I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
“ What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in”
Hah hah hah 😂
Your posts are so hysterically funny. 🤣
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade?
Labour is now massively split, and already sniping and briefing at each other, the government is now staffed with useless weird failures and felons.
This has effectively been a change from boring but living in real world of no money so sensibly not over promising politicians, to Johnsonian type populist politics. And you said “more tuned in” 😂
And as Labour doesn’t have a single back bencher who will vote for welfare reform - no one in government has a plan for welfare reform - no advisors helping them achieve it - they are screwed. There’s only one place this is going. Massive majority and they fucked it up 🙂
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade? 🤣
Only day 3 - what should be honeymoon bounce - and I’m already loving it. It’s so funny.
Trouble is that shelving long-term virtue for immediate sugar rushes has been the democratic will of the people... if not forever, certainly for a long time. I have the figure of 40 years floating round my mind for some reason.
Starmer and Reeves made some stumbling baby steps towards fiscal reality, and look what happened to them. But yes, it's a worrying pattern;
Lots of governments raid long-term budgets for short term giveaways, especially when they’re struggling. But it’s hard to think of one that has flaunted that switch so openly, or done it at precisely the point when it has the time and capital to do hard things
I like the bus fare cap proposal. Ok it's not huge (it's 'breathing space' stuff) but it shows a direction of travel. Even better, it shows a mode of travel too.
A few really cheap, largely symbolic, giveaways to keep voters sweet while we brace ourselves for the serious stuff....
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
Teenagers maybe less so younger ones
Our 12 year old grandson could run rings around many an it expert
His knowledge and his older 14 year old sister is very much par for young people today
Three decades ago the geeky kid in school (*raises hand*) was the victim of the bullying.
Today, he’s the boy who understands VPNs and proxy servers, private emails and the Dark Web, and helps the rest of the kids communicate with each other!
I can't help but feel that oil refineries and missile factories were more consequential targets.
not many of them left working though and public will feel impact of not being able to order anything online as the warehouses are burnt to the ground
Refinery volumes are down by about 30-40%. Plenty of capacity within range of Ukrainian drones.
I am sure there are reasons for it, but it feels like Ukraine were on the verge of causing damage to Russia's oil industry that would last decades, and they've eased off.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Also I think there are issues with Scotland and Wales where I believe income tax is a delegated power but I don't think NI is.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Also I think there are issues with Scotland and Wales where I believe income tax is a delegated power but I don't think NI is.
Only for pensioners earning enough to pay tax, and if they're earning enough to pay tax why should they not be paying the same rate as everyone else?
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
The sensible thing to do.is make employees continue to.pay NI beyond 65 till they draw their state pension. It doesnt bother me either.. as I am a Pensioner. I reckon the Govt would get about 2 billion from.that.
'Andy Burnham has announced that most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from the start of next year, with the prime minister saying no one should be "priced out" or "left behind" when it comes to affordable transport links.'
Once you discount London and GM and all the places without a useful bus service, this is a bit more sizzle than sausage.
Given the choice of being the one bestowing goodies or giving that power to others, Andy isn't going to devolve, is he?
A bus journey in London is £1.75 isn't it? Around here if you go more than 1 mile its £3.
A bus journey in London is a lot more than that if you live in (e.g.) the West Midlands and don't have an Oystercard.
And here in the urban West Midlands we pay £3. So someone who relies on buses to get to and from work or college daily will be saving several hundred pounds per year.
As an aside for any tourists coming to London to see Changing the Guard or Changing the Prime Minister, you do not need an Oystercard – you can use any credit or debit card or phone. The trick is to always use the same one so that multi-journey caps can be applied.
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
“ What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in”
Hah hah hah 😂
Your posts are so hysterically funny. 🤣
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade?
Labour is now massively split, and already sniping and briefing at each other, the government is now staffed with useless weird failures and felons.
This has effectively been a change from boring but living in real world of no money so sensibly not over promising politicians, to Johnsonian type populist politics. And you said “more tuned in” 😂
And as Labour doesn’t have a single back bencher who will vote for welfare reform - no one in government has a plan for welfare reform - no advisors helping them achieve it - they are screwed. There’s only one place this is going. Massive majority and they fucked it up 🙂
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade? 🤣
Only day 3 - what should be honeymoon bounce - and I’m already loving it. It’s so funny.
Your posts are hysterically funny, so off the scale that frankly they're not even worth dealing with in detail.
But I'll indulge you on just one point, as you opine from outside on something about which you know nothing but purport to know everything. Over the past two months I've seen first hand a unity and purpose re-emerge in the Labour Party that hadn't been there for more than a decade. Darren Jones' decision to reveal himself as a prize tosser will only add to that, it absolutely vindicates Burnham's decision to sack him.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
“ What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in”
Hah hah hah 😂
Your posts are so hysterically funny. 🤣
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade?
Labour is now massively split, and already sniping and briefing at each other, the government is now staffed with useless weird failures and felons.
This has effectively been a change from boring but living in real world of no money so sensibly not over promising politicians, to Johnsonian type populist politics. And you said “more tuned in” 😂
And as Labour doesn’t have a single back bencher who will vote for welfare reform - no one in government has a plan for welfare reform - no advisors helping them achieve it - they are screwed. There’s only one place this is going. Massive majority and they fucked it up 🙂
Do you actually believe de-industrialisation, globalisation, automation, were decisions made by previous governments and can be unmade? 🤣
Only day 3 - what should be honeymoon bounce - and I’m already loving it. It’s so funny.
Your posts are hysterically funny, so off the scale that frankly they're not even worth dealing with in detail.
But I'll indulge you on just one point, as you opine from outside on something about which you know nothing but purport to know everything. Over the past two months I've seen first hand a unity and purpose re-emerge in the Labour Party that hadn't been there for more than a decade. Darren Jones' decision to reveal himself as a prize tosser will only add to that, it absolutely vindicates Burnham's decision to sack him.
I think Darren Jones thought he was going in with a two footed challenge, but has only tripped himself up and has made himself about as popular as an Argentina player.
'Andy Burnham has announced that most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from the start of next year, with the prime minister saying no one should be "priced out" or "left behind" when it comes to affordable transport links.'
Once you discount London and GM and all the places without a useful bus service, this is a bit more sizzle than sausage.
Given the choice of being the one bestowing goodies or giving that power to others, Andy isn't going to devolve, is he?
A bus journey in London is £1.75 isn't it? Around here if you go more than 1 mile its £3.
A bus journey in London is a lot more than that if you live in (e.g.) the West Midlands and don't have an Oystercard.
And here in the urban West Midlands we pay £3. So someone who relies on buses to get to and from work or college daily will be saving several hundred pounds per year.
As an aside for any tourists coming to London to see Changing the Guard or Changing the Prime Minister, you do not need an Oystercard – you can use any credit or debit card or phone. The trick is to always use the same one so that multi-journey caps can be applied.
