The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Discussed this morning. The Guardian write-up of this is awful & confuses who is being taxed & when.
Under this proposal the seller is not being taxed - the buyer is being taxed an annual % property tax after they purchase the property as a replacement for stamp duty.
As I commented earlier, it honestly looks like the journalist in question shoved that document into an LLM, asked it to summarise the document & then published whatever bullshit the LLM spat out. A poor show frankly.
Presumably on top of their council tax ?
Who’d buy in those circumstances ?
If must have taxes - and sadly I don't really see any alternative - then I prefer taxes which discourage the inefficient use of scarce resources.
I really don't like taxes that prevent the market from clearing*: like stamp duty.
Gently discouraging people from having homes larger than they actually need is probably a net benefit. (Are there losers? Sure there are. But the winners in terms of greater housing availability are surely more than the losers.)
* Yes, I know the market always clears.
But how does CGT on primary residence encourage older people to downsize? Surely it does the opposite as they'll just lock in and pass their primary residence on tax free up to £1m.
Old people very rarely actually do downsize, unless its for health reasons. People without a mortgage are generally settled and happy in their homes and don't want to move.
We should simply be building lots more family homes for people to move into, rather than magically expecting old people to uproot their lives by downsizing which doesn't happen, so young people have no actual homes to move into.
Quite a few downsize by their late 70s, they don't want the hassle of a large detached house to run and would prefer a flat or bungalow, especially if they are a widow or widower too
Really, quite a few?
Most widows or widowers I've known are in no fit state to go through the upheaval of moving, unless its to go into a care home. Do you have any actual facts or figures as to the numbers actually doing this?
That's kind of the whole business model for McCarthy and Stone, among others, so some must do it. I can think of half a dozen examples off the top of my head.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
@leon where have you been? @hyufd has talked about his wife numerous times and posted here when he got married. If memory serves me right she works for the church at Oxford Uni. Do I have that right @hyufd?
Not sure asking our @Leonwhere he has been is a good idea bearing in mind the CloudFlare server isn't up and running yet.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Yes, I didn't know she sang at Ely. Which - and this is where we came in - is an amazing building, just amazing. And to think it was achieved before Newton or CAD or metal scaffolding or really anything more sophisticated than a chisel.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
Also, how pleasing she sings in Ely. Honestly, it is remarkable
It is possibly better because I now return - nearly three decades later - for the first time - and I have so much more to compare it with. I can now see it in the context of a lifetime's travel. I have been all around the world, 101 countries, and I have basically seen EVERYTHING. I've seen Karahan Tepe at twilight, the Antarctic by moonlight, and Easter Island by lamplight
And Ely Cathedral is up there. Really really up there, with the best
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
Because the income earned from your salary is a real gain, while the house price gain is a paper gain (the value has increased but it is still the same house). And most people who sell a house do so to buy another house (so you'd be penalised for your home increasing in value as the house you want to buy has also increased)
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
It highlights the stuckness we're currently stuck with.
The politics of any tax rises are ugly, as are the politics or real (not pretendy) spending cuts. And the ruses that have bridged that gap for decades, and have caused us to become accustomed to a lifestyle we haven't earned, have stopped working.
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Oh, I get the politics, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the politics. But the parasitical attitude of "I will never contribute towards this society" really annoys me. Even more so when it's combined with utter smugness.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
ENOUGH
It’s GMB, it’s what they do. Pick a controversial subject. Get two diametrically opposed talking heads on and use it as clickbait on social media.
Yes, indeed, but I am done witb it, Fuck it all
PUT OUT MORE FLAGS
Prof Andrews very clearly states that the flags in question were the flags that flew on the ships that enslaved his ancestors but fails to mention that England rejected slavery in 1833 and royal navy ships with the very same flag worked to block slave ships.
As ever the flag of a nation holds many triumphs and miseries in its flapping cloth.
Discussed this morning. The Guardian write-up of this is awful & confuses who is being taxed & when.
Under this proposal the seller is not being taxed - the buyer is being taxed an annual % property tax after they purchase the property as a replacement for stamp duty.
As I commented earlier, it honestly looks like the journalist in question shoved that document into an LLM, asked it to summarise the document & then published whatever bullshit the LLM spat out. A poor show frankly.
Presumably on top of their council tax ?
Who’d buy in those circumstances ?
If must have taxes - and sadly I don't really see any alternative - then I prefer taxes which discourage the inefficient use of scarce resources.
I really don't like taxes that prevent the market from clearing*: like stamp duty.
Gently discouraging people from having homes larger than they actually need is probably a net benefit. (Are there losers? Sure there are. But the winners in terms of greater housing availability are surely more than the losers.)
* Yes, I know the market always clears.
But how does CGT on primary residence encourage older people to downsize? Surely it does the opposite as they'll just lock in and pass their primary residence on tax free up to £1m.
Old people very rarely actually do downsize, unless its for health reasons. People without a mortgage are generally settled and happy in their homes and don't want to move.
We should simply be building lots more family homes for people to move into, rather than magically expecting old people to uproot their lives by downsizing which doesn't happen, so young people have no actual homes to move into.
Quite a few downsize by their late 70s, they don't want the hassle of a large detached house to run and would prefer a flat or bungalow, especially if they are a widow or widower too
Really, quite a few?
Most widows or widowers I've known are in no fit state to go through the upheaval of moving, unless its to go into a care home. Do you have any actual facts or figures as to the numbers actually doing this?
That's kind of the whole business model for McCarthy and Stone, among others, so some must do it. I can think of half a dozen examples off the top of my head.
