The news thread

[Rich NATA]

4 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Sorry but 

 

I only know one person who is old enough to have lived and worked in a communist state as an adult (as opposed to people I know who were children at the time).

 

She says her country was better then than it is now.

Education. Employment. Housing. Affordable living.

They were not short of anything, she says.

[Rich NATA]

3 hours ago, Malcolm said:

I’m a capitalist, but I appreciate that a lot of you are leftys and are never going to agree with me.

Do you not agree that some things - just a handful of key things - should be state owned?

For example, electricity, gas, water and rail.

[Malcolm]

21 minutes ago, Rich NATA said:

Do you not agree that some things - just a handful of key things - should be state owned?

For example, electricity, gas, water and rail.

yeah, i do see that point of view.  Scottish water do a really good job as a state owned organisation. 

[TDYER63]

On 8/9/2022 at 7:31 PM, Malcolm said:

we are so fuvked.  As we have zero gas storage capability we are relying on imports.  Guess what?  The Norwegians don’t really fancy exporting gas to us when it’s so scarce.  Uncontrollable energy prices and blackouts this winter.
 

@TDYER63, I would wait until the spring before running around your village.  Wouldn’t want you catching frostbite!

I think I am pretty safe. I am more likely to die of hypothermia long before spring as my husband will cut the gas off if our bill goes over even £3k a year. 

Beginning to wish we had considered solar panels more seriously a few years ago. Especially when Glasgow is basking in 25 degrees. 
 

 

[Malcolm]

10 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I think I am pretty safe. I am more likely to die of hypothermia long before spring as my husband will cut the gas off if our bill goes over even £3k a year. 

Beginning to wish we had considered solar panels more seriously a few years ago. Especially when Glasgow is basking in 25 degrees. 
 

 

The problem is being able to store the energy you collect with thrm

[Malcolm]

39 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I think I am pretty safe. I am more likely to die of hypothermia long before spring as my husband will cut the gas off if our bill goes over even £3k a year. 

Beginning to wish we had considered solar panels more seriously a few years ago. Especially when Glasgow is basking in 25 degrees. 
 

 

PS we are now up to £5k a year for thw average bill

 

 

https://www.ft.com/content/048c0271-75d3-4d4e-9a00-e8fd0bf62691

 

and thats before Putin turns off the gas

[scotlad]

Horrible events in Skye yesterday. One of the last places you'd expect something like this to happen.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by scotlad
.

[Ally Bongo]

1 hour ago, scotlad said:

Horrible events in Skye yesterday. One of the last places you'd expect something like this to happen.

 

 

It is as odd as fook when you look at the timeline and something akin to the Cumbria shootings a decade or so ago

• 09:00 Wednesday: Police are called to a property in Tarskavaig after reports of a woman having been seriously injured. She is taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow for treatment
• 09:30: A gun is fired at a property eight miles (13km) away in Teangue. Police later say John MacKinnon, 47, died at the scene
• 10:00: Police are called to Dornie - about 26 miles (42km) from Teangue after reports of a gun being fired at property. John Don Mackenzie and Fay Mackenzie are injured - Mr Mackenzie seriously
• 17:54: Police Scotland say a 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incidents

[Orraloon]

Sounds like a  an old fashioned "domestic" to me. 

Not sure it's any less likely to happen there as anywhere else? I would imagine a higher proportion of the population would have access to a gun than in less rural communities. Plenty folk in rural areas have access to legally owned guns.

[ParisInAKilt]

16 hours ago, Rich NATA said:

 

I only know one person who is old enough to have lived and worked in a communist state as an adult (as opposed to people I know who were children at the time).

 

She says her country was better then than it is now.

Education. Employment. Housing. Affordable living.

They were not short of anything, she says.

I don’t doubt that, it’s really only a joke meme when someone says a failed communist country wasn’t proper communism. 

[Rich NATA]

6 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

I don’t doubt that, it’s really only a joke meme when someone says a failed communist country wasn’t proper communism. 

Aye, nae problem pal.

I was just using somebody's real life experience against your graphic.

 

You hear people and right-wing newspapers make statements about communism without having experienced it.

What happens is when people are told something enough times, some people believe it to be the truth.

Communism is bad... Trump won the last election... Scotland cannot use the Pound...

In this day and age with social media, a lie is half-way around the world before the truth has got it's shoes on.  

 

Anyway, as I said, I only know one person who is old enough to have lived and worked as an adult in a communist country and she is adamant life was better then. That was in Yugoslavia.

[Malcolm]

28 minutes ago, Rich NATA said:

Aye, nae problem pal.

I was just using somebody's real life experience against your graphic.

 

You hear people and right-wing newspapers make statements about communism without having experienced it.

What happens is when people are told something enough times, some people believe it to be the truth.

Communism is bad... Trump won the last election... Scotland cannot use the Pound...