Yep,
Similar here in Edinburgh. A single journey is £2.40, but capped at £5.70 per day and £26.50 per week. But you need to use the same card/device to pay for each journey for the cap to apply.
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
The reverse, we should be ringfencing NI solely for JSA and the state pension, we shouldn't be having an even more dependency based non contribution based welfare state. We could also use more social insurance and private insurance to fund healthcare
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Good thinking. Except for the barring tourism part. We want tourists. They are good for the economy, good for the country. That is why Herr Leon and Monsieur le Leon are given free holidays to encourage their countrymen to visit.
I don't know for sure, buy instinctively I'd say the countries that criminals from are quite different to the countries which tourists come from.
London is said to be one of the larger cities in France at election time, due to the number of French people who live there. If we assume that those French people in London are basically normal people then they will have normal rates of criminal offending, and with such a large population you'd expect a fair number to end up in prison.
The other thing to bear in mind is that if Britain starts sending Australians and Spaniards it has imprisoned back to Australia and Spain to serve their prison sentences, then we can expect those countries to reciprocate. The net reduction in prisoner numbers will inevitably be lower.
Fuck me, we certainly don't want Australia sending all our prisoners back.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
Wages and cost of living are similar to the UK, for most industries, the difference is that there’s not 40% in income tax here.
Most of the sob stories are people coming here to set up marginal businesses, as estate agents on commission, or as ‘influencers’.
My last job paid £4k a month as an IT manager, nothing particularly special and in line with UK wages. My wife earns £3k a month as an office manager and rent is £2k a month. We can easily save £2k.
The problem comes when the guys earning average wages start to go to expensive clubs and rent Lamborghinis for the weekend, because that’s what they’ve been led to believe is an average “Dubai Lifestyle” from social media.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
£500 times 70 million people is £35 billion. Even £500 times 20 million households in £10 billion. If there were that much cash down the back of the sofa, Rachel Reeves would still be popular.
There's a current in British thinking that says that bad things shouldn't happen to anyone good ever. It's not particularly left or right, though it manifests in different ways. For various reasons, Andy Burnham has ridden that current all the way to Downing g Street. It's much easier to do as a Metro Mayor, much harder as PM.
(The right wing version goes something like this. Sir Marcus Fox once told Peter Lilley that it was easy to cut a billion from welfare. Lilley (no wet liberal he) replied that meant a thousand pounds from a million poor families so no it wasn't easy.)
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
Teenagers maybe less so younger ones
Our 12 year old grandson could run rings around many an it expert
His knowledge and his older 14 year old sister is very much par for young people today
Three decades ago the geeky kid in school (*raises hand*) was the victim of the bullying.
Today, he’s the boy who understands VPNs and proxy servers, private emails and the Dark Web, and helps the rest of the kids communicate with each other!
There's a difference between being digitally fluent and being technically knowledgeable. Many teenagers are incredibly capable with apps, VPNs, proxies and online communities because they use them every day, but that's not quite the same as understanding the underlying technology. The gap has definitely narrowed though.
Thirty years ago the "computer geek" was often an outsider. Today they're more likely to be the person everyone turns to when something needs fixing, but that's not the same as being popular.
Like you, I was that geeky kid who'd rather spend lunchtime with the BBC Micro in the science lab than out playing football. I wasn't popular and was on the receiving end of plenty of bullying. Looking at kids with the same interests today, I'm not convinced a great deal has changed socially. They're perhaps a bit more valued for what they know, but they're not suddenly at the top of the pecking order.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
As of right now I expect the irrigated grass in Dubai is indeed somewhat greener than the lawns of England.
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
£500 times 70 million people is £35 billion. Even £500 times 20 million households in £10 billion. If there were that much cash down the back of the sofa, Rachel Reeves would still be popular.
There's a current in British thinking that says that bad things shouldn't happen to anyone good ever. It's not particularly left or right, though it manifests in different ways. For various reasons, Andy Burnham has ridden that current all the way to Downing g Street. It's much easier to do as a Metro Mayor, much harder as PM.
(The right wing version goes something like this. Sir Marcus Fox once told Peter Lilley that it was easy to cut a billion from welfare. Lilley (no wet liberal he) replied that meant a thousand pounds from a million poor families so no it wasn't easy.)
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Fiscal policy isn't decided by Kindergarten levels of understanding.
I work for my income, but happen to own a Ltd Company - and pay 25% corp tax on profits for the privilege. I employ 5 other people, and am a massive net exporter.
Maybe I should just sell up, retire at 39, and move to a jurisdiction more friendly to investment.....
Darren Jones has really let himself down. His sniping on day one of Burnham taking over just looked pathetic and he’s really burnt his bridges and will now be stuck on the backbenches for a very long time .
I get Starmer loyalists are pissed off but the whole party needs to get behind Burnham and the number one priority is to defeat Reform .
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
£500 times 70 million people is £35 billion. Even £500 times 20 million households in £10 billion. If there were that much cash down the back of the sofa, Rachel Reeves would still be popular.
There's a current in British thinking that says that bad things shouldn't happen to anyone good ever. It's not particularly left or right, though it manifests in different ways. For various reasons, Andy Burnham has ridden that current all the way to Downing g Street. It's much easier to do as a Metro Mayor, much harder as PM.
(The right wing version goes something like this. Sir Marcus Fox once told Peter Lilley that it was easy to cut a billion from welfare. Lilley (no wet liberal he) replied that meant a thousand pounds from a million poor families so no it wasn't easy.)
Disqualify anyone with ADHD or anxiety from PIP.
There.
People would die
That would cut expenditure even further.
[I think you're being rather facetious so I am in reply]
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who picks up the slack here? Assuming bus companies charge fares that keep them in business without ripping off their passengers, does it imply staff pay won't rise as much?
No. This is the Government's position on how the £2 bus cap is being funded: "This action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans. "
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
If i fancy going to the pub, I certainly do
I do too. And for country walks, as I prefer straight line walks rather than park the car somewhere and walk in a circle.
I think we saw from the calamitous WFA debacle that once the public make up their mind it’s very hard to move them .
Burnham and Healey whilst not spending a great deal at least are trying to store up some goodwill .
Small steps
Inflation unexpectedly continuing to go south against expectations is a positive too. (Burnham will be praying that continues to September when all the various pension indexs are linked to September inflation figure)
The politician in Burnham , as I suggested yesterday, will want to get the the budger and say we have saved the majority of the population £xxx (I think he'll be looking at £500 as a target) by these simple measures, there may be 10x £50 measures, that will qualify as his "breathing space"...
Budgets offer bigger more headline measures but if he can continue this "breathing space" theme trough in to 2027 it just starts to drip down like continual short but regular shwers into the public pshyche - far better than one off torrential downpout then drought!
The Tories can bleat it's uncosted (a) it's costed to a degree (b) the public don't care (c) the Public still don't believe any Tory on the economy., Reform can call for a GE all they like as Farage looks increasingly desperate and yesterdays man.
