier to scrap the triple lock and link to average earnings.
Problem with means testing is the cost of doing so.
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Churchill had major flaws, but there’s a whole cottage industry of quasi-historians, eager to build up a black legend about him.
He never used soldiers to open fire on strikers.
But he did propose the slogan "Keep Britain White" for the 1955 general election.
No surprise at all that Liverpool gets PSG, that was inevitable.
Then two legs against Villa in QF Final, then a trip to Madrid in semi.
Every magician in the world will be proud how these draws are made 😆
All English clubs are in the same half of the draw, so not possible to get an all-English final.
Barcelona (the other draw Liverpool could have got) have got Benfica, then Dortmund or Lille, then probably Bayern Munich or Inter Milan.
Definitely seems the tougher of the two draws, for coming first.
Absolutely.
Also means Liverpool get an interesting week of Chelsea away, a Madrid team (home I think) in semi final, then Arsenal home. Huge 8 days in the two big competitions.
The Slot Machine were superb in second half at Villa, like they were superb in second half at Forest. Worthy Champions this season. Only question is, can Slot keep it going next season despite having to change things in market with aging legs in key players. Yes, on basis Macalister with best years ahead of him, just as important to this side as Salah arguably enjoying his best Liverpool season.
RefUK came second in a London local by-election yesterday in Hammersmith&Fulham. Their share of the vote wasn't very high but still you wouldn't have expected it in that sort of area.
Albeit only by 0.4% ahead of the Tories and 1.2% ahead of the LDs, the Labour voteshare down 18% though they held it.
In the other by election in Hammersmith and Fulham though Reform were 4th
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Why is means testing the WFA the work of Satan but means testing the triple lock a brilliant idea?
It's a sound bite. Triple Lock is already means tested as anything over Personal Allowance is taxed. If she is referring to the WFA method where only those on Pension Credit get indexed, then those that have never contributed to NI (usually recent arrivals) will get the a basic pension at the same level as those that have contributed.
The benefit system (if you call pensions a benefit) is highly complex, interrelated and backed by years of legislation. Change one bit and the number of Judicial Reviews that will flow will make it even more of a mess.
Although if you exit the ECHR you can penalise any particular group you want without the worry of Judicial Reviews.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Presumably that means freezing the state pension but triple-locking pension credits (which are, of course, means tested). It's not a bad idea but it would hurt millions of marginal cases. I don't understand why cliff-edges are necessary in the computer age. Can't there be a smoother transition from one to the other?
No surprise at all that Liverpool gets PSG, that was inevitable.
Then two legs against Villa in QF Final, then a trip to Madrid in semi.
Every magician in the world will be proud how these draws are made 😆
All English clubs are in the same half of the draw, so not possible to get an all-English final.
Barcelona (the other draw Liverpool could have got) have got Benfica, then Dortmund or Lille, then probably Bayern Munich or Inter Milan.
Definitely seems the tougher of the two draws, for coming first.
Absolutely.
Also means Liverpool get an interesting week of Chelsea away, a Madrid team (home I think) in semi final, then Arsenal home. Huge 8 days in the two big competitions.
It also means if its a Liverpool v Arsenal Semi Final that will be happening at the same week as Liverpool v Arsenal in the Premier League, which as it stands could be the match that determines the League (by my reckoning if both teams drop same amount of points between now and then and then Liverpool beat Arsenal at Anfield, that makes them Champions there and then).
Out of interest, as I was agog reading the warfare on here last night, one of my Labour mates sent me some screengrabs of one of the Momentum lot who came into and then left the Labour Party with Corbyn. No surprise, a major proponent of the Putin view of the world because Zelenskyy is "not allowing open democracy", and is "known to have ordered the killing of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine like some sort of genocide"
The trot left and the Trump/Farage alt-right are marching in lockstep. They both hate each other for ideological reasons yet are proudly speaking the same FUD for ideological reasons.
Fascinating...
It's a bit of a headscratcher. Zelensky is a native Russian speaker and only learned Ukranian as an adult.
It's funny reading BBC articles from 2019. Lots of worries about Zelensky being a Russian puppet, and he did better in the Russian-speaking/eastern parts of Ukraine than he did elsewhere. He was also elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was pushing for a ceasefire in Donbas etc.
Zelensky was a very poor president prior to the invasion, in the pocket of one the main Ukrainian oligarchs. I don't think anyone would have predicted he would be a great war leader.
Churchill would have been a minor historical figure were it not for being the right man in the right place in 1940.
