Trivial things you don't understand/mildly annoy you

[Notts red]

This is interesting/annoying and happened at Melksham Sainsburys car park yesterday. A lady was reversing out of a parking space when a middle aged man walked behind her and got brushed by the car. The lady got out to check on the man who was rubbing his knee and then he sat on the floor complaining he couldn't breath properly. A small crowd gathered to help the man and whilst this was happening another man crept round the front and took the ladies hand bag off the front seat. After a few minutes the man got up and limped away. A couple who witnessed this watched the man limp round the corner then walked normally and jumped into a waiting car with the other man. The couple made a note of the number plate and handed it to the police who have since found the car. This scam has been reported in two other car parks in the south west.

[fatbasher]

They raise far more in VAT for HMRC anyway, not to mention keeping people employed and paying over national insurance too.

If the likes of Starbucks didn't exist, HMRC would be deeply out of pocket, I think something to the tune of £160m over 3 years. They were investigated by HMRC in 2010 and found to be acting perfectly legally.

I don't think people realise how common practice it is to move profits around different companies. There are plenty of companies with 6 figure turnovers which do.

Simon if the likes of Starbucks did not exist them a plethora of small indepenent coffee shops would take their place and fill the void, pay tax, VAT and emplyers NI. Same with Amazon, there would not be the job losses on the high st. Rates would be paid, VAT would be payed and tax collected on peoples in come etc. Money makes money and the tax loss to a country goes striaght into the pockets of share holders who in turn squirrel the money away if they can afford expesive accountants. I'm a capitalist and a right wing tory but even i can see the unjust way this goes on at the expense of the the masses who blindly put their hard earned and taxed income into these conglomorates pockets. Yes it's within the law but the law needs changing. Yes it's happening under a Conservative government but was happily going on under the Labour government while there was plenty of cash sloshing around in the world (ask the Greeks how easy it was to borrow and spen someone elses money). Difference is now there is now fucking spare money to piss up the wall cause the world economy is depressed, easy credit gone and the UK PLC credit card has been maxed out by Labour and will take fucking years to put right. As anyone with a maxed out card will tell you just servicing the interest is no good.

Ihope this government tighten up the tax loop holes, after all Starbucks are not going to pull out of the UK jsut because they have to pay tax. If that was the case then there was never an economic case for them opening up here in the first place.

[Samdy Gray]

Bad logic there. If you replaced one big company with lots of smaller ones a lot would be under the VAT threshold and therefore wouldn't pay any.

[Bewster]

Having a kidney stone removed tomorrow with the use of a telescope and a laser. Me thinks pissing will be a bit sore after.

[Shaw Rosso]

Simon if the likes of Starbucks did not exist them a plethora of small indepenent coffee shops would take their place and fill the void, pay tax, VAT and emplyers NI. Same with Amazon, there would not be the job losses on the high st. Rates would be paid, VAT would be payed and tax collected on peoples in come etc. Money makes money and the tax loss to a country goes striaght into the pockets of share holders who in turn squirrel the money away if they can afford expesive accountants. I'm a capitalist and a right wing tory but even i can see the unjust way this goes on at the expense of the the masses who blindly put their hard earned and taxed income into these conglomorates pockets. Yes it's within the law but the law needs changing. Yes it's happening under a Conservative government but was happily going on under the Labour government while there was plenty of cash sloshing around in the world (ask the Greeks how easy it was to borrow and spen someone elses money). Difference is now there is now fucking spare money to piss up the wall cause the world economy is depressed, easy credit gone and the UK PLC credit card has been maxed out by Labour and will take fucking years to put right. As anyone with a maxed out card will tell you just servicing the interest is no good.

Ihope this government tighten up the tax loop holes, after all Starbucks are not going to pull out of the UK jsut because they have to pay tax. If that was the case then there was never an economic case for them opening up here in the first place.

Just out of curiosity, how long is it deemed acceptable to blame Labour for this shambles of a governments failed economic policies? Too many cuts, too fast, next to fuck all growth, another recession looms, public sector being dismantled bit by bit so Mr Cameron can fulfill his dream of everyone paying for healthcare, BBC funding cuts (more repeats, less localised radio), all to please Murdoch! Severley disabled people being forced to work through ATOS. I didn't vote for this, then again, I don't recall anyone voting for this Coalition either. This ill thought out Child Benefit policy where a single person earning £60k a year gets nothing (which is good) but a couple earning £49k each carry on receiving child benefit? How does that work?

