https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67674987

What a shock, those gorgeous little boys. Abandonment and manslaughter

Anyone who has a Nectar card will know that from time to time at the Sainsburys checkout you will get a printed voucher offering extra points if you buy the product advertised. Also about 50% of the time the advertised product is not on sale in the shop. At least that's the case in Orpington.
Up to now, if its not been in the Orpington shop, I have always found it in the larger Locksbottom shop. But now I have a voucher for something they don't sell in either Orpington or Locksbottom.
The voucher is for 200 nectar points if I buy 180g pack of Arla Bob mature cheddar cheese.
So the search is on. Tomorrow I'm going to my next nearest Sainsbury's in Chislehurst. I have an Oyster card so there is no travelling cost.

Will they act soon or say when it happens “we will learn from our mistakes” !!!!




https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67654008

After he soaks homeless man’s sleeping bag

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67674981

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67666072

Have just seen a post on Nextdoor about the cost of visiting some Santa's Grottos locally.
£30 at Ruxley Manor , £40 at Bewl Water were quoted. So I decided to google where was the most expensive. Depending how you view it,
Harrods grotto is only £20, but only after you have spent £2,000 in store.
Hamleys grotto is in The Ritz hotel. Entry is £250 or a family of 3. Extra children can be added for £75.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67656220.amp

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-johnson-grimsby-town-hat-b2461256.html

One of my many grandchildren has recently told me that people have to be careful what colours they wear together as it can give an impression of their gender/sexuality dependent on the flags of those choices/lifestyles

Pink, blue and white - Trans !!

Did everyone else know this . Am I so behind the times?

https://outrightinternational.org/insights/flags-lgbtiq-community

Went to the Post Office today to send a calendar to a friend in the USA. Postage cost more than the calendar. I was using the self service machine and the screen said to fill in a Customs Declaration Form. There were none there and no staff except for one person at the counter with a queue of at least 10 customers. I waited around for some time, but in the end I just posted the calendar without the CDF.
Will this make any difference to how soon it reaches it's destination?

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/650300

While enjoying a quiet pub lunch I overheard a loud and vociferous chap telling his friends, and the whole bar, how he would solve all of the cash strapped UK’s problems. When asked how he would fund these solutions, he came out with the old chestnut of upping the top band of PAYE and soaking the super- rich. The man was obviously a left wing fool but he did trigger a thought as to whether it
is possible to compile a simple set of figures that would evaluate the possible effect and practicality of this argument.
A little research and some fun with a calculator produced the following results, look them over and let me have your thoughts.
PROPOSITION.
That the upper taxation band should be raised to increase taxation revenues.
THE LOGIC
The proposition assumes that extra taxation of the super-rich will fund the shortfall
In the NHS, Social Care, Education and Welfare etc. etc.
THE CONSEQUENCIES.
The most obvious is that this action would incentivise the top payees to move their assets to more tax friendly locations depriving HMRC of revenue. This has shown to be the case both here and in France.
The proposition is a double edged sword since the proposed increase would provide a fund to pay the costs of any financial re-arrangement. Why give money to HMRC when you can use it to lower your tax burden, once done the future savings are all profit.
METHODOLOGY.
What I wish to achieve is to find some way of putting into context the possible/probable effects of the proposition using simple arithmetic that an O level student is capable of. To do this I have considered two groups, the top 10 tax payers and then the top 100 payers.
For the top 10 I have considered what the consequences would be if they, or their equivalent, were to move their funds to another location (tax haven).
For the top 100 tax payers, I have examined what the revenue gains would be for every 5% rise in tax rates and whether, in national terms, they are likely to be significant.
RESULTS.
1) The Top Ten Payers
In the year 2021/2 the ten top payers paid a total of £2333.3million in tax, and in 2020 the average wage in England was £39,452 which would incur a tax liability for a single person of £5,376. Now if the ten, or their equivalent, were to move their money elsewhere, it would require the creation of 434,022 new jobs, all at average salary levels to replace that loss, JUST TO STAND STILL.
Further the lowest of the ten paid £103,874,860 at the 45% rate so if the top rate is raised by 5% they would pay an additional £115,417, a very useful pot to pay for re-arranging your affairs.
2) The Top 100 Payers.
In the year 2021/2 the 100 top tax payers paid a total of £5.181billion or 0.6% of the total tax revenue. This means that after correction for the lower tax bands they paid £5,176,748,400’s at the 45% rate.
If we now up the top tax rate by 5% this would generate additional revenue of £575,184,270 and so on for every 5% rise.
CONCLUSION.
Remember that these examples only consider the top 100 payees, as we move further down the list the returns are diminished.
So lose the top ten, or their equivalent and you need almost half a million new jobs to replace that revenue.
For the top100 every 5% hike only raises £575.2million hardly a sum that will even scratch the surface of the sums needed, and the more you raise it the more likely you are to drive the top payers away.
The only conclusion that one could draw from this exercise is that to think you can significantly solve any cash deficits by over taxing the Super Rich is a fallacy most likely to be counterproductive.

