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by Carlton green
27 Mar 2024, 9:29pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "
Replies: 24
Views: 1231

Re: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "

Nearholmer wrote: 27 Mar 2024, 6:37pm The thing is, that article doesn’t purport to be news. It says “opinion” in clear red lettering at the very top. Whatever complaints can fairly be levelled at the Guardian, deliberately, or even neglectfully, blurring news with opinion isn’t one of them.
Fair point, yet the article is in a news paper.
by Carlton green
27 Mar 2024, 6:07pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "
Replies: 24
Views: 1231

Re: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "

cycle tramp wrote: 27 Mar 2024, 9:12am The confusion lies when a person's point of view is dressed as a news item. Some are easier to spot than others.
Interestingly enough that could apply quite well to the original article …

It seems that all of the news media is to a greater or lesser extent biased and a source of partial information.
by Carlton green
26 Mar 2024, 5:48pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "
Replies: 24
Views: 1231

Re: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "

axel_knutt wrote: 26 Mar 2024, 4:55pm
Jdsk wrote: 25 Mar 2024, 9:12pm "Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around":
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... get-around

Jonathan
It's not about cyclists, it's motorists. Here's how they react when they're held up by road works. I recall a similar article about tractor drivers not so long ago.
As ever, and in all activities, including cycling, there’s a small percentage of: nutters; misguided; and desperate people. Such folk shouldn’t be labelled as motorists, well certainly not regarded in anyways as representative of motorists, but as part of some dysfunctional group.
by Carlton green
26 Mar 2024, 4:01pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "
Replies: 24
Views: 1231

Re: "Why is the right at war with cyclists?... "

Nearholmer wrote: 26 Mar 2024, 8:12am A. Twiddler has hit the nail bang on the head, and if you think that the othering and hate that we see on the surface now in the UK is bad, just dip down into bottom half of the internet, and look at what flows out of a combination of the US far right, and European (including Russian and formerly Ukrainian) movements that are effectively nazi-revivalists.

There is some genuinely, deeply disturbing/chilling stuff out there. I saw something yesterday which advocated burning transgender people in ovens, and it was attracting comment after comment in support, for instance.

There is organisation and money behind a lot of this stuff too, state actors using it for destabilisation purposes, commercially motivated big business using it as a tool in the pushback against legislation aimed at tackling climate change etc, as well as rich loonies doing it out of twisted ideology. Then there is Musk, running an on-line publishing house for this stuff in the name of free speech.

So, a large slice of the current government decided that the best way to engage with it all is not to challenge it head-on, but to become fellow-travellers, in the deluded belief that they will benefit from it at the ballot box. In so doing, they’ve invited the devil into our collective parlour. At the moment, only professional spooks, and strangely enough Michael Gove, seem to get how dangerous it is.

As cyclists, we simply find ourselves in the crosshairs in a small way.

Where this all goes, I don’t know, but I see no organised opposition to it, either from “the guardians of democracy and peace” that we elect, or at the sort of “street fighting” level that I recall from the 1970s and early 1980s when the enemy was the NF, which in retrospect looks like a baby outfit compared with the forces of darkness at play now.
Yep, that’s the bigger picture - or certainly part of it. We should all be very concerned but, being stupid, we’re not. The Ministry of Defence is majorly out of date and we with it if we don’t understand that our country is under hidden attack.

Gove, he’s not liked and of limited ability, but he’s still worth (critically) listening to. Even folk we don’t like sometimes say useful things.
by Carlton green
24 Mar 2024, 8:35pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: War on Our Doorstep: How do we respond?
Replies: 1875
Views: 83018

Re: War on Our Doorstep: How do we respond?

UpWrong wrote: 24 Mar 2024, 7:57pm So the US warns the Kremlin of an imminent Islamist attack on a public gathering such as a theatre, and the Kremlin tells them to stop interfering. Islamist terror attack happens, Putin is silent for 24 hrs and then points the finger at the Ukranians. The man is despicable and pathetic.

