The Times’ football correspondent at the Birmingham v Chelsea has just posted this

“Chelsea fans at Birmingham singing “F*** off Benitez, we don’t want you here” and chanting for Mourinho”. 

I don’t think it would be a problem at all politically if it is set at that sort of level, or even at £1.5 million. 

But if they use the changes as an opportunity to start increasing taxes on house from 500K upwards as has been suggested then I suspect there will be alot of very unhappy people in the SE and that will certainly impact politically.

Historical dates, 7/10.

Not bad for a multiple-guess quiz.

I remember Teletext used to have a page for voting intentions at one time. When the Tories were in power Labour used to have massive leads and vice versa.

Tories wetting their knickers over that daft Harris poll. Well, here’s the Scottish split. Have a good laugh.

Another party 41%
Lab 22%
Con 19%
LD 2%

I wonder what “another party” they can mean?

I used to ‘watch’ Teletext more than the TV – and was for a time nerdishly knowledgeable about football league tables despite never watching a game.

It had a wonderful simplicity to its format.

Back again! Whilst I was doing my latest sowings this afternoon it occurred to me how offensive the idea of replacing the 50p rate of income tax is with a Mansion Tax or Council tax band version of it.

Now the issue with asset taxes is they punish individuals for changes in the market value that are out of their control particular those who bought decades ago and no longer necessarily have a large income. So consequently if Osborne brings in a Mansion tax or equivalent in council tax banding those on high incomes affected (who will have their income increased because of the scrapping of the 50p income tax rates) will be able to pay but those on lower incomes who still have high value property might not and perhaps will have to sell their properties.

From that one can conclude that the social message from the Liberal Conservative coalition is that only rich people are allowed big expensive houses. How very elitist of them!

I realised that liberals have always hankered after a supreme elitist status but I hadn’t realised they were that intent on imposing it.

I wonder what the gang of four’s response to concerns about this will be?

Let Them Rent Bedsits ????

I really do hope Arsenal win the Champions League this season, Wenger deserves this.

Evening all

The Harris poll was featured in yesterday morning’s Metro and I’m surprised it’s only now filtering through.

On the more substantive, it’s the old story with tax – the losers will jump up and down and make a lot of noise and the winners won’t. When you try to tax the wealthy, it becomes clear how much more access to media and influence said wealth provides. Column after column railing against te revised property tax proposals including one in the Standard tonight from Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

This morning’s City AM was case in point of the special pleading of the wealthy. Allister Heath railed against the Tories and almost any form of increased taxation.

It’s clear the anti-Coalition Conservative line is now “cut taxes to boost growth” but while there’s a sop on personal allowances, it’s not about cutting the taxes of the many but the few.

The property tax proposal lays bare the failing of successive Conservative and Labour Governments to properly work the Council Tax reflecting changes in property values. The valuations are stuck in a 1991 time warp but the rest of the world has moved on.

This is like Istanbul all over again.

It looks even dafter if you do
con              44%
lab               21%
libdem          17%
which I suppose tells us that con voters are the most confident & libdems the least.

“Jamaica PM greets Harry with a hug”:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/jamaica-pm-greets-harry-hug-191644955.html

Brazil ‘overtakes UK’s economy

‘http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busi...

Stuart,You seem to state that with glee, but remember Brazii’s population is four times the size of the U.K.

I really wouldn’t go there as Scotland’s GDP (c. $ 225b) is still dwarfed by such booming economies as Greece (c.$ 300b) and Portugal (c.$250b), and that is including the oil.

Harry Redknapp has won one top flight trophy in nearly 30 years of management, his appointment would be like Kevin Keegan all over again, except without the dodgy hair style.

Sadly Wenger won’t take the England job, as he’s on record he couldn’t manage any other country except France or a developing football nation. 

Looks like we’re stuck with Stuart Pearce until the summer then Roy Hodgson takes over in July.

The best laugh I’ve had in ages was Pep Guardiola as next England Manager, seriously would you choose to manage Andy Carroll over Lionel Messi?

(Although to be fair to PfP he backed Guardiola at 190/1 and he’s now down to 7/2)

The FA should not appoint a permanent manager before the European Championships, they should employ Wenger, or Ferguson or at a push Hiddink, all of whom are better managers than any English alternative.
if they want to appoint Redknapp after that then so be it.

I’d love to see Martin O’Neill as England Manager, but he seems very happy (and doing well) at Sunderland.

Not a good headline in the Times

Jamie Oliver: Coalition killing Britons with health policies

It was so far OTT I assumed he was joking.