Some yes, but not a significant number that addresses the shortage of homes available for young people, or that obviates the need for major construction to resolve the shortage.
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
It highlights the stuckness we're currently stuck with.
The politics of any tax rises are ugly, as are the politics or real (not pretendy) spending cuts. And the ruses that have bridged that gap for decades, and have caused us to become accustomed to a lifestyle we haven't earned, have stopped working.
The only real answer is to not start from here.
I would suggest if we hadn't had covid or the war in Ukraine then we would be in a very different place
The 500 billion or more cost of these events has been traumatic for the country and all politicians who simply do not have the answers
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
I think DM_Andy nailed it with "most people are greedy". We can recognise that something is political suicide even as we explain why, on paper, the measure could be good for the country.
The trouble is almost everything fits this description. I'm feeling very low about the UK after the ludicrous WFP fiasco.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
@leon where have you been? @hyufd has talked about his wife numerous times and posted here when he got married. If memory serves me right she works for the church at Oxford Uni. Do I have that right @hyufd?
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
I do but she isn't very political and sometimes votes LD so don't often see the need to mention her but as she was singing in a touring choir in Ely cathedral and we were discussing that wonderful building I thought it relevant
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Oh, I get the politics, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the politics. But the parasitical attitude of "I will never contribute towards this society" really annoys me. Even more so when it's combined with utter smugness.
I do not understand why you think homeowners do not contribute towards society
They pay their taxes the same as anyone else and of course that includes council tax
Also as I said our home will pay any care fees we may need
Our son in law parents care fees cost over £260,000 and not one penny was paid by the exchequer
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
I think DM_Andy nailed it with "most people are greedy". We can recognise that something is political suicide even as we explain why, on paper, the measure could be good for the country.
The trouble is almost everything fits this description. I'm feeling very low about the UK after the ludicrous WFP fiasco, the country is very obviously in a death spiral unless we are fortunate enough to get a Thatcher type figure to confront us with change.
Early Thatcher did that, and was unpopular. Then she found some family silver to flog off. The other thing that helped was a very helpful dependency ratio... which takes us back on topic.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
That's wonderful news - your first?
Yes
It is an amazing feeling when you have your first born and your whole life will change all for the good
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Labour have constituencies in the shires now though like Banbury, Basingstoke and Hitchin. Where I am 500k gets you a fairly middle of the road 3 bed house
For an extra £100k, you can get one set back from the road.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
Discussed this morning. The Guardian write-up of this is awful & confuses who is being taxed & when.
Under this proposal the seller is not being taxed - the buyer is being taxed an annual % property tax after they purchase the property as a replacement for stamp duty.
As I commented earlier, it honestly looks like the journalist in question shoved that document into an LLM, asked it to summarise the document & then published whatever bullshit the LLM spat out. A poor show frankly.
Presumably on top of their council tax ?
Who’d buy in those circumstances ?
If must have taxes - and sadly I don't really see any alternative - then I prefer taxes which discourage the inefficient use of scarce resources.
I really don't like taxes that prevent the market from clearing*: like stamp duty.
Gently discouraging people from having homes larger than they actually need is probably a net benefit. (Are there losers? Sure there are. But the winners in terms of greater housing availability are surely more than the losers.)
* Yes, I know the market always clears.
But how does CGT on primary residence encourage older people to downsize? Surely it does the opposite as they'll just lock in and pass their primary residence on tax free up to £1m.
Old people very rarely actually do downsize, unless its for health reasons. People without a mortgage are generally settled and happy in their homes and don't want to move.
We should simply be building lots more family homes for people to move into, rather than magically expecting old people to uproot their lives by downsizing which doesn't happen, so young people have no actual homes to move into.
Quite a few downsize by their late 70s, they don't want the hassle of a large detached house to run and would prefer a flat or bungalow, especially if they are a widow or widower too
Really, quite a few?
Most widows or widowers I've known are in no fit state to go through the upheaval of moving, unless its to go into a care home. Do you have any actual facts or figures as to the numbers actually doing this?
That's kind of the whole business model for McCarthy and Stone, among others, so some must do it. I can think of half a dozen examples off the top of my head.
Some yes, but not a significant number that addresses the shortage of homes available for young people, or that obviates the need for major construction to resolve the shortage.
Really? It's what my grandmother did when she was widowed (within, about, 12 months). And what my other grandmother did when my grandfather moved into a care home. And what my wife's grandmother did when she was widowed. And, well, I'm 50 years old, and while I'm lucky enough to still have two fairly hale and hearty parents and two hale and hearty parents in law, I'm of an age where many of my peera are going through deaths of parents. And its honestly hard to think of any widows (the husbands always die first) who don't then downsize within a year or two. Honestly, I'm racking my brains and it's the same time and time again; the widow sells the house and gets a flat near one of her children. You're a similar age to me, though, and the fact you are so sure suggests you have just as rich a seam of anecdata showing the opposite.
A rather gruesome sight in our garden: amid a heap of feathers a pigeon's body with a decapitated head and no head to be found. No sign of the corpse having been eaten. Could it be a fox?
Sounds like the work of a hawk to me.
Pigeons are so dozy I've seen them lined up on the fence watching one of their own being torn to shreds just feet away. Hawks feast on these stupid birds.
A fox wouldn't pluck it. Hawk for me too.
When I had an office a Charing Cross, you woukd see a peregrine bomb down the Strand, into Trafalgar Square, grap a pigeon then consume it on one of the nearby rooftops. Boy do pigeons have a lot of feathers!