The more interviews I hear with Russian defectors the more I hear them say the only way to deal with Putin is tell him that if he wants war then that is what he'll get. We need to stop backing off.
What goes through Putin’s mind is anyone’s guess and I think that few people have any idea of his aims and tactics. One thing for sure is that he and his advisors are not to be underestimated and we almost certainly are doing just that.

I read that a missile from Russia to Ukraine went via Polish air space. That didn’t happen by accident and there are several messages in that action …
About 20 Russian missiles and seven drones targeted "critical infrastructure" in the western region of Lviv. No damage has been reported.
One of the cruise missiles entered the airspace of neighbouring Poland, a Nato member, the armed forces announced.
"The object entered Polish space near the town of Oserdow and stayed there for 39 seconds. During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems," the armed forces said in a statement.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68648815
by Carlton green
24 Mar 2024, 4:09pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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

pete75 wrote: 24 Mar 2024, 11:00am
Carlton green wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 3:26pm
pete75 wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 1:54pm

I have indeed heard of it, and know that it theorises that when the tax rate goes beyond a certain rate tax revenues fall.
Whether it is relevant or not I do not know but:
# I know people for who the taper off of family benefit at (what was until recently) £50k was a disincentive to try to earn more.
# I know people for who the removal of personal allowances at - I think - £100k is a large disincentive to try to earn more, they just go part time and particularly so if their partner is on good money or they’re not going to earn much above £100k.
Personal tax allowance is tapered at losing £1 of allowance for every £2 earned over £100,000. In other words a £10,000 a year pay rise from £100,000 will still leave you £4,000 a year better off.
One person I know well earns over £100k, indeed she often gets a tax bill over that amount. It doesn't put her off increasing the profitability of her practice. She says the government takes a lot of tax from her but public services have to paid for, and she's still left with more than enough to get by on.
I think you miss the point that I try to make about the fiscal hurdles and disincentives that withdrawal of allowances put in the way of those who earn just enough to be punished by them. I wonder - but can’t be bothered to work out - how much someone who has a £100k tax bill earns, maybe it’s upwards of £250k. That’s a figure that would, after tax, be a rather nice take home, an enviable amount that one could live quite comfortably on … and at that income level the loss of personal allowances would be relatively insignificant.
by Carlton green
24 Mar 2024, 3:56pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Pictures of your bike(s)
Replies: 1924
Views: 583826

Re: Pictures of your bike(s)

rjb wrote: 4 Nov 2023, 7:27pm
Carlton green wrote: 4 Nov 2023, 6:25pm
rjb wrote: 4 Nov 2023, 3:31pm Tarted up a bit into a speed machine.
Yes, looking rather sporty and it’ll doubtless fly along. Interesting about the brakes.
I had to revert back to the weinmann caliper as the dual pivot needed more cable pull than the weinmann drop bar levers pulled. But pleasantly surprised how good they are now. :D haven't tried them in the wet, but it is only a dry weather bike. :wink:
By happy chance I was prompted by your post and earlier thoughts of small wheel bikes with rear brakes that have compromised cable runs. I started a thread on that topic which led me to stainless steel die drawn (and hence quite smooth) inner cables. I changed the rear cable on my Mixte to die drawn stainless steel and the rear brake is now (improved to be) pretty much as good as the front … others might achieve similarly helpful results…

Of course single pivot side pull brakes aren’t the best, so every improvement you can get is useful and can be used. I’m certainly very pleased by the improvement gained by using (smoothed and near frictionless) die drawn cables 🙂.
by Carlton green
23 Mar 2024, 2:13pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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
Tax rates and bands can also be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... t-and-past
Obviously Scotland has a slightly different set of rates and we might learn from their experience - includes avoiding as well as copying.

I’m in favour of returning personal allowances to high earners, the current situation is not equitable to folk who earn a little more than £100k, as in my post up-thread.

More tax bands are needed, at say the £50k (40%), £100k (45%), £150k (50%) and £200k (60%) marks. A tax rate of 60% on income above £200k seems not unreasonable to me - payback into the society whose existence allows both such high salaries to be earned and income to be safely spent. Arguably an even higher rate would be reasonable for those captains of industry and commerce ‘earning’ in excess of £500k per year.

