Search found 1284 matches

by sjs
24 Mar 2024, 5:33pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2923

Re: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?

853 wrote: 23 Mar 2024, 1:32pm
pliptrot wrote: 23 Mar 2024, 10:29am How inflated salaries are not properly taxed is an obscenity given the dire state of British society in 2024.
The rate of tax for anyone earning over £125140 is 45 percent. What rate of tax do you propose, and what percentage of these people do you think would move to a different country with lower taxes if the 45 percent rate was increased?


https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates
The rate of 45% above £125140 is a reduction from the 60% marginal rate on income between £100k and that figure, which is described as a tapering of the personal allowance, but is in effect just a bizarrely high rate of tax in that band of income. I imagine it is one reason for the popularity of huge EVs. Why not translate cash which would have been taxed at 60% into a big car taxed at close to zero?

And another thing: I don't understand why the graph of income vs tax is managed so crudely. No need for straight lines with various odd changes of slope. I'm all for nice smooth curves, of gradually increasing gradient.
by sjs
17 Mar 2024, 11:48pm
Forum: Using the Forum - request help : report difficulties
Topic: Site response is slow
Replies: 31
Views: 6313

Re: Site response is slow

Only joking. It is very slow.
by sjs
17 Mar 2024, 11:45pm
Forum: Using the Forum - request help : report difficulties
Topic: Site response is slow
Replies: 31
Views: 6313

Re: Site response is slow

Probably just the sheer weight of traffic from jdsk and psamathe moaning about slowness of response
by sjs
2 Mar 2024, 9:58am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: UK Politics
Replies: 949
Views: 74391

Re: UK Politics

pwa wrote: 2 Mar 2024, 9:13am
reohn2 wrote: 2 Mar 2024, 8:57am
pwa wrote: 1 Mar 2024, 9:51pm Surely the traditional British way is to vote for the least worst option. Whichever that is. Vote to avoid the worst of the likely outcomes.
That's true and I've done so in the past,I've also spoiled my paper in the past too.
But TBH I'm so utterly sick and fed up of UK politricks,as Pete says I can't see much changing even the better of the two evils is still collectively an evil AFAICS, they'll pander to the rich and court the press barons at the cost to the poor.
I expect to be voting for Starmer, with a very robust peg on my nose. His limp pleas for the innocents caught up in Gaza have damaged the impression I had of him as a rather boring "good bloke". He lacks moral fibre. But we do need to dislodge the tried and failed Tory lot, who aren't going to improve things no matter how long we give them. At least with a Labour PM we can point the finger at them and say "You are supposed to care", which you can't do with a Tory.
Yes. Starmer's snivelling non-statements, especially around Gaza, have had him plummeting in my estimation. But "better the devil you know" cannot be universally true, irrespective of the devilishness of the devil you know, and, to me, the Tories have put themselves far beyond the pale.
by sjs
25 Feb 2024, 11:21am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: UK Politics
Replies: 949
Views: 74391

Re: UK Politics

francovendee wrote: 25 Feb 2024, 8:50am I see Lee Anderson has been suspended by the Tory Party for statements he made about Sadiq Khan on TV.

I always regarded him as a bit of a thug in the Prescott mould and wondered how he came to be deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
Thug yes. No doubt about it. Looks the part too. But, to me, nothing like Prescott.
by sjs
25 Feb 2024, 11:15am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?
Replies: 920
Views: 862613

Re: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?

pwa wrote: 24 Feb 2024, 9:47pm
PDQ Mobile wrote: 24 Feb 2024, 8:17pm I am prepared to compromise on that.

Ginger nuts?!
I'm more of a Hobnob person myself, but don't like the overly buttery French biscuits we keep getting given as gifts. Actually, there are quite a few biscuit types I'm not keen on. This has the makings of another long running online feud. Maybe best left without further comment? :lol:
Since the demise of the Abbey Crunch there have been no biscuits worth eating.
by sjs
17 Feb 2024, 8:47am
Forum: Fun & Games
Topic: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??
Replies: 2256
Views: 126179

Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Jdsk wrote: 25 Jan 2024, 8:19pm
Mick F wrote: 25 Jan 2024, 8:15pm Osmands. (sic)
1970

One bad apple don't
Spoil the whole bunch, girl
Oh, I don't care what they say
I don't care what you heard now
One bad apple don't
Spoil the whole bunch, girl
Oh, give it one more try
Before you give up on love
Yes, the possibility that this affected common usage is mentioned in the history article cited upthread.

Jonathan
Perhaps this single "bad" usage is the one bad apple that has gradually spoilt all the other one bad apples.
by sjs
16 Feb 2024, 6:22pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Reform. uk - a force for good?
Replies: 18
Views: 1134

Re: Reform. uk - a force for good?