What we are seeing is the start of a Government that is far more politically tuned in and whilst it may not be a better one than Starmer, if the public have a modicum of trust and belief it goes a long way. Of course its the job of the right wing media, eg 90% of the media to disparage it and to just find moaners and whingers, but slowly but surely the thought that Government is on your side will permeate.
£500 times 70 million people is £35 billion. Even £500 times 20 million households in £10 billion. If there were that much cash down the back of the sofa, Rachel Reeves would still be popular.
There's a current in British thinking that says that bad things shouldn't happen to anyone good ever. It's not particularly left or right, though it manifests in different ways. For various reasons, Andy Burnham has ridden that current all the way to Downing g Street. It's much easier to do as a Metro Mayor, much harder as PM.
(The right wing version goes something like this. Sir Marcus Fox once told Peter Lilley that it was easy to cut a billion from welfare. Lilley (no wet liberal he) replied that meant a thousand pounds from a million poor families so no it wasn't easy.)
Disqualify anyone with ADHD or anxiety from PIP.
There.
People would die
Absolute sensational bollocks.
My wife and I suffer from anxiety, and I have ADHD. We work.
Look at the stats for a balloon in this nonsense after Covid.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
The weather in the winter is awesome, and the weather in the summer is mitigated by pretty much everywhere being airconditioned and indoors.
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
If i fancy going to the pub, I certainly do
I do too. And for country walks, as I prefer straight line walks rather than park the car somewhere and walk in a circle.
See how the Hope Valley Mini-Switzerland project does.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Nothing improves both mental and physical health more than having routines and a job.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
Depends where you live, the quality of the service and your journey type. Edinburgh's service is excellent and as a result is used by (seemingly) everyone. But I wouldn't use the bus to go outside the city, even if a route was available. There is a bus that goes from near here to the end of the Street my in-laws live at in a Midlothian town the other side of the bypass, but I'd rather die than take that.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
If i fancy going to the pub, I certainly do
I haven't been on a bus since I left Edinburgh in 1965
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
The weather in the winter is awesome, and the weather in the summer is mitigated by pretty much everywhere being airconditioned and indoors.
Right now the Maconnais is going through a rare period of perfect weather. I suppose you could almost call it Dubai winter (or spring). It’s max 29C, min 12C, gentle Northerly breeze, totally cloudless with cobalt-blue skies.
A shame it doesn’t happen more often. Most of the summer’s been in the high 30s, nudging 40 a couple of times, with 20C+ nights.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
I don't (Fortunately) suffer from mental ill health myself but have (very) personal experience of it. It's absolute bollocks as you say that so many people are signed off sick with it.
Darren Jones has really let himself down. His sniping on day one of Burnham taking over just looked pathetic and he’s really burnt his bridges and will now be stuck on the backbenches for a very long time .
I get Starmer loyalists are pissed off but the whole party needs to get behind Burnham and the number one priority is to defeat Reform .
Labour has produced a magnificent display of unity (was it only 23 MP's who didn't endorse Burnham?) But they have undoubtedly tied their fates to Burnham's now. I hope it succeeds. The wider country could do with a bit less chaos and confusion, and a bit more stable government. It needs growth, it needs to realistically work out what it wants to do and how to pay for it, and if things cannot be afforded then that is when governing is hard. So far Burnham has been a very successful mayor - handing out money and people a popular local figure. But now the buck stops with him.
The real test for Burnham will be when he has to do unpopular things. The huge majority didn't help Starmer. In some ways I wonder if there is a 'right' majority. Clearly under a certain number and getting stuff done is tricky (Wilson's paper thin majority of 3). But if its two big does that lead to too many backbenchers who have no prospect of ministerial rank feeling that they can pursue their ideological beliefs by rebelling?
Time will tell. When Labour find themselves NOT ahead in the polls and an election approaching, what then?
It's only a Northern Song (Thong for the first sex scandal). Moving Up North Look North (which is allegedly still a TV programme) Cock 'O the North (March of Gordon and the Highlanders.) *
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
The weather in the winter is awesome, and the weather in the summer is mitigated by pretty much everywhere being airconditioned and indoors.
Depends what you want from your weather - I like snow and cold, and good winter storms. If you like pleasantly benign then Dubai probably works, but it would be no good for me!
Darren Jones has really let himself down. His sniping on day one of Burnham taking over just looked pathetic and he’s really burnt his bridges and will now be stuck on the backbenches for a very long time .
I get Starmer loyalists are pissed off but the whole party needs to get behind Burnham and the number one priority is to defeat Reform .
Interesting you criticise Jones for telling the truth that the VAT cut that’s unfunded but not the government for fasly saying it was and showing themselves to be either dishonest or incompetent.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Fiscal policy isn't decided by Kindergarten levels of understanding.
I work for my income, but happen to own a Ltd Company - and pay 25% corp tax on profits for the privilege. I employ 5 other people, and am a massive net exporter.
Maybe I should just sell up, retire at 39, and move to a jurisdiction more friendly to investment.....
None of that changes any of what I said.
Taxes should be low and equally applied. The problem with exempting some people from tax "because they vote" is that that means a heavier burden on those shouldering the taxes.
I am all in favour of low corporation tax rates etc and netting that off when it comes to dividends for individuals - but when it comes to individuals incomes everyone on the same income should be liable for the same taxes.
Pensioners and other vested interests should not be on lower tax rates just to win votes that then leave others having to shoulder a higher burden.
Tax everyone the same and tax them less (than what those paying the full rates are currently paying).
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
Depends where you live, the quality of the service and your journey type. Edinburgh's service is excellent and as a result is used by (seemingly) everyone. But I wouldn't use the bus to go outside the city, even if a route was available. There is a bus that goes from near here to the end of the Street my in-laws live at in a Midlothian town the other side of the bypass, but I'd rather die than take that.
Buses are populated by either malbehaved students, triple-lockers or chavs playing crap out loud on their phones. No wonder the drivers are always miserable.
I like the idea of public transport routes provided by buses, but I can't say I enjoy using them.
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
If it's implemented across all of the EU the few remaining VPN exit points in countries without such bans will be overloaded.
Mind you I don't understand why we are implementing rules that Meta and co are actively lobbying for to avoid doing proper moderation.
But the game of whack-a-mole will provide decades of employment for lawyers and regulators.
So notices will be served to ISPs blocking sites that don’t meet the standard. Then to VPNs that evade the blocks. Then to VPNs that allow connection to VPNs that evade the blocks. Then to VPNs that allow connection to VPNs that allow connection….
This will require a logo, a Richard Rogeresque HQ (custom designed), a CEO on £650k plus pension, a managing board, expensive artwork for the foyer, ten thousand staff. A couple of IT guys, maybe.
We are talking a whole industry here.