I wasn’t blaming immigrants. I would not blame anyone for behaving rationally in their own or their families best interests. I do however blame governments. 

What about if they inherited their house?

Just asking.

2012 Presidential Race Is ‘the Worst I’ve Ever Seen,’ Barbara Bush Says

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/barbara-bush-2012-is-the-worst-campaign-ive-ever-seen/

You are a trial sometimes Tim. 
I blame governments for allowing practically uncontrolled immigration into a country that is already overcrowded. as I suspect you knew. I’ve heard the arguments about aging populations, I don’t buy them, perhaps another night we will discuss it. 

I think everyone has got overexcited about the words “mansion tax”.  Think of it as a few more bands on the Council Tax.

I just wish governments would tell people more robustly that you can’t have services without having taxes.  Somebody has to pay them.  And everybody – no matter how well off they are – always thinks they are unfairly treated.

Not aimed at you personally Stuart, but I really hate it when mental illnesses are used as insults. 

 You forget that he originally proposed £1m and then hastily increased it when he realised the implications for his constituency…

Yes, but millions of Brazilians still live in shanty towns and their GDP per capita is still well below ours. The only real way to judge the strength of a nation’s economy is GDP per capita, GDP (all things being equal) reflects population size, for example, as the world’s largest nation by population China should logically have the world’s largest economy, the only reason it has not is because of communism. As a top ten economy, we still punch well above our weight based on our population, where we are around top 30 globally rather than top 10!

I don’t think anyone has a problem with paying for services.

However, quite a few people have problems with the government p1551ng money up the wall to buy votes and massage their egos. Not to mention paying for those who want something for nothing.

Of course the other consideration about this Mansion tax concept is how stupidly self-destructive it could be. Looking at the regional vote share figures the Libdems are at their strongest in London and the South. Where is this going to hit the most London and the South.

Is George Osborne seriously thinking of sabotaging Boris’s chances of beating Ken by imposing an additional property tax on thousands of Londoners weeks before the Mayoral Election. Such a plan seems incredibly stupid to me!

Perhaps the budget headline will be ‘Osborne shoots Nick and Boris before doing the decent thing and shooting himself (as the head election strategist)?’

Furthermore on this issue how is it that its alright to own a ten bedroom house and estate in Scotland milking the CAP subsidies while you do it and likely not have to pay this tax whereas you might well have to pay it in a 4 bed family home in central London? Unless Osborne is extremely nuanced about it this could be as stupid a move as Brown’s scrapping of the 10p tax rate

Good evening, everyone.

MrsB, I’m not making the French Revolution mistake [after the King and Queen had their heads lopped off everyone else was a bit insignificant]. Balls, and later Brown, are for when the MD StarGun is perfected.

The Conservatives opposed AV 100% as well, but they still went ahead with the referendum.

Still, it’s easy to understand Lib Dem discomfort. They wanted a 150 seat reduction, so only getting 50 must be disappointing. That’s coalition.

New thread, but… you can watch the whole thing on youtube.

I don’t understand what all this obsession is with revaluation.

You need a single baseline valuation – 1991 is fine, unless the house has been sold more recently.

Use an average inflation rate to rebase until today’s valuation.

Use that as the taxable value.

Each year the taxable value is increased in line with inflation, unless the property is sold (when the market value is used) or improved (in which case it is assessed).

Simples.

hyufd,

Agreed. It is all about GDP per capita.

That is what I was explaining to Stuart Dickson. The GDPs are now virtually the same but Brazil’s population is 192 million compared with with our 62 million (Brazil is actually three times our size not four), so really the fact that Brazil has a bigger economy than us is virtually meaningless.

Of course as GDP is compared in $s anyway, a change in the £/$ exchange rate can alter the picture significantly. 

What I find so irratating about his post (albeit just a bare bones headline and link) is that that it may lead some to believe that Brazil is actually more prosperous than we are.

Therefore taking his logic, although Scotland has higher GDP per capita than Greece or Portugal, the economies of each of these basket-case countries is still greater than Scotland’s (and they have no oil).  

Maybe I am oversensitive because I see it as another of many rather snidey Nit post denigrating the United Kingdom.

Just catching up with the news today. Oh my aching sides, so while the political lobby spent days last week investigating what horse Cameron rode a few years ago while in Opposition. They still managed to miss this more up to date and pertinent political letter for a month? Maybe they all need to get off twitter and away from their desks for a few days and go out and actual try some investigative journalism. We might get a real political story in real time, who knows what might have happened if they had deployed that tactic a few years ago with the hacking scandal.