In this day and age with social media, a lie is half-way around the world before the truth has got it's shoes on.  

 

Anyway, as I said, I only know one person who is old enough to have lived and worked as an adult in a communist country and she is adamant life was better then. That was in Yugoslavia.

depends on your character on whether you might like communism better than capitalism.

if you like being told what to think, being paid a state defined living allowance and generally not getting above your station and having a quiet wee life, I’m sure communism is great.

 

[TDYER63]

20 hours ago, Malcolm said:

The problem is being able to store the energy you collect with thrm

I am pretty sure most people could use a fair bit of stored electricity, you would expect most of this excess to be in the summer. Washing machines and  dishwashers are on as much in the summer months as they are in winter. Also electric mowers, hedge trimmers, power washers etc . Would be worth considering an electric shower too, and if anyone who has an electric car could easily use up the electricity I imagine. Ffs I could use it up watching box sets alone. 

Not sure how useful these are( link below) I see the SG is giving loans up to £15k to be repaid back over 10 yrs. Dont think the other uk governments are doing the same. 
 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/solar-panels/solar-panel-battery-storage-a2AfJ0s5tCyT

The ‘time of use’ tariff mentioned in the article looks interesting. 

[TDYER63]

1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

depends on your character on whether you might like communism better than capitalism.

if you like being told what to think, being paid a state defined living allowance and generally not getting above your station and having a quiet wee life, I’m sure communism is great.

 

As opposed to greedy, tax dodging  bassas ruling the country and media. Extremes of wealth and poverty. One person who works their arse off to simply get by , on a zero hour contract,  and other person who works no harder yet has a large house,  3 cars , 4 expensive holidays  a year . Yet only good or bad decisions,  or fortune in life, being the difference between the two sets of people . 

I often wonder how much someone really needs in life to be happy. I realise everyone is different but I can honestly say if I won the lottery there would be an absolute maximum i would spend on shit i dont really need. 
I feel very fortunate to be in a good job. I know people who have worked every bit as hard as me and are struggling . I never complain about tax as I can afford to pay a bit more without it impacting life too much. Folk on higher tax moaning about an extra few percent more when it is probably a couple of bottles of Malbec a week from their Waitrose shop. I realise no one wants to pay more tax than they need too, especially when the money is not being used effectively, but IMO anyone who is on higher rate tax could be living a fairly comfortable life unless they have been sucked into the capitalist dream and living beyond their means. 
 

Edited to say, somewhere in between communism  and capitalism is probably something most people could live with. Surely it cant be so difficult to find the balance. 
 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by TDYER63

[duncan II]

54 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

As opposed to greedy, tax dodging  bassas ruling the country and media. Extremes of wealth and poverty. One person who works their arse off to simply get by , on a zero hour contract,  and other person who works no harder yet has a large house,  3 cars , 4 expensive holidays  a year . Yet only good or bad decisions,  or fortune in life, being the difference between the two sets of people . 

I often wonder how much someone really needs in life to be happy. I realise everyone is different but I can honestly say if I won the lottery there would be an absolute maximum i would spend on shit i dont really need. 
I feel very fortunate to be in a good job. I know people who have worked every bit as hard as me and are struggling . I never complain about tax as I can afford to pay a bit more without it impacting life too much. Folk on higher tax moaning about an extra few percent more when it is probably a couple of bottles of Malbec a week from their Waitrose shop. I realise no one wants to pay more tax than they need too, especially when the money is not being used effectively, but IMO anyone who is on higher rate tax could be living a fairly comfortable life unless they have been sucked into the capitalist dream and living beyond their means. 
 

Edited to say, somewhere in between communism  and capitalism is probably something most people could live with. Surely it cant be so difficult to find the balance. 
 

 

Hear hear.

[Malcolm]

2 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

I am pretty sure most people could use a fair bit of stored electricity, you would expect most of this excess to be in the summer. Washing machines and  dishwashers are on as much in the summer months as they are in winter. Also electric mowers, hedge trimmers, power washers etc . Would be worth considering an electric shower too, and if anyone who has an electric car could easily use up the electricity I imagine. Ffs I could use it up watching box sets alone. 

Not sure how useful these are( link below) I see the SG is giving loans up to £15k to be repaid back over 10 yrs. Dont think the other uk governments are doing the same. 
 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/solar-panels/solar-panel-battery-storage-a2AfJ0s5tCyT

The ‘time of use’ tariff mentioned in the article looks interesting. 

 

the time of use tariff looks interesting and not in a good way.  Government control of your use of electricity. 
 

i have no doubt that the energy companies desperate push to get people on to smart meters is entirely due to this.

all kinds of tricks being employed by them, the latest telling me my meter has expired 😂😂😂

 

[Malcolm]

2 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

As opposed to greedy, tax dodging  bassas ruling the country and media. Extremes of wealth and poverty. One person who works their arse off to simply get by , on a zero hour contract,  and other person who works no harder yet has a large house,  3 cars , 4 expensive holidays  a year . Yet only good or bad decisions,  or fortune in life, being the difference between the two sets of people . 

