Itâd make a change from farms though.
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Yes, this honestly seems like a terrible policy, and just not needed.
Getting rid of stamp duty would create a more liquid housing market and free up larger houses for families, but this policy totally contradicts that.
I donât even see it being that big of a vote winner.
Kemi certainly appears to be far and away the best option currently available. She has grown in confidence and has displayed at least some degree of integrity.
Meanwhile Love me Love me Andy appears intent on taxing anything with a pulse in employment, anyone with the audacity to be a business owner, all people in the south with a three bed semi, and those prudent enough to make provision for a comfortable retirement ! Zack Polanski has hit the self destruct button in spectacular style and dear Nige has shown himself to have the ethics of a mongrel on a croquet lawn, albeit he did triumph over a trash can in Clacton !
I share your hope that The Conservatives continue to get their act together in time for the next general election 
. The scars from Boris ran deep, but there are early signs of a resurgence.
Given that our friends across the pond have shown themselves to be anything but a dependable ally, the responsibility rests with all of the NATO countries to increase their defence budgets, in order to be capable of protecting their own realms. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have all made the right noises, and are largely avoiding being cowed by The Orange Monster. I believe that, in the unlikely event of a referendum, the good people of Britain would vote to rejoin The EU. It would certainly get my vote.
I guess someone has to be realistic about the challenges facing the UK, rather than, as I said earlier, the old hits of tax cuts for the wealthy funded by fantasy welfare cuts and efficiency savings.
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Perhaps giving some attention to the ever growing benefits bill might fund these requirements. I am far from wealthy, but seem to be facing a continually growing personal tax burden, at least in some part to fund people of working age, with no intention of ever working ! Having worked from the age of 16, run several medium sized businesses, which provided employment and paid taxes, at the age of 68 I find myself paying more and more tax as a reward for making provision for my retirement.
Notwithstanding that the benefits bill as a proportion of GDP has been stable for decades, the biggest element of the benefits bill by far is paid to pensioners (nigh on 50%) and itâs only going to get bigger, with an ageing population and fewer younger people in work to pay for it.
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Arenât pensions one of, if not the, largest part of the benefits bill? I assume you want to start with cutting that?
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Kemi doesnât know her arse from her elbow.
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I am confident that you are both anatomically and politically incorrect.
Indeed, I believe that the triple lock is going to be ended, so the pension element is already being looked at. Perhaps we could also look at the myriad of unemployment related benefits ?
Didnât we do this argument last week.
Is the state pension a real benefit or contribution base system that is owed
I donât really care either wayâŚ
Interesting website to see where actual non contribution benefits get spent though..
There arenât many, just Jobseekers Allowance at ÂŁ95 a week for 6 months max and Universal Credit.
As you said to me the other day, it wonât be an unbiased opinion. The TPA is a right wing think tank.
Fwiw, the state pension might be contribution based but this yearâs contributions pay this yearâs pensions.
And perhaps a number of very questionable long term disability claimants.
Iâm not qualified to say. While no doubt such people exist, Iâd be interested in seeing an analysis of the effects of improved healthcare leading to more people living with disabilities that would previously have killed them and how much is a result in the increasing recognition of the debilitating effects of mental health issues
So similar to new style Jobseekers Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance, which are both contribution based.
Yes, I agree, itâs just a shame governments are so bad with money.
The average personal NI contributions would be a pension pot of 900k, if it had been invested in the S&P 500
I am definitely not an expert on benefits.
Can somebody who has worked claim more than somebody who has never worked?
Are the contributions relative to what you get?
Which benefit are you talking about? The information will be on the DWP website.
Itâs true that Kemi is more or less an empty vessel, blessed with superhuman levels of overconfidence.
But any administration we are likely to have are basically an accountancy operation.
The powerbrokers are the bankers/brokers/gnomes of Zurich or whatever you want to call them, and the political insiders who work with them.
Worth listening to is a podcast with Varoufakis/Aditya Chakrabortty on The Guardian. His story of his meeting with Larry Summers and the âare you with us, or are you going to be an ineffectual outsiderâ message is telling.
Varoufakis himself reiterates his own version of our economies, and its problems of capital being drawn to asset inflation for big profits while manufacturing chez nous can only make around 2%, and that nothing will change while this goes on.
His proposal is to bring the BoE (who act in their own interests) to heel, and force them to invest in a national investment bank, instead of spending, for example, billions on buying back bonds after their QE scheme.
He says Burnham will be reeled in soon enough, like all the others.
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