Tonight is a special night when we must put politics on one side and wholeheartedly congratulate @HYUFD and his good lady on the fantastic news they are expecting their first child in November
Tonight is a special night when we must put politics on one side and wholeheartedly congratulate @HYUFD and his good lady on the fantastic news they are expecting their first child in November
A fabulous good news story
Thanks BigG, KJH, RobD and RCS and everyone else for your congratulations and kind comments
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Oh, I get the politics, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the politics. But the parasitical attitude of "I will never contribute towards this society" really annoys me. Even more so when it's combined with utter smugness.
I do not understand why you think homeowners do not contribute towards society
They pay their taxes the same as anyone else and of course that includes council tax
Also as I said our home will pay any care fees we may need
Our son in law parents care fees cost over £260,000 and not one penny was paid by the exchequer
I didn't say that, I said they pay less. As I said if you work hard and earn £100k you pay £31,400 tax and NI, £50k earning and £50k house price increase you pay £10,500 even though your net worth has increased by precisely the same amount. Shouldn't that be equal? There are huge amounts of the British people who cannot even dream of owning a house. They shouldn't be condemned to a modern form of serfdom.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
That's wonderful news - your first?
Yes
Brilliant. I'm delighted for you. I know you generally stick to politics, but I'm looking forward to your reflections on the experience. It's hard to explain to anyone without children why it's a positive experience. Objectively, it sounds terrible. But it's by a million miles the most wonderful thing I have ever done. (Not 100% of the time, of course - some of it is awful - but the good far, far outweighs the bad). Good luck!
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
Tonight is a special night when we must put politics on one side and wholeheartedly congratulate @HYUFD and his good lady on the fantastic news they are expecting their first child in November
A fabulous good news story
Thanks BigG, KJH, RobD and RCS and everyone else for your congratulations and kind comments
Truly - I have often posted sarcy replies to your posts - but the very best of wishes to you and your wife and future mini-me.
May he or she also rib you for your comments in due time ;-)
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
ENOUGH
It’s GMB, it’s what they do. Pick a controversial subject. Get two diametrically opposed talking heads on and use it as clickbait on social media.
Yes, indeed, but I am done witb it, Fuck it all
PUT OUT MORE FLAGS
Prof Andrews very clearly states that the flags in question were the flags that flew on the ships that enslaved his ancestors but fails to mention that England rejected slavery in 1833 and royal navy ships with the very same flag worked to block slave ships.
As ever the flag of a nation holds many triumphs and miseries in its flapping cloth.
It's funny. Father Calvin Robinson (roughly, chaplain to Tommy Robinson & his similars) is on Twitter demanding that the guy be deported because he has opinions that Fr Calvin does not like.
Two problems:
1 - Those types spend all their time gibbering on about Fwee Speech. 2 - The Prof is a British Citizen born in Birmingham.
As ever, Hypocrisy is written in the bones of the extreme right like Blackpool in a stick of rock.
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Oh, I get the politics, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the politics. But the parasitical attitude of "I will never contribute towards this society" really annoys me. Even more so when it's combined with utter smugness.
I do not understand why you think homeowners do not contribute towards society
They pay their taxes the same as anyone else and of course that includes council tax
Also as I said our home will pay any care fees we may need
Our son in law parents care fees cost over £260,000 and not one penny was paid by the exchequer
I didn't say that, I said they pay less. As I said if you work hard and earn £100k you pay £31,400 tax and NI, £50k earning and £50k house price increase you pay £10,500 even though your net worth has increased by precisely the same amount. Shouldn't that be equal? There are huge amounts of the British people who cannot even dream of owning a house. They shouldn't be condemned to a modern form of serfdom.
I do not recognise an annual increase of 50K in house prices to be honest but the point you miss is the billions of savings to the exchequer for care of the elderly by selling their home which would be a cost to the exchequer if that asset wasn't available
Thanks, though I am sure our esteemed leader has plenty of Labour supporters who will be naming their newborns after him as tribute to his visionary leadership of this country, we are unlikely to follow suit. Sorry
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have 3 years and 5 days to go before I become one -- if all goes well.)
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
I do but she isn't very political and sometimes votes LD so don't often see the need to mention her but as she was singing in a touring choir in Ely cathedral and we were discussing that wonderful building I thought it relevant
I knew you were married - but I am surprised and cheered that the most party-loyal poster on here has a wife who isn't very political and someimes votes for another party. The fact that you clock off from here and go and live a normal life where politics takes a back seat is oddly charming.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have slightly more than 3 years, and 5 days, to go before I become one.)
Gosh - you're 81?! I didn't have you among the pb octogenarians!
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
I do but she isn't very political and sometimes votes LD so don't often see the need to mention her but as she was singing in a touring choir in Ely cathedral and we were discussing that wonderful building I thought it relevant
I knew you were married - but I am surprised and cheered that the most party-loyal poster on here has a wife who isn't very political and someimes votes for another party. The fact that you clock off from here and go and live a normal life where politics takes a back seat is oddly charming.
"Oddly charming" should be the motto and legal requirement for many UK websites. I feel it would reduce the need for VPN age checks and the OSA.
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
As it stands ANY government taxation kite is shot down by the hostile media and the Conservatives. I have no problem with a sales tax for a property that I have potentially nominally profited by £600,000 over 25 years (mortgage interest repayments notwithstanding).
We now seem to operate in a culture where we demand better social and civil services, better and more expensive defence but without any attempts at a taxation quid pro quo.
We want our cake and we want to eat it.
