BS: Brexit & other UK political topics

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jun 22 - 02:54 AM

That is nonsense Nigel. The Labour Party cannot do anything as the Tories have a massive majority and it should not take 5 years to fix the issue anyway. You are trying to justify the unacceptable. Oh, and as far as I know, Steve is not an official Labour Party spokesman but has put up an alternative - get it fixed!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 06:56 PM

No!
You take a trade unionist view of the situation. Something is wrong, someone must be responsible and must immediately put it right.

The actual situation is:
There is a problem.
To what extent does it need action?
Do all properties with this problem need action? (no, the cladding was already passed as 'safe' for buildings below a certain height.)
Who was responsible for the problem? Can we make them pay to correct it?
If we can get them to pay to correct it (or even get the government (taxpayer)) pay to correct it, how long will it take?
To expect that, once the problem was understood, everything would be sorted out instantly, suggests a very naïve viewpoint.

As with almost everything else, the Labour party may rant, but they suggest no 'better way' to deal with matters.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 06:28 PM

No I'm not! I'm just pointing out that thousands of people, five years after the disaster, are still living in potentially dangerous conditions, and thousands are unable to move out of their flats because they are unsaleable. Five years on, Nigel!

Yes there have been no repeats. But Grenfell was not a repeat either, despite the fact that tens of thousands were living in dangerous conditions for many years before. That is sheer good luck, not, as you seem to imply, the result of the safety the housing. Just ask yourself how you'd feel if you lived in a flat that was cladded dangerously, and in which you had no option but to stay.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 06:16 PM

And in those five tears there have been no repeats.
The work needs to be done (to this I agree). But it must take time to do, just as it took time to initially build the premises.

Your comment, to which I was responding, "So you think that failing to help the Grenfell victims and the tens of thousands of people facing the same plight is a positive thing?"
Things are being done to help those in a similar plight!

As with anything else, you are looking for a reason to bash the (Tory) government.
You Fail!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 04:23 PM

Not a quick fix? When lives are at stake? It's been five years, Nigel...

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 03:44 PM

Exactly Nigel Parsons, once again the lefties take the negative angle!!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Jun 22 - 02:48 PM

As far as I have read the government is helping.
They have said that the builders who took shortcuts to save on building costs should fund the remediation work should be those who pay for it.
Some very large firms have already agreed, and put forward budgets to do the work.
The work of remediation has started in many places, but will not be a 'quick-fix'

Industry to pay

Builders agree to pay
"Under the new agreement, which will become legally enforceable, over 35 of the UK’s biggest homebuilders have pledged to fix all buildings 11 metres+ that they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years.

For the companies yet to make the pledge, the Secretary of State has also confirmed there is little time left for them to sign up, and that those who continue to refuse will face consequences if they fail to do so.

As set out in January, a new government scheme will also see industry pay to fix buildings where those responsible cannot be identified or forced to in law. This follows previous confirmation that plans for a 30-year loan scheme paid for by leaseholders would be scrapped."

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 06:17 PM

So you think that failing to help the Grenfell victims and the tens of thousands of people facing the same plight is a positive thing?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 05:04 PM

Lefties are so obsessed with looking at things from a negative angle that when someone comes around and decides to interpret it from a positive angle, they’re ready to crucify the person.!!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 04:36 PM

Well why don't you find something then Bonzo?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 07:13 AM

Obviously nothing to do!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 04:45 AM

"One's sorry for them, but there it is."

There what is? Don't help them? Don't pursue their landlords? Let them burn as they're mostly not Tory voters anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 04:33 AM

So now Patel wants to put electronic tags on completely innocent people. So you can do to innocent "foreigners" what you can't do to innocent Brits ...nice..

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 04:21 AM

"It might be to distract discussion away from Johnson's contempt for the Grenville victims and people still living in dangerous high rise housing 5 years after the Grenfell fire."



