The news thread

[TDYER63]

27 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Where did you get that number from?

A few sources. 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/416139/full-time-annual-salary-in-the-uk-by-region/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-61383294.amp

https://expatrist.com/what-is-a-good-salary-in-scotland/
 

According to the Scottish Parliament, the average annual salary of full-time employees is £31,605, the fourth highest in the constituent countries in the UK. Many Scottish are satisfied with their wages in the country. 

 

[aaid]

9 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

 

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.

 

I’m guessing from what you’ve said previously that you spent a few years living in London and working in Financial Services, most likely in the City.  That attitude might have been something that was prevalent in that environment, in fact I know it was/is as I spent a while at a Tier 1 IB.   That’s far from the attitude that the majority of people in London and the South East have let alone the rest of England. 

[TDYER63]

28 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

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.

 

 

 

 

As i said, I dont know much about LTA as i am unlikely to experience it. I got the figure from here. Its 2019 /20 but I doubt it has jumped significantly given it only increased by 10k from the previous year.

https://www.theprivateoffice.com/news/hmrc-sees-24-increase-people-breaching-lifetime-allowance

£40k a year may not seem like much to you but given it is significantly higher than the average earning wage, and very few people are on final salary pensions, I doubt too many will be affected by it. 
I can see however why the tax would piss wealthier people off. You work hard and want to enjoy retirement , you are a long time dead. But I do think the people who would be affected the most will have an IFA to wangle something. A bit like having an address in England for income tax purposes .. 😏

I agree we tend to be generally less impressed with entrepreneurs in Scotland. It’s usually though because some entrepreneurs are right up their own arse , rather than not admiring them for what they have achieved. I take my hat off to anyone who has succeeded through hard work and who have treated others with respect along the way.  Good luck to them. 

[thplinth]

3 hours ago, Rich NATA said:

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.

Britain, time and place (70's) pre-Thatcher, with all its problems, was (with hindsight) infinitely better than Britain (with foresight) any time nor place since after (IMHO). She fucked it. So maybe I agree with your missus?

If we ever get a 12 monkeys time machine... visit Thatch. She just sold the entire country out... to inflict her insane revenge politics. Mad starey-eyed nutcase. No wonder her backers loved her. Blair was a much smoother version...

Britain is far more corrupt than most folk in Britain realize. That should perhaps be a YES message.

[Malcolm]

1 hour ago, thplinth said:

Britain, time and place (70's) pre-Thatcher, with all its problems, was (with hindsight) infinitely better than Britain (with foresight) any time nor place since after (IMHO). She fucked it. So maybe I agree with your missus?

If we ever get a 12 monkeys time machine... visit Thatch. She just sold the entire country out... to inflict her insane revenge politics. Mad starey-eyed nutcase. No wonder her backers loved her. Blair was a much smoother version...

Britain is far more corrupt than most folk in Britain realize. That should perhaps be a YES message.

not sure I can agree with this.  I remember pre thatcher Britain and it was a shambles, “the sick man of Europe”.

thatcher is not popular in Scotland, as like in Liverpool, she destroyed whole communities that were dependent on industries that were no longer viable in a global economy.

What she did do was deregulate financial services and make Britain a financial centre and a lot of money in the south east. As a whole the Uk was better off, but there was a lot of suffering in Scotland.  These industries were dead anyway… no point in making things at a loss.

 

[scotlad]

On 8/11/2022 at 6:55 PM, Orraloon said:

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.

They do, but they don't tend to fire them at other humans. The murder rate on islands like Skye is very low.

[scotlad]

5 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Salman Rushdie stabbed on stage in New York

A perfectly reasonable reaction to someone who wrote something over 30 years ago that some people found offensive. 🙄

[Ally Bongo]

1 minute ago, scotlad said:

A perfectly reasonable reaction to someone who wrote something over 30 years ago that some people found offensive. 🙄

Typically Twitter is full of Islamic Extremism denial

I will eat my slippers if it isnt particularly as it has been locked down

Supposedly a statement at midnight our time

[scotlad]

28 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Typically Twitter is full of Islamic Extremism denial

I will eat my slippers if it isnt particularly as it has been locked down

Supposedly a statement at midnight our time

It's almost certainly that, but we'll see.

Maybe he just didn't like the aftershave Rushdie was wearing. 🙄

Hopefully Rushdie pulls through.

[ThistleWhistle]

If V sends me a £1 mask fuck me I'm in!