There have been years where my property went up in value by more than the wage I was being paid. The former attracts no tax, the latter does. Do we want to incentivise people to work, or to indulge in property speculation?
Anyone who suggests charging capital gains tax on private homes is signing their political obituary
Maybe because most people are greedy and want everyone else to pay for them. If I earn £100k this year I would pay £31,400 in tax and NI, if I earned £50k and my house increased in value by £50k then I would pay £10,500 in tax and NI. Why are we taxing work more than sitting on your arse?
I am not sure you quite grasp the politics of this
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Oh, I get the politics, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the politics. But the parasitical attitude of "I will never contribute towards this society" really annoys me. Even more so when it's combined with utter smugness.
I do not understand why you think homeowners do not contribute towards society
They pay their taxes the same as anyone else and of course that includes council tax
Also as I said our home will pay any care fees we may need
Our son in law parents care fees cost over £260,000 and not one penny was paid by the exchequer
I didn't say that, I said they pay less. As I said if you work hard and earn £100k you pay £31,400 tax and NI, £50k earning and £50k house price increase you pay £10,500 even though your net worth has increased by precisely the same amount. Shouldn't that be equal? There are huge amounts of the British people who cannot even dream of owning a house. They shouldn't be condemned to a modern form of serfdom.
I do not recognise an annual increase of 50K in house prices to be honest but the point you miss is the billions of savings to the exchequer for care of the elderly by selling their home which would be a cost to the exchequer if that asset wasn't available
If the state taxed fairly then the social care system could be funded properly.
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have slightly more than 3 years, and 5 days, to go before I become one.)
Gosh - you're 81?! I didn't have you among the pb octogenarians!
I have 3 years and 6 months to 85 though my wife is already there, bless her
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have 3 years and 5 days to go before I become one -- if all goes well.)
Well, it's 21 years since I last saw a GP, only another 21 years to 85!
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have 3 years and 5 days to go before I become one -- if all goes well.)
I have an investor in my business who is 99 years old.
He gave up skiing in his late 80s. "Meyer," his doctor told him "you are 86 years old. If you take a tumble, you will not be getting back up."
Personally, I would have kept on skiing. That's the way I want to go.
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have slightly more than 3 years, and 5 days, to go before I become one.)
Gosh - you're 81?! I didn't have you among the pb octogenarians!
I have 3 years and 6 months to 85 though my wife is already there, bless her
My dad celebrated his 85th a few weeks ago. He hasn't changed his lifestyle at all compared to 40 years ago, lol.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The Tim Leunig suggestion is a good one. Revenue neutral if you want it to be, gets rid of an awful tax (stamp duty).
Property is always difficult though. DM headlines about Labour taxing poor Granny in her five bed house in Kensington are not to be born apparently.
Revenue neutral can't really apply.
Councils have been slashed very substantially over the last 15 years (the number I normally notice is 30% in real terms), so our public realm and our services are shit, and our Councils have no capacity or capability to improve.
The wibble from the "cut even more" crowd is just gormless, reactionary wibble. The Farage Faceplant Party tried that, by believing a lot of lies they told themselves about non-existing spending they would cut, despite the data being in the public domain. Then their morons and charlatans just started making things up, often pulled out of last year's paper or their arses - see Zia Yusuf's bullshit about Kent. And now they are cutting into the bones to try and cover themselves.
We need all of that, and perhaps more, back over 5-10 years. That means that a proportional property tax will need to be more like 0.55%.
I won't let Sir Guy of Gosborne and Slasher Cameron off. They cut it all, then opened up more autonomy for Councils to do strange investments (Mansfield did a hotel in Edinburgh, but I think got away with it), whilst deny them the capability to manage it properly.
And we are paying for it now in terms of that number of nearly 20% of revenue going on debt interest. Osborne and Cameron were no better than Gordon Brown's turbo use of PFI to make his grandchildrens' generation pay for his current spending.
One real concern is that if the current nutcase Tories get back in, they will just wreck it all - again.
Later today, Amazon has promised to deliver a copy of Eric Topol's "Super Agers", people who reach 85, without any serious health problems. We can reduce health costs for the elderly by keeping them healthy, longer. One of the best ways to do so is by encouraging them to exercise, preferably outside in most cases.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have slightly more than 3 years, and 5 days, to go before I become one.)
Gosh - you're 81?! I didn't have you among the pb octogenarians!
I have 3 years and 6 months to 85 though my wife is already there, bless her
My dad celebrated his 85th a few weeks ago. He hasn't changed his lifestyle at all compared to 40 years ago, lol.
Well - yes. Public footpaths, walking, and cycling. Starting with travel to school.
But our society has to be accessible and safe.
So we need to start the process of change. Now. Everywhere.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
That would also be a 50% reduction for me, and 60% for some of my neighbours.
I noticed this sort of thing when having a coffee at the British Library a few months ago. They expected me to add a tip to the price of a cup of coffee.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
On my previous flat that would be a reduction from £1500 a year down to about £180.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
On my previous flat that would be a reduction from £1500 a year down to about £180.
The original proposal said there was a floor of £800 all property owners paid.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
On my previous flat that would be a reduction from £1500 a year down to about £180.
The original proposal said there was a floor of £800 all property owners paid.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
On my previous flat that would be a reduction from £1500 a year down to about £180.
The original proposal said there was a floor of £800 all property owners paid.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
The sellers having made a five hundred percent profit on their home after 25 years coughing up would be more equitable than the poor old buyer having to front stamp duty at purchase.