That some people will choose to go elsewhere is inevitable, but I do wonder whether we’d be better off without them and whether their absence would leave space for folk focussed on building a better society for them to live in rather than amassing massive personal wealth.
by Carlton green
22 Mar 2024, 11:43pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Is this terminal?
Replies: 50
Views: 2500

Re: Is this terminal?

531colin wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 6:57pm
Carlton green wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 6:14pm ……. I think that folk who give advice for either their own ends or to cover their backside should be sued, but it ain’t going to happen.
I’m going to paraphrase what I think you mean……..
“ On an occasion where a customer presents a piece of equipment which may or may not be damaged to an extent which threatens the customer’s safety, if a trader recommends the equipment should be scrapped in order to sell them a new one, or in order that the trader cannot be held responsible in the case of failure and subsequent injury to the customer, the trader should be sued. “

Is that what you mean?
Would you prefer the trader to say that everything will be fine, even in situations where they can’t possibly know that?
That’s only partially correct, sorry if you misunderstood.
# I would prefer the trader to be, to the limit of their knowledge, perfectly honest in their judgement and in their ability to judge.
# When a dealer doesn’t know whether an item is unsafe or not then he should say so.
# When a trader says that something is dangerous then he should do so in honesty and use expertise to validate that judgement.
# Some traders will choose to give customers false or misleading information in order to make another sale, not all but certainly some and I’ve met too many of the some. That’s fraud and such dealers give others a bad name and should be dragged before the courts … but it won’t happen.

I hope that that clarifies things for you.

It would have been helpful if you had include my full text and what Mike Sales had written too.
by Carlton green
22 Mar 2024, 6:14pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Is this terminal?
Replies: 50
Views: 2500

Re: Is this terminal?

Mike Sales wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 1:39pm If a shop condemns a frame they have lost nothing, and may well gain a sale.
If they okay a frame they are laying themselves open to expensive problems.
Which way would you decide to advise?
^^ This is how it works and in a lot more places than bike shops too. Sometimes the advice that you get is worth less than you paid for it, can unnecessarily cost you money, and is as likely as anything else to mislead you. I think that folk who give advice for either their own ends or to cover their backside should be sued, but it ain’t going to happen.
by Carlton green
22 Mar 2024, 3:26pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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

pete75 wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 1:54pm
853 wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 1:06pm
Nearholmer wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 9:48am Personally, I’m in favour of progressive income tax (higher rates for higher bands of income), but would rather see that done overtly than by the semi-covert erosion of allowances, even if the net result is the same.
Presumably you haven't heard of the Laffer curve, which states that when the tax rate goes beyond a certain rate tax revenues fall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
I have indeed heard of it, and know that it theorises that when the tax rate goes beyond a certain rate tax revenues fall.
Whether it is relevant or not I do not know but:
# I know people for who the taper off of family benefit at (what was until recently) £50k was a disincentive to try to earn more.
# I know people for who the removal of personal allowances at - I think - £100k is a large disincentive to try to earn more, they just go part time and particularly so if their partner is on good money or they’re not going to earn much above £100k.
by Carlton green
22 Mar 2024, 8:57am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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

al_yrpal wrote: 22 Mar 2024, 8:48am From the Telegraph.....
Stealth tax on £100,000 earners nets Treasury an extra £4.7bn
Erosion of personal allowance traps 1.35 million workers in 60pc band

Charlotte Gifford,
SENIOR MONEY REPORTER
22 March 2024 • 6:00am
Higher earners paid an extra £4.7bn to the Treasury last year because of a 60pc tax trap.

Today 1.35 million workers are impacted by the personal allowance taper – more than double the number when the policy was first introduced by the late Alistair Darling in 2010.

Under the rules brought in by the former Chancellor, those with an income over £100,000 lose the allowance at £1 for every £2 earned above the threshold.

The erosion of the allowance results in an effective income tax rate of 60pc.
It might not be acceptable to have sympathy with £100k earners but I’ve always considered the removal of personal allowances to be unjust and divisive. What would be better and more just is to introduce higher rate tax bands at say £100k and £150k, etc.