Meanwhile everyone will quickly find that the next-gen Starlink is cheaper and faster than a regular UK ISP, and can easily drop to a VPN node in the US where they have a 1st Amendment.
Presumably, OFCOM would then withdraw the Starlink licence to transmit for the U.K.
See the ITA rules.
Quite shortly, with the right setup, mobile-to-satellite will become common.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Nothing improves both mental and physical health more than having routines and a job.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
The weather in the winter is awesome, and the weather in the summer is mitigated by pretty much everywhere being airconditioned and indoors.
That's my dream lifestyle, spending the entire time indoors....
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
Teenagers maybe less so younger ones
Our 12 year old grandson could run rings around many an it expert
His knowledge and his older 14 year old sister is very much par for young people today
Three decades ago the geeky kid in school (*raises hand*) was the victim of the bullying.
Today, he’s the boy who understands VPNs and proxy servers, private emails and the Dark Web, and helps the rest of the kids communicate with each other!
There's a difference between being digitally fluent and being technically knowledgeable. Many teenagers are incredibly capable with apps, VPNs, proxies and online communities because they use them every day, but that's not quite the same as understanding the underlying technology. The gap has definitely narrowed though.
Thirty years ago the "computer geek" was often an outsider. Today they're more likely to be the person everyone turns to when something needs fixing, but that's not the same as being popular.
Like you, I was that geeky kid who'd rather spend lunchtime with the BBC Micro in the science lab than out playing football. I wasn't popular and was on the receiving end of plenty of bullying. Looking at kids with the same interests today, I'm not convinced a great deal has changed socially. They're perhaps a bit more valued for what they know, but they're not suddenly at the top of the pecking order.
10 FOR I = 1 TO 10 20 PRINT “COMPUTER CLUB IS MORE FUN THAN FOOTBALL” 30 NEXT I
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
I don't (Fortunately) suffer from mental ill health myself but have (very) personal experience of it. It's absolute bollocks as you say that so many people are signed off sick with it.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who picks up the slack here? Assuming bus companies charge fares that keep them in business without ripping off their passengers, does it imply staff pay won't rise as much?
No. This is the Government's position on how the £2 bus cap is being funded: "This action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans. "
Are these loans then guaranteed by the Govt under Export Credit Guarantee scheme? If so odds on the final cost will be greater than gifting the money
It's only a Northern Song (Thong for the first sex scandal). Moving Up North Look North (which is allegedly still a TV programme) Cock 'O the North (March of Gordon and the Highlanders.) *
The case for defence bonds is not because they include the word defence they stop being debt. The case, reinforced with an inheritance tax exemption, is that they create a new category of British buyer in an oversaturated UK debt market dominated by foreign buyers. They will come
The case for defence bonds is not because they include the word defence they stop being debt. The case, reinforced with an inheritance tax exemption, is that they create a new category of British buyer in an oversaturated UK debt market dominated by foreign buyers. They will come
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who picks up the slack here? Assuming bus companies charge fares that keep them in business without ripping off their passengers, does it imply staff pay won't rise as much?
No. This is the Government's position on how the £2 bus cap is being funded: "This action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans. "
Are these loans then guaranteed by the Govt under Export Credit Guarantee scheme? If so odds on the final cost will be greater than gifting the money
Eh ? The Export Credit Guarantee scheme is about as far from £2 bus fares in terms of how cash acts as you can get. The Export Credit Guarantee scheme generally doesn't cost the gov't anything other than a bit of administration/UKEF salaries.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Nothing improves both mental and physical health more than having routines and a job.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Pensioners DO pay tax. I know because Mum entrusts me to help her fill in her tax return
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Yes but would it work politically as explained above large voting blocks would be against it.
Darren Jones has really let himself down. His sniping on day one of Burnham taking over just looked pathetic and he’s really burnt his bridges and will now be stuck on the backbenches for a very long time .
I get Starmer loyalists are pissed off but the whole party needs to get behind Burnham and the number one priority is to defeat Reform .
Labour has produced a magnificent display of unity (was it only 23 MP's who didn't endorse Burnham?) But they have undoubtedly tied their fates to Burnham's now. I hope it succeeds. The wider country could do with a bit less chaos and confusion, and a bit more stable government. It needs growth, it needs to realistically work out what it wants to do and how to pay for it, and if things cannot be afforded then that is when governing is hard. So far Burnham has been a very successful mayor - handing out money and people a popular local figure. But now the buck stops with him.
The real test for Burnham will be when he has to do unpopular things. The huge majority didn't help Starmer. In some ways I wonder if there is a 'right' majority. Clearly under a certain number and getting stuff done is tricky (Wilson's paper thin majority of 3). But if its two big does that lead to too many backbenchers who have no prospect of ministerial rank feeling that they can pursue their ideological beliefs by rebelling?
Time will tell. When Labour find themselves NOT ahead in the polls and an election approaching, what then?
You need a working majority but for the MPs you didn't check properly not to get elected, some of those Red Wall Group MPs should have the whip removed so they can just join Reform.
The case for defence bonds is not because they include the word defence they stop being debt. The case, reinforced with an inheritance tax exemption, is that they create a new category of British buyer in an oversaturated UK debt market dominated by foreign buyers. They will come
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Yes but would it work politically as explained above large voting blocks would be against it.
There are large voting blocs against any change.
Taxes should be simple, low and evenly applied. Complicating it to appeal to voter blocs and dumping the burden on people in paid employment just harms everyone else and harms the economy by overtaxing employment.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
CR, your attitude is hurting mainly you here. Buses are very good at what they do. A few points:
- Firstly, more people use buses than any other form of public transport. - Secondly, if you're in a rural area, buses tend to be about as fast as driving if you can put in the modicum of effort to check a timetable in advance. I remember a stage night I went on: we were staying at a hotel in Warwick, and were going to the cricket at Stratford. I timed my arrival at the hotel to meet the bus, and got to Stratford more quickly and far more cheaply than those in the group for whom bus wasn't part of their mental landscape and insisted on using taxis. - If you live in an urban area most bus journeys are less annoying than having to park. - You can use the bus while drunk. - At the age of 51, sitting upstairs on the front seat of a bus is still as thrilling as it was at the age of 7.
Seriously, check out the bus opportunities from wherever you live and use them - it will take you new places to be drunk. Taxis are for losers and people
This is easily the greatest performance of the James Bond theme by any orchestra. In 2020, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was about to play the famous score but surprised the audience when the conductor is "shot dead" by a secret agent, squib fx 'n all, kicking off the epic performance without missing a beat. The best part is the cameras continuously cutting back to the conductor's motionless body 🔥 watch til the end https://x.com/Todd_Spence/status/2079675688311988429
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Good thinking. Except for the barring tourism part. We want tourists. They are good for the economy, good for the country. That is why Herr Leon and Monsieur le Leon are given free holidays to encourage their countrymen to visit.
I don't know for sure, buy instinctively I'd say the countries that criminals from are quite different to the countries which tourists come from.