This policy would be devastating for Labour in London and home counties marginal Labour seats, the AVERAGE London house price is now over £500k, the same in Hertfordshire
The "stamp duty on the seller" is a strange element, though that will help people in their earlier years as they move up the housing ladder.
I think it might be better to plan to remove Stamp Duty, but do it over years on a taper, as the Council Tax changes come in. The Proportional Property Tax proposals have an increase limit of 15% per annum for a number of years.
High house price areas have had artificially low Council Tax for many years, not reflecting the house value even under the existing retrogressive system. So I can't be too concerned about that, as the extra increase in house prices is literally untaxed, unearned extra profit.
But the Golden Goose will need some subtle plucking, and I'm not sure that this Treasury are skilled enough pluckers.
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
That's wonderful news - your first?
Yes
Yay, way to go,and GRATZ
What a lovely day this has been
A grand old sunny summer outing with my older kiddo (Grimes Graves!), a visit to what turned out to be one of the most fragrantly beautiful buildings in the world, (Ely Cathedral!) (and this arvo the Gazette told me they are sending me to Phnom Penh, Which is possibly my favourite city in Asia)
And now a revered PBer announces his impending firstborn??
Went to the Trent Bridge Hundred fixture today and it was almost like watching a test match with the slow scoring but it was still absolutely riveting for cricket fans. Shows how you can have a Hundred contest without every other ball going for 4 or 6. Interesting.
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
On my previous flat that would be a reduction from £1500 a year down to about £180.
The original proposal said there was a floor of £800 all property owners paid.
That's a floor at a little over £180k. There's whole towns in the north which don't have properties at those prices*
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Should ageing have an e? It's just about the only word I can't spell? Apart from weird. Which I just misspelled. And was autocorrected. It still looks weirdly wrong.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
What on earth is Reeves thinking with all these ridiculous taxation ideas for housing; seemingly on top of council tax
The best thing to do is scrap Council Tax, scrap Stamp Duty and replace with a simple, percentage tax on property values.
I expect however that she'll attempt to introduce a new tax without abolishing either Council Tax or Stamp Duty, which would be the worst thing to do.
Erm, that's the proposal. Maybe not a simple, single % but otherwise what you ask:
"First, the stamp duty land tax should be replaced with a national proportional property tax, levied on house values above £500,000. This rate would be set by central government. An annual rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1m would raise the same amount as stamp duty."
"Second, council tax should be replaced with a local proportional property tax, levied on house values up to £500,000 with a minimum annual payment of £800. The rate would be set by local authorities. A rate of 0.44% would raise the same amount of revenue as council tax."
(original policy document)
That's the original proposal, which is a good one. Please give me any link that says this is what Reeves is proposing, which is a different matter.
I won't hold my breath on Reeves doing the right thing, or count any chickens before they're hatched.
Let me caveat by saying some I support some sort of switch to land tax to better use land in this country, however, for a Government who are already as unpopular as they are to try this is "highly courageous"
From what I've heard the plan is to design it so that people in the North pay less and people in the South pay more. This is going to create huge numbers of winners and losers. If you tell people they have to pay a bit more to support their local services then they my grudgingly accept. If you tell them they have to pay more to reduce bills for other people they'll be furious.
Worth noting how many MPs Lab have now in the regions most likely to be impacted:
Greater London - 57/75 South East - 35/91 South West - 22/58 Eastern - 26/61
I'm not sure that's the case actually. Council tax is so imbalanced even flats in central London could see a cut of it's a flat percentage. I have a nice flat in Edinburgh and it comes out roughly the same at 0.5%, meanwhile vast swathes of the Red Wall get big tax cuts.
It's big houses in the Shires that get screwed, but that's hardly Labour swing voters.
Indeed, and as the owner of a Band C house in outer London I reckon 0.44% would give me a modest reduction
If it was introduced here in the bleak north, it would reduce my bill by over 50%.
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
That would also be a 50% reduction for me, and 60% for some of my neighbours.
In the Midlands, it would be neutral on my house at 0,5% - 4 bed 2 recep, 450k perhaps, Band D.
The Leeanderthal Man would probably pay perhaps £1k less, his is ~500k and 2 bands up (I have been fortunate) as an F, so currently £3600 pa.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
She loves history, churches, geology, poetry, and surreal jokes
Which is kinda handy as these are many of my favourite things as well
Did you go up it? It costs, but it's worth it. Some of the paintings open up and you can look down...
It's just so incredibly beautiful
I've only beem once before, and that was about 25 years ago. So this was almost like my first visit
Stunning. Just stunning. When I first went in I thought, OK, this is like one of the great French cathedrals - Amiens or Reims - very lovely, but lacking Noom
And then we got to the Octagon and the Noom comes from the sheer effrontery of the architecture. The absurd, dreamy idea of this floating geometrical ceiling-from-heaven, my God the Noom kicks in then. Oh yes. Verily, and yea
Also, the Lady Chapel. Also, the fact it was founded in about 670AD by an Anglo-Saxon princess. Also, the Anglo-Saxon warlords and bishops interred in one of the prettier chantries, including some earl who died at the Battle of Maldon. Also, the presence nearby of Grimes Graves in the Breckland (which we both visited for the first time)
We had a brilliant day out. England can still wildly surprise on the upside, and then some. 90 minutes from the North Circular!
Ely must be in the top ten most-beautiful-cathedrals in the world
I believe when it was built, Ely was surrounded by water. Imagine approaching it in medieval times. The cathedral mirrored by its own reflection. Must have been stupendous.
