Sandro Raniere

A tourist can reclaim the VAT that is spent in the UK In places like Harrods/Marks and Spencer Marble Arch/airports etc tourists can reclaim VAT

There is no proof that the wealthy don't spend heavily, I am sure a good chunk of their wealth is kept in bank accounts or invested on the stock exchange but in terms of funds coming into the exchequer via the retail sector i would be shocked if the majority of it is not from the wealthy Take a typical poor guy - Sky subscription, packet of fags a day, 3 pints of beer a day and £20 bets a week - Sky (£50 a month) fags (£150 a month) beer (£300'a month) bets (£80 a month) - That is £600 a month - £7k a year (£1400 VAT a year) It would take 100 typical poor guys a year to contribute what my directors contributed in VAT buying boats/car So the spending power of a rich guy is far more important to the economic well being of the country than the spending power of the poor

They probably do, how much i would never dare ask of course But assuming both boats were about 250k each and the aston about 150k thats £650k in 3 purchases and £130k to the exchequer in VAT to help bring down the debt It would take decades for the poor guy to contribute that much to the exchequer

I have always maintained as has AVB and Levy that the target for this season is 4th, i remain confident of getting it :)

Dunno The directors of the company i work for seem to have gone on a spending spree lately 2 bought boats at the Southampton Boat Show, one has an Aston Martin with the latest plates on (he used to drive a Merc)

A rich person contributes far more to the exchequer by way of VAT than a poor person, you should be in favour of VAT Plus its impossible to evade VAT (as a consumer not a trader) Maybe income tax should be scrapped altogether and VAT rise to 40% or something ;)

Last year Arsenal beat us 5-1, so the fact this season the game was a lot closer is a sign of progress ;)

My post was about people who were paying 50% tax and then got awarded 5p cut, which the tories wanted to make 10p but Lib Dems vetoed ALL taxation is far too high in this country But i do feel that it is a necessary priority taxation wise to cut the top rate not just from 45p to 40p but beyond that, giving the wealthy and wealth creators more money should feed its way back into the High St with increased spending Giving a poor guy an extra £20 a week in his pocket is very noble and a worthwhile aim but he wont spend as much in the shops as someone with an extra £1000 a week in his pocket

Hull played a 5 man defence v us, first half Everton played 10 men behind the ball as we totally gave them a football lesson

That would be car crash tv, she would shout and scream her way through what is a subtle song with quite a big ending, unless she is going to do the Muse version

This too Smaller teams particularly, park the bus against us That sort of situation is extremely hard to break down, not easy to score when the opposition are playing 5 defenders and 4 DM's

What i said goes further than Ed is going Is he making it mandatory for the likes of Tesco and Amazon? no, they will presumably be subject to the same tax breaks the hairdresser or butcher's shop in the high street will be, whereas I would make it mandatory for companies with a turnover of say £10m a year to pay the living wage, Ed is not And what would these tax breaks Ed has in mind be? how much and what type of tax? would an employer really be financially better off by bringing in living wage or would it just be the equivalent of a state subsidy?

I DON'T disagree with Labour's proposal, but I agree with what Danny said several posts back

I think the Living Wage should apply only to companies with x amount of turnover and above, the Tesco/Amazon/Next/Sainsburys of this world and be voluntary to other companies, but if that is what labour are going to do then it would not be a vote winner as the majority of people in the UK are employed by small businesses

True but people feel richer and will loosen the purse strings in anticipation of a hefty tax cut If i was going to pay 10% less tax in x year onwards i would buy that new car and fancy tv even before the tax cut came in as it would give me confidence

Energy Prices - Noble idea but announced long before it should have been, now energy companies will shaft the consumers even more between now and 2015 to compensate for the lost revenue, it should have been announced when campaigning for 2015 began so the energy companies didn't have time to steal more money Living Wage - Not applying to all companies, full of PR and spin when the reality is not every company will have to pay it

The Lib Dems have held back the recovery We wanted to cut the tax rate from 50% to 40% and slash corporation tax by a further 5p in the £ than we have done but the Lib Dems kicked off about both, claiming it was 'unfair' when infact businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of this country Were we allowed our full conservative agenda re tax, the recovery would have started earlier and be even quicker

Certainly there are no racist overtones in the term, not from me anyways I use the term to describe anyone of a huge physical presence, admittedly most of those with huge physical presence seem to be dark skinned but that is a side issue Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I describe Pete Van Der Veen, Lady Gaga's chief bodyguard, as a 'beast' in conversations, he is white, his 6ft 8 height and hugely muscular frame qualify him for the term Plus Sandro's self styled nickname is 'The beast', he uses it regularly on Twitter, You Tube and Instagram

Tamera is full of self belief, and 'attitude' , and is also incredibly pretty, and that is not endearing to a voting audience of largely teen and pre teen girls, many if not most of whom are probably quite insecure Tamera will likely not win but will have the biggest career

Or that awful Abi or the screech shouty Hannah How Abi has got this far god only knows, her mum must have a £1000 phone bill by now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24799507 ;)

Drogba was considered a dud by Chelsea fans half way through his first season, I remember Bergkamp getting stick off the media and gooners but look what they became, look at Eto'o too, looks like a championship player atm, Dzeko took a full season to settle Few foreign strikers make an immediate impact, only ones i can think of in recent years have been Cisse of Newcastle (who has been a joke ever since that half season), Demba Ba, Lukaku, Benteke, Suarez, Aguero Lamela has not had enough games to tell whether he will make it, Eriksen similarly as Siggy has had a great season so far AVB for me is the best manager there has been at the club since i started supporting Spurs in 1980 (reasons below) All the time i have been supporting Spurs we have had 2 massive weaknesses - defence and our winning mentality/mental strength AVB has worked miracles with our defence, has turned our 3 decades achilles heel into probably the best defence in the premiership, we are like fort knox these days and that is due to AVB He has also toughened our midfield, we have some absolute beasts in midfield now - Capoue, Sandro, Paulinho and Dembele, our heads dont drop when we go a goal down like happened under Harry, Jol and a whole succession of managers before them, we are scoring goals at the end of games and in injury time which is near enough unheard of in my time as a Spurs fan Goals are the final piece of the jigsaw, they will come, either through Soldado or someone else we buy but it is easier to win games when the score is 0-0 than in the past when we would be 2-0 down

Exactly, as with the energy price freeze labour are all fur coat and no knickers On the outside things sound good ideas but when you delve deep and scratch below the surface the flaws and confusion are there for everyone to see

Plus we are not title contenders, the project is too early for that, our target and aim has been and is 4th place this season.

Our striker is getting used to a new league, a much faster league than he has spent his entire career in, takes time to adjust Drogba, Bergkamp etc took half a season before they showed any real form, Henry too, and those 3 became 3 of the best players the premiership has ever seen We also have plenty of money to spend should we need to, Levy has told AVB he has £50m to spend in Jan if he wants