True but I think you could have imagined Churchill acting as he did during WW2 prior to those events.Zelensky was a weak president even by the low standards of Ukrainian governance. This is not to take away from his achievement but to say it was a surprising one.
I think that's hindsight taking re Churchill. What had he ever achieved in his time in politics? Dardenelles - a massive disaster, butcher of workers during the general strike. Changed parties repeatedly like a gadfly.
He didn’t actually butcher any workers. His dispatch of soldiers was down to a concern that the local police chief was a bit of an idiot. The idea was that soldiers could be reliably ordered *not* to shoot. Which they didn’t.
I thought that that particular 'urban myth' referred to a pre-WWI dispute, when Churchill was a "Liberal' minister.
As a Liberal Home Secretary he was criticised for authorising the use of troops to break a strike at Tonypandy and also for turning up in person at the Siege of Sydney Street. I don't think those actions resulted in any additional deaths but not entirely sure.
Churchill had major flaws, but there’s a whole cottage industry of quasi-historians, eager to build up a black legend about him.
He never used soldiers to open fire on strikers.
But he did propose the slogan "Keep Britain White" for the 1955 general election.
An election in which Evelyn Waugh pointedly refused to vote Conservative because 'they had not put the clock back by a single minute'.
So the government borrowing is...wait for....£12bn higher than forecast....another one of those £12bn blackholes.
Good morning
£118.2 billion so far this year !!!!!
This is a seminal moment. The Government has assumed that if it puts taxes up people will just grumble and pay them not act. Anecdotal evidence suggested this time it is different. Now the anecdotal evidence has become real. The Government can no longer put up taxes and get the OBR to assume they will generate net new money. The cuts will need to start shortly or Sterling will begin to fall.
It is interesting that the hope that Farage and Reform get in power maybe the only thing to save the UK economy from immediate collapse.
Yet we also have a national surplus it was reported today just not as much as expected so why are we still borrowing?
The unions and Labour left will block spending cuts anyway and demand higher taxes on the rich and big corporations instead.
Reform are basically Trussite or tax cuts and spending for all, though Farage might move to a more insurance based model for healthcare to replace the NHS
We don't have a national surplus, its purely seasonal, January is always in surplus as that's when a hefty swathe of taxes are paid all at once. January is but one month of the year and in the past now, we need borrowing for the rest of the year as we have a deficit.
The 'surplus' for January was well below 'expectations' and means this year will have even more borrowing than forecast.
Which if true means just more tax from Labour
Just the same as Rishi's Tories. Tax has been going up for years.
I would like to see a party that proposes cutting the state expenditure and thus enabling cutting taxes, but any cut is vociferously opposed.
Including by you, bitching and crying about cutting welfare like the winter fuel allowance.
The Tories cut the additional rate income tax, took the lowest earners out of income tax with the LDs and cut inheritance tax.
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Osborne cut spending in some areas, yes, which is why he was able to reduce the deficit.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Badenoch has said she will means test the triple lock now, it is the LDs and Reform most committed to keeping the triple lock as now
Why is means testing the WFA the work of Satan but means testing the triple lock a brilliant idea?
Easier to scrap the triple lock and link to average earnings.
Problem with means testing is the cost of doing so.
That's one problem, but the bigger one is the effect it has on people's behaviour.
If saving for your retirement just means you are going to get less from the state in decades to come, why bother saving?
(Which was the logic behind gradually making the core state pension drift upwards over a few decades, which the triple lock does in an era of reasonably stable inflation. It doesn't tell us when to step off that escalator, and it doesn't handle spikes like the one we have just had well. But hey ho.)
Comments
So you are going to raise a highly visible tax on housing. And that will be easy?
And as an encore, massively increase the price of tat?
The Evul Chav Scum Racist hordes will be revolting over that last one.
“Judge rules that drowning boat immigrants is protecting their human rights.”
Osborne also cut spending except for the NHS and overseas aid, vociferously opposed by Labour when doing so and cut corporation tax. Labour has already axed WFA for most pensioners as you say even if all the opposition parties, not just the Tories, opposed it
Increase standard rate to 25% reduce or abolish ni for workers and reduce the subsidises for evs which in the main goes to wealthy car buyers
And these are temporary visas , this is not FOM . And opposed to the big increase in immigration from outside the EU where too many family members came and older relatives which put more strain on services .
This isn’t reverse racism, if people like facts those are the facts .
Because the visa is time limited most of those coming will likely work in hospitality and construction where there’s a desperate need for workers .