If that stupid fucking shitarse Iain Duncan (cough) Smith wants to (cough) reform the (cough) welfare system then surely getting the basics right would be a good start instead of thinking every person without a job for whatever reason is an easy target.

When most of Cameron's own party can't trust him (bet you were well impressed with Dave's acceptance of homosexual marriage), how on earth can an electorate? I am not interested in what Labour did wrong, I know that already.

Big Society? We're all in this together? What a load of bollocks

[Samdy Gray]

They're all as useless as each other though. Party gets elected, things go to shit, new party gets elected to fix problems, things go to shit again. Repeat ad nauseam. Politics is just one big blame game and popularity contest.

The coalition was doomed from day one. They were fucked if they implemented the scathing cuts that were needed and even more fucked if they didn't.

I'm not defending any of them because they're all as useless as each other, but "this shambles of a governments failed economic policies" were directly caused by Labour, no question. Brown once proclaimed that there would be no more return to boom and bust. True, he probably couldn't have foreseen the global credit crisis when he said that, but it was his fiscal policy that caused the biggest bust of a generation.

[Shaw Rosso]

I agree Labour fucked it Samdy, what I don't agree with is the way the government of today are dealing with it.

[Simon Pieman]

Having a kidney stone removed tomorrow with the use of a telescope and a laser. Me thinks pissing will be a bit sore after.

On the plus side it'll save you more pain and problems in the future. You know what's supposedly bad for kidney stones? Drinking coffee.

Oh no, I've rekindled the topic again

[Samdy Gray]

Yes, traditional economic theory would have them spend their way out of the recession, but this isn't a traditional recession. Debt levels have to be reduced or else the problem would just be shifted on a generation, or worse, possibly every developed economy would go bankrupt. And then what?

[Shaw Rosso]

I understand what you are saying, just think the cuts that were implemented could have been done more gradually. With growth comes less people on benefits and more people paying tax, a balance of the 2 with the cuts being spread across the board just seems to make sense.

[joteddyred]

They're all as useless as each other though. Party gets elected, things go to shit, new party gets elected to fix problems, things go to shit again. Repeat ad nauseam. Politics is just one big blame game and popularity contest.

The coalition was doomed from day one. They were fucked if they implemented the scathing cuts that were needed and even more fucked if they didn't.

I'm not defending any of them because they're all as useless as each other, but "this shambles of a governments failed economic policies" were directly caused by Labour, no question. Brown once proclaimed that there would be no more return to boom and bust. True, he probably couldn't have foreseen the global credit crisis when he said that, but it was his fiscal policy that caused the biggest bust of a generation.

Dead right.

[sonicyouth]

i feel this is relevant here:

[Honkytonk]

Having a kidney stone removed tomorrow with the use of a telescope and a laser. Me thinks pissing will be a bit sore after.

Could be worse, they used to stick a claw up your urethra and yank it out. If it didn't come, they'd use a scalpel...

And of course most of this was without anasthetic! What larks!

[Flashheart]

I agree Labour fucked it Samdy, what I don't agree with is the way the government of today are dealing with it.

How are they supposed to deal with it?

[pumbaa]

This ill thought out Child Benefit policy where a single person earning £60k a year gets nothing (which is good) but a couple earning £49k each carry on receiving child benefit? How does that work?

This definitely qualifies as don't understand/mildly annoying. Currently not impacted directly, but I will be as a result of my new job when my total taxable income just exceeds the lower threshold.

As Shaw Rosso points out, I don't get the logic when I as the sole earner (my wife is a stay at home mum and full time carer for our son) will be impacted, albeit slightly, when other couples with joint incomes much higher than my single income (and who probably ship their kids off to childminders/grandparents all day to enable them to work) retain the full benefit.

I'm not for a minute blaming those parents; everyone has the right to make their own choices. Its the implementation of an ill thought out policy that I just don't get. Barking.