Yes my wife was singing in Ely cathedral a few weeks ago, magical location
You have a wife???? Who sings in a choir?
Mate, you've been posting on PB for about 107 years, and today we learn you have a wife
This is a bit like Nick Palmer "Swissnick" Day, only with wives and more wholesome
To be fair @HYUFD has mentioned his wife on occasions and I think it is wonderful she sings in Ely choir
Thanks, we are also due a new arrival in November too so can't post as much as I have been
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
I'll go with in trouble; I won't go with fucked. I think it's more likely than not now that Reform will go pop, the far right zoo will go back into their caves, and the current Starmer programmes will work - less quickly than I would like. It will take 2 Parliaments to see significant recovery in the warp and weft of our civil society.
One surprise will be that many of the systems the last 3 or 4 PMs just ignored - eg for managing immigration - will prove to be functional and impactful, with a few tweaks.
As for revenue - VAT on books?
Now - the USA is FUCKED, in red, with 3 underlinings and 4 exclamation marks. They are headed for the Third World if Trumpism is not marginalised, and a serious reform programme implemented to take them out of the 18C .
A rather gruesome sight in our garden: amid a heap of feathers a pigeon's body with a decapitated head and no head to be found. No sign of the corpse having been eaten. Could it be a fox?
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
Things certainly wont be fine if we join the MAGA march into insanity and destruction of every institution and value that has made us one of the envies of the world.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Quite a large archipelago. The fourth largest in the world, I'd say, by population at least (it may be by land area that the Canadian Arctic archipelago is larger), aftet the East Indies, Japan, and the Philippines. Probably it was third highest in the empire's heyday. Other than that, I agree. Compare, for example, to the Mongol empire. That was an amazing achievment, but utterly brutal. Wiped out whole nations. Yet noone gives the Mongols shit for their pride in Genghis Khan. Partly because Ulan Bator polytechnic doesn't have a department of colionalism where it pays people to berate the country and all it represents.
A rather gruesome sight in our garden: amid a heap of feathers a pigeon's body with a decapitated head and no head to be found. No sign of the corpse having been eaten. Could it be a fox?
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
I'll go with in trouble; I won't go with fucked. I think it's more likely than nor now that Reform will go pop, the far right zoo will go back into their caves, and the current Starmer programmes will work - less quickly than I would like. It will take 2 Parliaments to see significant recovery in the warp and weft of our civil society.
One surprise will be that many of the systems the last 3 or 4 PMs just ignored - eg for managing immigration - will prove to be functional and impactful, with a few tweaks.
As for revenue - VAT on books?
Now - the USA is FUCKED, in red, with 3 underlinings and 4 exclamation marks. They are headed for the Third World if Trumpism is not marginalised, and a serious reform programme implemented to take them out of the 18C .
VAT on books isn't worth the candle.
Scrapping zero VAT entirely and adding a few £ to benefits to compensate is another matter.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
At schools nowadays in history it seems to be the number one topic, with the emphasis on how wicked it all was.
The Times CGT on high value properties story feels to me like the kind of story you float to fill newspaper/social media time between now and November knowing full well it is bollocks and the real stuff is very different.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
I don't think we were very liberal when we had an Empire ... we were actually very much like Trump. Other countries and people were our consumables.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
Things certainly wont be fine if we join the MAGA march into insanity and destruction of every institution and value that has made us one of the envies of the world.
That's what Nigel wants.
But the destruction of every institution and value that has made us one of the envies of the world is exactly what is happening. As a culture, we are already committing suicide. Professor thingy at Birmingham B university's views are the same as those of the education sector as a whole, the judiciary, the BBC, the National Trust. I don't want Nigel as PM. But it's not obvious to me that a Reform government will be any more destructive of our national institutions than any other government of the past 25 years.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
At schools nowadays in history it seems to be the number one topic, with the emphasis on how wicked it all was.
I’m 64 years old and the little I recall learning about it concerned Britain’s successes and magnificence and the occasional brutalities we endured while spreading our benevolence including “The Black Hole of Calcutta”.
Interesting to hear that it’s now the number one topic being taught in history. I didn’t know that.
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
I don't think we were very liberal when we had an Empire ... we were actually very much like Trump. Other countries and people were our consumables.
We only stopped Transports to Australia in ~1870.
You're judging yesterday by the standards of today though. Compare it instead to any other empire of the time - French, Belgian, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese. Or any further back in history - Mongol, Moghul, Aztec, Arab, Roman. It's hard to argue that it wasn't a better fate to end up under British rule.
The Times CGT on high value properties story feels to me like the kind of story you float to fill newspaper/social media time between now and November knowing full well it is bollocks and the real stuff is very different.
Also anchoring. Remember last year's budget all the kite flying made it sound like daily punishment beating, twice on Sundays and then when it turned out to be just weekends initially it didn't go down too badly as "could have been worse ".
And the anchoring isn't really for us, it for the media reporting.
Also, I noted again today how England really packs in the drama. You can go from London to Essex to the fens to the Breckland heaths, via innumerable famous, beautiful, run down, lovely, sad, gorgeous, storied, dismal, eerie villages towns and stately homes, and castles, churches and cathedrals, and Neolithic monuments and famous air force bases, in about 50 minutes
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
Which is why all the doomster shite about the country falling into the black pit and being broken up and fed to the knackers yard and thence to glue is rubbish.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
No. We are fucked, We were great, we stil have great potential;, but as things stand we are fucked
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
Things certainly wont be fine if we join the MAGA march into insanity and destruction of every institution and value that has made us one of the envies of the world.