Where are all the unemployed Brit’s willing to work in that sector .
https://ruger.com/products/lcp/models.html
https://www.smith-wesson.com/products/shield
https://waltherarms.com/firearms/ppk
Smaller still would be the Beretta Bobcat and Tomcat
https://www.beretta.com/en-us/firearms/by-gun-family/bobcat-family
https://www.beretta.com/en-us/firearms/by-gun-family/tomcat-family
Smaller than that would require the type of ladies' gun used in legend by riverboat gamblers in the 19th century, or maybe during cotillions to repel unwanted advances
https://www.ncap.org/
Complementary to the Aerofilms on
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/
- but both are priceless. Been looking at some fascinating wartime photos on NCAP of my town with air raid shelters, allotments on the public park, and an army convoy driving down the street. And the old mills down the way.
IIRC the postwar stuff was in part a systematic RAF project to map the whole of the UK.
Sadly in recent years the Tories have turned their back on Osborne and have been increasing spending rapidly, and opposing any cuts even that Labour makes.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you want to cut spending then you need to cut expenditure which means things like abolishing the triple lock, freezing pensions, cutting the WFA etc
Until you're ready to be serious about cutting expenditure, don't moan about taxes.
Would you work a shitty job for about £1 an hour increased income?
It’s called a rational economic decision.
I’ve sat across from people who are terrified of doing more than 16 hours a week because of this shit.
And some who bravely decided to plough through to get a better job on the other side. The company I am associated with has helped a few swim that river.
The excessive immigration has been stopped and immigration numbers should fall, but as far as I am concerned if we need workers in hospitiaity and building then we need them permanently not just for 2 or 3 years and then to return home
(But you're right.)
Chris Bryant put forward a bill giving the UK government 60 days to seize those assets. David Lammy demanded a plan to seize the assets and gave the government 90 days to do so.
It's odd that now that they are in government, 230+ days have passed and yet they still haven't moved on this.
Fuckwits.
The secondary problem is that judges are generally easy to appoint and hard to remove.
So you end up with a legislature appointed for life, with no recourse. And also is the primary and most powerful legislature. No one can overrule them.
The old fashioned House Of Lords (pre 1910) wasn’t that powerful.
If firms are struggling to fill vacancies then have you considered the wages they are offering may be too low, or that the terms and conditions they are offering are not good enough?
It’s almost like Rishi and Hunt shouldn’t have cut employee NI
I suspect it's more to do with your being a nice guy.
Judges that were not working to undermine the aims of democratically elected Governments (including this one) would be great, but we must first:
1. Remove the basis in law for the dangerous and grotesque verdicts and encroachments into policy that we're seeing
2. Ensure that the top judge is once again a member of the Government and therefore accountable to the public
Which is why some of the more dodgy firms in the sector have people working full time but 16 hours through the books with the rest cash in hand (often below minimum wage). The firm avoids NICs, the employee avoids tax, NIC and gets to claim benefits and if anyone comes to inspect the premises that just happens to be one of the employees 16 hours this week.
https://x.com/DavidGHFrost/status/1892710168602775865
They put up income tax and NI combined by more than they cut Employee NI. But you know that already.
The problem is the Tories made political choices of things they would not cut, like welfare for pensioners or the NHS beloved by pensioners, and cut everything else. But they ran out of other things to cut, but continued to increase expenditure on the triple lock welfare etc.
That, not Covid, is why the Tories left office bequeathing an even higher level of expenditure on welfare than Gordon Brown did, despite the fact unemployment was lower.
Welfare today is going on the grey vote, and until it gets touched it is only going to keep ballooning and needing ever higher taxes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOF1GJimMJI
Not a bad idea at all.
Facebookla la land. Abolishing NI would cost £170 billion. You'd need to increase income tax by 64%, or from 20% to 33% on the basic rate and to 66% on the higher rate just to breakeven. Or quadruple council tax.I can't find any comprehensive stats on the total value of EV subsidies, but the OBR reckon the Conservatives spent £3 billion over 14 years on it. That's less than 1% of the annualised cost of an increase in defence spending to 3% of GDP.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5156669-trump-fort-knox-gold/
That would still be (net) a tax cut for those working for a living while being a tax rise on those who are not doing so.
NI is an Income Tax not paid by everyone, it is worse than Income Tax. Taxes should be low but consistently paid by everyone, equalising tax rates so everyone who earns the same amount pays the same tax rate is to be welcomed not warned against.
If anything we need more National Insurance and less Income Tax
The displacement being exhibited right now is unbelievable.
(Mostly because the protagonsists of heist capers are strangely loveable. See last night's love for Thomas Crown.)