[Malcolm]

36 minutes ago, scotlad said:

It's almost certainly that, but we'll see.

Maybe he just didn't like the aftershave Rushdie was wearing. 🙄

Hopefully Rushdie pulls through.

religion is at the root of a lot of the worlds problems 

[Malcolm]

ffs…. What kind of hell are we descending in to…

https://www.gbnews.uk/gb-views/eco-extremists-wanting-to-destroy-british-farming-can-pork-off-says-mark-dolan/351932

the loony greens want tax on meat…  Can’t drive my car (assuming the tyre deflators don’t get me)… they don’t like me doing that.  Can’t eat cow….. they don’t like that.

I remember the good old days when eco warriors were swampy sticking himself up a tree.  Ffs if you want to eat leaves then fine go ahead, but if I want a steak piss off and leave me alone.

The worlds gone mad I tell you.

 

[Ally Bongo]

47 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

ffs…. What kind of hell are we descending in to…

 

 

One where someone reads and then quotes pish by GB news ?

[Caledonian Craig]

1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

religion is at the root of a lot of the worlds problems 

I do not agree with you on much but here I fully agree. 

[Ally Bongo]

Rushdie has probably lost an eye, was stabbed in the liver and neck and is on a ventilator

Nerves in his arm were also severed

At 75 it will be surprising if he recovers

 

Watch how Shirley Williams appeases them then tries to accuse Christopher Hitchens of twisting her words

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Ally Bongo

[Malcolm]

4 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

One where someone reads and then quotes pish by GB news ?

not only do I read GB news, I watch it too, along with Sky news, bbc news, and channel 4 news. 

 

[Malcolm]

4 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I do not agree with you on much but here I fully agree. 

we can probably add my anti monarchy views to that, I would imagine!  That must confusing to those who assum I am a rangers fan and therefore must love the queen 😂

[Caledonian Craig]

4 hours ago, Malcolm said:

we can probably add my anti monarchy views to that, I would imagine!  That must confusing to those who assum I am a rangers fan and therefore must love the queen 😂

Nah as there are the odd Gers fan who are anti-monarchy but they still brain-deadly sing Royalist songs.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Caledonian Craig

[Malcolm]

And while we are on the subject of tax, the latest wheeze is people taking the bounce back loan and dissolving their companies and not paying it back.  Eg the bbc investigation in to the guy running party at the palace.

There is a whole industry of “insolvency” going on to help people avoid paying this back.  The government is simply not pursuing prosecution.  I’d like to see what percentage of these loans get repaid.  Why should I pay tax to fund that?

 

 

[Ally Bongo]

8 hours ago, Malcolm said:

not only do I read GB news, I watch it too, along with Sky news, bbc news, and channel 4 news. 

 

And yet you still post a link to the broadcasting equivalent of the Daily Mail/Express

[vanderark14]

28 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

And yet you still post a link to the broadcasting equivalent of the Daily Mail/Express

GB news is a channel designed for angry right wing people who believe the left is taking over. 

 

[TDYER63]

34 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

And while we are on the subject of tax, the latest wheeze is people taking the bounce back loan and dissolving their companies and not paying it back.  Eg the bbc investigation in to the guy running party at the palace.

There is a whole industry of “insolvency” going on to help people avoid paying this back.  The government is simply not pursuing prosecution.  I’d like to see what percentage of these loans get repaid.  Why should I pay tax to fund that?

 

 

Could see this happening from the outset. A reasonably high percentage would be my guess. But resources will still mainly be focused on the benefit cheats. There is no risk in pursuing people who are never going to vote for you anyway. 

[Malcolm]

42 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

And yet you still post a link to the broadcasting equivalent of the Daily Mail/Express

I take an open mind when i am viewing these channels….  There certainly are a few contributors that are not my kind of people.

im not one of these people that say the guardian good, the mail bad.  I review all content in each with the same scepticism 

[Malcolm]

16 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

GB news is a channel designed for angry right wing people who believe the left is taking over. 

 

thats a generalisation but yes, someone spotted a market for this.  There are some aspects of society that have moved significantly to the left.

[Malcolm]

7 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

Could see this happening from the outset. A reasonably high percentage would be my guess. But resources will still mainly be focused on the benefit cheats. There is no risk in pursuing people who are never going to vote for you anyway. 
 

 

 

i wiuld have thought it more cost effective to do these guys and girls than chase someone for £50 worth of benefit fraud