One's sorry for them, but there it is.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 03:36 AM

Sadly, Steve, with the way things are going with the anti demonstration laws and the like, that is the way things are heading here :-( I said on the Trump thread that what the US does happens in the UK a bit later. Which is why I am hoping they nail the orange bastard.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 06:47 PM

So the vicious, entitled, bullying and thoroughly incompetent Priti Patel has decided that Julian Assange should be extradited to the US.

From Peter Oborne (of all people) in the Guardian:

Julian Assange’s supposed crime was to expose atrocities committed by the US and its allies, primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq, during the war on terror. He shone a light on the systematic abuse dealt out to prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. He revealed the fact that more than 150 entirely innocent inmates were held for years without even being charged.

Once safely in US hands, it’s all but certain that Assange will spend the rest of his life in jail.

He published a video of helicopter gunmen laughing as they casually massacred unarmed Iraqi civilians in an attack that killed around 15 people, including a Reuters photographer and his assistant.

The US declined to discipline the perpetrators of that atrocity. But they are pursuing Assange to the ends of the earth for revealing it took place.

So Assange will rot in a US jail because he embarrassed the US government. Because he exposed the dreadful things the US had done in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Baghdad by releasing "classified" documents (not documents that threatened national security but documents which revealed actions that no civilised country should condone).

Whenever I hear Americans bleating about threats to their "free speech," I think of how they would go to the ends of the earth to put Assange behind bars - for exercising the most important "free speech" of all, the free speech that exposes government wrongdoings. A keystone of democracy. But campaigning for free speech suddenly halts when that free speech gets just a little embarrassing. So I hope that Julian's appeals are successful. He's already been incarcerated, in effect, for ten years. Time for him to be freed to lead a deserved normal life.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 04:54 PM

It might be to distract discussion away from Johnson's contempt for the Grenville victims and people still living in dangerous high rise housing 5 years after the Grenfell fire.

He probably thinks that tax management is a far more important subject to discuss and has a lot more relevance as a UK political topic than human lives.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 03:45 PM

If you don't like it don't read it.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Raggytash
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 12:18 PM

Whilst I can understand why some people may be very grateful for this knowledge Bonzo I fail to see why you consider it necessary to post on Mudcat.

As and when I require such information I can either seek it out myself or refer to a tax specialist should be need arise.

I know several people with very specialised fields of knowledge but, for example, my Metalagist friends knowledge is not required on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 07:24 AM

The circumstances of each self-employed individual and partnership will be different of course, but factors such as seasonal profit levels, timing of fixed asset expenditure to maximise a claim for capital allowances and other income, to maximise tax relief at basic rate, minimise tax at higher rate, and even maximise losses!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 07:16 AM

Tax planning for the basis period reform
If you’re self-employed the basis period reform can increase the profit on which you’re taxed for 2023/24. However, within the rules there’s room to make this more tax efficient. What steps can you take to achieve this?

Basis period reform
The method that sole traders must use to work out their profits for each tax year is changing in April 2023. This is called the basis period reform and will affect anyone whose annual accounting period ends on a date other than one between 31 March and 5 April. For 2023/24 and subsequent years the taxable amount will be derived by apportioning the business accounts of two years.

Example. Andrea is self-employed. On advice from her accountant she produced her accounts for the period 1 May to 30 April each year. Therefore, her profit for each tax year is that shown by her accounts ending in that year, e.g for 2021/22 the taxable profit is that for her accounts for the twelve months to 30 April 2021. However, for the first tax year after the basis period reform, 2024/25, her profit will instead be 1/12th of that from her accounts to 30 April 2023 plus 11/12ths from her accounts to 30 April 2024.

Trap. For Andrea, the transition from the current to the new method requires cramming the profits between 1 May 2021 to 5 April 2023 (23 months) into just one tax year - 2023/24 - known as the “transitional year”.

Spreading relief
The extra profits (in our example, 11/23rds of that for the transitional year) can be taxed over five years. Example. Andrea’s extra profit for the transitional year (2023/24) is £50,000. A fifth of this is taxable in 2023/24 and for each of the following four years. However, Andrea can elect to accelerate when some or all of the extra profits are taxed. The balance of the extra profits are then evenly spread over the remainder of the five-year period.