That's what Nigel wants.
But the destruction of every institution and value that has made us one of the envies of the world is exactly what is happening. As a culture, we are already committing suicide. Professor thingy at Birmingham B university's views are the same as those of the education sector as a whole, the judiciary, the BBC, the National Trust. I don't want Nigel as PM. But it's not obvious to me that a Reform government will be any more destructive of our national institutions than any other government of the past 25 years.
@Cookie. What are the institutions and values that have made us one of the envies of the world that are being or have been destroyed?
A rather gruesome sight in our garden: amid a heap of feathers a pigeon's body with a decapitated head and no head to be found. No sign of the corpse having been eaten. Could it be a fox?
Sounds like the work of a hawk to me.
Pigeons are so dozy I've seen them lined up on the fence watching one of their own being torn to shreds just feet away. Hawks feast on these stupid birds.
Pideons really are dozy which is why our garden is regularly littered with pidgeon feathers thanks to two of our three cats, I don't think that the other one has ever caught a bird or a mouse in its life although he has on a few occassions gently brought home a live unharmed rabbit and released it in the house!
"What is wrong with displaying the Union flag or the St. George's Cross in a patriotic way, even if some far-right groups have co-opted it?"
@kategarraway and @adilray discuss the displaying of flags with Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, who argues it's provocative and the St George's Cross has become a symbol of racism, while race, culture and identity writer Dr Rakib Ehsan thinks we should be proud of our flag after two councils sparked controversy by taking down St George's and Union flags."
Thing is, I would probably have given significance to his opinion ten years ago. Now I do not give a f*ck. Don't like it? - shut up or leave
That's it. Why should a majority of Brits warp, pervert and abase their sense of identity - the symbolism and self respect - to accommodate professionally aggrieved people like this? They have a grift and they're gonna grift. Even if t's honest, it is a grift. It's how they make a living
We had an empire. It was magnificent and the biggest ever. Sorry but there it is
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
As empires go, it was superb
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
Thanks. Very interesting.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
I don't think we were very liberal when we had an Empire ... we were actually very much like Trump. Other countries and people were our consumables.
We only stopped Transports to Australia in ~1870.
You're judging yesterday by the standards of today though. Compare it instead to any other empire of the time - French, Belgian, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese. Or any further back in history - Mongol, Moghul, Aztec, Arab, Roman. It's hard to argue that it wasn't a better fate to end up under British rule.
Well, definitely better than being under Belgian rule.
France is more nuanced: they had their moments, both positively and negatively. You can argue that their making their remaining imperial possessions part of France proper (French Guyana, for instance) offered a better 'out' than happened for British ones.
Comments
And by the way any care my wife or I need at our advanced years 81 and 85 will be entirely funded by our home and saving the taxpayer many thousands of pounds
Operation Desert Storm:
https://youtu.be/C6pQDi-kvnE?t=574
Also, how pleasing she sings in Ely. Honestly, it is remarkable
It is possibly better because I now return - nearly three decades later - for the first time - and I have so much more to compare it with. I can now see it in the context of a lifetime's travel. I have been all around the world, 101 countries, and I have basically seen EVERYTHING. I've seen Karahan Tepe at twilight, the Antarctic by moonlight, and Easter Island by lamplight
And Ely Cathedral is up there. Really really up there, with the best
The politics of any tax rises are ugly, as are the politics or real (not pretendy) spending cuts. And the ruses that have bridged that gap for decades, and have caused us to become accustomed to a lifestyle we haven't earned, have stopped working.
The only real answer is to not start from here.
As ever the flag of a nation holds many triumphs and miseries in its flapping cloth.
The 500 billion or more cost of these events has been traumatic for the country and all politicians who simply do not have the answers
The trouble is almost everything fits this description. I'm feeling very low about the UK after the ludicrous WFP fiasco.
They pay their taxes the same as anyone else and of course that includes council tax
Also as I said our home will pay any care fees we may need
Our son in law parents care fees cost over £260,000 and not one penny was paid by the exchequer
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/19/police-investigate-st-georges-flag-painted-on-roundabout/
You're a similar age to me, though, and the fact you are so sure suggests you have just as rich a seam of anecdata showing the opposite.
When I had an office a Charing Cross, you woukd see a peregrine bomb down the Strand, into Trafalgar Square, grap a pigeon then consume it on one of the nearby rooftops. Boy do pigeons have a lot of feathers!
A fabulous good news story
Any thoughts on names?
If you have a boy, may I suggest Keir?
It's hard to explain to anyone without children why it's a positive experience. Objectively, it sounds terrible. But it's by a million miles the most wonderful thing I have ever done. (Not 100% of the time, of course - some of it is awful - but the good far, far outweighs the bad).
Good luck!
May he or she also rib you for your comments in due time ;-)
Two problems:
1 - Those types spend all their time gibbering on about Fwee Speech.
2 - The Prof is a British Citizen born in Birmingham.
As ever, Hypocrisy is written in the bones of the extreme right like Blackpool in a stick of rock.
And I think we can anticipate advances in medicines, as well.
(I have 3 years and 5 days to go before I become one -- if all goes well.)
Vote Keir!
Vote often!
He gave up skiing in his late 80s. "Meyer," his doctor told him "you are 86 years old. If you take a tumble, you will not be getting back up."
Personally, I would have kept on skiing. That's the way I want to go.
Councils have been slashed very substantially over the last 15 years (the number I normally notice is 30% in real terms), so our public realm and our services are shit, and our Councils have no capacity or capability to improve.