Oh Sinner Man, where you gonna run to?
One-off expenditure isn't the problem, the problem is the structural deficit just as it was when Brown left office and just as it is today. We have a structural deficit not because of fuel subsidies which don't exist anymore, or furlough which doesn't exist anymore, but because of choices like the triple lock that have ballooned annual expenditure out of control.
Twenty years ago - lets get some immigrants to do the construction jobs so we don't need to train anyone.
Now - where are the local construction workers ? Lets get some more immigrants to do the work.
Altogether now to the the tune of the Red Flag:
We'll keep the wages down and the house prices up. We'll keep the rentier flag flying here.
A 10% fall would still get you enough revenue for 2.5% of GDP.
Does it basically recreate the ending of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, but in highbrow fashion?
At Sydney Street, a bunch of armed robbers murdered an unarmed policeman. They holed up in a house and continued firing at the police. Churchill sent Army units as armed backup to the police - which was the standard policy at the time.
He then went to Sydney Street to see what was actually happening. As opposed to third hand reports.
The house caught fire - almost certainly due to the use of powder firearms from inside building. The same thing was a regular occurrence in such gun battles.
Churchill gave the order for the fire brigade to stay back, since the robbers were still shooting. No one emerged from the building, In the end.
The robbers were immigrants and Churchill was latter booed (by locals) for his perceived Liberal attitude towards immigrants.
If we said for the next few years that pensions would go up by a fixed 1% per annum (as many worked for salaries did under Osborne) then that would cut expenditure in real terms.
But now the order is in to accept the ludicrous reasoning.
He never used soldiers to open fire on strikers.
In the other by election in Hammersmith and Fulham though Reform were 4th
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1892728677927923821
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1892724153679053048
“I feel so sorry for those poor Ukrainians. Would it not be kinder if we let that nice Mr. Putin rule them.”
It’s like getting a lecture on morality from the devil.
Nikon Aims to Close the Gap on ASML with New ArF Lithography System in FY28
https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/02/21/news-nikon-aims-to-close-the-gap-on-asml-with-new-arf-lithography-system-in-fy28/
Liverpool to play PSG, then Villa, then Arsenal or a Madrid Team to reach final.
https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/jan-2025/chart-of-the-week-pensioners-on-the-rise
A lot of the 80s political nostalgia is about wishing the UK still had a mega-favourable dependency ratio, and that's probably never coming back.
Every magician in the world will be proud how these draws are made 😆
Arsenal on the other hand...
They could have got this out of the way now and by 2029 most people would have forgotten and if things were getting better they would easily have got back in.
Barcelona (the other draw Liverpool could have got) have got Benfica, then Dortmund or Lille, then probably Bayern Munich or Inter Milan.
Definitely seems the tougher of the two draws, for coming first.
Also cos MT the WFA is a stupid idea anyway. Given how HMRC and DWP can't even communicate properly anyway. DWP can't even do proper PAYE as it is - no P60, no deduction at source.
Problem with means testing is the cost of doing so.
Also means Liverpool get an interesting week of Chelsea away, a Madrid team (home I think) in semi final, then Arsenal home. Huge 8 days in the two big competitions.
The Slot Machine were superb in second half at Villa, like they were superb in second half at Forest. Worthy Champions this season. Only question is, can Slot keep it going next season despite having to change things in market with aging legs in key players.
Yes, on basis Macalister with best years ahead of him, just as important to this side as Salah arguably enjoying his best Liverpool season.
Good result for Labour in Kilmarnock.
It's a sound bite. Triple Lock is already means tested as anything over Personal Allowance is taxed. If she is referring to the WFA method where only those on Pension Credit get indexed, then those that have never contributed to NI (usually recent arrivals) will get the a basic pension at the same level as those that have contributed.
The benefit system (if you call pensions a benefit) is highly complex, interrelated and backed by years of legislation. Change one bit and the number of Judicial Reviews that will flow will make it even more of a mess.
Although if you exit the ECHR you can penalise any particular group you want without the worry of Judicial Reviews.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/hamas-names-six-israeli-hostages-to-be-released-on-saturday/ar-AA1zvD4N?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=888eb77d7c604c5784a5c0cb4bd7160b&ei=14
If saving for your retirement just means you are going to get less from the state in decades to come, why bother saving?
(Which was the logic behind gradually making the core state pension drift upwards over a few decades, which the triple lock does in an era of reasonably stable inflation. It doesn't tell us when to step off that escalator, and it doesn't handle spikes like the one we have just had well. But hey ho.)