Tip. There are various reasons why you might want to accelerate when the extra profit is taxed. For example, in 2023/24 your profits aren’t sufficient when added to your other income to make you a higher rate taxpayer. However, a big new contract means that for 2024/25 and later years you expect to be liable to higher rates. You can elect to bring forward some or all of the extra profit so that it’s taxed in 2023/24 at the basic rate instead of in 2024/25 to 2028/29 at the higher rate.

Overlap relief
If your accounting year end doesn’t coincide with the tax year you’ll probably have “overlap profit”. This is profit that’s been taken into account for tax purposes twice (see our previous article here ). Because of this you’re entitled to claim a deduction for the twice-taxed profits. This is known as “overlap relief”. Under current rules the relief is allowed when your business ceases or you change your accounting basis period. As such a change is being forced on you because of the basis period reform any overlap relief you’re entitled to must be used for 2023/24 or earlier.

Tip. If you don’t know how much overlap relief you’re entitled to and can’t work it out, HMRC should be able to tell you. If you still can’t get to the figure an accountant should be able to help you find it.

Tip. You can engineer overlap relief to apply for 2021/22, 2022/23 or 2023/24. Consider which gives the greatest tax saving (see our examples here ).

The extra profits can be spread over up to five years from April 2023. You can elect, to some degree, to allocate them in the most tax-efficient way. If you’re entitled to overlap relief for doubly taxed profits, you can use it in any of the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 tax years. Consider which will produce the greatest tax reduction.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 05:51 AM

It is a long way down in the article.

"Just last month, the government announced it would not implement recommendations calling for high-rise towers to have evacuation plans and, instead, would continue to recommend a “stay put” policy in the case of fires – a decision branded a “disgrace” by the Grenfell United group."

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 05:33 AM

Harrowing reading - make sure you read through to the last three paragraphs.

This is why I am a 'leftie'

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 06:28 PM

Collapso, Dave. Three for £18. Unless it's stopped and I've missed it....

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Raggytash
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 06:25 PM

"the lefties will love this!!!"


Sarah Panitzke ...

Are you perhaps suggesting that she was left wing, and if so what is your evidence for that assumption.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 06:09 PM

Don't do it Steve! Find us a good bottle of wine on offer in Mossers instead :-D

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 06:06 PM

Very interesting, Bonzo. Like one of those books that are so thrilling that once you put them down you can't pick them up again. *Yawn.* I should stick to telling us all how we can screw the nation by cutting our personal tax bills, mate. Far more entertaining!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 05:08 PM

of course

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 02:19 PM

Indeed Monique!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 11:30 AM

The lefties will love this!!!

Sarah Panitzke, originally from York, played a leading role in a multimillion pound VAT fraud and became one of the UK’s most wanted criminals after absconding during her trial in 2013.

In February, the 48-year-old was arrested while walking her dogs in Spain in an operation led by the Spanish Guardia Civil, working alongside HMRC.

Panitzke launched an appeal against extradition proceedings, which failed, and she was returned to the UK by HMRC. On 10 June 2022, she appeared at Kingston Crown Court and was jailed for eight years.

She played a pivotal role in a sophisticated fraud and laundered stolen money through offshore bank accounts. The gang set up numerous businesses claiming to be legitimately importing and selling mobile phones, but the businesses were a front for an elaborate scheme to steal more than £20m in VAT repayments.

Despite going to great lengths to hide the criminal profits, HMRC investigators uncovered a complex web of transactions they used to launder stolen money through bank accounts in the UK, Andorra, Dubai, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Portugal and the US.

Panitzke fled to Spain during her trial in 2013 and was convicted and sentenced in her absence to eight years in prison. She and her 17 co-conspirators were given sentences totalling 135 years for the VAT fraud.

In 2016 and while still on the run, a court also ordered that she repay more than £2.4m within three months or serve an extra nine years in jail. No money has ever been paid towards the confiscation order.