I often wonder how much someone really needs in life to be happy. I realise everyone is different but I can honestly say if I won the lottery there would be an absolute maximum i would spend on shit i dont really need. 
I feel very fortunate to be in a good job. I know people who have worked every bit as hard as me and are struggling . I never complain about tax as I can afford to pay a bit more without it impacting life too much. Folk on higher tax moaning about an extra few percent more when it is probably a couple of bottles of Malbec a week from their Waitrose shop. I realise no one wants to pay more tax than they need too, especially when the money is not being used effectively, but IMO anyone who is on higher rate tax could be living a fairly comfortable life unless they have been sucked into the capitalist dream and living beyond their means. 
 

Edited to say, somewhere in between communism  and capitalism is probably something most people could live with. Surely it cant be so difficult to find the balance. 
 

 

i don’t disagree that there needs to be a balance, but people paying higher rate tax are hardly wealthy (starts at 43k) unless you mean additional rate tax (at 150k)?

someone on 43k would instantly be in fuel poverty assuming an average bill.

As i said in a previous post i dont mind paying tax for things i believe in, eg free prescriptions, free university education.  I do mind paying tax for muppet jobs like diversity officers and nonsense spaces for people arrangements. I also have seen the amount of money wasted by local and central government. 

the squeezed middle are people on salaries up to £150k in my view, after that you get in to the realms of the well off.

there are loads of stupid policies targeting the middle income earners.  Another example being pension lifetime allowance… doctors were retiring early as they were significantly disadvantaged by that.  Pension lifetime allowance is utter nonsense and a good example of disincentivising people to stay economically active. 

one of my beefs with the green party is the wealth tax.  You have already paid tax creating the wealth. 
 

so yeah, a balance, but some common sense applied.

[thplinth]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:35 PM, Rich NATA said:

 

I only know one person who is old enough to have lived and worked in a communist state as an adult (as opposed to people I know who were children at the time).

 

She says her country was better then than it is now.

Education. Employment. Housing. Affordable living.

They were not short of anything, she says.

Yet the communist party does not get re-elected. (anywhere I think).

The ones who typically miss communism are the older generation who worked for buttons under communism and then got screwed when it ended as they became impoverished pensioners. The worst of both worlds... and I completely sympathize with them.

[Ally Bongo]

Salman Rushdie stabbed on stage in New York

[Rich NATA]

38 minutes ago, thplinth said:

Yet the communist party does not get re-elected. (anywhere I think).

The ones who typically miss communism are the older generation who worked for buttons under communism and then got screwed when it ended as they became impoverished pensioners. The worst of both worlds... and I completely sympathize with them.

She's not an old lady... Not even a GILF yet 🙂

 

Anyway, as TDYER indicated, somewhere in the middle would be good. 

The uneven distribution of wealth is appalling; especially when you consider some of the most important people in society are people who earn the least.

[TDYER63]

1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

 

the time of use tariff looks interesting and not in a good way.  Government control of your use of electricity. 
 

i have no doubt that the energy companies desperate push to get people on to smart meters is entirely due to this.

all kinds of tricks being employed by them, the latest telling me my meter has expired 😂😂😂

 

Its not government control, its to do with supply and demand. Thought capitalists were all over that 🙂

[TDYER63]

2 hours ago, Malcolm said:

i don’t disagree that there needs to be a balance, but people paying higher rate tax are hardly wealthy (starts at 43k) unless you mean additional rate tax (at 150k)?

someone on 43k would instantly be in fuel poverty assuming an average bill.

As i said in a previous post i dont mind paying tax for things i believe in, eg free prescriptions, free university education.  I do mind paying tax for muppet jobs like diversity officers and nonsense spaces for people arrangements. I also have seen the amount of money wasted by local and central government. 

the squeezed middle are people on salaries up to £150k in my view, after that you get in to the realms of the well off.

there are loads of stupid policies targeting the middle income earners.  Another example being pension lifetime allowance… doctors were retiring early as they were significantly disadvantaged by that.  Pension lifetime allowance is utter nonsense and a good example of disincentivising people to stay economically active. 

one of my beefs with the green party is the wealth tax.  You have already paid tax creating the wealth. 
 

so yeah, a balance, but some common sense applied.

No, I was not talking about the additional rate, I was talking about the 43k threshold..Average salary in Scotland is £31k with the vast majority earning between £30-45k . Mainly employed by energy companies ironically. 

The fuel situation is only a very recent problem and I agree that people earning enough to pay the higher rate tax will be hit to a point it starts causing financial problems they never had before. 
But when energy companies are earning tens of billions of pounds in profits I think its a bit rich to be blaming tax thresholds. You cant have your capilalist cake and eat it too. 