The wibble from the "cut even more" crowd is just gormless, reactionary wibble. The Farage Faceplant Party tried that, by believing a lot of lies they told themselves about non-existing spending they would cut, despite the data being in the public domain. Then their morons and charlatans just started making things up, often pulled out of last year's paper or their arses - see Zia Yusuf's bullshit about Kent. And now they are cutting into the bones to try and cover themselves.
We need all of that, and perhaps more, back over 5-10 years. That means that a proportional property tax will need to be more like 0.55%.
I won't let Sir Guy of Gosborne and Slasher Cameron off. They cut it all, then opened up more autonomy for Councils to do strange investments (Mansfield did a hotel in Edinburgh, but I think got away with it), whilst deny them the capability to manage it properly.
And we are paying for it now in terms of that number of nearly 20% of revenue going on debt interest. Osborne and Cameron were no better than Gordon Brown's turbo use of PFI to make his grandchildrens' generation pay for his current spending.
One real concern is that if the current nutcase Tories get back in, they will just wreck it all - again.
But our society has to be accessible and safe.
So we need to start the process of change. Now. Everywhere.
@HYUFD reveals he is to become a parent.
Top congrats. May all be well.
At this level of international breaking news one is minded to ask whether @TSE is on holiday??
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/london-pub-adds-4pc-stealth-charge-pints
I noticed this sort of thing when having a coffee at the British Library a few months ago. They expected me to add a tip to the price of a cup of coffee.
And sympathy to @Flatlander.
Birth, sickness, aging and death.
And around we go again.
Is the fact that Britain had an empire a reason for us to be proud - and if so why? How was the British Empire magnificent? Yes, the British Empire was the biggest ever - but was that a good thing and if so why?
I think it might be better to plan to remove Stamp Duty, but do it over years on a taper, as the Council Tax changes come in. The Proportional Property Tax proposals have an increase limit of 15% per annum for a number of years.
High house price areas have had artificially low Council Tax for many years, not reflecting the house value even under the existing retrogressive system. So I can't be too concerned about that, as the extra increase in house prices is literally untaxed, unearned extra profit.
But the Golden Goose will need some subtle plucking, and I'm not sure that this Treasury are skilled enough pluckers.
What a lovely day this has been
A grand old sunny summer outing with my older kiddo (Grimes Graves!), a visit to what turned out to be one of the most fragrantly beautiful buildings in the world, (Ely Cathedral!) (and this arvo the Gazette told me they are sending me to Phnom Penh, Which is possibly my favourite city in Asia)
And now a revered PBer announces his impending firstborn??
Huzzah, Huzzah and thrice-times Huzzah!
There's whole towns in the north which don't have properties at those prices*
*Other than 6 bedroom mansions.
Insane. We've discussed this before, but I am not sure any country on earth squeezes so much in, per square mile, for good and bad
It's just about the only word I can't spell?
Apart from weird.
Which I just misspelled. And was autocorrected.
It still looks weirdly wrong.
We've basically been a very wealthy, successful country that punches well above its size since at least the wool era of the middle ages.
STOP TALKING US DOWN.
Moally flawless? Of course not, this is humanity. But as an act of will exerted on the world by one small rainy archipelago off northwest Europe? Utterly astonishing and entirely unexampled. The greatest empire ever, in all senses. And I believe the world is better for it existing, by a distance, because one European country or another would have forced the world into modernity, and it was better for the world that it was Christian, Protestant, liberal, Enlightened Britain than any other European rival
Imagine if it had been Ottoman Turkey, or the Germans. Ugh
The Leeanderthal Man would probably pay perhaps £1k less, his is ~500k and 2 bands up (I have been fortunate) as an F, so currently £3600 pa.
PBers really need to move on from the mindset that "we are this great nation of Britain and we will ultimately be fine". There is a very very real chance that this time things will not be "fine"
Are we doomed? Nope. Are we in deep trouble? Yes. It is time to act
One surprise will be that many of the systems the last 3 or 4 PMs just ignored - eg for managing immigration - will prove to be functional and impactful, with a few tweaks.
As for revenue - VAT on books?
Now - the USA is FUCKED, in red, with 3 underlinings and 4 exclamation marks. They are headed for the Third World if Trumpism is not marginalised, and a serious reform programme implemented to take them out of the 18C .
That's what Nigel wants.
Other than that, I agree.
Compare, for example, to the Mongol empire. That was an amazing achievment, but utterly brutal. Wiped out whole nations. Yet noone gives the Mongols shit for their pride in Genghis Khan. Partly because Ulan Bator polytechnic doesn't have a department of colionalism where it pays people to berate the country and all it represents.
I’m currently reading Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. As he states, and I personally recall, we were taught very little about the British Empire at school. It was, as you say, an extraordinary time in history. Whether it’s something to be proud of - or ashamed of - or both - is not clear to me.
Scrapping zero VAT entirely and adding a few £ to benefits to compensate is another matter.
We only stopped Transports to Australia in ~1870.
Emilie Martin confronted a gang of thieves in east London. Ten years later, she’s still dealing with the consequences" (£)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/18/i-stood-up-to-shoplifters-it-ruined-my-life
Interesting to hear that it’s now the number one topic being taught in history. I didn’t know that.
https://x.com/bradder68/status/1957904478612422778?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
And the anchoring isn't really for us, it for the media reporting.
France is more nuanced: they had their moments, both positively and negatively. You can argue that their making their remaining imperial possessions part of France proper (French Guyana, for instance) offered a better 'out' than happened for British ones.