HMRC believe that she had been hiding in Andorra and Spain for the last nine years and living under an assumed identity. She was captured after the Spanish Guardia Civil identified her in a village in the region of Tarragona.

Simon York, director, fraud investigation service, HMRC, said: ‘Sarah Panitzke helped launder millions of pounds of stolen money and thought she could run from her crimes. She spent nine years hiding – but we never stopped looking.

‘We worked tirelessly alongside the Spanish authorities to track her down and ensure she was brought back to face justice.’

Jessica Walker of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: ‘Sarah Panitzke, who fled the country during a multimillion pound VAT fraud trial, is finally behind bars thanks to the committed work of our extradition team and HMRC. We will be working with partners to recover the funds she took from the public purse.’

National Crime Agency (NCA) international deputy director Tom Dowdall said: ‘Sarah Panitzke was on the NCA most wanted list for nearly a decade. Her jailing is the culmination of years of hard work by the NCA and partners at home and abroad to trace and return her to the UK.

‘It does not matter how long fugitives run, we have the capabilities, tenacity and excellent relationships with international law enforcement to find them.’

Plain clothes officers from the Spanish Guardia Civil approached her on 27 February 2022, in the small town of Santa Barbara, near the Catalan coast.

She was arrested and subsequently returned to the UK by HMRC officers on 9 June 2022.

Panitzke appeared at Kingston Crown Court on 10 June 2022 and was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 11:05 AM

”BAckwoodsman, my comment was merely mirroring bonzos offensive comment, knowing what his profession is. I am not implying that every account is cast from the same mold as him,”

Yeah, I got that the first time, SPB - my comment was really intended for Bozo’s education. I guess it was a bit too ‘veiled’!

Still friends?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Monique
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 06:50 AM

"It was never the fault of workers wanting a decent living that brought the country to a standstill or held it to ransom, but that of a failure to negotiate by the people in power."
Aaaahhhh! Now you can understand why we have so many strikes! We can NEVER have proper negociations before we go on strike over here. N-E-V-E-R!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 05:31 AM

I have never, not for one single day, not been a member of a trade union since my first day at work in 1973. I remember all those years ago when the term "closed shop" was regarded as dirty words. Well not to me they weren't. I always hated the fact that I had to work with parasites who refused to join yet revelled in the benefits hard-won by the unions. Not only that, they often had the gall to whinge about the unions when strike action was threatened or carried out. Working people have only their labour to sell, and, like a business, they shouldn't be forced to sell it if they see that the price isn't fair. I'm constantly amazed at the millions of suckers who fall for the line that "the unions are holding the country to ransom." I see that it's being trotted out again apropos of the railway workers. We can't charge incredibly rich people enough tax, or close the loopholes they exploit, because they threaten to move themselves, their money or both overseas if we try to. Now that's what I CALL holding the country to ransom, yet the establishment and the Daily Mail are oddly silent about them whilst simultaneously raging about people who kept this country running during the pandemic.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Jun 22 - 05:52 AM

I always thought that dog eat dog meant illicit viewer sex in your car, break to go to the chippy, then back for more sex in the car park...

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Jun 22 - 12:24 AM

What does the saying dog eat-dog mean?
adjective. marked by destructive or ruthless competition; without self-restraint, ethics, etc.: It's a dog-eat-dog industry.
Bonzo, you have a dogma and a political philosophy of dog eat dog

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Jun 22 - 12:19 AM

Cost of living crisis - just get on with it."
The voice of a well heeled accountant, a supporter of the capitalist system, the establishment and dog eat dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jun 22 - 04:15 PM

According to an Observer poll, more people think that Johnson would make a better PM than Starmer. And Labour's lead in the polls, after everything that's happened, is a measly two percent. I could weep.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Jun 22 - 01:26 PM

I believe that Priti Awful has booked 148 seats on the next flight to Rwanda...

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Rain Dog
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 09:56 AM

"No parties, our Beacon wasn't lit, and there was very little bunting about the place."

Did someone forget the matches then BWM?