London is said to be one of the larger cities in France at election time, due to the number of French people who live there. If we assume that those French people in London are basically normal people then they will have normal rates of criminal offending, and with such a large population you'd expect a fair number to end up in prison.
The other thing to bear in mind is that if Britain starts sending Australians and Spaniards it has imprisoned back to Australia and Spain to serve their prison sentences, then we can expect those countries to reciprocate. The net reduction in prisoner numbers will inevitably be lower.
Fuck me, we certainly don't want Australia sending all our prisoners back.
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
Teenagers maybe less so younger ones
Our 12 year old grandson could run rings around many an it expert
His knowledge and his older 14 year old sister is very much par for young people today
Three decades ago the geeky kid in school (*raises hand*) was the victim of the bullying.
Today, he’s the boy who understands VPNs and proxy servers, private emails and the Dark Web, and helps the rest of the kids communicate with each other!
There's a difference between being digitally fluent and being technically knowledgeable. Many teenagers are incredibly capable with apps, VPNs, proxies and online communities because they use them every day, but that's not quite the same as understanding the underlying technology. The gap has definitely narrowed though.
Thirty years ago the "computer geek" was often an outsider. Today they're more likely to be the person everyone turns to when something needs fixing, but that's not the same as being popular.
Like you, I was that geeky kid who'd rather spend lunchtime with the BBC Micro in the science lab than out playing football. I wasn't popular and was on the receiving end of plenty of bullying. Looking at kids with the same interests today, I'm not convinced a great deal has changed socially. They're perhaps a bit more valued for what they know, but they're not suddenly at the top of the pecking order.
10 FOR I = 1 TO 10 20 PRINT “COMPUTER CLUB IS MORE FUN THAN FOOTBALL” 30 NEXT I
Anyone who grew up with a Spectrum knows the pain. Spend two hours typing in a code listing from Crash magazine, only for it to fail because you'd missed a quote mark or typed 8 instead of B. Then spend another hour trying to find the mistake. We called it entertainment. The children today have no idea how easy they've got it.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
CR, your attitude is hurting mainly you here. Buses are very good at what they do. A few points:
- Firstly, more people use buses than any other form of public transport. - Secondly, if you're in a rural area, buses tend to be about as fast as driving if you can put in the modicum of effort to check a timetable in advance. I remember a stage night I went on: we were staying at a hotel in Warwick, and were going to the cricket at Stratford. I timed my arrival at the hotel to meet the bus, and got to Stratford more quickly and far more cheaply than those in the group for whom bus wasn't part of their mental landscape and insisted on using taxis. - If you live in an urban area most bus journeys are less annoying than having to park. - You can use the bus while drunk. - At the age of 51, sitting upstairs on the front seat of a bus is still as thrilling as it was at the age of 7.
Seriously, check out the bus opportunities from wherever you live and use them - it will take you new places to be drunk. Taxis are for losers and people
We often use a bus to go to the Toon. We have a fast bus and it’s £2.50 each and they’re very reliable.
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Agree with you on non pension benefits but are you seriously saying those who have worked all their lives and funded other people’s pensions should not get a state pension themselves?
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Agree with you on non pension benefits but are you seriously saying those who have worked all their lives and funded other people’s pensions should not get a state pension themselves?
They should.
They should just pay the same rate of tax on it as those working for a living, which includes NICs.
The sensible thing to do.is make employees continue to.pay NI beyond 65 till they draw their state pension. It doesnt bother me either.. as I am a Pensioner. I reckon the Govt would get about 2 billion from.that.
You pay employee NI for any work you do until the tax year after you get your pension.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Yes but would it work politically as explained above large voting blocks would be against it.
There are large voting blocs against any change.
Taxes should be simple, low and evenly applied. Complicating it to appeal to voter blocs and dumping the burden on people in paid employment just harms everyone else and harms the economy by overtaxing employment.
It needs to be kept slightly ahead of the state pension I think otherwise you get into a whole bunch of moral hazard (Do you remove it from the basic state pension ?!?)/administrative nightmare for relatively small beer.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
CR, your attitude is hurting mainly you here. Buses are very good at what they do. A few points:
- Firstly, more people use buses than any other form of public transport. - Secondly, if you're in a rural area, buses tend to be about as fast as driving if you can put in the modicum of effort to check a timetable in advance. I remember a stage night I went on: we were staying at a hotel in Warwick, and were going to the cricket at Stratford. I timed my arrival at the hotel to meet the bus, and got to Stratford more quickly and far more cheaply than those in the group for whom bus wasn't part of their mental landscape and insisted on using taxis. - If you live in an urban area most bus journeys are less annoying than having to park. - You can use the bus while drunk. - At the age of 51, sitting upstairs on the front seat of a bus is still as thrilling as it was at the age of 7.
Seriously, check out the bus opportunities from wherever you live and use them - it will take you new places to be drunk. Taxis are for losers and people
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
And - Russia was never going to return those territories unless forced to do so.
Which is why they are slowly losing their economy bit by bit. Have we seen any queues for fuel recently - or have the locals given up trying to find any because it's so obviously a futile task.
The sensible thing to do.is make employees continue to.pay NI beyond 65 till they draw their state pension. It doesnt bother me either.. as I am a Pensioner. I reckon the Govt would get about 2 billion from.that.
You pay employee NI for any work you do until the tax year after you get your pension.
But not any after. Nor are NICs on pension income.
Merge the two and have a single rate of tax. Preferably lower than the two combined are today.
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Yes but would it work politically as explained above large voting blocks would be against it.
There are large voting blocs against any change.
Taxes should be simple, low and evenly applied. Complicating it to appeal to voter blocs and dumping the burden on people in paid employment just harms everyone else and harms the economy by overtaxing employment.
A bit of good news on inflation; will be interesting to see if that, and the high of taking power, will blind Burnham et al to the glaring bear trap which is steps away.....
Heidi Alexander on Today just now said that it wouldn't apply to the person behind the wheel.
If they think that is going to cut the mustard, they won't last very long in power.
The trouble with any early-release scheme, or parole, or just releases in general is there are always cases where the victims (and press and public) will object. Ironically, if we'd not ratcheted up sentences to assuage newspaper-led public opinion, we'd not have the current crunch on prison cells.
Poppycock. Sentences are what the public want.
Two better solutions:
Build more prisons Cut prison population by bringing immigration down - more 10% of prisoners are foreign nationals
Otherwise those in charge will be seen as soft on crime.
9% of that that 10% should be easy. Tell their countries of origin they must accept them back and lock them up if requested, as a condition of issuing incoming visas to tourists and/or receiving international aid.
If you’re a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment, you’ve forfeited your right to remain in the country. Knowing that you’ll serve your sentence in your own country will probably help moderate certain behaviours among recent immigrants too. British prisons are 5* hotels to most countries.