Doesn’t seem like justice

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/08/six-teenagers-convicted-france-samuel-paty-teacher-beheading-2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-67654360

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67662158

Listen to the accent guy

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGe8kNJ5o/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12839273/amp/Hugh-Grant-wife-Anna-donate-20-000-Britains-kindest-plumber-says-generous-Christmas-gift-wonderful.html?ico=amp_articleRelated_with_images

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12839509/amp/Elf-safety-21-million-Brits-injure-preparing-Christmas-research-suggests.html

Have you had an accident at Christmas?

Just posting this as some of us (including me) may feel as if we've been trudging about in winter weather a bit too much. The owners of these shoes really would have done a lot of trudging, probably all their lives. https://www.instagram.com/p/C0f0BpLuC84/ It's such a beautiful and apparently simple painting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67622511

https://news.sky.com/story/tourists-flip-venice-gondola-after-refusing-to-stop-taking-selfies-13024789

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-67601775

Have you ever walked into someone after many years? Did you recognise them immediately?

Probably best not to

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/slapping-therapy-manslaughter-hongchi-xiao-b2456736.html?utm_term=pos2&utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=embed1

Just been watching live on TNT Sports. Limited overs cricket match between New York Strikers and Delhi Bulls in the Abu Dhabi T10 league. Both teams have international players from many countries, so they are not amateur sides.
Delhi Bulls have finished with a score of 31 All Out. The lowest score ever in the competions history. At one stage they were 16 for 8!

Scotland women play against England women tonight in the Nations league. England have to win to finish top of the group. Which they have to do in order that a Great Britain team goes to the Paris Olympics.
But the irony is that some of Scotlands players would be in the Great Britain team, so it would be to their personal advantage to let England win.
Scotland are bottom of the group so if they win it helps neither country.
So nothing less than about a 3-0 win is need to silence the conspiricy theorists.

Continue from disgusting disrespect thread that is not running properly due to length

Please continue on the new -diverted subject
With updates as news comes in

Is anyone else watching 'The Couple next door' on Channel 4?
I read the book with the same title and it surely wasn't anything like
that!! 😌😌😃

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/02/philippines-hit-by-earthquake-tsunami-say-experts

just found a great way to defrost my car. I put a warm wheat bag on the dashboard ,after I had unfrozen the locks and 10 minutes later clear car windows. What do other people do?

First day of Advent?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-67545415

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/athlete-centre-stop-search-scandal-170923831.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABEW5G6uSO3Df00Z5q3b22s_swiY4UAXQrlu5vK1uc6D3ZnMlw1495n6ag-4Vi0mCdWpDRRYDHVFiHiN_ReR5M2eDTrn23d13-VhZ4nxdeuYQ8lKH411rd16eeRAfEnXGZdaGYo2QNxhLE0aP_Q4JJu6f1APf3Fo1_XeAzOrcpQK

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67607031

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/06/bank-branch-closures-lloyds-bank-of-scotland-halifax/

Homeless man found dead in his car people say isn’t that awful just near Christmas but they knew he was sleeping out there and didn’t offer any help

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/homeless-man-freezes-nottingham-b2457625.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/25/derek-chauvin-convicted-of-george-floyds-reported-to-have-been-stabbed-in-prison

Temu United Kingdom to make purchases. The goods / clothes look good & the reviews are in most parts, positive. However, I am confused by the name, Temu UK. I googled them and they seem to be based in Massachusetts.

If holidaying in Spain (or anywhere else it might be offered), beware of the painkiller Nolotil https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/03/its-not-worth-risking-your-life-fears-over-painkiller-nolotil-grow-for-brits-in-spain

Please watch, it's quite a long video, you can pause it anytime and continue later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpnvUIcvNUE

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/02/two-rescued-after-gas-explosion-destroys-edinburgh-home

Seven ways that could help

I was amazed at the amount of empty houses

https://www.positive.news/society/seven-solutions-uk-housing-crisis/

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/israel-hamas-war-rochdale-cenotaph-daubed-with-free-palestine-ahead-of-armistice-day-13002886

65,000 on the waiting list

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67511716

One constant ahead - in three weeks time the days start getting longer.

Are you counting?

Vegan activists at Warwick University have won a vote to ban meat and dairy from all the university's canteens. Even though they make up only 2.7% of the students. Only members of their "Plant based university" society were allowed to vote. But now the result is being imposed on the 97.3% of other students.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12799637/warwick-university-meat-dairy-ban-fury-student-union.html