Local government has wasted money for as long as I have had the right to vote, and with any political party in power, and no doubt long before my time. I dont imagine too much would change in an independent Scotland as there is just not enough scrutiny. Its wrong but there is waste in most organisations. How often have you said in your job ‘ wtf, who made that decision its bollocks’ ? It happens everywhere. People getting paid for doing fook all, thats not something specific to the public sector. 
I dont know enough about pension lifetime allowance, probably because I am never likely to come close to the figure of £1073000 to be affected but I do agree people should not feel restricted about  paying  into their pensions due to the threat of 55% tax if you breach the allowance  . That said, there are only 42k people in the entire uk affected by it so its hardly a big deal. People are either not anywhere near the pensionable allowance or are finding a way round the higher tax. My money would mainly be on the former but probably a bit of both. 

[Orraloon]

20 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

No, I was not talking about the additional rate, I was talking about the 43k threshold..Average salary in Scotland is £31k with the vast majority earning between £30-45k . Mainly employed by energy companies ironically. 

The fuel situation is only a very recent problem and I agree that people earning enough to pay the higher rate tax will be hit to a point it starts causing financial problems they never had before. 
But when energy companies are earning tens of billions of pounds in profits I think its a bit rich to be blaming tax thresholds. You cant have your capilalist cake and eat it too. 

Local government has wasted money for as long as I have had the right to vote, and with any political party in power, and no doubt long before my time. I dont imagine too much would change in an independent Scotland as there is just not enough scrutiny. Its wrong but there is waste in most organisations. How often have you said in your job ‘ wtf, who made that decision its bollocks’ ? It happens everywhere. People getting paid for doing fook all, thats not something specific to the public sector. 
I dont know enough about pension lifetime allowance, probably because I am never likely to come close to the figure of £1073000 to be affected but I do agree people should not feel restricted about  paying  into their pensions due to the threat of 55% tax if you breach the allowance  . That said, there are only 42k people in the entire uk affected by it so its hardly a big deal. People are either not anywhere near the pensionable allowance or are finding a way round the higher tax. My money would mainly be on the former but probably a bit of both. 

Where did you get that number from?

[aaid]

31 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Where did you get that number from?

I was wondering the same as I’ve been quoting this figure - £26k.

edit. I can see she’s talking about full time employees only rather than all employees.

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2022/3/9/ce765259-d82e-4db7-8ecf-802683f7e56b

Edited August 12, 2022 by aaid

[Malcolm]

41 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

No, I was not talking about the additional rate, I was talking about the 43k threshold..Average salary in Scotland is £31k with the vast majority earning between £30-45k . Mainly employed by energy companies ironically. 

The fuel situation is only a very recent problem and I agree that people earning enough to pay the higher rate tax will be hit to a point it starts causing financial problems they never had before. 
But when energy companies are earning tens of billions of pounds in profits I think its a bit rich to be blaming tax thresholds. You cant have your capilalist cake and eat it too. 

Local government has wasted money for as long as I have had the right to vote, and with any political party in power, and no doubt long before my time. I dont imagine too much would change in an independent Scotland as there is just not enough scrutiny. Its wrong but there is waste in most organisations. How often have you said in your job ‘ wtf, who made that decision its bollocks’ ? It happens everywhere. People getting paid for doing fook all, thats not something specific to the public sector. 
I dont know enough about pension lifetime allowance, probably because I am never likely to come close to the figure of £1073000 to be affected but I do agree people should not feel restricted about  paying  into their pensions due to the threat of 55% tax if you breach the allowance  . That said, there are only 42k people in the entire uk affected by it so its hardly a big deal. People are either not anywhere near the pensionable allowance or are finding a way round the higher tax. My money would mainly be on the former but probably a bit of both. 

there is no way that only 42k people will be affected by the lifetime allowance, my guess is high hundreds of thousands.  A million pounds sounds like a lot of money, but if you withdraw at the recommended 4% rate, it’s only 40k a year. 

my guess is that millions will be caught with LTA charge which is punitive.  Most people would agree that doctors, whilst comfortable, are not rich.  I’m guessing somewhere around £100k a year when fully qualified and experienced.  They were falling in to this.

you sound fairly pragmatic in your thinking.  I hate seeing people poor and struggling, but (I know this is a stereotype) a lot of people don’t help themselves.  Appreciate if you are in a seemingly hopeless situation you think fvck it, why should I bother.

I do think that economic growth is the way out of a recession.  Scotland is unlike England and particularly the USA.  In the US entrepreneurs are celebrated for making lots of cash and value to the community.  In Scotland, we are like “aye, very good, who do you think you are?”.

Can’t think of many entrepreneurs that are celebrated here.