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 08:21 AM

Transferring a sole trade business to a limited company was historically an easy way of saving tax and national insurance (NI). However, a succession of changes since 2016 have largely curbed the tax efficiency.

It all began with the reform of dividend taxation in 2016. Before this, dividends were treated as being received net of a notional tax credit. This was deductible in the self-assessment tax computation and meant any dividends that fell into the basic rate band did not actually suffer any tax.

The 2016 changes scrapped this notional tax credit and the concept of a net dividend. Now, all dividends are received gross, and taxable at 8.75%, 33.75%, or 39.35%, to the extent that they fall into the basic, higher or additional rate bands. The stated aim of the overhaul was to combat ‘tax-motivated incorporation’.

2016 also saw the introduction of a dividend ‘allowance’, which is really a 0% band. The 2022/23 dividend allowance is £2,000 (originally £5,000), and the intention is to ensure investors with modest shareholdings were not impacted.

Then, now and next
To illustrate the impact of the change, consider the final year under the old system — 2015/16. A sole trader with profits of £100,000 would keep just over £66,200 after tax and NI. However, a director shareholder of a single person company would keep just over £71,000 - a saving of almost £5,000.

Fast forward to 2022/23 and a sole trade with the same profits would keep £66,800. The director shareholder would still be better off with just over £68,600, but the saving has been drastically reduced.

Let’s now look ahead to 2023. Currently, there is a single rate of corporation tax of 19%. However, from April 2023, the main rate of corporation tax will increase to 25%. Companies with profits not exceeding £50,000 will continue to use the small profits rate of 19%. Companies with profits in excess of £50,000 will be charged at 25%. However, where profits do not exceed £250,000, marginal relief can be deducted to reduce the effective rate of tax.

The marginal relief is calculated by taking the difference between the chargeable profits and £250,000 and multiplying this by 3/200 (the marginal relief fraction). So, if the chargeable profits were £100,000, the marginal relief available would be 3/200 × £150,000 = £2,250. The effective rate of tax would therefore be 22.75%.

This change will have a significant impact on the decision to incorporate going forward. Let’s look again at the position for a sole trader and a single person company director shareholder following the change. We’ll assume the accounting period falls wholly after 1 April 2023.

The sole trader is in more or less the same position as for 2022/23, keeping just under £67,000 of their profit after tax and NI. That makes sense as sole trade profits are not subject to corporation tax.

However, the director shareholder’s position is affected because the profits after deducting the director salary of £12,570 (the optimum position due to the increase in the primary threshold) fall into the marginal relief band. The corporation tax bill will increase compared to 2022/23, leaving less distributable profits to take as a dividend. Our director shareholder will keep just £67,000, putting them on a par with a sole trader.

The future for incorporation
When considering whether to incorporate following the 2023 rate increase, it is unlikely to be worth doing so from a purely tax-motivated angle, unless it is fairly certain that profits will remain within a fairly narrow band, around £50,000 to £75,000.

However, the tax efficiency could be increased in a number of ways depending on the circumstances. For example, the director shareholder may not require all the profit to be extracted every year. Profits left undrawn as dividends will still be subject to corporation tax of course, but will not be subject to income tax until they are withdrawn. If this takes place in a later year, perhaps when profits are lower, or post-retirement, they could be subject to a lower rate of dividend tax.

The undrawn profits could also be put to use for the company to make investments in its own name. This does not solve the tax efficiency issue, but could increase the distributable profits going forward.

An alternative strategy would be to use the undrawn profits to make pension contributions as the employer. These would be deductible for corporation tax, but of course the downside is that the money is then locked away until pensionable age is reached.

If these options are not suitable, ie, because the director shareholder needs as much money as possible from the company each year, a powerful strategy would be to bring a spouse or civil partner in as a second director shareholder.

This would eliminate secondary class 1 NI contributions, as the employment allowance would then be available. It would also have a drastic effect on the corporation tax and income tax charged.

Firstly, assuming there is no other income, both directors would withdraw a salary, saving corporation tax of up to 25%. Secondly, the income paid out to the individuals would enjoy the benefits of two personal allowances, basic rate bands and dividend allowances.