There will be a few that the UK want to keep in prison, such as well-connected fraudsters or politically-motivated violent criminals, but the vast majority can better serve their sentences in their own countries.
Anyone who thinks that British prisons are like 5* hotels needs to improve their Trivago skills, ot has clearly never visited one.
If you’re from Asia or Africa, they’re like 5* hotels compared to their local prisons.
Like this woman in your neck of the woods moaning about the state of her prison.
She stopped paying rent, owes £19 grand, and now is inside and, somehow, she’s the victim
Still, it’s good clickbait and there’s always a gofundme.
LOL there’s always a few of those stories out here.
She’s not paid rent for a year in a foreign country, and expects what exactly to be the outcome?
Oh, she expects a UK press sob story and a GoFundMe to bail her out. Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for themselves any more?
A friend of mine got three months here, and did well to avoid deportation, for bouncing a cheque on a £40k car loan. He lived here for 3 years, earning an average of £3k a month and spending an average of £4k a month, and eventually it all caught up with him.
Interesting comment about how low the wages in Dubai are now. There's little or no tax but those 'service' charges mount up. Why do they come if there is no real financial benefit working there now?
The grass is always greener and the weather is better ?
The weather in Dubai is worse but the air conditioning is better.
The weather in the winter is awesome, and the weather in the summer is mitigated by pretty much everywhere being airconditioned and indoors.
That's my dream lifestyle, spending the entire time indoors....
This is easily the greatest performance of the James Bond theme by any orchestra. In 2020, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was about to play the famous score but surprised the audience when the conductor is "shot dead" by a secret agent, squib fx 'n all, kicking off the epic performance without missing a beat. The best part is the cameras continuously cutting back to the conductor's motionless body 🔥 watch til the end https://x.com/Todd_Spence/status/2079675688311988429
Why have I not seen that before, absolutely brilliant!
(They all have earpieces which is a little weird for an orchestra, obviously a metronome in their ears to mimic the absent conductor).
'Andy Burnham has announced that most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from the start of next year, with the prime minister saying no one should be "priced out" or "left behind" when it comes to affordable transport links.'
Once you discount London and GM and all the places without a useful bus service, this is a bit more sizzle than sausage.
Given the choice of being the one bestowing goodies or giving that power to others, Andy isn't going to devolve, is he?
A bus journey in London is £1.75 isn't it? Around here if you go more than 1 mile its £3.
A bus journey in London is a lot more than that if you live in (e.g.) the West Midlands and don't have an Oystercard.
And here in the urban West Midlands we pay £3. So someone who relies on buses to get to and from work or college daily will be saving several hundred pounds per year.
£1.75 as mentioned already.
Contactless bank cards accepted. I haven't used an Oyster since 2015!
Burnham has an aspiration to do something, he can't do anything til the Budget anyway.
They need to see what fiscal leeway they have, they would have had a fair dollop had it not been for Iran and Trump, the need about 10bn to do anyting meaningful to allowances but there could well be incremental things they could add in.
A set ladder over 3-4 years of x % to cover inflation plus 1% as an example.
A specific increase for those of pensionable age to link to State Pension standard amount so no one purely on State Pension pasy tax on it
My hunch would be to find a way of balancing the tax allowance for pensioners to the triple lock, so that you start to unlock the triple lock to a median point where you commit to ensuring it by inceasing personal allowances instead initially for pensioners with then an aim of increasing for all!
Putting aside the right wing ad hominem, I vote Labour in GE’s, I don’t see how this article is ‘right wing’ either.
why shouldn’t pensioners pay tax above the threshold ? It’s income after all. Those purely on the state oension do get other passported benefits.
I think Dan Neidle is right. Leave this and target NI, it’s a tax on employment. We need more employment and to make work pay.
We were canvassed by our MP and his aides at the weekend. One thing I told them is work doesn’t pay in this country.
The rational thing is for pensioners to pay tax on their income in the same way as everyone else. But as we saw with the WFA debacle, rationality goes out the window when it comes to pensioners.
I continue to blame Clive Dunn and St Winifred's School Choir.
I blame Reeves for simply not reversing Hunt’s uncosted employee NI cuts that removed all headroom
Which is bullshit.
Hunts freeze on threshold fully funded the Employee NI change.
It was a net tax rise.
If you are going to tax, better to do it through more honest and visible taxation rather than stealth and more stealth?
Indeed, which is why we should be abolishing NI and having a single rate of income tax that is paid by everyone the same, honestly and visibly.
Not taxing employment more than unearned incomes.
That is possible but you'd need to unravel NI from the pension system which will take at least some thought and legislation. On a wider point about differential taxation of earned and unearned income, the government is supposed to be looking at private equity, dividends and capital gains tax.
The need to unravel NI from the pensions system can be a long-term problem if you set employee NI to 1% in the short term, and change the income tax 20% rate to I think 28% renenue-neutral.
Any changes upwards of tax rates of capital gains will absolutely cost more than they raise. Arthur Laffer is waving from the door of the Treasury.
Any mad idea of taxing CG at income tax levels will drive hundreds of billions in investment vehicles offshore almost immediately. Dubai and Singapore are actively looking to recruit global PE funds.
You already get NIC "contributions" at 0% so no problem with setting a global 0% threshold rate for NICs, merge income tax, and still keep contributions based on income as it currently is.
Massive increase in income tax for pensioners though from 20% to 28%... It's why I would be doing it very slowly...
Merging income tax and NI is one of those 'easy fixes' that people who have only ever been on PAYE suggest.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
That is precisely the point.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Yes but would it work politically as explained above large voting blocks would be against it.
There are large voting blocs against any change.
Taxes should be simple, low and evenly applied. Complicating it to appeal to voter blocs and dumping the burden on people in paid employment just harms everyone else and harms the economy by overtaxing employment.
But you have to get elected to effect the change.
They've already been elected.
With a manifesto promise that they are committed to not breaking
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
Problem for Macron is the young people will be able to swerve all of this as they are very IT literate as are their peers
If it's implemented across all of the EU the few remaining VPN exit points in countries without such bans will be overloaded.
Mind you I don't understand why we are implementing rules that Meta and co are actively lobbying for to avoid doing proper moderation.
But the game of whack-a-mole will provide decades of employment for lawyers and regulators.
So notices will be served to ISPs blocking sites that don’t meet the standard. Then to VPNs that evade the blocks. Then to VPNs that allow connection to VPNs that evade the blocks. Then to VPNs that allow connection to VPNs that allow connection….
This will require a logo, a Richard Rogeresque HQ (custom designed), a CEO on £650k plus pension, a managing board, expensive artwork for the foyer, ten thousand staff. A couple of IT guys, maybe.
We are talking a whole industry here.
Meanwhile everyone will quickly find that the next-gen Starlink is cheaper and faster than a regular UK ISP, and can easily drop to a VPN node in the US where they have a 1st Amendment.
Presumably, OFCOM would then withdraw the Starlink licence to transmit for the U.K.
