Sandro Raniere

Even though she is a bit of a cynical opportunist I think Rachel Reeves would be a good appointment, she has started to say the right things on welfare and puts up a good fight in debates, she is one of the few bright lights in the stinking cesspit of the shadow cabinet

The trend is downwards as more and more people feel the economic recovery around them and in their wallets, so with the rate of growth it is inevitable that we will take the lead soon, and that we will keep that lead, with no bad economic news expected this side of May 2015

You are assuming they were all earning over £150k a year, the typical traders/brokers earn around £90k basic Plus the ones that do earn over £150k a year know every trick in the book. My best mate works in the city and they are well known for paying people gifts of fine art, vintage wines, vintage cars etc as non taxable items offset against their salary so that their tax liability is reduced, they then sell the vintage car or the cellar of vintage wines for cash etc So someone on £250k a year would get £130k basic and the rest in art, vintage car, vintage wine etc

But it still won't bring in much if any extra money, at best it is revenue neutral or not far off and certainly not the money spinner it is made out to be If there was measures bought in to prevent Google/Amazon/Starbucks etc avoiding paying tax by closing loopholes then i would support it wholeheartedly, and that would bring in a lot more money than raising top rate to 50p

The economy is way better now than it was under Brown yet why the growth in the number of foodbank users? it is because there were no foodbanks hardly under labour, if there was then equal number of people would be using them, probably more, people don't need foodbanks if they budget wisely and make more of their own food and don't have Sky and don't smoke etc

Plus the rate was 40% all the way through the last labour regime, until days before the 2010 general election, if it was good enough to be 40% then under Blair and Brown why is it not good enough to be 40% now? Labour bought it in in 2010 because they knew that they were going to lose the general election so they set a trap for the tories to show that by cutting it they only care about millionaires etc, it was pure party politics and nothing more as opposed to any economic importance. Labour are playing gesture politics again now by saying they will put it up to 50p, they are playing with peoples jobs just to try and prove a point that tories only care about the rich

At a time where a consumer lead recovery is what is driving this country forward i cant see the benefits in taking money away from the consumers with the deepest pockets, many of whom will up sticks and leave the UK like has happened in France Best way to get the deficit down is through curbing welfare and through job creation, jobs will be lost if the rich leave the UK

Its not just big business though, its about small to medium sized businesses that were started from scratch and are profitable, its about freelance IT contractors, surgeons, private practice dentists, over 300,000 people in UK pay top rate, there are about 1000 businesses that can be considered 'big business' so a lot of self made entrepreneurs and medical professionals will be punished so that the CEO of Starbucks pays more etc

On the surface it would appeal to hard pressed families as a nice headline grabbing gimmick, if there was a poll for the abolition of unemployment benefits 60%+ would probably say yes, but like with scrapping unemployment benefits once you scratch beneath the surface and look at the consequences and after effects it suddenly loses its appeal Scrap unemployment benefits crime would soar, the people who would love it to happen after seeing an episode of 'Benefits Street' would soon change their mind when their house is burgled or a knife is put at their throat outside a cashpoint Similarly put top rate tax up to 50p many of the 60% who say yes will change their mind when their boss closes down the business that employs them and moves to a country with lower taxes leaving them with no job, or if they need heart surgery and the best heart surgeons have left the country Raising the rate to 50p is an empty gesture that will bring in no extra money and instead would lead to a brain drain, look at France, will the last wealthy Frenchman to leave please turn out the lights

Very good and very truthful article about this daft 50p plan http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/l...tax-pledge.html They are right, we would become the new France

Labour's chances of winning the next election over you mean Raising the tax back to 50p is nothing more than spiteful politics of envy Raising tax will result in less wealthy people from abroad settling here, more wealthy professionals and surgeons leaving the country, less incentive for people to set up a business, and more tax avoidance, all to show benefit claimants that labour is on their side The top tax rate should be CUT for high earners not increased People have called the tories the 'nasty party', punishing high achievers and entrepreneurs is the sign of the real nasty party

Because it is a myth trotted out by the left, to try and demean what is a great achievement by this government, to have unemployment falling at a rate of knots 8 out of 10 new jobs are full time permanent jobs, of course some jobs have zero hours contracts and undoubtedly some have 'terrible pay', but the majority of jobs being created are full time jobs I don't know what has happened in the last week or so, so there could be some news I have missed out on, Daily Mail website is unbearably slow, and English papers too expensive to justify out here so am out of the loop

Comments pages are not a reliable indicator, left wing social networkers and bloggers can put a link up on Twitter or Facebook and tell their followers to comment/vote etc and all of a sudden left wing views crowd out the right wing views I don't think left wing views are representative of DM readers as a whole so if they are topping the comments I suspect that it is due to promotion on social networks

I am in Thailand atm, am very out of the loop in terms of goings on in the UK, plus vacation time is all about switching off so I have been forgetting about work and about politics etc, I return Wednesday so rest assured normal service will resume ;)

Private matter for him and his family Should be judged on the job he is doing not who he is shoving his dick into

But the people who feel that way about them will have already made up their mind not to vote for them. The nasty party stuff whether true or not preaches to the converted The election will be decided by floating voters, the economy and state of those floating voters finances will be by far the biggest factor

The next election won't be that though, Ed will undoubtedly in the tv debates make some soundbite about bedroom tax but i very much doubt it will be a vote changing matter, can't see it making the top 10 issues at the next election, as for the last bit again i don't think people will be bothered too much as long as they see progress and all the key indicators like GDP/jobs/first time buyers/car sales/retail sales etc suggest there is plenty of progress being made

It was in the FT and Times, both are subscription only online so its impossible But the articles (in the physical paper) said that consumer confidence had trebled compared with the last year in terms of households optimistic about their finances

No one cares about the bedroom tax though unless they are directly affected by it, those people vote labour anyways The recovery is getting stronger by the day, consumer confidence is gaining a head of steam, number of new jobs is going through the roof NHS privatisation is a myth, sure some private companies are involved in things like IT etc but i have never had to pay for NHS treatment, i had an appointment with a orthapaedic guy only yesterday, never asked for my card numbers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-25...e-finances.html More bad news for Red Ed, despite the disreputable source it is also in other papers too His only card left to play is 'cost of living' and that is going to improve a lot in 2014 As things stand atm David Cameron has a royal flush in his hand and Ed a pair of sevens

Deal Enjoy your name change in May 2015 :teresa:

Thought of her but she went straight in as a GM i thought :unsure: Jade has serious lounge mod potential ngl

As everyone knows, Ariel Sharon passed away today He was involved in some pretty unsavoury activities such as complicity in the massacre in Lebanon, but at the same time he tore down Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory as PM and made great efforts in the peace process and formed his own peace committed party after resigning from Likud So how will you judge him?

It is time there was a female lounge mod The board has been going for 7 years and not a single female has ever served as a lounge mod

We have ringfenced the NHS, it is one of the few departments that has barely seen a cut in real terms The EU we want to stay in the EU but with radical reform of our relationship to it