In Wellingborough, if all the Reform UK votes had been cast for the Tories instead, Labour would still have won.
by sjs
11 Feb 2024, 9:43am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Coastal tour of East Anglia
Replies: 11
Views: 645

Re: Coastal tour of East Anglia

Dunwich, its history and its beach cafe are highlights for me. And, if you're in the area, Reedham Ferry is worth using (but maybe that's just me. I like ferries).
by sjs
10 Feb 2024, 2:33pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: I want to run a sightseeing cycling tour - what legality is involved?
Replies: 73
Views: 4645

Re: I want to run a sightseeing cycling tour - what legality is involved?

mattheus wrote: 10 Feb 2024, 1:08pm
Nicholas wrote: 9 Feb 2024, 4:36pm
rareposter wrote: 9 Feb 2024, 4:16pm
Technically, posting on a forum constitutes "research".
Come on ... the OP wants to start a new venture and appears to have done zero research about how to go about it, then asks a group of random people to provide all the information for them.

[Post edited by moderator for breach of Forum Guidelines.]
You didn't have to reply. And I suspect everyone that HAS replied enjoyed doing so (or at least thought they would :P )

Where's the harm?!?
Indeed. This forum must seem a highly unwelcoming place to many an unsuspecting casual poster.
by sjs
10 Feb 2024, 10:23am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: I want to run a sightseeing cycling tour - what legality is involved?
Replies: 73
Views: 4645

Re: I want to run a sightseeing cycling tour - what legality is involved?

rogerzilla wrote: 10 Feb 2024, 9:21am I bet no-one would be asking the same question for a walking tour, and walking is more dangerous.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... 11/fitness

This just shows how cycling has been demonised by the press and public.
I would have thought exactly the same question would/should be asked in relation to a walking tour, with an equivalent range of potential versions, from strolling to the pub with a couple of mates to hiking over Striding Edge with a bunch of paying strangers.
by sjs
23 Jan 2024, 7:10pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56843

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

sjs wrote: 23 Jan 2024, 7:05pm
Jdsk wrote: 23 Jan 2024, 6:19pm You're over-reading that "it's important". That doesn't mean that everything else is "not important".

If it would help try inserting "particularly" so that it reads "it's particularly important".

It's very difficult to write this sort of guidance for people with an enormous range of knowledge, literacy and numeracy. Anything that's reasonably accessible will be wide open to *nitpicking.

Jonathan

* https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/
I don't think it's nitpicking. They need one more bullet point: anyone born before 1970 (or whenever), and who will not have received any vaccinations. Or, they could modify the existing 1970 line.

Or, perhaps they think people such as us are not "particularly important", since we will probably have had some if not all of M, M and R in our youth.
Like Ian, I do not qualify for the shingles vaccines until I am 70.
Thanks Paulatic for clearing that up. We really are not very important at all!
by sjs
23 Jan 2024, 7:05pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56843

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

Jdsk wrote: 23 Jan 2024, 6:19pm You're over-reading that "it's important". That doesn't mean that everything else is "not important".

If it would help try inserting "particularly" so that it reads "it's particularly important".

It's very difficult to write this sort of guidance for people with an enormous range of knowledge, literacy and numeracy. Anything that's reasonably accessible will be wide open to *nitpicking.

Jonathan

* https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/
I don't think it's nitpicking. They need one more bullet point: anyone born before 1970 (or whenever), and who will not have received any vaccinations. Or, they could modify the existing 1970 line.

Or, perhaps they think people such as us are not "particularly important", since we will probably have had some if not all of M, M and R in our youth.
Like Ian, I do not qualify for the shingles vaccines until I am 70.
by sjs
23 Jan 2024, 1:20pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56843

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

Jdsk wrote: 23 Jan 2024, 12:53pm
Current NHS advice for England:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-vaccine/

includes:

When older children and adults should have the MMR vaccine

Anyone who has not had 2 doses of the MMR vaccine should ask their GP surgery for a vaccination appointment.

It's important to check you've had both doses if you:
• are about to start college or university
• are going to travel abroad
• are planning a pregnancy
• are a frontline health or social care worker
• were born between 1970 and 1979, as you may have only been vaccinated against measles
• were born between 1980 and 1990, as you may not be protected against mumps

Jonathan
And if you were born before 1970, and have had no kind of vaccine, against M, M or R?
by sjs
22 Jan 2024, 1:34pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Ex-Post Office CEO Paula Vennells
Replies: 553
Views: 34144

Re: Ex-Post Office CEO Paula Vennells

One of the main purposes of public inquiries is that they take a long time. Then, while they are running, we are told we must wait until the end. When they end, we (or those of us who remember there ever was an inquiry) are told that there's no need for action, because lessons have already been learnt, working practices have long ago changed, those involved have died or retired, etc etc.

I think there's a good chance that approach will not be entirely successful here.