See the ITA rules.
Quite shortly, with the right setup, mobile-to-satellite will become common.
The new Starlink sats being launched now have direct-to-mobile functionality. It’ll be common by next year on iPhone.
Increasingly Europe is going to have to decide whether they are on the American side or the Chinese side of new technology. They’ve not invested in their own nicely-regulated middle way, and it’s too late to start in ‘26.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
Depends where you live, the quality of the service and your journey type. Edinburgh's service is excellent and as a result is used by (seemingly) everyone. But I wouldn't use the bus to go outside the city, even if a route was available. There is a bus that goes from near here to the end of the Street my in-laws live at in a Midlothian town the other side of the bypass, but I'd rather die than take that.
Buses are populated by either malbehaved students, triple-lockers or chavs playing crap out loud on their phones. No wonder the drivers are always miserable.
I like the idea of public transport routes provided by buses, but I can't say I enjoy using them.
My viewpoint is that bus drivers are paid peanuts for what is actually a rather stressful job - especially when you compare what they are paid with train drivers or even what bus drivers get paid in London.
Burnham may not have much to play with until his first budget, but in the meantime he's using the limited options he's got extremely well.
Today's announcement on the £2 bus fare cap is well targeted. The prime beneficiaries are going to be those who are younger or on lower incomes (because car ownership is highly correlated with income) and who are in work or studying and rely on the bus for that. Strivers who need to make work pay. But it still applies across the board if you're below pensionable age, so no-one's really going to object. There are also indirect benefits - an upturn in bus usage could bring back some services previously lost or increase the frequency of services - even pensioners relying on buses will benefit if that happens. So it's well targeted in terms of rewarding those who need to be rewarded, and well targeted in terms of likely political impact.
Who actually uses peasant wagons?
CR, your attitude is hurting mainly you here. Buses are very good at what they do. A few points:
- Firstly, more people use buses than any other form of public transport. - Secondly, if you're in a rural area, buses tend to be about as fast as driving if you can put in the modicum of effort to check a timetable in advance. I remember a stage night I went on: we were staying at a hotel in Warwick, and were going to the cricket at Stratford. I timed my arrival at the hotel to meet the bus, and got to Stratford more quickly and far more cheaply than those in the group for whom bus wasn't part of their mental landscape and insisted on using taxis. - If you live in an urban area most bus journeys are less annoying than having to park. - You can use the bus while drunk. - At the age of 51, sitting upstairs on the front seat of a bus is still as thrilling as it was at the age of 7.
Seriously, check out the bus opportunities from wherever you live and use them - it will take you new places to be drunk. Taxis are for losers and people
But most buses I see are pretty much empty
Surprisingly few studies have been done on the effects of driverless vehicles for road mass transport.
Driverless busses could make it more economic to run a larger number of smaller vehicles on some routes.
It needs to be kept slightly ahead of the state pension I think otherwise you get into a whole bunch of moral hazard (Do you remove it from the basic state pension ?!?)/administrative nightmare for relatively small beer.
It's not a nightmare - the tiny bit of income tax deducted is a straight forward calculation 20% of £12900-12570 say.
The more awkward bit would be reporting it from DWP to HMRC but again that isn't complex as they now do speak to each other compared to say 2005-15 when they refused to..
I think in general there are far too many people sitting idle drawing cash benefits, be they ADHD'ers or Privileged Pensioners. We have lost our sense of duty and replaced it with a sense of entitlement.
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Agree with you on non pension benefits but are you seriously saying those who have worked all their lives and funded other people’s pensions should not get a state pension themselves?
They should.
They should just pay the same rate of tax on it as those working for a living, which includes NICs.
I am confused. You said there were too many pensioners drawing cash benefits. Now you seem to be saying they should be drawing cash benefits but they should be taxed at a higher rate. Is that right?
'France's parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.'
The sensible thing to do.is make employees continue to.pay NI beyond 65 till they draw their state pension. It doesnt bother me either.. as I am a Pensioner. I reckon the Govt would get about 2 billion from.that.
You pay employee NI for any work you do until the tax year after you get your pension.
But not any after. Nor are NICs on pension income.
Merge the two and have a single rate of tax. Preferably lower than the two combined are today.
No, NI should be ringfenced for JSA and the state pension
Comments
Starmer and Reeves made some stumbling baby steps towards fiscal reality, and look what happened to them. But yes, it's a worrying pattern;
Lots of governments raid long-term budgets for short term giveaways, especially when they’re struggling. But it’s hard to think of one that has flaunted that switch so openly, or done it at precisely the point when it has the time and capital to do hard things
https://bsky.app/profile/matthewholehouse.bsky.social/post/3mr7v4la46s2e
We're going to get Boris with a better haircut (and please, better self-control). Because the public gets what the public wants.
Today, he’s the boy who understands VPNs and proxy servers, private emails and the Dark Web, and helps the rest of the kids communicate with each other!
I am sure there are reasons for it, but it feels like Ukraine were on the verge of causing damage to Russia's oil industry that would last decades, and they've eased off.
Also I think there are issues with Scotland and Wales where I believe income tax is a delegated power but I don't think NI is.
It would be a massive increase in tax for pensioners and the self employed. Both groups who vote heavily....
But I'll indulge you on just one point, as you opine from outside on something about which you know nothing but purport to know everything. Over the past two months I've seen first hand a unity and purpose re-emerge in the Labour Party that hadn't been there for more than a decade. Darren Jones' decision to reveal himself as a prize tosser will only add to that, it absolutely vindicates Burnham's decision to sack him.
Pensioners and the self-employed should be liable for the same taxes as those on PAYE.
Everyone who earns the same amount should be taxed the same.
I would make it net tax revenue so cut the overall rate so those who are working for their income on PAYE get a tax cut, funded by taxing others the same as they would now be paying.
Similar here in Edinburgh. A single journey is £2.40, but capped at £5.70 per day and £26.50 per week. But you need to use the same card/device to pay for each journey for the cap to apply.
Most of the sob stories are people coming here to set up marginal businesses, as estate agents on commission, or as ‘influencers’.
My last job paid £4k a month as an IT manager, nothing particularly special and in line with UK wages. My wife earns £3k a month as an office manager and rent is £2k a month. We can easily save £2k.
The problem comes when the guys earning average wages start to go to expensive clubs and rent Lamborghinis for the weekend, because that’s what they’ve been led to believe is an average “Dubai Lifestyle” from social media.
There.
Thirty years ago the "computer geek" was often an outsider. Today they're more likely to be the person everyone turns to when something needs fixing, but that's not the same as being popular.
Like you, I was that geeky kid who'd rather spend lunchtime with the BBC Micro in the science lab than out playing football. I wasn't popular and was on the receiving end of plenty of bullying. Looking at kids with the same interests today, I'm not convinced a great deal has changed socially. They're perhaps a bit more valued for what they know, but they're not suddenly at the top of the pecking order.