In fact, returning to our company with profits of £100,000, assuming both directors take a salary of £12,570, the corporation tax bill falls by over £3,000.

Assuming the dividend is split equally, neither director shareholder breaches the higher rate threshold, and the income tax bill is less than £5,000. Overall, the change to a two-person company saves over £12,000, leaving our happy couple with £79,200.

To sum up, the days of the old ‘one-man (or woman) band’ companies may be numbered, but there is certainly still a place for incorporation with tax savings in mind. Obviously, this is subject to future attacks by the government.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 01:00 PM

”our current Tory MP will have held the seat for forty years next year”

Oops! Should have said, “multi-millionaire Tory MP…” there.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 12:48 PM

.... or (more accurately) for "objectionable". Apologies for firing off my mouth from the hip: I'm a mite too distracted to properly copy-edit, because the net keeps dropping out.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 12:33 PM

DtG> The kids were, as far as I could see, all white

Thus "racist" has followed "gay" into street-speak as a synonym for "stupid". As Willie Rushton put it: "Out of the mouths of babes and suckings, and straight down the back of your suit."

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 10:59 AM

"incidentally, did anyone see any street parties?"

I live in a rabidly-safe-seat Tory constituency - we've had a Tory MP continuously since 1924, which I find rather surprising as ours is a rural area with inner-city problems of serious unemployment, drug-addiction, and crime - our current Tory MP will have held the seat for forty years next year. Who votes the bugger in is completely beyond my understanding.

With regard to the Jubilee, street-parties etc., it felt as though the entire Platty-Joobs-Bullshit-Circus passed us completely by - absolute tumbleweed! No parties, our Beacon wasn't lit, and there was very little bunting about the place.

As a result, my faith in the people of this area is restored.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 10:27 AM

It's funny, Steve. When I was leaving the local leisure centre a few weeks back a group of kids were hanging about in the entrance, causing the automatic dorrs to open and close a lot. An attendant came out and asked them to move on and one of the kids said he was being a racist to do so! The kids were, as far as I could see, all white! The attendant went back in shaking his head with a puzzled look :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 10:12 AM

On this day in 1983 Margaret Thatcher won a landslide election victory over Michael Foot, returning to parliament with a majority of 144 seats.

That sensational victory would allow her to continue changing our country for the better

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 09:05 AM

"...terrorist lover Corbyn..."

Well Boris Bunter is an enthusiastic supporter of the Israeli regime which has shat on the Palestinians for decades and he sells fighter jets to the Saudis so that they can bomb children in Yemen. I guess the old adage is true, that the "terrorist" is the man with the small bomb. Just to correct you, by the way, Jeremy Corbyn has never supported terrorism in any shape or form. It's a bit like calling the little boy who stole your sweets at school a fascist, just because you don't like him much...

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: peteglasgow
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 08:12 AM

incidentally, did anyone see any street parties? i was up in glasgow yesterday (buying my partick thistle season ticket and going to kelvingrove, tennents and the laurieston) where apparently there was very little activity (apparently not even any orange marches) and there was nothing round Lancaster (witcherypopery) way (well, one house with some bunting) i'm not disputing there were big crowds (of royalty in gangs?) in Londlon but is there any evidence that the extent of support for that creaky institution may be well short of the amount suggested by the media? Hope so.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: peteglasgow
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 08:05 AM

it's a bit more nuanced than that - debates/discussions on the royalty/republic debate are as old as the idea of democracy. i'll continue to argue against royalty but with no desire to go t the barricades about it. i resent the idea of just being a subject - i'd would rather we weren't all subject to a load of forelock-tugging monarchist drivel but it's something i can usually ignore with no bother.

Subject: RE: BS: Brexit & other UK political topics
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Jun 22 - 07:55 AM

All I can do is repeat what I said before. Ignore the troll. He has admitted that is what he does. It will not be long before he gets fed up and goes into overdrive at which point he will probably get suspended.