Darling did bring that measure in, IMHO it was misguided then and governments since have had well over a decade to correct matters (by restoring personal allowances to all and adding higher rate tax bands as appropriate).
by Carlton green
21 Mar 2024, 6:24pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: BEVs
Replies: 2135
Views: 109839

Re: BEVs

Biospace wrote: 21 Mar 2024, 6:01pm
UpWrong wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 10:37pm ...
Those with a £5K budget won't be looking at electric for some while to come.
Sorry to pick you up on just one point, but there were loads of Leafs being offered around £5k in 2018 by NIssan dealers and there are plenty under £5k today. Public perceptions hadn't been adjusted sufficiently in 2018, there was a good supply of second hand cars which were returned from the various forms of contract hire or leasing or whatever it's called. Many were like new, I very nearly bought one.

Here is a selection which sold recently, https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... Complete=1
H’mm, can’t argue with that eBay listing of sold goods but I’m not sure that I’d buy an electric car off of eBay.

The small battery (24Kwh) Leafs are the earlier ones and even if the batteries are in really good condition - which I think unlikely - they have limited range which constrains what they might be used for. A pal of mine has one and it’s really only any use for short journeys near to home … a lot of folk would find them impractical and hence the prices. If battery replacement and enhancement was available for sensible money then they’d sell much better (IMHO).

I checked on Cazoo what Leafs were available under £10k and a Gen 1 with a 30 KWh battery is about £7.5k, there was nothing for £5k.
https://www.cazoo.co.uk/cars/nissan/lea ... price-desc
Other sellers started at similarly heigh prices: https://www.bristolstreet.co.uk/used-ca ... lsrc=aw.ds
by Carlton green
21 Mar 2024, 4:34pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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

reohn2 wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 6:31pm Baroness Jones on the state of the nation and what's caused it in a 4.53minute nutshell:- https://youtu.be/AQx-jWkmWsU?si=tzypsQeMGNjZ7mtM
Sorry for the YT link, but she's spot on!
I listened to her and can’t honestly dispute the events that she recalls and the comments that she made. True she didn’t, in that video, say what the Green Party would do but at the end of the video she did express a desire to report on what the Green Party would like to do in a budget. I also liked the idea of not fining companies but instead taking their shares away from them, and on having a wealth tax for the super rich … so some suggestions were made. Did her comments really address the particular budget ? I can’t say that they did so her comments, whilst factual, do come across to me as a bit of a general complaint.

Personally I think that privatisation of public services hasn’t worked for the population and the lot should be renationalised, as not for profit companies, with a strict policy of politicians being excluded from their management.


Given that the tittle of the thread is ‘just how long will it take to turn the ship around’ a listing of the larger structural problems seems not unreasonable. I note that poorly drafted and considered government contracts that have the tax payer shelling out to fat cats came in for criticism, and justly so. Part of proposing change is identifying what’s currently wrong.
by Carlton green
19 Mar 2024, 2:07pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Just how long will it take to turn this ship around?
Replies: 103
Views: 2925

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

Stradageek wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 12:41pm
The unconstrained capitalism that controls both the US and the UK is the source of the problem. There is plenty of money around but in all the wrong places. To quote just one US example. The ex-CEO of Moderna was awarded a golden parachute of $926M to go away and do nothing whilst paramedics saving lives every day get a pitiful wage.

Allowing profit or the 'invisible hand' to control everything in our lives is about as sensible as allowing the Catholic Church to run the world - and look where that got us.
Unconstrained capitalism is indeed the root of much evil.

The Roman Catholic Church … I’m not of that faith but let’s just say that not everyone in the clergy is actually a practicing Christian and that some of those that are have doubtful interpretations of the teachings within The Bible. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone … many Priests drop stones - as do other folk in other faiths.

I looked up the CEO of Moderna but couldn’t find the golden parachute part - though I don’t doubt that it’s true. What is outrageous is the enormous wages that some of these folk get … and they won’t be paying much tax on them either.

Moderna CEO
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... got-raise/