I work for my income, but happen to own a Ltd Company - and pay 25% corp tax on profits for the privilege. I employ 5 other people, and am a massive net exporter.
Maybe I should just sell up, retire at 39, and move to a jurisdiction more friendly to investment.....
I get Starmer loyalists are pissed off but the whole party needs to get behind Burnham and the number one priority is to defeat Reform .
[I think you're being rather facetious so I am in reply]
"This action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans. "
My wife and I suffer from anxiety, and I have ADHD. We work.
Look at the stats for a balloon in this nonsense after Covid.
It's fake. They can get a job.
It may have a minimal effect but it will not be the success politicians hope it will
They need to work or fund themselves. Perversely, that would improve their mental and physical health, and make them less depressed and angry, as well as improve the nation's financial health.
Edinburgh's service is excellent and as a result is used by (seemingly) everyone.
But I wouldn't use the bus to go outside the city, even if a route was available.
There is a bus that goes from near here to the end of the Street my in-laws live at in a Midlothian town the other side of the bypass, but I'd rather die than take that.
A shame it doesn’t happen more often. Most of the summer’s been in the high 30s, nudging 40 a couple of times, with 20C+ nights.
Starting to look a bit sandpit-like now, too:
I don't want any of them free on the streets, especially as they've never shown any remorse:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89nxj4d5pqo
The real test for Burnham will be when he has to do unpopular things. The huge majority didn't help Starmer. In some ways I wonder if there is a 'right' majority. Clearly under a certain number and getting stuff done is tricky (Wilson's paper thin majority of 3). But if its two big does that lead to too many backbenchers who have no prospect of ministerial rank feeling that they can pursue their ideological beliefs by rebelling?
Time will tell. When Labour find themselves NOT ahead in the polls and an election approaching, what then?
Our Friends in the North
Northern Exposure
One eye tribalism at its worst
Taxes should be low and equally applied. The problem with exempting some people from tax "because they vote" is that that means a heavier burden on those shouldering the taxes.
I am all in favour of low corporation tax rates etc and netting that off when it comes to dividends for individuals - but when it comes to individuals incomes everyone on the same income should be liable for the same taxes.
Pensioners and other vested interests should not be on lower tax rates just to win votes that then leave others having to shoulder a higher burden.
Tax everyone the same and tax them less (than what those paying the full rates are currently paying).
I like the idea of public transport routes provided by buses, but I can't say I enjoy using them.
See the ITA rules.
Quite shortly, with the right setup, mobile-to-satellite will become common.
20 PRINT “COMPUTER CLUB IS MORE FUN THAN FOOTBALL”
30 NEXT I
I've had some really dark times myself.
If so odds on the final cost will be greater than gifting the money
https://x.com/mikeysmith/status/2079619957650866540
Will Hutton
@williamnhutton
The case for defence bonds is not because they include the word defence they stop being debt. The case, reinforced with an inheritance tax exemption, is that they create a new category of British buyer in an oversaturated UK debt market dominated by foreign buyers. They will come
https://x.com/williamnhutton/status/2079815269795402211
Will Hutton
@williamnhutton
The case for defence bonds is not because they include the word defence they stop being debt. The case, reinforced with an inheritance tax exemption, is that they create a new category of British buyer in an oversaturated UK debt market dominated by foreign buyers. They will come
https://x.com/williamnhutton/status/2079815269795402211
Taxes should be simple, low and evenly applied. Complicating it to appeal to voter blocs and dumping the burden on people in paid employment just harms everyone else and harms the economy by overtaxing employment.
I guess the five star international travel will provide some limited solace.
- Firstly, more people use buses than any other form of public transport.
- Secondly, if you're in a rural area, buses tend to be about as fast as driving if you can put in the modicum of effort to check a timetable in advance. I remember a stage night I went on: we were staying at a hotel in Warwick, and were going to the cricket at Stratford. I timed my arrival at the hotel to meet the bus, and got to Stratford more quickly and far more cheaply than those in the group for whom bus wasn't part of their mental landscape and insisted on using taxis.
- If you live in an urban area most bus journeys are less annoying than having to park.
- You can use the bus while drunk.
- At the age of 51, sitting upstairs on the front seat of a bus is still as thrilling as it was at the age of 7.
Seriously, check out the bus opportunities from wherever you live and use them - it will take you new places to be drunk. Taxis are for losers and people
This is easily the greatest performance of the James Bond theme by any orchestra.
In 2020, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was about to play the famous score but surprised the audience when the conductor is "shot dead" by a secret agent, squib fx 'n all, kicking off the epic performance without missing a beat. The best part is the cameras continuously cutting back to the conductor's motionless body 🔥 watch til the end
https://x.com/Todd_Spence/status/2079675688311988429
Bloomberg: Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin. Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones, three people said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
https://x.com/annmarie/status/2079872651648983072?s=20
Anyone who grew up with a Spectrum knows the pain. Spend two hours typing in a code listing from Crash magazine, only for it to fail because you'd missed a quote mark or typed 8 instead of B. Then spend another hour trying to find the mistake. We called it entertainment. The children today have no idea how easy they've got it.
The 50p cut in fare price here is welcome.
We'll see....
Reporter: There are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So what is the plan?
Trump: How would you know if there are no signs?
Reporter: They continue to attack our allies.
Trump: They want to meet desperately to end it, you don't get that when you listen to your fake station. You don't know anything.
Reporter: Well, tell us.
https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2079591817209667647
“ Update: Andy Burnham has now opened the door again to raising the personal allowance
He says on a visit to Bath that in fact he is still looking at it for the budget
“There is no commitment at this point to change, but we will look at that at the budget.”
https://x.com/alexwickham/status/2079873063592611936?s=61
They should just pay the same rate of tax on it as those working for a living, which includes NICs.
@MrsEmmaWebber
❗️Here it is. Please RT 🙏
The major piece of news I have been waiting to share
⬇️
@NHSNotts UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION FOR CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER.
@thetimes
https://x.com/MrsEmmaWebber/status/2079684846855799096
===
This is over the Calocane case
Quite remarkable that they barely ever mentioned it.
Which is why they are slowly losing their economy bit by bit. Have we seen any queues for fuel recently - or have the locals given up trying to find any because it's so obviously a futile task.
Merge the two and have a single rate of tax. Preferably lower than the two combined are today.
(They all have earpieces which is a little weird for an orchestra, obviously a metronome in their ears to mimic the absent conductor).
Contactless bank cards accepted. I haven't used an Oyster since 2015!
Increasingly Europe is going to have to decide whether they are on the American side or the Chinese side of new technology. They’ve not invested in their own nicely-regulated middle way, and it’s too late to start in ‘26.
Driverless busses could make it more economic to run a larger number of smaller vehicles on some routes.
The more awkward bit would be reporting it from DWP to HMRC but again that isn't complex as they now do speak to each other compared to say 2005-15 when they refused to..